John A. Roebling Sons Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 19, 1941

32 N.L.R.B. 851 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter Of JOHN A. ROEBLINO SONS COMPANY and BROTHER-
HOOD OF RAILROAD TRAINMEN
Case No. R-2589.-Decided June 19, 1941
Jurisdiction : wire manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question:
parties stipulated that Company refused to recognize petitioner until it is certi-
fied by the Board ; election unnecessary to resolve question : majority designa-
tion by membership cards ; Company and union agreeable to certification
upon the record.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : locomotive engineers, firemen,
hostlers, conductors, brakemen, locomotive crane operators, exclusive of
production, clerical, supervisory, sales, shipping, maintenance, and salaried
employees.
Stevens and Lee, of Reading, Pa., by Mr. Wm. R. Lessig, Jr., for
the Company.
Mr. W. L. Reed, of Cleveland, Ohio, for the Union.
Mr. Marvin C. Wahl, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On or about March 8, 1941, the Brotherhood of Railroad Train-
men, herein called the Union, filed with the Regional Director for
the Fourth Region (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)- a petition alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre.
sentation of employees of John A. Roebling Sons Company, Trenton,
New Jersey, herein called the Company, and requesting an investiga-
tion and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act.
On May 7, 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 Relations Board Rules and Regula-
tions-Series 2, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorize(
the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate
hearing upon due notice.
On May 14, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing
copies of which were duly served upon the Company and the Unioi
32 N. L. R. B., No. 143.
851
448692-42-vol. 32-55
852 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on May 22, 1941, at Trenton,
New Jersey, before Geoffrey J. Cunniff, the Trial Examiner duly
designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Company was repre-
sented by counsel and the Union by its representative; both partici-
pated 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. No objections to the introduction of
evidence or the rulings of the Trial Examiner were made by any of
the parties. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Ex-
aminer and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The
rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
In a pevious case 1 involving the Company, a stipulation was
entered' into concerning its 'business. The stipulation was incorpo-
rated by reference into the record of this case. On the basis of the
stipulation, we found in the previous case, and we now find as
follows :
John A. Roebling Sons Company, a New Jersey corporation, en-
gaged in business at Trenton and Roebling, New Jersey, is a manu-
facturer 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, ferromanganese, cotton, silk, and
zinc. Normally 80 per cent of these raw materials are shipped to
the New Jersey plants from foreign countries and from States of the
United States other than New Jersey. Normally approximately 90
per cent of the finished products manufactured at the New Jersey
plants, which are 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.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen is a labor organization which
admits to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONOERNING REPRESENTATION
At the hearing, it was stipulated that the Union had requested the
Company to recognize it as the exclusive bargaining agent for :the.
'Hatter of John A. Roebling Sons Company and Steel Workers Organizing Committee,
ocal No . 2L10 and 21J1, affiliated with the C. 1 0, 31 N L R B 160. ,
JOHN A.. ROEBLING SONS COMPANY 853
employees in a claimed appropriate unit, but that the Company re-
fused so to recognize the Union until it was certified by the Board
as the'exclusive bargaining agent of the employees in such unit.
We find that a question ,has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of. the Company.'
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.
r
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The. Union and the Company agreed at the hearing that locomotive
engineers, firemen, hostlers, conductors, and brakemen, employed at
the Roebling plant, exclusive of production, clerical, supervisory, sales,
shipping, maintenance, and salaried employees, constituted an appro-
priate unit for collective bargaining. The Union then stated that the
appropriate unit should also include locomotive crane operators. The
Company agreed, providing such crane operators were limited to
Department 156 and not, the entire plant. The Union accepted,the
limitation.
In a previous decision involving the Company,.the Board found an
appropriate unit for the purposes of collective bargaining consisting
of "all production and maintenance workers,' excluding foremen, as-
sistant 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, hos-
tiers, conductors, and brakemen employed at the Roebling, New
Jersey, plant."" It will be noted, that all the employees whom the
Union and the Company have agreed to include in the appropriate
unit in this case were specifically excluded from the appropriate unit
in the prior case with the exception of the locomotive crane operators
in Department'156. Since the Company agreed 'to the inclusion of
the -latter group iii'the unit in, this case with full knowledge of the
`Board's determination in^the' prior proceeding, we 'assume that loco-
2 The evidence supporting the Union's claim to represent employees in the unit herein-
after found to be appropriate is set forth in full in Section VI, infra.
8 Supra, footnote , 1. • Subsequently the Board certified Steel Workers Organizing Com-
mittee, Local No. 2110 and 2111 , as the exclusive collective bargaining representative
'
,
of the employees in' such unit : Matter of, John A . Roebling Sons Company and Steel
,Workers Organrix'tng,Committee, Local No. ' 2110 , and 2111; aflutated'with , the C. I. 0., 32
N. L. R. B. 449. -
854 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
motive crane operators were excluded from the unit in the prior pro-
ceeding under the designation "locomotive engineers."
We find that locomotive engineers, firemen, hostlers, conductors,
brakemen, and locomotive crane operators in Department 156, em-
ployed at the Roebling plant of the Company, exclusive of production,
clerical, supervisory, sales, shipping, maintenance, and salaried em-
ployees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining and that said 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
A report of the Regional Director for the Board introduced into
evidence at the hearing, stated that the Union had submitted to him
46 cards authorizing the Union to represent the signers for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining, all of which bore genuine original
signatures of persons whose names appeared on the Company's pay
roll of March 8, 1941. The report also stated that all of the cards
were dated March 10, 1941, and that there were 48 employees in the
appropriate unit. These cards were -available at the hearing and were
examined by the Company's representatives and counsel who agreed
that all of the cards were signed by employees of the Company and
that all the signatures were genuine. Counsel for the Company and
a representative of the Union also agreed that the Board might
certify the Union as the exclusive bargaining representative of the
employees within the appropriate unit without an election.
' On the basis of the foregoing we find that the Union has been des-
ignated and selected by a majority of persons employed by the Com-
pany in the unit herein found to be appropriate as the representative
of such persons for the purposes of collective bargaining. It is there-
fore the exclusive representative of all the employees in such unit
for the purposes of collective bargaining, and we will so certify.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the represen-
tation of employees of John A. Roebling Sons Company within the
meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National
Labor Relations Act.
2. The locomotive engineers, firemen, hostlers, conductors, brake-
men, and locomotive crane operators in Department 156, employed at
the Roebling plant of the Company, exclusive of, production, clerical,
supervisory, sales, shipping, maintenance, and salaried employees,
JOHN A. ROEBLING SONS COMPANY 855
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations
Act.
3. Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen is the exclusive representa-
tive of all employees in such unit for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining within the meaning of Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen has
been designated and selected by a majority of all locomotive engineers,
firemen, hostlers, conductors, brakemen, and locomotive crane oper-
ators in Department 156, employed at the Roebling plant of the Com-
pany, exclusive of production, clerical, supervisory, sales, shipping,
maintenance, and salaried employees, as their representative for the
purposes of collective bargaining and that pursuant to the provision
of Section 9 (a) of the Act, Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen is
the exclusive representative of all such employees for the purposes of
collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of em-
ployment, and other conditions of employment.