General Chemical Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 28, 1946

65 N.L.R.B. 595 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter Of GENERAL CHEMICAL COMPANY and UNITED GAS,
COKE AND CHEMICAL WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO
Case No. 1.¢-R-1285.-Decided January 28, 1946
Mr. D. T. Martin, of Owensville, Mo., and Mr. Israel Treiman, of
St. Louis, Mo., for the Company.
Messrs. Joseph Appelbaum and Elmer LaValle, of St. Louis, Mo.,
for' the Union.
Miss Ruth E. Blie field, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Gas, Coke and Chemical
Workers of America, CIO, herein called the Union, alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa-
tion of employees of General Chemical Company, Owensville, Mis-
souri, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations
Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before
Helen F. Humphrey, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at St.
Louis, Missouri, on October 18, 1945. The Company and the Union
appeared and participated. All parties 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 rul,
ings 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 Chemical Company is engaged, at Owensville, Missouri,
in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of calcined clay. At
Owensville, Missouri, the Company has a plant and office, and a min-
ing operation which is located approximately 15 miles from the plant
65 N L. R. B, No. 102.
595
596 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and office. We are concerned herein with all operations at Owens-
Ville, Missouri, which are collectively referred to as the Missouri Clay
Fields. More than 25 percent of the materials annually used by the
Company is shipped to its Missouri Clay Fields from points outside
the State of Missouri. The Company annually mines -and manufac-
tures calcined clay valued in excess of $100,000 of which more than
50 percent is shipped to points outside the State.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act, and we so find.
IT. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Gas, Coke and Chemical Workers of America, affiliated with
the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of certain of the Company's em-
ployees until the Union has been certified by the Board in an appro-
priate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees 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) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
We find, in substantial accordance with the agreement of the parties,
that all production and maintenance employees at the Company's
Missouri Clay Fields, Owensville, Missouri, excluding office and clerical
employees, laboratory, technical, and professional employees, foremen,
the piaster mechanic, and all other supervisory employees with author-
ity to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes
in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REFRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
1 The Field Examiner reported that, of the 34 employees in the unit petitioned for, the
Union submitted 27 authorization cards, all of which checked with the names of persons
appearing on the Company 's pay roll of September 3, 1945.
1
GENERAL CHEMICAL COMPANY 597
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
Icy 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 General Chemical
Company, Owensville, Missouri, 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 Fourteenth 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-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 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 United Gas,
Coke and Chemical Workers of America, CIO, for the purposes of
collective bargaining.