American Cyanamid & Chemical Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 22, 1941

30 N.L.R.B. 526 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of AMERICAN CYANAMID & CHEMICAL CORPORATION,.
SELDEN DIVISION and LOCAL No. 12059, DISTRICT No. 50, UNITED-
MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA
Case No. R-2375.-Decided March 22, 1941
- Jurisdiction : chemical products manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: stip-
ulated ; election unnecessary : Company agreeable to certification on the
record
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all production and maintenance,
employees of the Company at its Selden Division plant, excluding salaried
supervisors, assistant supervisors, confidential salaried employees, foremen,
head workmen, and watchmen ; no controversy as to.
Mr. Henry C. Little, of New York City, for the Company.
Mr. Thomas W. Shane, Jr., of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Union.
Miss Mary E. Perkins, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On February 7, 1941, Local No. 12059, District No. 50, United'
Mine Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress of Indus-
trial Organizations, herein called the Union, filed with the Regional
Director for the Sixth Region (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) a peti-
tion alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concern-
ing the representation of employees of American Cyanamid &
-Chemical Corporation, herein called the Company, at its Seldeli
Division plant, and requesting an investigation and certification of
representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On February 26,
1941, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board,
acting pursuant 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 Director to conduct it and, to provide for an appropriate
hearing upon due notice.
30 N. L. R. B., No. 78.
526
AMERIC AN CYANAMID & 'CHEMICAL CORPORATION 527
On February 27, 1941 , the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing , copies of which were duly served upon the Company and
the Union . Pursuant to the notice , a hearing was held on March 7,
1941, at Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , before Robert •H. Kleeb , * the =Trial
Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner . The Com-
pany was represented by counsel and the Union by its representa-
tive; both participated in the hearing . Full opportunity to be
heard , to examine and to cross-examine witnesses , and to introduce
evidence bearing on the issues was afforded both parties . During
the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made no rulings on
motions or objections to the admission of evidence.
Upon the entire record 'in the case , the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
American Cyanamid & Chemical' Corporation is a Delaware cor-
poration authorized to do business in the Commonwealth of Penn-
sylvania. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Cyanamid
Company, which has several other subsidiaries , all of them engaged
in the business of manufacturing and selling chemicals and chemical
products.
The Company is engaged in the manufacture , sale, and distribu-
tion of a large number of chemicals and chemical products and
operates approximately 20 plants in various States of the United
States, including New Jersey , Pennsylvania , Illinois , Michigan,
Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina , and California. At its Selden
Division plant in Bridgeville , Pennsylvania , which alone is here
involved , the Company used in 1940 over one million dollars worth
of raw materials , approximately 84 per' cent of .which were obtained
outside Pennsylvania. During the same period the Company's total
sales of finished products from its Selden Division plant exceeded-
one million dollars, over 60 per cent of which products were sold
and shipped to points outside of Pennsylvania.
The Company employs approximately 430 persons at its Selden
Division plant.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Local No. 12059, District No. 50, United Mine Workers of Amer-
ica, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of,Industrial
Organizations, admitting to membership production and mainte-
nance employees of the Company.
528 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
It was stipulated at the hearing that the Union has requested the
Company to recognize it-as exclusive bargaining agent for all pro-
duction and maintenance employees at the Selden Division plant and
that the Company declined so to recognize it until it should be cer-
tified by the Board. From a' statement of the Regional Director
introduced in evidence and from testimony of a field examiner of
the Board, it appears, that a substantial number of the Company's
employees at this plant have designated the Union as their bargain-
ing agent.'
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation'
of employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION ON
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 tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing com-
merce and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union contends that the appropriate unit should consist of
all production and maintenance employees excluding salaried super-
visors, assistant supervisors, confidential salaried employees,2 fore-
men, head workmen, and watchmen at the Selden Division plant of
the Company. The Company has no objection to this unit.
It appears that the Union is limited to employees of the Com-
pany at its Selden Division plant, and admits to membership all'
employees in the unit requested. No other labor organization seeks
to represent these employees of the Company. Under the circum-
stances we see no reason for departing from the desires of the Union.
We find that all production and maintenance employees exclud-
ing salaried supervisors, assistant supervisors, confidential salaried
employees, foremen, head workmen, and watchmen at the Selden
Division plant of the Company constitute a unit appropriate' for
the purposes of collective bargaining and that said unit will insure
' The Regional Director ' s statement shows that 262 persons who have signed application
cards for membership in the Union were on the Company ' s pay roll for the period ending
January 11 , 1941. All these cards have been signed since July 15, 1937 , the date on which
the Union was chartered The Company employed 427 persons on December 28, 1940.
2It was stipulated at the hearing that the Union means to include in the classification
"confidential salaried employees" all present employees wbo are paid on a salary basis and
all,employees who may in the future do work comparable to that now being done by such
employees and who are likewise paid on a salary basis
AMERICATT CYANAMID & CHEMICAL coRPooRATioA . 529
to employees of -the - Company the -full benefit of their right to self-
organization and,collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the
policies of the Act. -
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Union desires certification on the record. The Company is,
agreeable to such certification and has stipulated that a majority
of the employees in the, unit herein found to be appropriate have
requested membership in the Union. Evidence was introduced at
the hearing showing that a majority of the employees in the unit
found to be appropriate have requested membership in the Union
and have designated it as,their representative for the purposes of
collective bargaining. We shall certify the Union as the exclusive
representative of these employees.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following: -
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of American Cyanamid & Chemical Corpora-
tion, at its Selden Division plant, Bridgeville, Pennsylvania, within
the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the
National Labor Relations Act.
2. All production and maintenance employees of the Company
at its Selden Division plant, excluding salaried supervisors, assist-
ant supervisors, confidential salaried employees, foremen, head work-
men, and watchmen constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section .9 • (b) of-
the National Labor Relations Act.
3. Local No. 12059, District No. 50, United Mine Workers of
America, affiliated with Congress of Industrial Organizations, has
been designated and selected by a majority of the employees in the
above unit as their representative'for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining and is the exclusive representative of all the employees in
said unit, within the meaning of Section -9 (a) of the National'
Labor Relations Act.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
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, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Sections 8 and
9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series-
2, as amended,
530 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
IT Is HEREBY CERTIFIED that Local No. 12059, District No. 50,
United Mine Workers of America, affiliated with Congress of Indus-,
trial Organizations, has been designated and selected by a majority
of the production and maintenance employees of American Cyana-
mid & Chemical Corporation at its Selden Division plant in Bridge-
ville, Pennsylvania, excluding salaried supervisors, assistant
supervisors, confidential salaried employees, foremen, head workmen,
and watchmen, as their representative for the purposes of collective
bargaining, and, that, pursuant to the provisions of Section 9 (a)
of the Act, Local No. 12059, District No. 50, United Mine Workers
of America, f affiliated with Congress of Industrial Organizations,
is the exclusive representative of all such employees for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours
of employment, and other conditions of employment. _