Bethlehem Steel Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 10, 1945

64 N.L.R.B. 1292 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of BETHLEHEM STEEL COMPANY and INDUSTRIAL UNION
OF MARINE & SHIPBUILDING WORKERS OF AMERICA , CIO, Loc AI,
No. 13
Case No. 3-R-5836.-Decided December 10, 194,5
Mr. Edward E. Kirwan, of New York City, for the Company.
Mr. William L. Standard, by Mr. Herman Rosenfeld, of New York
City, for the Union.
Mr. A. Swmner Lawrence, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Industrial Union of Marine & Ship-
building Workers of America, CIO, Local No. 13, herein called the
Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concern-
ing the representation of employees of Bethlehem Steel Company, New
York City, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations
Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before
Richard J. Hickey, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at New
York City on September 18, 1945. The Company and the Union
appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity
to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce
evidence bearing on the issues. The Company's motion to dismiss is
hereby denied for reasons hereinafter stated. 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
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Bethlehem Steel Company, a Pennsylvania corporation, has offices
for its shipbuilding division in New York City, where it operates a
yard, known as the 27th Street Brooklyn yard, engaged in the repair,
64 N. L. R. B., No. 214.
1292
BETHLEHEM STEEL COMPANY 1293
alteration, and conversion of ships. During the calendar year 1944, the
aggregate value of all materials manufactured at such yard, was in
excess of $1,000,000, of which more than 90 percent was obtained from
points outside the State of New York. During the same period, the
amount billed by the Company for such work was in excess of
$1,000,000, of which more than 90 percent was billed in respect to work
on ships which were destined for use in interstate or foreign commerce
or for the United States Government.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act.
• II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Industrial Union of Marine & Shipbuilding Workers of America,
Local No. 13, 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 the Company's
plant-protection employees.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
We find that a question 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 to represent all guards and watchmen 2 employed
at the Company's 27th Street Brooklyn yard, excluding sergeants 3 and
all other supervisory employees. The Company contends that a unit of
guards and watchmen is inappropriate because such employees are
identified with management and are not employees within the meaning
of the Act. The Company agrees, however, that if a unit of guards and
watchmen is appropriate, sergeants and other supervisory employees
should be excluded therefrom.
' The Board agent reported that the Union had submitted 50 designations, of which 35
dated in July and August 1945, including 26 undated, checked with the Company 's current
pay roll, which at the date of the hearing contained the names of 44 employees in the
claimed appropriate unit.
2 Aside from a slight difference in salary , there is at present no distinction between em-
ployees in the classifications of guards and watchmen , respectively.
' Both parties agree, and we find, that sergeants are supervisory employees within the
meaning of our usual definition.
1294 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Company's guards and watchmen are uniformed and armed,
but at present are neither militarized nor deputized. Generally de-
scribed, their duties consist of maintaining order and protecting life
and property. More specifically, their collective functions are to iden-
tify employees seeking entrance at the main gate, to deny unauthorized
persons and vehicles access to the plant, to check vehicles entering the
yard, to investigate accidents, to guard against sabotage and theft,
and to enforce safety regulations of the Company. In the fulfilment
of the latter duty, guards are authorized to give orders for the purpose
of preventing disturbances on the premises of the Company, arising
out of violations of company rules relating to gambling, drinking, and
other kinds of misconduct. Other than the right to expel disorderly
employees from the Company's premises, guards have no authority
to discipline, hire, discharge, or effectively recommend changes in status
of other employees. Although both guards and watchmen are located
within the Industrial Relations Department and are under the direct
supervision of the head thereof, they are not concerned with the formu-
lation of company policy, do not represent management in the process-
ing of grievances, and do not participate in the negotiation of con-
tracts in the capacity of management representatives. It is, more-
over, undisputed that the duties of the plant-protection employees
herein concerned are not basically different from those of similar em-
ployees at other plants of the Company whom the Board has found
to constitute appropriate bargaining units 4 Upon all the evidence,
we find, contrary to the Company's contention, that the guards and
watchmen hereinabove referred to are employees within the meaning
of the Act.
The further contention of the Company that since the Union now
represents the production and maintenance employees at this division,
it cannot also represent the guards and watchmen in a separate unit
because of alleged conflicting loyalties, has been presented to and
rejected by the Board in numerous prior Board decisions.5
We find that all guards and watchmen of the Company employed at
its 27th Street Brooklyn yard, excluding sergeants and all other super-
visory 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 bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
4 See Matter of Bethlehem Steel Company , Shipbuilding Division ( East Boston Yards),
50 N. L . R. B. 172; Matter of Bethlehem Steel Company, Shipbuilding Division ( Hoboken
Yaw (1). 52 N L R B. 1265; Matter of Bethlehem Steel Company , 61 N. L. R B 892.
6 See Matter of American Cgstoscope Makers, Inc ., 61 N. L . it. B. 1226; Matter of The
Electric Auto-Lite Company, 62 N. L. R. B. 1356 ; Matter of Aluminum Company of America,
63 N. L. it. B 828 , and cases cited therein.
BETHLEHEM STEEL COMPANY 1295
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation be re-
solved by an election by secret ballot among the employees in the
appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period imme-
diately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein, subject.
to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction.
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 Relations 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, New York City, an election by secret ballot shall be con-
ducted as early as possible, but not later than sixty (60) days from the
date of this Direction , under the direction and supervision of the Re-
gional 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 Regulations , among the employees
in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this
Direction, including employees who did not work during 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 Industrial Union of
Marine & Shipbuilding Workers of America, Local 13, affiliated with
the Congress of Industrial Organizations, for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
MR. JOHN M. HOUSTON took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Election.