American Smelting and Refining Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 24, 1953

106 N.L.R.B. 403 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

AMERICAN SMELTING AND REFINING COMPANY 403
others. Upon the entire record, we find that he is not a super-
visor and we will include him in the unit.
We find that all employees in the electrical-maintenance
department at the Employer's South Gate, California, plant,
including maintenance electricians, apprentices, helpers, and
the leadman, but excluding all other employees, guards, and
supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute aunit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
AMERICAN SMELTING AND REFINING COMPANY and LOCAL
NO. 314, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRI-
CAL WORKERS, AFL, Petitioner. Case No. 21-RC-3069.
July 24, 1953
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before L. A. Gordon,
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 Act, the
Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to
a three-member panel [Members Houston, Murdock, and Peter-
son].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning
of the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent
employees of the Employer.'
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Employer is engaged in the smelting and converting
of copper and other nonferrous metals at its plant at Hayden,
Arizona. The Petitioner seeks to sever a unit of powerplant
employees from the existing production and maintenance unit. Y
The Smelter Workers contends that a unit of powerplant em-
ployees is inappropriate because they are not craftsmen and
because bargaining has been conducted at the plantfor the past
6 years on a broader basis. The Employer takes no position.
1Local 886. Hayden Smelterinen's Union, International Union of Mine. Mill and Smelter
Workers, hereafter referred to as Smelter Workers, intervened on the basis of acurrent
contractual interest.
I A unit of electricians was severed from the production and maintenance unit 4 years ago,
and is presently represented by the Petitioner herein.
106 NLRB No. 69
322615 0 -54 - 27
404 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The equipment and machinery constituting the powerplant
are located at one end of the large building where the smelting
and converting operations for the entire plant are performed.
Steam is generated in boilers which are part of the smelter
furnaces , for use in turbines and air compressor machinery.
The turbines are used in the generation of electric power. The
4 powerplant operators and 1 utility man who constitute the
proposed powerplant unit operate and maintain the turbines and
air compressor machinery under the supervision of their own
foreman.
In Case No . 21-RC -932 (1951 ) the Petitioner and the Smelter
Workers were parties to a consent election for determination
of a bargaining representative for a powerhouse unit, identical
with that petitioned for here . The Smelter Workers was certi-
fied as a result of winning that election , and has represented
the powerhouse unit as part of the larger unit which it repre-
sents under its contract . We find , in accordance with our usual
policy , that powerhouse employees , operating under the condi-
tions described above , constitute a departmental group which is
functionally unified and homogeneous . Despite the 6-year
period of bargaining on a broader basis we find that the power-
house employees may constitute a separate appropriate unit,
or may continue , as in the past , to be represented as part of
the production and maintenance unit.3
Accordingly , we shall direct an election in the following
voting group:
All employees in the powerplant of the Employer's smelter
at Hayden , Arizona , excluding supervisors as defined in the Act.
If a majority of the employees in this group vote for the
Petitioner , they will be taken to have indicated their desire
to be represented in a separate unit, and the Regional Director
conducting the election directed herein is instructed to issue a
certification of representatives to the Petitioner for such a
unit , which the Board under such circumstances , finds to be
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. If,
however , a majority of the employees in the group vote for the
Smelter Workers, they will be taken to have indicated their
desire to remain part of the existing production and mainte-
nance unit , and the Regional Director is instructed to issue a
certification of results to that effect.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
Member Peterson, dissenting:
In view of the collective -bargaining history on a plantwide
basis since 1947, and in the absence of any factors warranting
their severance from the established unit other than their
alleged craft status , I would not accord the powerplant em-
ployees separate representation. See my dissenting opinion in
W. C. Hamilton and Sons , 104 NLRB 627.
3 St. Regis Paper Company, 104 NLRB 411.