East Texas Steel Castings Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 15, 1951

95 N.L.R.B. 1135 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

EAST TEXAS STEEL CASTINGS COMPANY, INC. 1135
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act 11
5. As the Employer is engaged in storing and handling farm com-
modities, the work of the Employer is necessarily seasonal in nature.
Peak employment is reached at harvest time, which occurs in Septem-
ber, October, and November. During these months, the Employer
usually has about 40 to 45 employees working in the warehouses.
After November, the Employer generally has no more than 10 or 12
employees in the 3 warehouses. The election, then, should be held at
or near the peak of employment in order that the franchise be made
available to employees most interested in the selection of a bargaining
representative. Under these circumstances, we shall, in accordance
-with our usual practice with respect to seasonal industries'12 direct that
the election be held at or near the peak of employment of the 1951
harvesting season, on a day to be determined by the Regional Director,
among the employees in the appropriate unit who are employed during
the payroll period immediately preceding the date of issuance of the
notice of election.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
' The unit description appears in substantially the same form as agreed to by the
parties.
' See Wright Manufacturing Company, 94 NLR$ No . 167 and cases cited therein.
EAST TEXAS STEEL CASTINCS COMPANY , INC. and UNITED STEEL WORK-
ERS OF AMERICA , CIO, PETITIONER . Case No. 16-RC-765. August
15, 1951
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Joseph Alton Jenkins, hear-
ing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.'
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board has
delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Murdock].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1 The hearing officer referred to the Board the Employer's nrotion to dismiss the petition
on the ground that there was not an adequate showing of interest made by the Petitioner.
The Board has consistently held that the showing of interest is an administrative matter
not subject to challenge by the parties. Northern Redwood Lumber Company, 88 NLRB
272; J. P. Stevens & Co., Inc., 93 NLRB 1513.
95 NLRB No. 149.
1136 DECISIONS -OFNATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS. BOARD
1. The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of-steel castings at
its foundry in Longview, Texas. The foundry has been in operation
since February 1951. During the months of February, March, and
April, the Employer's sales of steel castings were valued in excess of
$250,000, of which 25.4 percent was shipped to points outside the State
of Texas. As the. Employer has shipped goods valued in excess of
$25,000 outside the State, we find that the Employer is engaged in com-
merce within .the meaning of the Act, and that it will effectuate the.,
policies of the Act for the Board to assert jurisdiction in this case.2
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The parties stipulated that a unit composed of all productiork
and maintenance. employees excluding certain categories would be ap-
propriate. They left for the Board's determination the question of
the inclusion or exclusion of the storeroom, the billing and the pro-
duction clerks, the melters, and laboratory employees.
The billing clerk works at the loading dock area where he aids three
other men in bringing castings to the dock, in assembling- orders, and
in loading the castings onto trucks. After performing the above op-
erations, he makes out the papers in connection with the shipment of
the goods. The production clerk and the storeroom clerk both work.
under the supervision of the production manager. The former keeps
production records and runs errands for the production manager. Thee
storeroom clerk, working by himself, is in charge of the storeroom
where he issues materials to the production and maintenance em-
ployees. As there is no evidence in the record that any of these clerks
possess supervisory authority, it appears that the only possible basis
for their exclusion from the production and maintenance unit is the
fact that they perform clerical functions. However, it is clear. that.
they are plant clerical employees of the type the Board customarily
includes in production and maintenance units. - Accordingly, we shall
include them in the unit .3 .
Three melters, one on each shift, work in the furnace department
where the steel is put into a molten state. While the steel is in a.
molten state, the melter adds different alloys so that the final product
will have the desired consistency. This is a routine operation as the
charge, the amount of steel to be melted, is always 6,000 pounds and
therefore. the amount of alloy to be added varies. very little from day
to day. Working with the melter on the day shift are four laborers,
7 Standsiaus Implement and Hardware Co., Ltd., 91 NLRB 618.
s Kerrigan Iron Works, Incorporated, 93 NLRB No. 189; Appalachian Electric
Cooperative, 93 NLRB 1348.
-SEA FOOD PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION OF NEW BEDFORD, INC. 1137
and with the melters on each of the other two shifts are two laborers.
None of the melters has the authority to hire, discharge, or promote;
nor have they the authority effectively to recommend such actions.
Although the record indicates that the melters assign work to the la-
borers, this allotment of duties is routine and does not require the use
of independent judgment as these employees perform the same opera-
tions every day. Accordingly, we find that the melters are not super-
visors and therefore should be included in the unit.
The laboratory operations are performed by a metallurgist, one
chief chemist, two chemists, and one trainee chemist. The record re-
veals that the metallurgist's work requires a high degree of scientific
knowledge, and that the metallurgist must have a college education, or
the equivalent thereof. As the metallurgist lacks a community of
interest with the production and maintenance employees, we shall ex-
clude him from the unit 4 The remaining laboratory employees are
not required to have any academic education. Nor does the routine
nature of their duties necessitate prior chemical experience or pro-
longed on-the-job training. Hence, although the employees here in
question are called chemists, their background and their duties lead
us to conclude that they are similar to -laboratory testers such as the
Board has included in production and maintenance units.' Accord-
ingly, we shall include the chief chemist, the chemists, and chemist-
trainee in the over-all unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the Em-
ployer's Longview, Texas, plant, including the storeroom, billing, and
production clerks, the melters, the chief chemist, chemists, and chemist
trainee, but excluding the metallurgist, guards, clerical employees,
and supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the Act. ' .
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
4 National Cash Register Company, 95 NLRB 27.
6 See Wm . P. McDonald Corporation, 83 NLRB 427.
SEA FOOD PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION OF NEW BEDFORD , INC. and FIsrr
LUMPERS' UNION, LOCAL 1749, INTERNATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN'S
ASSOCIATION, AFL, PETITIONER. Case No. 1-RC-21O6. -August 16,
1951
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Robert E. Green,
95 NLRB No. 145.