John A. Roebling's Sons Co.

In the Matter of JOHN A. ROEBLING'S SONS COMPANY and STEEL WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, LOCALS 2110 AND 2111, AFFILIATED WITH THE C. I. O. Case No. R-2464.-Decided ` April 21, 1941 Jurisdiction : wire manufacturing industry. Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: stip- ulated that Company refused to recognize the union until such time as it has been certified by the Board ; election necessary. Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all production and maintenance workers, excluding foremen, assistant foremen, guards, and salaried personnel, - at the Trenton, New Jersey, and -Roebling, New Jersey, plants owned and operated by the Company, and further excluding locomotive engineers, firemen, bostlers, conductors and brakemen employed at the Roebling, New Jersey, plant ; stipulation as to. Practice and Procedure Labor organization previously found to be employer-dominated by the Board denied the right to intervene although the Board's decision respecting such organization still pending before the U. S. Circuit Court. Stevens and Lee, of Reading, Pa., by Mr. Harry W. Lee and Mr. William R. Lessig, for the Company. Mr. M. H. Goldstein, of Philadelphia, Pa., for the S. W. O. C. Mr. H. Collin Minton and Mr. Arthur S. Lane, of Trenton, N. J., for the R. E. A. Mr. Louis S. Penfield, of counsel to the Board. DECISION - AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE On March 25, 1941, 'Steel Workers Organizing Committee, Locals 2110 and 2111, affiliated with the C. I. O., herein called the S. W. O. C., filed with the Regional Director for the Fourth Region (Philadel- phia, Pennsylvania) a petition, and on April 5, 1941, an amended petition alleging that a question affecting commerce, had arisen con- cerning'the representation of employees of John A. Roebling's Sons Company, Trenton, New Jersey, herein called the Company, and 31 N. L. R B, No. 23. 160 - JOHN A. ROEBLING'S SONS COMPANY 161 requesting an investigation and certification of representatives pur- suant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On April 5, 1941, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Rela- tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized- the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. On April 4, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and upon the S. W. O. C. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on April 8, 1941, at Trenton, New Jersey, before Samuel G. Zack, the Trial Examiner duly appointed by the Chief Trial Examiner. On April 7, 1941, Roebling Employees Association, Inc., herein called the R. E. A., which had not been served with a notice of hear- ing, lodged with the Board a petition to intervene in these proceed- ings. The R. E. A. appeared at the hearing and moved: (1) for an adjournment to permit it to become a party to this proceeding and to have time to present its case; (2) that it be permitted to intervene and to have its name appear on the ballot in these proceedings; and (3) that any election to be conducted be delayed until such time as the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has issued a decision in a case involving the Company and the R. E. A. now pending before it.' The Trial Examiner denied these motions.' The Company and the S. W. O. C. were represented' by counsel and participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties. During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings on other motions and on'objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed all the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are, hereby affirmed. 1 On November 10, 1939, the Board issued a Decision and Order in Case No. C-860 in- volving employees of the Company in which it found that the Company was engaging in unfair labor practices within the meaning of Section 8 ( 1) and (2) of the Act and ordered the Company to cease and desist from such practices and to withdraw all recognition from and completely disestablish the R. E. A. as a representative of its employees for collective bargaining purposes . Thereafter the Board sought to enforce its Order in the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the Company sought a review of such Order before the same Court . The case was argued before the Court on March 3 , 1941, and has been set for a re -hearing on April 21, 1941 1 See Matter of Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Bethlehem Steel Company, and South Buf- falo Railway Co and Steel Workers Organizing Committee, Local Union 1024, C. 1. 0., 30 N. L R B. 1006 162 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following: FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY - - John, A. Roebling's Sons Company, a New Jersey, corporation, is engaged in business at Trenton, New Jersey, and Roebling, New Jersey, in the manufacture of wire, wire rope, cold rolled flat wire, and, insulated copper wire. The principal raw materials used by the Company- are pig and scrap iron, lead, rubber, copper, tin, ferro- manganese, cotton, silk, and zinc. Normally 80 per cent of these raw materials are shipped to the New Jersey plants from foreign coun- tries and from States -of the United States other than the State of New Jersey.' Normally approximately 90 per cent of the finished products manufactured at'the New Jersey plants valued in excess of $22,000,000 are shipped by the Company to States outside of the State of New Jersey and to foreign countries. The Company admits that it is engaged in interstate commerce within the meaning of the Act. H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED Steel Workers Organizing Committee, Locals 2110 and 2111, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organ- izations. It admits to membership employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Company and- the S. W. O. C. stipulated at the hearing that the Company refi<ised and refuses to recognize the, S. -W. O. C. as the statutory representative of its employees until such time as the Union has been certified by the Board as such representative. A statement of the Regional Director introduced into evidence shows that the Union represents a substantial number of employees in the collective bargaining unit hereinafter found to be appropriate.3 We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Company. . ' ' The Regional Director stated that the S . W.- O. C. submitted 4,074 membership applica- tion cards, all dated between April 1, 1937, and April 3 , 1941, with the exception of 121- which fire undated ; that a majority of said cards bear dates during the years 1940 and 1941: that the signatures affixed to 3 ,280 cards appear to be genuine original signatures and that 20 cards bear the names of applicants printed thereon ; that 3,280 signed cards and 20 printed cards bear the signatures or printed names of persons whose names appear on the pay-roll list submitted by the Company . Three hundred twenty-six application cards bear the names of persons who signed two or more application cards on various dates. Where duplicates appear, only one card for each employee is included in the tabulation. There are 401 cards bearing the names of persons who do not appear on the pay -roll list submitted by the Company, and such pay-roll list contains the names of 4,267 persons. JOHN A. ROEBLING'S SONS COMPANY 163 IV. THE EFFECT OF THE--QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON COMMERCE We find -that the question concerning representation which has arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and tends to'lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce and-the free flow of commerce. V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The parties agree, and we find, that all production and maintenance workers, excluding foremen, assistant foremen, guards, and salaried personnel, at the Trenton,. New Jersey, and Roebling; New Jersey, plants owned and operated by the Company, and further excluding locomotive engineers, firemen, hostlers, conductors and brakemen em- ployed at the Roebling, New Jersey, plant, constitute a unit appro- priate for the purposes of collective bargaining. We find that such unit will insure to employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act. VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen can best be resolved by an election by secret ballot. The S. W. 0. C. requests that if an election should be held the pay-roll date for determining the eligibility of voters should be February 22, 1941, inasmuch as subsequent to this date a group of employees of the Com- pany were laid off. The Company requests a current pay-roll date for determining the eligibility of voters. The record shows that,em- ployees were laid off because the Company discontinued the manu- facture of certain, steel nets and that it does not contemplate the resumption of such manufacture in- the future and considers these employees ' to be permanently laid off with no expectancy of future employment. We are of the opinion that the interests of all parties will be best served by selecting the pay-roll date nearest to April 8, 1941, the date of the hearing herein. Accordingly, we shall direct that those eligible to vote in the election shall be the employees in the appropriate unit who were on the Company's pay roll nearest to April 8, 1941, subject to such limitations and additions -as are set forth in our Direction of Election herein. Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : 441543-42-yol 31--] 2 164 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD CONCLUSIONS OF LAW - 1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre- sentation of employes of John A. Roebling's Sons Company, Trenton, New Jersey, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act. . 2. All production and maintenance workers, excluding foremen, assistant foremen, guards, and salaried -personnel, in the Trenton, New Jersey, and Roebling, New Jersey, plants owned and operated by the Company, and further excluding locomotive engineers, fire- men, hostlers, conductors, and brakemen employed at the Roebling, New Jersey, plant of the Company, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.. DIRECTION OF ELECTION . By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of ' National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby - DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with John A. Roebling's Sons Company, Trenton, New Jersey, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction of Election, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Fourth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among all production and maintenance workers employed at the Trenton, New Jersey, and Roebling, New Jersey, plants of the Company, whose names appear on the Company' pay roll nearest to April 8, 1941, including _employees, who did not work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or in the active military service or training of the United States, or temporarily laid off, but excluding foremen, assistant foremen, guards, and salaried personnel, in the Trenton, New Jersey, and Roebling, New Jersey, plants, and locomotive engineers, firemen, hostlers, con- ductors, and brakemen, at the Roebling, New Jersey, plant, and em- ployees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Steel Workers Or- ganizing Committee, Locals 2110 and 2111, affiliated with the C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective bargaining. -