Mathieson Chemical Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 12, 1952

101 N.L.R.B. 274 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

274 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the Overton exchange, the chief operator-cashier at the Groesbeck ex-
change, the retired operator at the Hico exchange, and the agent at
the Bullard exchange; 14 chief clerk, assistant treasurer and secretary
to the president, secretary to the vice president, secretary to the gen-
eral manager, construction foremen, president, vice presidents, gener-
al manager, assistant to general manager, secretary-auditor, assistant
auditor, assistant secretary, treasurer, plant superintendent, traffic
superintendent, and directory supervisor at Tyler; and all other
supervisors as defined in the Act 15
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
34 J. C. Taylor.
15 With the exception of the disputed classifications referred to supra, the composition of
the voting group conforms to the stipulation of the parties.
MATHIESON CHEMICAL CORPORATION and UNITED ASSOCIATION OF
JOURNEYMEN AND APPRENTICES OF THE PLUMBING AND PIPEFITTING
INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, LOCAL UNION No.
152, AFL, PETITIONER
MATHIESON CHEMICAL CORPORATION and BROTHERHOOD OF PAINTERS,
DECORATORS AND PAPERHANGERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL UNION No. 850,
AFL, PETITIONER
MATHIESON CHEMICAL CORPORATION and INTERNATIONAL BROTHER-
HOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL UNION No. 425, AFL, PETI-
TIONER
MATHIESON CHEMICAL CORPORATION and LOCAL 549, INTERNATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF BRIDGE, STRUCTURAL AND ORNAMENTAL IRON WORK-
ERS, AFL, PETITIONER
MATHIESON CHEMICAL CORPORATION and UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF
CARPENTERS AND JOINERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 1369, AFL, PETITIONER
MATHIESON CHEMICAL CORPORATION and INTERNATIONAL CHEMICAL
WORKERS UNION, AFL, PETITIONER. Cases Nos. 6-RC-946,6-RC-
1001, 6-RC-1047, 6-RC-962, 6-RC-987, 6-RC-1008, 6-RC-1014,
6-RC-1015, 6-RC-1016, 6-RC-1017, 6-RC-1019, 6-RC-1020, and
6-RC-1037. November 12, 1952
Supplemental Decision, Order, and Direction of Additional
Elections
On September 5, 1952, the Board issued a Decision, Order, and
Direction of Elections in the above-entitled proceeding.' Thereafter,
1100 NLRB 1028.
101 NLRB No. 80.
MATHIESON CHEMICAL CORPORATION 275
on motion filed by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners
of America, Local Union No. 1369, hereinafter termed the Carpenters,
the Board ordered that the record be reopened and remanded the pro-
ceeding to the Regional Director for further hearing. On September
30, 1952, the reopened hearing was held before William A. McGowan,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
On the entire record, including the record of the reopened hearing,
the Board finds :
1. The Employer, at the time of the reopened hearing, employed
10 carpenters and 2 helpers in its maintenance group. The carpenters
have a separate shop and work under the supervision of a carpenter
foreman. In the course of their duties, they work in the various sec-
tions of the Employer's extensive plant as well as performing assign-
ments in the carpenter shop. While the original record in this pro-
ceeding indicated that the carpenters did rough carpentry work for
the great majority of their time, testimony introduced at the reopened
hearing shows that the carpenters do a wide variety of skilled work
including construction and maintenance of temporary buildings, door
and window work, and construction of concrete forms and steps. Upon
the record as now constituted, we find that the Employer's carpenters
constitute a highly skilled, homogeneous group of craft employees who
may constitute a separate bargaining unit if they so desire.
2. The Employer also employed eight material fabricators and two
helpers at the time of the reopened hearing. These employees work
under separate supervision of a foreman skilled in that work and have
a separate shop for their use which includes such power tools as a
punch shear, power shear, power roll, square shear, and other metal
fabricating machinery. One employee, classified as a material fabri-
cator, does predominately blacksmith work in a separate location. He
is, however, under the same supervision as the material fabricators,
is regularly assisted by their helpers and, on occasion, by the material
fabricators themselves. The record shows that these employees exer-
cise the skills and perform the duties of sheet metal workers whom we
have previously found entitled to separate representation. According
ly, on the record as now constituted, we find that the Employer's ma-
terial fabricators constitute a highly skilled homogeneous group of
craft employees who may constitute a separate bargaining unit if
they so desire.
3. In view of the findings made hereinabove, we shall vacate that
portion of the Decision, Order, and Direction of Elections pre-
viously issued in this proceeding which dismissed the petitions of the
Carpenters for separate units of carpenters and material fabricators.
We shall also direct that the ballots of employees classified as car-
penters, carpenter helpers, material fabricators, and material fabri-
242305-53-19
276 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
cator helpers, which were cast in the election among voting group (7)
of the original Decision, Order, and Direction of Elections and chal-
lenged, shall be declared void and destroyed without opening.2 We
shall further direct that separate elections be held among the follow-
ing voting groups (numbered in sequence following those in the
Board's Decision, Order, and Direction of Elections) :
(8) All carpenters and helpers excluding supervisors as de-
fined in the amended Act and all other employees.
(9) All material fabricators and helpers excluding super-
visors as defined in the amended Act and all other employees.
If a majority of the employees in either voting group select a labor
organization 3 as their representative, those employees will be taken
to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate bargaining unit
and the Regional Director conducting the election is instructed to
issue a certification of representatives to the labor organization
selected by the employees in each group for such unit, which the Board,
in such circumstances, finds to be appropriate for purposes of col-
lective bargaining.'
Order
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petitions filed in Cases Nos. 6-RC-1017
and 6-RC-1019, previously dismissed, are herewith reinstated.
IT Is FURTHER ORDERED that the challenged ballots of material fabri-
cators, carpenters, and their respective helpers which were cast among
voting group (7) in the elections held at this plant of the Employer's
on September 23 and 24, 1952, are hereby declared null and void and
shall be destroyed by the Regional Director for the Sixth Region in
whose custody they are now retained.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
CHAIRMAN HERZOG and MEMBER HOUSTON took no part in the con-
sideration of the above Supplemental Decision, Order, and Direction
of Additional Elections.
2 On September 23 and 24, 1952 , elections were conducted among the employees at this
plant of the Employer 's as directed in the Board 's Decision, Order, and Direction of
Elections. The Employer's carpenters and material fabricators and their respective helpers
were eligible to vote in the election held among production and maintenance employees
in voting group numbered ( 7) of that decision , but the ballots of those individuals were
challenged in view of the Board 's action in reopening the record as to their craft status.
3 As in the craft voting group elections directed in the original decision in these cases,
we shall place the name of the United Gas, Coke and Chemical Workers, CIO, and the
International Chemical Workers Union , AFL, on the ballot with the name of the petitioning
Carpenters.
4 As no union received a majority of the ballots cast in the election of September 23
and 24 as representative of a broad unit of all production and maintenance employees
(voting group ( 7)1, the question of inclusion of the carpenters and material fabricators
in such a unit has become moot. Accordingly , we shall not provide for that particular
choice.