General Atlas Carbon

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 31, 1945

61 N.L.R.B. 232 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of GENERAL ATLAS CARBON and OIL WORKERS INTERNA-
TIONAL UNION , LOCAL 235, C. I. O.
Case No. 16-R-1184.-Decided March 31, 1945
Mr. B. M. Britain , of Amarillo , Tex., for the Company.
Mr. W. A. Richmond, of Wichita Falls , Tex., for the Union.
Mr. Louis Colcin, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Oil Workers International Union, Local
235, C. I. 0., herein called the Union, alleging that ,,t question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
General Atlas Carbon, Pampa, Texas, herein called the Company, the
National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice before Earl Saunders, Trial Examiner. Said hearing
was held at Amarillo, Texas, on February 27, 1945. The Company
and the Union appeared, participated, and were afforded full oppor-
tunity 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 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
General Atlas Carbon is engaged in the manufacture of furnace type
carbon black. We are here concerned with its plant located in the
vicinity of Pampa, Texas. During 1944 materials valued at about
$75,000 were shipped to the Pampa plant from points outside the State
of Texas. During the same period the Company shipped products
61 N L R. B, No. 27.
232
GENERAL ATLAS CARBON 233
from its Pampa plant to points outside the State of Texas, valued at
about $1,000,000.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Oil Workers International Union, Local 235, is a labor organization
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On January 29, 1945, the Union requested recognition as the collec-
tive bargaining representative of the employees at the Pampa plant.
The Company declined to recognize the Union stating that it doubted
the Union's claim to a majority.
A statement of a Field Examiner of the Board, introduced into
evidence at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a sub-
stantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found to be ap-
propriate. ^
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 urges that all classified and construction employees at
the Pampa, Texas, plant of the Company, including shift foremen
and the relief foremen, but excluding employees in the laboratory and
research development department, engineering department employees,
employees in the clerical department, warehouse foremen, and con-
struction foreman, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining. The only controversy with respect to the unit
concerns the shift foremen and the relief foreman; the Company
would exclude them from the unit.
The Company employs four shift foremen who work in rotation on
three 10-hour shifts. They are directly responsible to the assistant
plant superintendent and each of them has three subordinates. They
are paid on a weekly basis while their subordinates are paid on an
hourly rate. The shift foremen spend about 30 percent of their time
working as unit operators but are charged with the responsibility of
seeing that the work is properly performed, and they exercise the
' The statement discloses that the Union submitted authorization cards bearing the names
of 32 persons who appeared on the Company's January 1945 , pay roll The said pay roll
listed approximately 43 employees in the appropriate unit.
234 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
authority to recommend effectively the discharge and promotion of
their subordinates. The record discloses that they exercise the same
degree and authority as the warehouse and construction foremen,
who are admittedly supervisory employees. We find that the shift
foremen are supervisory employees, and as such, we shall exclude
them from the unit.
The relief foreman works as a regular production employee except
for 10 to 12 weeks annually when he relieves the shift foremen. We
shall include him in the unit.
We find that all classified and construction employees at the Pampa,
Texas, plant of the Company, including the relief foreman, but ex-
cluding employees in the clerical department, engineering department
employees, employees in the laboratory and research development de-
partment, shift foremen, warehouse foremen, construction foremen,
and any other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote,
discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
ployees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appro-
priate 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 means of an election by secret ballot among
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.
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 Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with General Atlas
Carbon, Pampa, Texas, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted
as early as possible, but not later than sixty (60) days from the date of
this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional
Director for the Sixteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for
the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sec-
tions 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-roll period immediately preceding the date of this
GENERAL ATLAS CARBON 235
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 any 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 Oil Workers International Union,
Local 235, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, for
the purposes of collective bargaining.