Concrete Conduit Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 10, 1946

70 N.L.R.B. 1331 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of CONCRETE CONDUIT COMPANY, EMPLOYER and IN-
TERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS FOR AND ON BEHALF OF ITS
LOCAL 1047, PETITIONER
Case A'o. 21-R--3304.--Decided September 10,1946
Mr. Elmer L. Johnson , of Colton, Calif ., for the Employer.
Mr. L. E. Poesnecker , of Los Angeles, Calif ., for the Petitioner.
Mr. David Sokol , of Los Angeles, Calif., for the Laborers.
Mr. Lester 0. Wilson, of Los Angeles , Calif., for the Engineers.
Mr. Elmer P. Freisehlag , of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon an amended petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held
at Los Angeles, California, on June 27, 1946, before David Aaron,
Trial Examiner . The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing
are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.,
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Concrete Conduit Company, a California corporation, is engaged
at its Colton, California, and Phoenix, Arizona, plants in the manu-
facture and installation of concrete pipe. We are here concerned
solely with its Colton plant. The annual sales of the Employer
from the Colton plant amount to approximately $500,000, 5 percent of
which represents -sales to customers outside the State of California.
In the past, the Employer has made installations at airports and along
highways, -and in connection with the construction of water lilies,
sewers, and irrigation lines. '
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
IThe Petitioner has filed it waver of any right to object to any election which may be
held in the instant proceeding on the basis of any of the acts alleged as unfair laboi prac-
tices in Case No 21-C-2835 ,
70 N. L. R. B., No. 133.
1331
712344-47-vol. 70--85
1332 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED 2
The Petitioner is a labor organization claiming to represent em-
ployees of the Employer. -
Production and Maintenance Laborers, Local 783, herein called the-
Laborers, is a labor organization affiliated with the International
Hod Carriers, Building and Common Laborers Union of America,
which, in turn, is affiliated with the American Federation of Labor,
claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
The Petitioner, as well as. the Laborers, the Teamsters, and the
Engineers, are parties to a joint contract with the Employer, dated
July 1, 1941, in which each union has been recognized as the exclusive
bargaining representative of the Employer's employees falling within
its jurisdiction. The contract is for an initial term of 1 year and is
automatically renewable from year to year thereafter unless notice
to modify is given 30 days before the anniversary date. It-was agreed
by ,the e parties, and we find that, because the petition herein was timely
filed with respect to the automatic renewal notice date of the contract,
this instrument cannot bar a present determination of representatives.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all production and maintenance
employees regularly employed at the Colton plant, excluding those
who work a majority of their time outside the plant, truck drivers,
warehousemen, gas and tire men, clerical and office employees, and
supervisory employees. The Laborers and the Employer maintain
that all the production and maintenance employees, whether they
work in the field or in the plant, constitute an appropriate unit; they
are, however, in accord with the Petitioner as to the other exclusions.
The operations of the Employer are divided generally into two
categories, viz, the manufacture of concrete serer and irrigation pipe,
Y International Union of Operating Engineers , Local No 12 , A. F L , herein called the
Engineers , was permitted to intervene at the hearing but subsequently withdrew from the
proceeding.
International Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs , Warehousemen and Helpers of
America, Local 467, A F L , herein called the Teamsters, was served with notice of the
hearing but failed to appear.
CONCRETE CONDUIT COMPANY 1333
and the installation thereof. Approximately 75 percent of the em-
ployees work in or about the plant, some repairing and maintaining
equipment, and others manufacturing pipe. The remaining 25 per-
cent comprises the field crews, who install the pipe at the job site. As
a rule, new employees commence work in the plant or yard and, once
they have demonstrated their capability, become subject to transfer
to the field crews. The production of pipe, however, takes place both
at the plant and at the job site, depending in part upon the distance
between both locations. Certain jobs require, in fact, that the plant
be shut down and all the employees move to the scene of operations.
During the past 5 years, a majority of the total tonnage of pipe
produced was manufactured and installed at the job sites. The record
indicates that this percentage was greater during the prewar years.
On an over-all basis since 1938, it appears that the members of the
shop crew, consisting of mechanics, machinists, helpers and welders,
as well as the production employees, spent about 50 percent of their
time in the field on construction work. Although only 10 percent of
the time of the shop crew was so spent during the past year, this
figure will in all probability be revised upwards, due to the fact that
the last war contract was completed several months ago, and the
Employer is now reverting to its normal peacetime functions. In-
deed, if the Employer is successful on two bids to construct sewage
disposal systems, including the disposal plants, virtually all their time
will be spent in the field.
The parties have also recognized the need in this type of work for
the shifting of employees from one job to another. They have ac-
cordingly reserved to the Employer by contract the right to work
any employee in any classification at the rate listed for its performance
in the agreement, and have made provision for interim representation
of the transferred employee, under certain conditions, by the craft
having jurisdiction over the classification to which he has been
transferred. The record also discloses that all the employees of the
Employer are on a common pay roll, are paid on an hourly rate, and
that the seven working foremen who supervise the various employees
are interchanged between production and construction operations.
Accordingly, in view of the high degree of integration of the Em-
ployer's operations, and the extensive employee interchange, we are
of the opinion that all production and maintenance employees, irre-
spective of the percentage of time worked in the plant or in the field,
constitute an appropriate unit.
We find, therefore, that all production and maintenance employees
of the Employer at the Colton plant, excluding truck drivers, ware-
housemen, gas and tire men, clerical and office employees, working
1334 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
foremen,3 and all or any other supervisory employees with authority
to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in
the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, consti-
tute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within
the meaning,of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF` ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with Concrete Conduit Company, Col-
ton, California, 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 Di-
rector for the Twenty-first Region, acting in this matter as agent for
the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III,
Sections 10 and 11, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and
Regulations-Series 3, as amended, 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 in-
eluding employees in the armed forces of the United States who pre-
sent 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 they desire to be represented by International Association of
Machinists, Local 1047, or by Production and Maintenance Laborers,
Local 783, of the International Hod Carriers, Building and Common
Laborers Union of America, A. F. L., for the purposes of collective
bargaining; or by neither.
MR. JAMES J. REYNOLDS, JR., took no part in the consideration of
the above Decision and Direction of Election.
Although all parties agreed to the inclusion of working foremen in the appropriate
unit, the record establishes that they have the authority to hire and discharge their sub-
ordinates , and, as such , are supervisory employees within our customary definition of that
term. We shall , therefore , contrary to the desires of the parties , exclude them from the
unit.