Consolidated Steel Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 22, 1946

65 N.L.R.B. 563 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of CONSOLIDATED STEEL CORPORATION and Los ANGELES
METAL TRADES COUNCIL
Case No. 2-1-R-.3023.-Decided January 2,1946
Messrs. Alfred Wright and Harold F. Collins, of Los Angeles,
Calif., for the Company.
Mr. David Sokol, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the Union.
Mr. Charles B. Slaughter, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Los Angeles Metal Trades Council,
herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce
had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Consolidated
Steel Corporation,' Shipbuilding Division, Wilmington, California,
herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board
provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before George
H. O'Brien, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Los Angeles,
California, on the 25th day of October 1945. The Company and the
Union appeared and participated. Both parties 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 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
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Consolidated Steel Corporation is a California corporation engaged
in the production and repair of seagoing vessels at its Wilmington,
' The petition was amended at the hearing to show the correct name of the Company
as stated above.
65 N. L. R. B., No. 94.
563
564 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
California, shipyard. During the year ending December 31, 1944,
the Company purchased steel, pipes, fittings, cable, and other mate-
rials amounting in value to more than $15,000,000. Practically all
of these purchases were made outside the State of California. Dur-
ing the dame period it delivered to various agencies of the United
States Government ships amounting in value to more than $109,-
000,000.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Los Angeles Metal Trades Council, affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, is a labor organization admitting to membership
employbas of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of inspectors at the Company's
Wilmington, California, yard, until the Union has been certified by
the Board in an appropriate unit 2
A statement of a Board agent, received in 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 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 Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union contends that "all production inspectors except for the
chief inspector and assistant chief inspectors at the Company's ship-
building division" constitute a unit appropriate for collective bar-
gaining .4 The Company took no position as to the appropriate unit.
The Company presently employs about, 126 production inspectors
who are directly responsible to one Chief Inspector and three Assistant
Chief Inspectors. Their duties are to inspect all materials, fabri-
cated parts, sections, and completed work on ships under construction
or being repaired. They must see that the material received by the
yard is in proper condition, that it meets specifications, and that it is
the part or piece ordered. With regard to work performed in the
2 The production and maintenance employees at the Wilmington , California, yard are
represented by Petitioner and have a contract with the Company.
s A Field Examiner for the Board reported that the Union submitted 59 authorization
for representation cards ; that all the names appearing on the cards were listed on the
Company ' s pay roll of August 24, 1945, which contained the names of 126 employees in
the appropriate unit, and that the cards bore dates in June, July and August of 1945.
4 The petition was amended at the hearing to define the proposed unit as above stated.
CONSOLIDATED STEEL CORPORATION 565
yard they must see that it meets the specifications of the American
Bureau of Shipping, the United States Maritime Commission, and any
other inspection agency that is charged with seeing that the work is
properly done.
In the main, inspectors are recruited from the trades or crafts whose
work they inspect. They are stationed in every department of the
yard and work very closely with the production superintendents and
foremen. Their principal duty is immediately to report to the su-
perintendent or foreman in charge of production any defective work-
manship or material. They have no authority to stop any work and
no authority over any workman. They also make daily written
reports to the Chief Inspector.
We find, therefore, that all production inspectors at the Wilmington,
California, shipyard of Consolidated Steel Corporation, excluding
the Chief Inspector, the Assistant Chief Inspectors, and all other su-
pervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, disci-
pline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effec-
tively recommend such action, and all other employees, 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 shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees 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.
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 Consolidated Steel
Corporation, Shipbuilding Division, Washington, California, ship-
yard, 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
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 said Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found
appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-
566 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 Los Angeles Metal Trades Council, affiliated with
the American Federation of Labor, for the purposes of collective
bargaining.