Kennecott Copper Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 16, 1951

94 N.L.R.B. 572 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

572 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
KENNECOTT COPPER CORPORATION-UTAH COPPER DIVISION and UNITED
STEEL WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER
KENNECOTT COPPER DIVISION-UTAH COPPER DIVISION 1 and INTER-
NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, AFL, PETITIONER.
Cases Nos. 0O-RC-1312 and 2O-RC-1310. May 16, 1951
Decision and Direction of Elections
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before
David Karasick, hearing 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 Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain
employees of the Employer .2 '
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. With the exception of watchmen, whom the Employer and the
Intervenor would exclude and whom the Steelworkers 4 would include,
the Employer, the Intervenor, and the Steelworkers agree that all
employees in the classifications covered by the existing contract be-
tween the Employer and Intervenor constitute a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining. The Intervenor's contract with
the Employer covers production and maintenance employees at both
the Employer's Arthur and Magna mills, and employees in the Em-
ployer's maintenance-of-way mills ore haulage department and elec-
trical engineering department. The Electrical- Workers I contends
n The petition and other formal papers were amended at the hearing to show the
correct name of the Employer.
2 International Union of Mine , Mill and Smelter Workers, Arthur-Magna Millmen's
Union Local No 392 , was allowed to intervene in this proceeding without objection on
the basis of its contractual relationship with the Employer.
3 No contention is made that the existing contract between the Employer and the
Intervenor is a bar to this proceeding. The contract is terminable upon notice 60 days
prior to June 30, 1951. Both petitions were timely filed with respect to the automatic
renewal date of the contract.
4 The United Steelwoi kers of America , CIO, will be referred to herein as the Steelworkers.
5 The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL , will be referred to herein
as the Electrical workers.
94 NLRB No. 113.
KENNECOTT COPPER CORPORATION 573
that all employees in the electrical departments at both mills, trans-
mission linemen, including the transmission line lead man, lineman
helpers, and all employees in the signal division of the Employer's
maintenance-of-way mills ore haulage department, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. The Employer,
the Intervenor, and the Steelworkers, all of whom oppose the unit
contention of the Electrical Workers, assert that a history of bargain-
ing on a broader basis and the integration of the Employer's operations
prevent the severance of the proposed craft unit.
The Employer's Operations 6
The Employer's Arthur and Magna mills are located in the vicinity
of Garfield, Utah, about 1 mile distant from each other and about
14 miles from the Employer's mine at Bingham Canyon. Ore from
the mine is transported by the Employer's railroad to the Arthur
and Magna mills, where it is subjected to a series of crushing and
grinding operations. The crushed ore is then put through a flotation
process, from which is obtained a copper mineral concentrate con-
taining small quantities of gold, silver, and molybdenite. The copper
concentrate is shipped to a nearby smelter of the American Smelting
and Refining Company for further processing.
The Disputed Category of Watchmen
As noted above, the Steelworkers would include, and the Employer
and the Intervenor would exclude, employees classified as watchmen
from the existing production and maintenance unit represented by
the Intervenor. The watchmen at both the Arthur and Magna mills
work under the supervision of a plant-protection foreman at each
mill. The sole duties of the watchmen are to guard the plant from
thieves, to prevent destruction of plant property, and .to insure that
employees are in fit condition when reporting for work and that
plant rules are not violated by the employees.
We find, contrary to the contention of the -Steelworkers, that the
Employer's watchmen are guards within the meaning of Section 9
(b) (3) of the Act. Accordingly, we shall exclude them from the
production and maintenance unit.7
The Proposed Unit of Electricians
The unit proposed by the Electrical Workers, as stated above, would
consist of all employees in the electrical departments at both mills,
6 A more complete description of the Employer's operations at the Arthur and Magna
mills may be found in Utah Copper Company, 54 NLRB 1151.
7 Kennecott Copper Corporation, 92 NLRB No. 266.
574 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
transmission linemen, including the transmission line lead man, line-
man helpers, and all employees in the signal division of the Employer's
maintenance-of-way mills ore haulage department.
The employees in the electrical departments are classified as arma-
ture winders, electricians, apprentices, and helpers. They all work
under the direct supervision of the electric shop foremen. The 28
employees classified as electricians are responsible for the maintenance
of all electrical equipment throughout the mills, including motors,
transformers, and the electrical lines. They are all experienced
journeymen electricians,. and are required to have served either a
4-year apprenticeship at the Employer's mills or its equivalent in
employment elsewhere. The 4 employees classified as apprentices assist
the journeymen electricians in their duties, and are training for posi-
tions as journeymen electricians. There are 15 employees classified as
helpers, who also assist the journeymen electricians. They differ from
the apprentices in that they have had less experience and therefore are
assigned less complicated work. Normally, they are eligible to become
apprentices after serving 4 years as helpers. The 4 armature winders
in the electrical shops are engaged solely in winding armatures. Arm-
ature winders are selected from the most experienced of the qualified
electrician journeymen and require approximately 6 months' addi-
tional training to be qualified to perform armature winding operations.
The transmission line lead man, eight transmission linemen, three
lineman helpers, and a truck driver are assigned to the electrical en-
gineering department and work: under the direct supervision of the
transmission foreman. The linemen maintain, repair, and install
the transmission lines from the Employer's central power station to
the mills. These lines carry voltages varying from 44,000 to 110 volts.
The linemen also maintain the electric power lines on the Employer's
railroad and the electric lines leading up to the signals used on the
railroad. Although linemen need not necessarily be electricians, they
are required either to undergo a period of 4 years of training by the
Employer or to have had equivalent experience elsewhere. The line-
iaan helpers are training for positions as linemen. -
The employees in the signal division of the maintenance-of-way ore
haulage department are classified as signal maintainer, assistant sig-
nal maintainer, maintainer helpers, and laborers. However, at the
time of the hearing, there were no maintainer helpers or laborers in
the signal division. Although the skills of a signal maintainer are
not the same as those of a journeyman electrician, a signal maintainer
must have a specialized knowledge of electricity and usually must have
had 4 years' experience to become fully qualified for the position. The
signal maintainer is primarily responsible for maintenance and repair
of the electrical semaphore signal system used on the Employer's
KENNECOTT COPPER CORPORATION 575
railroad. An assistant signal maintainer assists the signal maintainer
in the performance of his duties, and usually must have had 2 years
of experience as a maintainer helper to be qualified for the position.
Maintainer helpers assist the signal maintainer and the assistant signal
maintainer in the performance of their duties. Although an employee
is not required to have any particular training or experience to become
a maintainer helper, a maintainer helper may be considered as an
apprentice to the signal maintainer. Laborers in the signal division
work under the direction of the signal supervisor and perform manual
labor, usually with a pick and shovel. They require no specialized
training or experience and receive the same rate of pay as laborers in
other -departments of the mills.
As stated above, the Employer, the Intervenor, and the Steelworkers
argue that the history of bargaining on a broader basis and the integra-
tion of the Employer's operations prevent the severance of the pro-
posed craft unit. However, the Board has previously considered and
rejected the argument that the integration of the Employer's opera-
tions at the two mills involved in this proceeding prevent the severance
of a craft unit." Nor do we now believe that the history of bargaining
at these two mills constitutes sufficient reason for denying the severance
of a craft unit.'
We find that the employees sought by the Electrical Workers are
an identifiable, homogeneous, and skilled craft group, with interests
separate and distinct from those of other production and maintenance
-workers, and that they may, if they so desire, constitute a separate
appropriate unit 10 We shall, however, exclude from this unit labor-
ei s in the signal division, because they do not exercise any of the skills
of the electricians craft."
We shall direct separate elections in the two following voting groups,
excluding from each group all office clerical and professional em-
ployees, guards, watchmen, and supervisors as defined in the Act:
a. All employees at the Employers Arthur and Magna mills and
in the Employer's maintenance-of-way mills ore haulage department
and the electrical engineering department in the classifications cov-
ered by the existing contract between the Employer and the Inter-
venor, as listed in Appendix A, excluding the employees in voting
group a.
s Utah Copper Company , footnote 6, supra.
In this respect , n e note that certain fringe groups of employees are represented by
other unions not involved in this proceeding.
10Kennecott Copper Corporation, 92 NLRB 1786. Inte,national Haraester Companyy,
Canton Works , 91 NLRB 487 , Carthage Hydrocol, Inc, 91 NLRB No 67 ; Kennecott
Copper Corporation , 84 NLRB 836
11Cf Kennecott Copper Corporation, 92 NLRB 1786 ; Phelps-Dodge Corporation,
Morent Branch, 92 NLRB 1564
576 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
b. All employees in the electrical departments at the Employer's
Arthur and Magna mills, transmission linemen, including the trans-
mission line lead man, lineman helpers,l2 signal maintainers, assistant
signal maintainers, and signal maintainer helpers.
However, we shall make no final unit determination for the em-
ployees at this time, but shall first ascertain the desires of the em-
ployees as expressed in the elections hereinafter directed. If a major-
ity of the employees in voting group b vote for the Electrical Workers,
they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a
separate bargaining unit.
Although none of the parties to this proceeding raised the issue,
it appears possible that employees in the Employer's maintenance-of-
way mills ore haulage department are subject to the Railway Labor
Act,13 and hence are not employees within the meaning of the National
Labor Relations Act. The record in this proceeding does not make
it possible to determine such an issue. Accordingly, we shall make
no determination with respect to such employees, but shall allow them
to vote in the several elections subject to challenge. If any of their
votes are challenged and are sufficient in number to affect the elec-
tion results, we shall make a final determination with respect to the
unit placement of such employees at that time 14
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
11 Included in this category is the truck driver permanently assigned to working with
the transmission linemen. The record reveals that he must have a knowledge of the tools,
equipment , and materials used by the linemen , and that, when not driving , he regularly
assists them as a helper . Moreover , he was previously classified as a lineman helper,
and was only reclassified as a truck driver to give him the benefit of the higher wage
rate paid to truck drivers without any change in his duties.
13 48 Stat. 1185.
14 Cf. Utah Copper Company, 57 NLRB 641.
94 NLRB No. 88.
FRANKLIN SIMON & COMPANY, INC. AND KAYS-NEWPORT, INC. and
DEPARTMENT STORE EMPLOYEES UNION, LOCAL 21, AFFILIATED WITH
RETAIL CLERKS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AFL, PETITIONER.
Case No.. -RC-2570. May 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 Jack Davis, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.