American Zinc Co. of Illinois

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 30, 1949

87 N.L.R.B. 1550 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of AMERICAN ZINC COMPANY OF ILLINOIS , EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF MINE, MILL AND SMELTER WORKERS, CIO.
PETITIONER
Case No. 14-RC-826.-Decided December 30,1949
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Milton O.
Talent, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. The
Employer's motion to dismiss the petition upon the ground, among
others, that an existing collective bargaining contract is a bar to this
proceeding is granted for the reasons given in paragraph 3, below.
The Employer's request for oral argument is denied as, in our opinion,
the record and briefs adequately set forth the positions of the parties.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
(1) and Section'2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the following reasons:
On July 1, 1947, the Employer, the Petitioner, and Local 418 of the
Petitioner executed a collective bargaining contract which expired on
June 30, 1948. On August 13, 1948, the production and maintenance
workers, who had been covered by the contract, went on strike. All
production at the plant ceased and the plant was closed.
On December 16, 1948, a consent election was conducted by the
Board in Case No. 14-RC-571 to determine whether or not the striking
employees desired to be represented by United Zinc Oxide Workers,
an independent local union which had filed a representation petition.
As the Petitioner herein was not then in compliance with Section 9 (f),
(g), and (h) of the Act, its name did not appear on the ballot. No
bargaining representative was chosen, and the strike continued.
87 NLRB No. 163.
1550
AMERICAN ZINC COMPANY OF ILLINOIS 1551
On August 1, 1949, nearly 1 year after the strike began, Local 418
withdrew from the Petitioner and surrendered its charter. Within a
day or two thereafter, the members of Local 418 voted to affiliate with
the International Hod Carriers Union, which chartered them as Local.
1201, the Intervenor herein. On August 9, 1949, the Petitioner came
into compliance with Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act, and on
the same day filed its petition with the Board.' Two days later,.on
August 11, 1949, the Employer and the Intervenor signed a collective
bargaining contract which had previously been unanimously approved
by the membership of the Intervenor, and the year-old strike was
ended.
The Employer and the Intervenor contend that the August 11, 1949,
contract, which will not expire until August 31, 1951, is a bar to this
proceeding. The Petitioner, on the other hand, argues that the con-
tract is not a bar because it was signed 2 days after the Petitioner
had filed its representation petition with the Board.
The petition was filed less than 8 months after the December 16,
1948, consent election which failed to result in the selection of a bar-
gaining representative. Section 9 (c) (3) of the Act provides that
"No election shall be directed in any bargaining unit . . . within
which, in the preceding 12-month period, a valid election shall have
been held." Under the statute, therefore, no election could possibly
have been held until at least 4 months after the filing of the petition.
We believe that in these circumstances, the petition was prematurely
filed? For that reason, we find that its filing does not prevent the
contract validly executed 2 days later, from being a bar during its
term. Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petition.
ORDER
IT Is HEREBY ORDERED that the petition filed by International Union
of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, CIO, be, and it hereby is,
dismissed.
1 The Regional Director did not notify the Employer that the petition had been filed
until August 22, 1949.
2 Lehrolite, use., 75 NLRB 607.