Black Mammoth Consolidated Mining Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 27, 1938

7 N.L.R.B. 1201 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter of BLACK MAMMOTH CONSOLIDATED MINING COMPANY
and INTERNATIONAL UNION, MINE, MILL & SMELTER WORKERS
Case No. C-530.-Decided June 27, 1938
Gold and Salver Manang and 11lalling fndastry-Settlement: stipulation pro-
viding for withdrawal of recognition from and disestablishment of company-
dominated union-Order: entered on stipulation.
Mr. Weldon P. Monson, for the Board.
Mr. Lowell Daniels, for the respondent.
Mr. C. J. Powers, for the International.
Mr. Abraham J. Harris, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon charges duly filed by International Union, Mine, Mill &
Smelter Workers, herein called the International, the National Labor
Relations Board, herein called the Board, by Alice M. Rosseter,
Regional Director for the Twentieth Region (San Francisco, Califor-
nia), issued its complaint dated January 14, 1938, against Black
Mammoth Consolidated Mining Company, Silver Peak, Nevada,
herein called the respondent. The complaint and notice of hearing
thereon were duly served upon the respondent, the International, and
the Silver Peak Mine and Mill Workers Association.
The complaint alleged that the respondent had engaged in and
was engaging in unfair labor practices affecting commerce within
the meaning of Section 8 (1) and (2) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of
the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act.
On January 21, 1938, the respondent filed its answer to the com-
plaint, denying that its operations affect interstate commerce within
the meaning of the Act and that it had engaged in or was engaged in
the alleged unfair labor practices. The respondent on the same date
also filed a demurrer and a motion to strike the complaint.
On January 26, 1938, the Regional Director signed and duly served
a notice of postponement of hearing. The hearing was postponed
until further notice.
1201
1202 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
On February 1, 1938, counsel for the Board, the respondent, and
the International entered into the following stipulation :
It is hereby stipulated by and between the Black Mammoth
Consolidated Mining Company, the International Union, Mine,
Mill and Smelter Workers and the National Labor Relations
Board as follows :
1. The respondent, the Black Mammoth Consolidated Mining
Company, is and has been since December 21, 1920, a corporation
organized and existing under the laws of the State of Nevada_
It is engaged in the mining, milling, sale and distribution of gold
and silver, and in development operations. It has its mines and
works in and near the vicinity of Silver Peak, Esmeralda Conuty,
Nevada, with its principal office in Tonopah, Nevada. The cap-
ital stock of respondent consists of 5,000,000 shares of common
stock at 100 per share, making a total capital of $500,000. The
stock is listed on both the Los Angeles and San Francisco Mining
Exchanges. From January 1, 1935 to January 1, 1938, over
$1,181,790.45 in gross value, principally gold, was recovered by
the respondent from its mines. The respondent has seventy lode
claims which cover approximately one thousand acres. It owns
patented and unpatented mining claims and millsites, together
with all property, facilities and equipment capable of treating
ore at the sustained rate of 150 tons per clay, and consisting of
mills, machinery, equipment, haulage ways, etc., together with
various accommodation buildings and equipment, all located at
or near Silver Peak, Nevada. In the matter of tonnage of crude
ore the respondent was the third largest gold producer in the
State of Nevada during 1936. During 1937 the respondent
ranked fourth. The entire amount of gold and silver ore milled
by the respondent at its mills in Silver Peak is reduced to a form
of bullion or slag, and precipitates, and in these forms are trans-
ported and sold to the American Smelting and Refining Com-
pany, at Selby, California. From Selby, California, it is trans-
ported and sold to the United States Mint at San Francisco,
California, under and pursuant to the provisions of the Gold
Reserve Act of 1934 (U. S. C. Title 31, Section 315b, 408a, 408b,
441 to 446, 821 and 822a), and the Provisional Regulations and
amendments thereto and issued thereunder by the United States
Treasury Department. A substantial portion of the steel, lum-
ber, powder, carbide, various machines and power engines, pumps,
bolts and -nuts, chemicals and other equipment and materials
used in the production of gold and silver at its said Silver Peak
mining properties is purchased by the respondent in various
DECISIONS AND O1tDERS 1203
states of the United States other than the State of Nevada. The
aforesaid operations of the company constitute trade, traffic and
commerce among the several states and have a close, intimate and
substantial relation thereto, as is contemplated and defined by
Section 2, subsections 6 and 7 of the National Labor Relations
Act and the decisions of the National Labor Relations Board
rendered thereunder.
2. Black Mammoth Consolidated Mining Company, respond-
ent in the above action, hereby consents to the issuance of an
Order by the National Labor Relations Board in the terms stated
below
ORDER
On the basis of the above consent, and pursuant to Section 10 C
of the National Labor Relations Act, the National Labor Rela-
tions Board hereby Orders that the respondent, Black Mammoth
Consolidated Mining Company, Silver Peak, Nevada, and its
officers, agent, successors and assigns shall :
1. Cease and desist from discouraging membership in the In-
ternational Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers, or any
other organization of its employees.
1B. From dominating or interfering with the administration
of the Silver Peak Mine and Mill Workers Association, or with
the formation or administration of any other labor organization
of their employees, and by contributing financial or other support
to the Silver Peak Mine and Mill Workers Association, or any
other labor organization of their employees.
1C. In any other manner interfering with, restraining or co-
ercing their employees in the exercising of the right of the
Silver Peak Mine and Mill Workers Association; to form, join
or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively by represent-
atives of their own choosing, and to engage in concerted activities
for the purposes of collective bargaining, or other mutual aid or
protection.
2. Take the following affirmative action which the Board, finds
will effectuate the policy of the Act.
a. Withdraw all recognition from the Silver Peak Union as
representative of any of their employees, for the purpose of deal-
ing with the respondent concerning grievances, labor disputes,
wage rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work,
and disestablish the Silver Peak Union as such representative.
b. Post notices in conspicuous places throughout its properties
stating that
-•.1204 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOA-11D
(1) The respondent will cease and desist in the manner afore-
said.
(2) That the Sih er Peak Union is so disestablished, on the
order of the Board, as representative of employees for collective
bargaining, and that the respondent will refrain from any recog-
nition thereof ; and
(3) That such notices Will remain posted for a period of at
least thirty (30) consecutive days from the date of posting.
c. In notifying the Regional Director for the Twentieth Re-
gion in Writing, within ten days from date of this Order, the
steps respondent has taken to comply herewith.
On April 20, 1938, the Board, acting pursuant to Article II, Sec-
tion 37, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
Series 1, as amended , ordered the proceedings in the case trans-
ferred to and continued before the Board.
On May 27, 1938, the respondent executed a stipulation whereby
paragraph 1-C of the order contained in the stipulation of February
1 was amended to read as follows :
1C. In any other manner interfering with, restraining or
coercing their employees in the exercise of their right to self-
organization; to form, join or assist labor organizations, to bar-
gain collectively by representatives of their own choosing, and
to engage in concerted activities for the purposes of collective
bargaining, or other mutual aid or protection.
Upon the stipulation and the entire record in the case, the Board
makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF TILE RESPONDENT-
The respondent, Black Mammoth Consolidated Mining Company,
is a corporation, organized under the laws of the State of Nevada,
with its principal office in Tonopah, Nevada, and its mines and works
in and near the vicinity of Silver Peak, Esmeralda County, Nevada.
The respondent is engaged in the mining, milling, sale, and distribu-
tion of gold and silver and in development operations. Measured
by tonnage of crude ore, the respondent was, in 1936, the third larg-
est gold producer in the State of Nevada and, in 1937, the fourth
largest.
In the production of gold and silver the respondent uses steel,
lumber, powder. carbide, various machines and power engines,
pumps, bolts, nuts, chemicals, and other equipment and materials.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 1205
It purchases a substantial portion of these outside the State of
Nevada.
From January 1, 1935, to January 1, 1938, over $1,181,790.45 in
gross value, principally gold, was recovered by the respondent from
its mines. All the gold and silver ore milled by the respondent at
its mills in Silver Peak, Nevada, is reduced to a form of bullion or
slag, and precipitates, and in these forms is transported and sold to
the American Smelting and Refining Company at Selby, California.
We find that the operations of the respondent constitute trade,
traffic, and commerce among the several States.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and stipulation, and
pursuant to Section 10 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, the
National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the respondent,
Black Mammoth Consolidated Mining Company, Silver Peak, Ne-
vada, and its officers, agents, successors, and assigns shall:
1. Cease and desist :
(a) From discouraging membership in the International Union,
Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers, or any other organization of its
employees ;
(b) From dominating or interfering with the administration of the
Silver Peak Mine and Mill Workers Association, or with the forma-
tion or administration of any other labor organization of its employ-
ees, and by contributing financial or other support to the Silver Peak
Mine and Mill Workers Association, or any other labor organization
of its employees;
(c) From in any other manner interfering with, restraining, or
coercing its employees in the exercise of their right to self-organiza-
tion; to form, join, or assist labor organizations; to bargain collec-
tively through, representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in
concerted activities for the purposes of collective bargaining, or other
mutual aid or protection.
2. Take the following affirmative action which the Board finds
will effectuate the policies of the Act :
(a) Withdraw all recognition from the Silver Peak Union as rep-
resentative of any of its employees, for the purpose of dealing with
the respondent concerning grievances, labor disputes, wage rates of
pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work, and disestablish
the Silver Peak Union as such representative;
(b) Post notices in conspicuous places throughout its properties,
stating that (1) the respondent will cease and desist in the manner
aforesaid: (2) the Silver Peak Union is so disestablished, on the order,
0
1206 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of the Board as representative of employees for collective bargaining,
and that the respondent will refrain from any recognition thereof ;
and (3) such notices will remain posted for a period of at least thirty
(30) consecutive days from the date of posting;
(c) Notify the Regional Director for the Twentieth Region in
-writing, within ten (10) days from the date of this order, what steps
respondent has taken to comply herewith.