Bethlehem Steel Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 23, 1945

64 N.L.R.B. 424 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of BETHLEHEM STEEL COMPANY (SHIPBUILDING Dlvi-
SION) and LOCAL 13, INDUSTRIAL UNION OF MARINE & SHIPBUILDING
WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO
Case No. 2-R-51.34.Decided October 103, 1945
Mr. Gerald J. Reilly, of Bethlehem, Pa., for the Company.
Mr. Herman Rosenfeld, of New York City, and Mr. John King, of
Brooklyn, N. Y., for the Union.
Mr. Nathan Saks, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon an amended petition duly filed by Local 13, Industrial Union
of Marine & Shipbuilding Workers of America, CIO, herein called
the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen
concerning the representation of employees of Bethlehem Steel Com-
pany (Shipbuilding Division), Brooklyn, New York, herein called
the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice before Cyril W. O'Gorman, Trial
Examiner. Said hearing was held at New York City on June 27,
1945. The Company and the Union appeared and participated. AJ1
parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and
cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the
issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were
afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Bethlehem Steel Company, a Pennsylvania corporation, has its
principal office for its Shipbuilding Division in New York City. One
of the shipyards of the Shipbuilding Division is located at 27th Street,
Brooklyn, New York, where the Company is engaged in the repair,
64 N L. R B., No. 78.
424
BETHLEHEM STEEL COMPANY 425
alteration, and conversion of ships. This is the only operation of the
Company involved in this proceeding. During the year 1944, the
Company used at its 27th Street yard raw materials valued iii excess
of $1,000,000, more than 50 percent of which came from points out-
side the State of New York. During the same period, the value of
the work performed at the 27th Street yard exceeded $1,000,000, of
which more than 50 percent represented work on ships destined for
use in interstate or foreign commerce.
. We find that the Company is engaged in,commerce within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Local 13, Industrial Union of Marine & Shipbuilding Workers of
America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is
a labor organization admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative 'of certain of its employees until
the Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.,'
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the
representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit of all senior stores clerks, senior material
clerks, junior material clerks, and material clerks paid on a salary
basis who are employed in the Company's Stores Department at its
27th Street, Brooklyn, New York, shipyard, excluding all supervisory
employees. The Company objects generally to the appropriateness
of this unit and desires Board determination on this issue.
The functions of the Stores Department consist of ordering, receiv-
ing, and disbursing all materials used at the 27th Street yard. All the
employees in the alleged appropriate unit are engaged, for the most
part, in keeping the necessary clerical records in connection with these
three functions. They are the only employees at the yard performing
'The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 11 application -authorization
cards , that the names of 7 persons appearing on the cards were listed on the Company's
pay roll , which contained the names of 19 employees in the alleged appropriate unit ; and
that all 7 cards were dated January 1945.
426 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
such duties, and the only non-supervisory employees in the Stores
Department who are paid on a salary basis.2 They are under common
supervision and enjoy similar working conditions. In view of the
foregoing, we are of the opinion that the employees in the unit sought
represent a well-defined, homogeneous group of employees with com-
mon interests who may properly function together for the purposes
of collective bargaining.
Accordingly, we find that all senior stores clerks, senior material
clerks, junior material clerks, and material clerks paid on a salary
basis who are employed in the Company's Stores Department at its
27th Street, Brooklyn, New York, shipyard, but excluding the ma-
terial supervisor, general storekeeper, senior stores clerk who acts as
the general storekeeper's assistant, senior material clerk who super-
vises the counter section in the storehouse, senior material clerk who
supervises the receiving section in the storehouse, senior material clerk
at the 26th Street warehouse,3 and all other supervisory employees with
authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect
changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such
action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. TIIE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direc-
ti on.
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 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Bethlehem Steel
Company (Shipbuilding Division), Brooklyn, New York, an election
by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later
2 The Union , by virtue of a contract with the Company, is presently the bargaining rep-
resentative for all hourly paid production , maintenance , and stockroom employees at a
number of the Company 's shipyards , including the 27th Street yard. The clerks in the
Stores Department at the 27th Street yard who are paid on an hourly basis are covered
by that contract . They perform functions which are different from those of the clerks
involved here, apparently spending their time in the physical handling of materials.
2 The parties agree that these employees are supervisory , and therefore , should be ex-
cluded from the unit. Accordingly , we shall exclude them.
BETHLEHEM STEEL COMPANY 427
than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction, under the direc-
tion and supervision of the Regional Director for the Second Region,
acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board,
and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regu-
lations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Sec-
tion IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period imme-
diately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who
did not work during the said pay-roll period because they were ill or
on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the
armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person
at the polls, but excluding those employees who have since quit or
been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior
to the date of the election, to determine whether or not they desire to
be represented by Local 13, Industrial Union of Marine & Shipbuild-
ing Workers of America, CIO, for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing.
MR . GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.