St. Joseph Lead Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 11, 1946

66 N.L.R.B. 560 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of ST. JOSEPH LEAD COMPANY AND LEAD BELT WATER
COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL UNION OF MINE, MILL & SMELTER
WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O.
Case No. 14-R-191.Decided March 11, 1946
Mr. Wallace Cooper, of St. Louis, Mo., and Mr. Parkhurst Sleeth,
of Bonne Terre, Mo., for the Companies.
Mr. Jesse R. Van Camp, of Flat River, Mo., for the Union.
Mr. Elmer P. Freischlaq, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon an amended petition duly filed by International Union of
Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers of America, C. I. 0., herein called the
Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of St. Joseph Lead Com-
pany, Bonne Terre, Missouri, herein called the Lead Company, and
Lead Belt Water Company, Bonne Terre, Missouri, herein called the
Water Company, both herein collectively called the Companies, the
National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice before Ryburn L. IIackler, Trial Examiner. The
hearing was held at St. Louis, Missouri, on January 11, 1946. The
Companies and the Union appeared and participated. All parties
were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-
examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues.
During the hearing, the Lead Company moved to dismiss the petition
with respect to it on the ground that the employees involved are
employees of the Water Company, a separate corporation. The
Water Company also moved to dismiss on the ground that it was not
engaged in interstate commerce. The motions were referred to the
Board. For reasons set forth in Section I, below, the motions are
denied. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free
66 N. L . R. B., No. 74.
560
ST. JOSEPH LEAD COMPANY AND LEAD BELT WATER COMPANY .561
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were
afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANIES
St. Joseph Lead Company, a New York corporation with its prin-
cipal operating office in Bonne Terre, Missouri, is engaged in the
mining, milling, and smelting of lead ore. Its mines and mills are
located in St. Francois County, Missouri, and its smelter is located
in Herculaneum, Missouri. The Company's total annual production
is valued in excess of $1,000,000, of which approximately 95 percent
represents shipments outside the State of Missouri. During 1945,
the Company used material and equipment in its operations valued
in excess of $1,000,000, over 50 percent of which represented shipments
from outside the State.
Lead Belt Water Company, a Missouri corporation, was organized
in 1933. It has its office and principal place of business at Bonne
Terre, Missouri. The Water Company is a wholly owned subsidiary
of the Lead Company. The record reveals, in this connection, that
the President, the Treasurer, and the General Manager of both Com-
panies are identical, and that the Lead Company exercises complete
control over the business and labor policies of the Water Company.
The Water Company is engaged in the distribution and sale of water
in an area of St. Francois County encompassing five municipalities,
an interprise formerly operated by the Lead Company itself. With
the exception of a few private wells and cisterns, the Water Com-
pany is the sole source of water for these municipalities. All the
water sold by the Water Company is secured from that pumped by
the Lead Company from its mines.' The Lead Company does not
charge the Water Company for the water, but the Water Company
pays the Lead Company the cost of pumping the water supplied.
During 1944, the Water Company's sales of water, all of which were
wholly intrastate, totalled $65,292.41, of which $9,339.62 worth repre-
sented sales to the Lead Company for use in connection with its
operations. Among the other customers of the Water Company are
employees of the Lead Company and other residents and facilities
in the five municipalities. During the same period the Water Com-
pany purchased supplies totalling $3,585.44, 40 percent of which
came from outside the State.
1In order to continue mining , the Lead Company pumps from its mines 20,000,000
gallons of water a day, in addition to that used by the Water Company.
586572-46-37
562 DEOISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
It is apparent from the foregoing that the operations of the Water
Company are closely interrelated with those of the Lead Company,
and that they form an integral and coordinated part of the Lead
Company's production effort. We are therefore of the opinion, and
find, under all the circumstances of the case, that the Lead Company,
as well as the Water Company, is the employer of the employees
involved herein within the meaning of Section 2 (2) of the Act,
and that both Companies are engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act.2
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers of America
is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
1ITi THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Companies have refused to grant recognition to, the Union
as „the exclusive bargaining representative of certain of their em-
ployees, until the Union has been certified by the Board in an
appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates, that the Union represents a substantial number of
ep ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.3
We 't nc that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Companies, within the mean-
ing,of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. TIIE APPROPRIATE UNIT
In accordance with the agreement of the parties at the hearing,
we find that all employees of the 'Companies at the operations of
Lead Belt Water Company, excluding office and clerical employees,
the service man, the manager, the distribution foreman, and all or
any other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote,
disc.arge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of
employees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
I>^ean*ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
'1 '8ee'afh "tter of ft & A Aircraft, Inc, and The Firestone Tire & Rubber Co, 62 N L.
It. B. 1275; Matter of Crucible Steel Company of America , and ets subsedsary , Crucible
Fuel Company, 45 N. L. It. B. 812.
a The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted nine cards, eight of which
bore the names' of employees listed on the Company 's pay roll . There are approxi-
mately eight employees in the appropriate unit.
ST. JOSEPH LEAD COMPANY AND LEAD BELT WATER COMPANY 563
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of
Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in
the Direction.
The Union contends that four laborers who were laid off by the
Water Company on or about November 15, 1945, have a reasonable
expectation of returning to work for the Water Company, or of
being hired by the Lead Company, and are therefore eligible to vote
in any election that may be directed herein. The Lead Company
takes no position with respect to these employees. The Water Com-
pany, however, contends that, although it intends to give these men
preference in reemployment in the event there is any additional work
to be done, such work is problematical. It urges, therefore, that the
question of eligibility be determined by the state of facts existing at
the time an election is held. The work of the laborers consisted for
the most part of adding extensions to the water system, a project which
had been in progress for several years. That work was apparently com-
pleted on or about November 15, 1945, when these laborers were laid
off. On all the facts, it does not appear that these four laborers have
a reasonable expectation of obtaining further employment with the
Water Company in the reasonably near future. Accordingly, unless
these employees are rehired or reinstated by the Water Company
prior to the date of the election, we shall hold them ineligible to vote 4
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 Re-
lations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with St. Joseph Lead
Company and Lead Belt Water Company, both of Bonne Terre,
Missouri, 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, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Di-
rector for the Fourteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for
the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III,
' See Matter of E. I. duPont de Nemours & Company, 52 N. L. R. B. 1335; cf.
Matter of Archer-Daniels Midland Company , 27 N. L. R. B. 1310.
S64 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, and to our deter-
mination in Section V, above, among the employees in the unit found
appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction,
including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period
because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and in-
cluding employees in the armed forces of the United States who
present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding those em-
ployees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have
not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to
determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Inter-
national Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers of America, C. I. 0.,
for the purposes of collective bargaining.