Halliburton Portland Cement Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 6, 1950

91 N.L.R.B. 717 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter Of HALLIBURTON PORTLAND CEMENT COMPANY, EM-
PLOYER and UNITED CEMENT, LIME AND GYPSUM WORKERS
INTERNATIONAL UNION, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 39-RC-190.-Decided October 6, 1950
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Clifford W..
Potter, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. On
July 25, 1950, the Board ordered the record in this case reopened and
a further hearing held for the purpose of receiving. additional evi-
dence with respect to the dollar value of the Employer's sales to en-
terprises engaged in commerce or in operations affecting commerce.
The parties have, however, waived such further hearing, entering into
a stipulation with respect to the foregoing matters.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and
Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. This case involves the Employer's only plant, which is located
at Corpus Christi, Texas. Approximately $2,000,000 worth of
machinery and equipment, originating out of State, has been recently
installed in the plant. Although the plant is still under construction,
the Employer has been manufacturing Portland cement there since
March 15, 1950.1 From that date to May 11, 1950, the date of the
hearing, the Employer had purchased the bulk of its raw materials
within the State of Texas, obtaining from sources outside the State
less than 10 percent thereof, in the value of $8,500. During the same
period the Employer had made sales of more than $200,000, all within
the State of Texas, including sales in the amount of $62,650 to Halli-
burton Oil Well Cementing Company,2 a multistate enterprise which
sells equipment and renders various services to operators of oil wells
throughout the country. Most of the other customers of the Em-
I It was testified that at the time of the hearing the plant was producing 81 percent of
capacity.
2 There is no evidence in the record as to the relationship , if any, between this company
and the Employer.
91 NLRB No. 119. 717
718 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
plover are dealers in building materials, and firms engaged in
residential and commercial construction.
We find that the operations of the Employer affect commerce within
the meaning of the Act, and that the assertion of jurisdiction in this
case will effectuate the policies of the Act.3
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain
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. The appropriate unit :
The Petitioner and the Employer agreed that the following unit
is appropriate :
All production, maintenance, and warehouse employees at the Em-
ployer's Corpus Christi, Texas, plant, including physical testers and
sample boys in the laboratory, but excluding all other laboratory
employees, all office and clerical employees, office porters, watchmen,
guards, professional employees, temporary construction workers,
packer foremen, foremen, and all other supervisors.
The Intervenor, District Lodge 166, International Association of
Machinists, seeks a unit consisting of the employees in the maintenance
department of the plant who work under the supervision of the
maintenance superintendent, excluding supervisors. Included in the
unit sought by the Intervenor are 3 electricians, 12 mechanics and
welders, 2 painters, and 1 lubrication maintenance man 4 These em-
ployees are supervised by the maintenance superintendent, except that
the mechanics and welders may be assigned occasionally to one of
the production supervisors in connection with emergency repair jobs.
The mechanics use tools such as lathes, hacksaws, and a drill press.
The welders, in addition to performing the usual work of their trade,
occasionally do mechanical work.
The Petitioner contends that the unit sought by the Intervenor is
inappropriate because of the almost universal acceptance of the in-
dustrial type of organization in the cement industry. There was evi-
dence in the record that there are relatively few craft units in the
Hollow Tree Lumber Company, 91 NLRB 635; Dorn's House of Miracles, 91 NLRB 632.
While the number employed in each category at the time of the hearing was considerably
larger than these figures indicate. it was expected at that time that within 5 weeks there-
after . upon the completion of the Employer's plant, the Employer would retain only the
number of maintenance employees indicated in the text. It does not appear from the record
that these or any other employees with craft skill in the plant, except for some carpenters
who were employed at the time of the hearing but who were not expected to be retained
after the completion of the plant.
HALLIBURTON PORTLAND CEMENT COMPANY719
cement industry,. However, the Board has in at least one case in-
volving this industry found that a craft unit may be appropriate.'
The Petitioner contends also that plant operations in the cement
industry are so integrated as to preclude the establishment of a sepa-
rate craft unit. A similar contention was rejected in the Lone Star
case,° and the present record discloses no basis for reaching a different
conclusion here.
We find, upon the present record, that, absent any history of col-
lective bargaining on a broader basis, the employees sought by the
Intervenor may constitute a separate appropriate unit, if they so
desire.' However, we will not make any final -unit determination
until we have first ascertained the desires of the employees involved.
We shall direct elections among the following voting groups of
employees at the Employer's Corpus Christi, Texas, plant:
(a) All production, maintenance and warehouse employees, includ-
ing physical. testers and sample boys in the laboratory, but excluding
all other laboratory employees, all office and clerical employees, office
porters, watchmen, guards, professional employees, packer foremen,
foremen, and all other supervisors, and all employees in voting group
(b), below;
(b) All employees in the maintenance department, excluding
supervisors.8
If a majority of the employees in voting group (b) select the
Intervenor, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to con-
stitute a separate appropriate unit.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
5 Lone Star Cement Corporation, 88 NLRB 412 ( maintenance electricians ' unit).
6 See preceding footnote.
Armstrong Cork Company, 80 NLRB 1328.
We find, upon the present record , that the working foremen in the maintenance depart-
ment are not supervisors , and are therefore eligible to vote.