Phelps-Dodge Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 24, 1951

92 N.L.R.B. 1564 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

In the Matter Of PHELPS-DODGE CORPORATION, MORENCI BRANCH,
EMPLOYER and LOCAL 679 UNITED ASSOCIATION OF JOURNEYMEN AND
APPRENTICES OF THE PLUMBING AND PIPEFITTING INDUSTRY OF THE
UNITED STATES AND CANADA, PETITIONER
Case No. 21-RC-1331.-Decided January 24, 1951
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Eugene M.
Purver, 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and
Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim -to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3: The. Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclu-
sive bargaining representative of plumbers and pipe fitters in its
maintenance division until the Petitioner has been certified by the
Board in an appropriate unit.
In an earlier representation proceeding 2 involving employees at
the Employer's Morenci operations, the Board, finding appropriate
separate bargaining units for blacksmiths, bricklayers, carpenters,
machinists, boilermakers, electricians, teamsters, and operating engi-
neers, respectively, certified Local 616 of the Intervenor 3 herein, as
the exclusive bargaining representative of employees in a residual bar-
gaining unit. On June 29, 1948, the Employer and Local 616 of the
Intervenor entered into' a collective bargaining agreement covering
these employees, among whom are the plumbers and pipe fitters sought
by the Petitioner in this proceeding. The contract provided that it
should continue in effect until August 1, 1950, and for yearly periods
' The name of the Petitioner appears as amended at the hearing.
2 Phelps-Dodge Corporation, 60 NLRB 1431 ; 62 NLRB 1287.
3 International Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers.
92 NLRB No. 233.
1564 -
PHELPS-DODGE CORPORATION 1565
thereafter, unless either party notified the other of its intent to change
or terminate the contract between May 19 and June 2, inclusive, of
any contract year. On January 27, 1950, the Employer and the
Intervenor made substantial changes in the contract and extended its
term from August 1, 1950, to August 1, 1951. On May 1, 1950, the
Petitioner advised the Employer that it represented a majority of
the plumbers and pipe fitters at the plant and requested bargaining
rights. On-May 22, 1950, the Petitioner filed the petition herein.
The Intervenor contends that the agreement noted above constitutes
a bar to an immediate election. We do not agree.. As the Employer
and the Intervenor prematurely extended the 1948 agreement on
January 27, 1950, that contract cannot bar a petition which was filed
prior to June 2, 1950, the effective date of the automatic renewal
cla.use.4 As noted above, both the request for recognition and the
filing of its petition occurred before that date.
A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation
of certain employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks it unit of all plumbers and pipe fitters and
their. apprentices and helpers in the maintenance division at the Em-
ployer's Morenci, Arizona, operations S including the steam fitter in
the powerhouse, but excluding all other employees. The Employer,
otherwise in substantial agreement with the scope of the proposed
craft unit, would exclude the steam fitter. The Intervenor contends
that, on the basis of its bargaining history, only its existing bargain-
ing unit, which includes all plumbers and pipe fitter, is appropriate;
and further urges that the unit sought by the Petitioner comprises
only a segment of a craft because it does not include the mine pipe
fitter, the mine pipemen, spray attendants, and mine pipe laborers in
the open pit division, all of whom it alleges do work similar to that
of the plumbers and pipe fitters in the maintenance division, and that,
therefore, the instant petition should be dismissed.
The Employer's copper mining and smelting operations at Morenci
are divided into six divisions : the open pit (mine) division, ore dress-
ing division, smelter division, maintenance division, surface division,
* International Harvester ( McCormick Works ), 85 NLRB 1260 ; Indiana Desk Company,
Inc., 82 NLRB 103; Wichita Union Stockyards Company , 40 NLRB 369.
We likewise find no merit in the Intervenor ' s contention set forth in its brief that the
instant petition was not timely filed because more than 10 days elapsed between the
Petitioner 's demand for recognition and its filing of the petition . There was no inter-
vening circumstance here which would require the application of the 10-day rule, as
enunciated in General Electric X-Ray Corporation, 67 NLRB 997.
6 These employees fall within the following designations : plumber special , plumber,
plumber helper first-class , plumber helper second-class, plumber apprentices , pipe fitter
special , pipe fitter , pipe fitter helper first-class , pipe fitter helper second -class, and pipe
fitter apprentices. '
1566 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and miscellaneous division. The maintenance division, which is
approximately 11/2 miles from the open pit includes the machine
boiler, sheet metal plumbing, blacksmith, pipework and automobile
shops, field repairs and miscellaneous service, transportation and
miscellaneous, electrical shops, carpentry and painting shops, farms,
railroad maintenance, steam power plant, and house repairs and
painting.
There are three types of plumbing and pipe fitting done at the
Morenci operations : (1) The general plumbing installation for the
camp site such as water lines and sewers; (2) the powerhouse plant;
and (3) pipe fitting in the open pit at the place of actual mining
operations, which is in the'nature of temporary installation involving
use of flexible lines and shifting with the moving operations. Except
for the temporary pipe fitting done in the open pit, all plumbing and
pipe fitting come under the maintenance division and its work stops
at the edge of the pit.
Pipe fitters and plumbers in the maintenance division are respon-
sible to the mechanical foreman, and through him to the superintend-
ent of machinery. They repair, maintain, and install the permanent
pipe system for the town site as well as the other operations. These
employees cut pipe to measurement, thread it, and install valves; tees
and crosses, ells and elbows, and reducers. They use all standard
plumbing tools and supplies, and receive journeymen pay.
The steam fitter in the powerhouse repairs and constructs steam
lines, pipe lines, and steam pipe lines, in and about the powerhouse,.
restricting his activities to. powerhouse equipment. He works on
steam and heat equipment and high pressure systems. Although in-
cluded within the maintenance division, he is subject to different super-
vision than that of the other pipe fitters, being responsible to the
powerhouse superintendent. He is in a different line of. promotion
and ordinarily does not work with the other maintenance division pipe
fitters except when they may be called to the powerhouse to assist him.
His skill, length of training, and pay is comparable to that of the
other pipe fitters in the maintenance division.
Mine pipe fitter, mine pipemen, spray attendants, and mine pipe
laborers in the open pit divisions. The mine pipe fitter is the only
employee in the mine who does work comparable to that of the pipe
fitters in the maintenance division. He is subject to the supervision
of the mine supervisor, and his pay is comparable to that of pipe fitters
in the maintenance division. The five mine pipemen, with the assist-
ance of pipe laborers who assist in moving heavy parts about, hook
and unhook the lines and lay them on the surface in locations where
needed. They also cut and thread pipe in order to make necessary
PHELPS-DODGE CORPORATION 1567
connections. The Employer classifies this work as semiskilled. The
mine pipemen are under the supervision of the mine supervisor, and
do not work with or near maintenance division pipe fitters. They are
not as skilled as the pipe fitters in the maintenance division and receive
less pay. The six spray attendants in the mine handle and move tem-
porary rubber water hoses used to keep down dust at the shovels.
Occasionally they make minor repairs to lines which require the use
of pipe fitting tools. The six mine pipe laborers do no skilled work,
their principal function is to assist the pipemen in moving heavy pipes
from one place to another.
The precise issue to be determined in the instant case is whether on
the basis of the present record and the Employer's past bargaining
history, the proposed craft unit may now be found appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining.
The Board has recognized the appropriateness of craft units in the
copper mining industry generally and at the Morenci branch of the
Employer's operations as noted by the earlier case cited above 6 In this
earlier proceeding the Board recognized the appropriateness of a
craft unit for plumbers and pipe fitters at the Morenci plant but dis-
missed the petition for this unit because the Petitioner at that time
failed to make an adequate showing of interest among these craft
employees. The craft unit, however, which the Board indicated would
be appropriate, contrary to the Employer's contention herein, was not
limited to the maintenance division at the Morenci plant, but was, like
numerous other craft units found appropriate at the time, coextensive
with the Employer's entire Morenci operations. We see no valid
reason for departing from this earlier determination.
There remains for consideration the specific composition of the
voting group. There is no dispute with respect to the craft status of
the steam fitter in the powerhouse and the pipe fitter in the mine. The
Employer, however, does question the craft status of mine pipemen,
spray attendants, and mine pipe laborers, and contends that they are
not craftsmen and should be excluded from any craft group. We are
inclined to agree with the Employer with respect to the spray attend-
ants and the mine pipe laborers, for it. is apparent that their work
is routine in character and does not require the exercise of any craft
skills. The mine pipemen, however, although not required to exercise
the same degree of skill as the pipe fitters in performing their work,
are nevertheless required to exercise certain skills appertaining to their
respective craft designations. We shall include them in the craft unit.
We find that all plumbers, pipe fitters, apprentices, and helpers in
the maintenance division at the Employer's Morenci, Arizona, mining
See footnote 2, supra.
1568 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
plant, including the steam fitter in the powerhouse and the pipe fitter
and mine pipemen in the mine, but excluding spray attendants, mine
pipe laborers, all other employees, and supervisors, may properly con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
However, we shall make no final unit determination at.this time,
but shall be guided in part by the desires of these employees as ex-
pressed in the election hereinafter directed. If a majority vote for
the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to
constitute a separate appropriate unit.
. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]