Bunker Hill and Sullivan Mining and Concentrating Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 12, 1942

40 N.L.R.B. 1312 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of BUNKER HILL AND SULLIVAN MINING AND CON-
CENTRATING COMPANY and KELLOGG MINERS AND SMELTERMEN'S
UNION, LOCAL No. 18, INTERNATIONAL UNION OF MINE, MILL &
SMELTER WORKERS, AFFILIATED WITH THE C. I. O.
Case No. I?-3668.Decided May 12, 1942
Jurisdiction : -metaliferous ore mining, milling, and concentrating industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re-
fusal to accord petitioner recognition ; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : production, maintenance, and
surface employees of Company's two mines and mills, excluding clerical,
technical, and supervisory employees, and telephone operators ; stipulation
as to.
Croson, Johnson cC Wheelon , by Mr. Carl E. Croson, of Seattle,
Wash., for the Company.
Mr. C. J. Powers , of Kellogg, Idaho , for Local 1.8.
Mr. Jerry Gooch , of Kellogg , Idaho, for the Committee.
Mr. Harry H. Kuskin , of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF TIIE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Kellogg Miners and Smeltermen's
-Union, Local No. 18, International Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter
Workers, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
"herein called' Local 18, alleging that a question affecting commerce
had. arisen concerning the representation of employees of Bunker
Hill and Sullivan Mining and Concentrating Company, Kellogg,
Idaho, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations
Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before
Daniel R. Dimick, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at
Kellogg, Idaho, on March 25, 1942. The Company, Local 18, and
Employee Representation Committee,' herein called the Committee,
1 Also referred to in the record as Representative Committee , Representative Bar-
gaining Committee , and Employee Representative Committee.
40 N L. R B, No. 233.
1312
BUNKER HILL-SULLIVAN MJNING AND CONCENTRATING CO. 1313
appeared, participated, and 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 af-
, firmed. On. April 10, 1942, the Company filed a brief which the
Board has duly considered.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
-FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Bunker Hill and Sullivan Mining and Concentrating Company,
a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Kel-
logg, Idaho, is engaged in the mining, -milling, and concentrating
of lead-zinc ores and silver ore. It operates the Bunker Hill Mine
and Mill, located on the outskirts and to the west of Kellogg, Idaho,
a smelter, located 1 mile farther west, and the Crescent Mine and
Mill; located at Big Creek, Idaho, approximately 6 miles east of
Kellogg., The mill in each instance is very close • to the mine. The
properties involved in this proceeding are the Bunker Hill Mine and
Mill, and the Crescent Mine and Mill.
The principal products _.of these mines and mills are lead con-
centrates and zinc concentrates. The lead concentrates are processed
in the Company's smelter into refined lead, refined silver, gold, and
some antimonial lead. The zinc concentrates are sold to Sullivan.
Mining Company, a jointly owned subsidiary of the Company and
the Hecla Mining Company, which reduces the zinc concentrates at
its electrolytic zinc plant to high grade zinc and electrolytic cadmium.
During the year 1940, the Company produced and sold over $1,800,000
worth of zinc concentrates and $17,700,000 worth of lead, silver, cad-
mium, and antimony. Almost all the products coming from the zinc
concentrates and about 95 percent of'the products of the Company's
smelter were shipped outside the State of Idaho in 1940. The figures
for 1941 are approximately the same. The operating supplies used
by the Company are power, explosives, steel, machinery, chemicals,
timber, and lumber. Approximately $810,000 worth, or 90 percent,
of these supplies came from outside the State of Idaho during' 1941.
The Company employs about 855 production, maintenance, and sur-
face employees at the mines and mills in question.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Kellogg Miners and Smeltermen's Union; Local No. 18, I Inter-
national Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers, affiliated with the
455771-42-vol. 40-83
1314 DECISIONS -OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Congress of Industrial., Organizations, is a labor orgaiiization admit-
ting to membership employees of, the Company. - ,
,Employee Representation - Committee is an unaffiliated labor or-
ganization claiming'to represent employees of "the'Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On February 3,'1'942, Local'18 sent a letter to the Company stating,
in effect, that it represented a, majority.of the employees of the Com-
pany in the Bunker Hill Mine,2 requesting recognition as the collec-
tive bargaining agent, of"these employees, and asking the Company
to negotiate with it concerning a contract. The Company refused,
on the, ground that'it was' already dealing with a "legally constituted"
representative of its-employees, viz, the Committee.
It appears that in, 1934 an election was held under the auspices of
the Seattle Regional Labor Board, in which employees of the Com-
pany and of the Sullivan' Mining Company at its electrolytic zinc
plant participated, and which resulted in the selection of five individ-
ual nominees as bargaining representatives.3 These representatives
organized as the Committee, and new members were thereafter added
from time . to' time' "as vacancies occurred. The Company and the
Committee contend that they have- had bargaining relations since
1934, but Local 18 claims that the Committee'has not represented' the
employees of the` Company` as' to wages, hours, and conditions of
employment: In any event; the Company and the Committee have
never, entered into a bargaining contract, either oral or written, so
there is 'nothing in the" record to bar a present investigation of
representatives. -
It"is stipulated by the Company and Local 18 that Local 18 repre-
sents a substantial numbers of employees of the Company. The
Committee states that it has no information as to the representative
status of Local 18.
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 National Labor
Relations Act. '
2 At the hearing the parties proceeded on the basis that there was a question concern-
ing the representation of employees at the Bunker Hill Mill and the Crescent Mine and
Mill, as well.
2 Prior to the hearing herein, Local -18 had been certified as the exclusive bargaining
representative of employees in the Sullivan Mining Company's electrolytic zinc plant
Matter of Sullivan Mining Company and Kellogg M. & S Union, Local 18, International
Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organiza-
tions, 37 N L. R B 42 An informal consent election was held on January 12, 1942, at
the Company's smelter and was won by Local 18.
BUNSKE'R(HIILL-SULLIVAN 1VlINtING AND CONCENTRATING co.'1315
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
We find,_ in accordance with a stipulation of all parties , that all
production , maintenance , and surface employees of the ' Company:
employed-in and about its Bunker Hill'Mine and Mill and its Cfes-_
cent Mine and Mill ; exclfiding clerical , technical , and supervisory;
employees, and telephone operators , constitute a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen can best be resolved by an election by secret ballot.
The Company requests that either its pay roll of March 23, 1942,
or a current pay roll be used to determine eligibility of employees
to vote in any election . Local 18 takes no position as to the pay-roll
date. In accordance with our practice , we shall direct that the
employees 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 Direction , shall be eligible to vote.
The Committee does not desire to participate in any election di-
rected to be held. Accordingly , we shall not place its name on the
ballot.
'
'
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 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that , as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Bunker Hill and
Sullivan Mining and Concentrating Company, Kellogg, Idaho, an
election by secret ballot shall be conducted ' as early as possible, but
not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction, under
the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Nine-
teenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor
Relations Board and subject to Article III, Section 9, 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 em-
ployees who did not work during such pay-roll period because they
were ill or on vacation or in the active military service or training
1316 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of the United States, or temporarily laid off, but excluding employees
who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented by Kellogg Miners and
Smeltermen's Union, Local No. 18, International Union of Mine,
Mill & Smelter Workers, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations, for the purposes of collective bargaining.