Babcock & Wilcox Tube Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 8, 1940

21 N.L.R.B. 301 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

III the Matter of BABCOCK & WILcox TUBE COMPANY and STEEL.
WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE ON BEHALF OF THE A. A. OF I. S. &
T. W. LocAL No. 1082
Case No. R-1733.-Decided March 8, 1940
Pipe Manufacturing Industry-Inv%estigatiori of Representatives : controversy
concerning representation of employees: company refused to recognize union
as exclusive bargaining agent of its employees-Unit Appropriate for Collective
Bargaining : all employees of the company , including time clerks , factory office
workers, first-, second-, and third -class gang leaders, but excluding foremen,
assistant foremen, supervisors in charge of any classes of labor , watchmen, and
salaried employees ; stipulation as to-Election Ordered
Mr. Henry Shore, for the Board.
Mr. John E. Laughlin, Jr., of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Company.
Mr. Meyer Bernstein, of Pittsburgh, Pa., and Mr. Joseph J. Timko,
of Ambridge, Pa., for the Union.
Mr. Langdon West, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On November 15, 1939, Steel Workers Organizing Committee on
behalf of Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers,
Local No. 1082, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organiza-
tions, herein called the Union, filed with the Regional Director for
the Sixth Region (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), a petition alleging that
a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa-
tion of employees of Babcock & Wilcox Tube Company, Borough of
West Mayfield, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, herein called the Com-
pany, and requesting an investigation and certification of representa-
tives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act,
49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On January 30, 1940, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pur-
suant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2,
as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional
21 N. L. R. B., No. 32.
301
302 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice.
On February 7, 1940, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear-
ing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and the
Union. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on February 15, 1940,
before Charles E. Persons, the Trial Examiner duly designated by
the Board. The Board and the Company were represented by
counsel, the Union by representatives, and all participated 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. The Board has reviewed the rulings made
by the Trial Examiner during the course of the hearing on motions
and on objections to the admission of evidence and finds that no
prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board snakes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY 1
The Company, a Pennsylvania corporation, with its principal
office and its manufacturing plant located in the Borough of West
Mayfield, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, herein called the Beaver
Falls plant, is engaged in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of
pipe, casings, and seamless steel tubes. The Company is a subsidiary
of Babcock & Wilcox Company, a New Jersey corporation.
The principal raw material is steel bars. Approximately 25 to 30
her cent of the raw materials purchased by the Company come from
points outside the State of Pennsylvania. In 1939 the total value of
the raw materials purchased by the Company, excluding consigned
material, exceeded $2,800,000. Approximately 66 per cent of the
products manufactured by the Company are shipped to States of the
United States other than the State of Pennsylvania and to foreign
countries. In 1939 the total sales of the Company, including con-
signed material, exceeded $6,000,000.
The Company employs approximately 2,091 persons, of which 1,878
are production and maintenance employees, 21 are hourly paid fore-
men, and 192 salaried employees. The Company agreed for the pur-
pose of this proceeding that it is engaged in interstate commerce
within the meaning of the Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers, Local No.
1082, is a labor organization affiliated with Steel Workers Organizing
1 The facts set forth in this section were stipulated by the Company and counsel for
the Board
BABCOCK & WILCOX TUBE COMPANY 303
Committee, which in turn is affiliated with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
'Since April 12, 1937, the Union has had a collective bargaining
contract with the Company for its members only. In November
1939 the Union requested the Company to recognize it as the exclusive
representative of the Company's employees. The Company de-
^chned to grant the Union such recognition. Thereafter, the Union
filed the petition in this case.
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
with foreign countries, and tends to lead to labor disputes burdening
and obstructing commerce and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
At the hearing the Union and the Company stipulated that the
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining consists of
all employees of the Company at its Beaver Falls plant, excluding
foremen, assistant foremen, supervisors in charge of any classes of
labor, watchmen, and salaried employees. The Union and the Com-
pany further stipulated that time clerks, factory office workers, and
first-, second-, and third-class gang leaders be specifically included
in the appropriate unit. No reason appears for departing from the
unit agreed to by the parties.
We find that all employees of the Company at its Beaver Falls
-plant, including time clerks, factory office workers, and first-, second-,
and third-class gang leaders, but excluding foremen, assistant fore-
men, supervisors in charge of any classes of labor, watchmen, and
salaried employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
-collective bargaining and that said unit will insure to such employees
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
The Union and the Company both desire an election to determine
the question concerning representation and agreed at the hearing
304 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
that the pay roll for the period ending February 11, 1940, be used:
to determine eligibility to vote in the election. We, therefore, find-
that the question which has arisen concerning the representation of
the Company's employees can best be resolved by an election by secret
ballot. We shall direct that all employees within the appropriate.
unit who were employed during the pay-roll period ending February
11, 1940, including employees who did not work during such pay-roll
period because they were ill, on vacation, or temporarily laid off, but
excluding employees who have since quit or been discharged for-
cause, shall be eligible to vote in the election.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following:
CONCLUSIONS OF LA„'
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Babcock & Wilcox Tube Company, Borough
of West Mayfield, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, within the meaning-
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
2. All employees of Babcock & Wilcox Tube Company, Borough
of West Mayfield, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, at its Beaver Falls
plant, including time clerks, factory office workers, and first-, second-,,
and third-class gang leaders, but excluding foremen, assistant fore-
men, supervisors in charge of any classes of labor, watchmen, and
salaried employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the
National Labor Relations Act.
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 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
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation ordered by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Babcock & Wilcox Tube Company, Borough of West Mayfield,
Beaver County, Pennsylvania, 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 of Election, under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Sixth Region, acting in
this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board and
subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations,
BABCOCK & WILCOX TUBE COMPANY 305
.among all employees of Babcock & Wilcox Tube Company, Borough
of West Mayfield, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, at its Beaver Falls
plant, including time clerks, factory office workers, and first-, second-,
.and third-class gang leaders, but excluding foremen, assistant fore-
men, supervisors in charge of any classes of labor, watchmen, and
salaried employees, who were on the Company's pay roll during the
period ending February 11, 1940, including employees who were not
employed during the pay-roll period because they were ill or on
vacation, and employees who were then or have since been temporarily
'laid off, but excluding the employees who have since quit or been
discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be
represented by Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin Work-
ers, Local No. 1082, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations.