Calera Mining Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 18, 1951

97 N.L.R.B. 648 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

648 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The contract contains the following provisions in Article I, Sec-
tion D :
All Employees covered by this Agreement shall be and remain
members of the Union in good standing for the life of this Agree-
ment. The Company shall have the right to hire Employees, but
the Company agrees that all new Employees shall apply for Union
membership upon completion of (30) calendar days of employ-
ment. The Union Shop provisions of this Contract shall become
effective at such time as the Union has carried out the requirements
of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947. (Emphasis
supplied.)
Because the union-shop provisions, which became effective on or
about December 13, 1950,3 fail to extend to employees who were not
members of the Union on the date these provisions became effective,
the statutory 30-day period from such effective date allowed for becom-
ing union members, such provisions exceed the limited form of union
security permitted by Section 8 (a) (3) of the Act .4 We therefore
find that the contract is not a bar to a present determination of
representatives.
We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. Substantially in accord with the agreement of the parties, we
find that all production and maintenance employees at the Employer's
Twin City A and Commander elevators, Minneapolis, Minnesota,
excluding office and professional employees, guards, superintendents,
assistant superintendents, foremen, and all other supervisors as
defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
3 A union security authorization was issued on or about December 13 , 1950, Case No.
18-UA-2002.
' See Charles A. Krause Milling Co. , 97 NLRB 536.
CALERA MINING COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL UNION MINE, MILL AND
SMELTER WORKERS, PETITIONER. Case No. 19-1?C-831. December
15,1951
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Daniel J. Harrington, hear-
97 NLRB No. 96.
CALERA MINING COMPANY 649
ing officer. The hearing officer's rulings I made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Members Houston, Murdock, and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer, a New Jersey corporation with principal offices
in New York City, owns and operates a copper and cobalt mine at
Cobalt, Idaho. At the time of the hearing, the Employer had not
yet begun full scale operations, and was still engaged in the construc-
tion of its mine and plant facilities, a nearby townsite to provide
housing and community services for its personnel, a warehouse at
Mackay, Idaho, and a cobalt smelter near Salt Lake City, Utah. Al-
though stockpiles of copper and cobalt had been accumulated, no com-
mercial shipments of these ores had been made. The Employer did
not expect to attain full scale production until June 1952, when an
estimated 1,000 tons of ores will be produced daily. Copper ores will
be sold to the American Smelting and Refining Company and shipped
to its Garfield, Utah, smelter for processing. Cobalt ores will be
shipped to the Employer's Salt Lake City smelter.
The record reveals that most of the building supplies used in the
Employer's construction program were purchased from supplies
within the State. Reinforcing steel and machinery were procured
from out-of-State sources, but no valuation was placed on these items.
Current monthly purchases of,material and equipment are valued at
$60,000, of which more than half represents out-of-State, purchases.
The Employer is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Howe Sound
Company whose principal office is also in New York-City. The parent
corporation owns several metal-producing mines in the United States,
Canada, and Mexico, and annually produces metals valued between
$20,000,000 and $40,000,000. Both the Howe Sound Company and
the Employer have common officers holding identical offices in each
corporation. Although the Employer asserted that it operates its
business and labor affairs independently at the mine level, the record
shows that this autonomy is restricted to routine, day-to-day matters,
whereas major policies are determined by the executive officers in New
York City. Thus, they determine such matters as the size of the Em-
ployer's budget, wages and conditions of employment of the labor
force, the amount of ores to be mined, and the number of days per week
the mine is to operate. In addition these officers inspect the mine every
3 or 4 months.
1 'Intervention was properly granted to Local 983, International Brotherhood of Team-
sters, Chauffeurs , Warehousemen , and Helpers, AFL.
650 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
From the foregoing facts, it is clear that the Employer is engaged
in interstate commerce and that the jurisdictional requirements of the
Act for the assertion of jurisdiction are fulfilled. We are moreover
satisfied that the Board's declared policy requirements for the asser-
tion of jurisdiction are met in this case. Although the record does not
reveal sufficiently that the Board's policy standards based upon the
value of goods shipped to or from the Employer across States lines
are presently equaled, it is clear that the assertion of jurisdiction is
here warranted on the basis of other policy standards announced by
the Board. Thus, we are satisfied that the Employer is an integral
part of the Howe Sound Company's extensive international mining
operations.2 In addition, the metals produced by the Employer are
extremely vital to the national defense 3 For these reasons, we find,
contrary to the Employer's contention, that the Employer is engaged
in interstate commerce within the meaning of the Act, and that the
policies of the Act will be effectuated by the assertion of jurisdiction
in this case.
2. The-labor organizations involved claim to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen-
tation of employees of the Employer within the meaning- of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. In accordance with the agreement of the parties, we find that
all production, maintenance, transportation, and construction em-
ployees of the Employer at its mine and townsite at Cobalt, Idaho,
and warehouse at Mackay, Idaho, excluding the lunch room attendant,
janitor, baker, first cook; second cook, and all other culinary employees ;
the purchasing agent, clerk typist, accountant and stenographer,
stenographer, accountant, timekeeper and all other office and clerical
employees; the assistant mill assayer, assayer, assistant engineer,
engineer, sampler, mine engineer, chief nurse, nurse, and all other pro-
fessional employees; the watchman and guard, fire chief, and all
other guards; the manager, chief accountant, master mechanic, mine
superintendent, mill superintendent, chief geologist, chief engineer,
mine foreman, surface and ventilation engineer, office manager, jigger
boss-mine, sawyer, transportation supervisor, carpenter foreman,
shifter-mine, steward, electrician foreman, shifter, metallurgist, the
Mackay warehouse supervisor and all other managerial employees, and
supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the Act.
[Text of Direction 'of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
Y The Borden Company, Southern Division, 91 NLRB 628.
8 Westport Moving and Storage Company , 91 NLRB 902.