Lone Star Cement Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 31, 1950

88 N.L.R.B. 408 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of LONE STAR CEMENT CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and
LOCAL UNION 59, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL
WORKERS A. F. OF L., PETITIONER
Case No. 16-RC-445.-Decided January 31, 1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Charles Y.
Latimer, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
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 [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Reynolds].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion 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 seeks a unit of all maintenance electricians, switch-
board operators, power department helpers, and apprentices. in. the
power plant at the Employer's Dallas, Texas, plant, excluding all other
employees and supervisors as defined in the Act. The Employer and
the Intervenor, Local 142 United Stone and Allied Products Workers
of America, C. I. 0., object to the severance of this group from the
production and maintenance unit, which has been the bargaining unit
at this plant for more than 12 years and which is currently represented
by the Intervenor. They both contend that plant operations are so
integrated as to make severance of any craft unit inappropriate.
The Employer's Dallas plant manufactures Portland cement from
gypsum which is mined at the Employer's quarries located on the
88 NLRB No. 91.
408
LONE STAR CEMENT CORPORATION 409
plant property. Its processes include the mining of gypsum, grinding,
processing in heated kilns, regrinding of the cement, and packaging
for shipment. The Dallas plant employs approximately 200 em-
ployees, including the employees sought by the Petitioner. The plant
is in continuous operation on a 24-hour, 3 shift basis and all plant
operations are under the supervision of a plant superintendent. The
3 daily production shifts are directly supervised by 3 shift foremen
and the various maintenance departments are directly supervised by
department foremen.
The maintenance electricians, switchboard operators, a powerhouse
helper, and a plumber not sought by the Petitioner, constitute the
power department at the Employer's plant. They are under the su-
pervision of the chief electrician, who is the department foreman.
Production machinery is for the most part operated by electric motors,
and the maintenance electricians are required to keep these electric
motors operating properly and to repair them when breakdowns
occur.,' The switchboard operators man the switchboards in the power
department through which the electric power used to run the plant
machinery is brought from outside sources. The powerhouse helper
acts as a relief switchboard operator and assists the electricians and
plumber in the power department.
At the hearing, the plant superintendent stated that employees from
the power department were frequently called upon to assist other
employees in the plant in performing nonelectrical duties. However,
three of the Employer's power department employees testified, without
contradiction, that the only times they were called upon to perform
such duties were during emergencies, when all of the plant employees
worked together to remedy the difficulties. .
Although the Employer has no apprentice training program for
electricians, maintenance electricians are either employed as fully
trained electricians, or have become electricians after serving as helpers
or switchboard operators in the power department. Usually power-
house helpers have been employed in other departments and have ap-
plied for such'work in order eventually to become skilled electrical
workers. Employees in the power department have departmental sen-
iority as well as plant-wide seniority, and upgrading based on skills
and experience acquired through on-the-job training in the department
is customary when vacancies occur.
'Although the record Indicates that some major repair work is done outside the plant,
the maintenance electricians themselves rewind some of the motors used at the plant. `
work on the Employer ' s electrical equipment involves hazards peculiar to the work of
electricians and not common to the work of the other employees ' at the Employer ' s plant.
The record Indicates that at least one maintenance electrician' 'suffered severe burns while
working : on the Employer's' electrical equipment. ' .
410 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Maintenance electricians are regularly assigned to work on two of
.the three daily shifts at the Employer's plant, but they are not assigned
to specific machines and work throughout the plant wherever electrical
equipment repairs are necessary. The shift foremen tell them where
repairs are needed, but the chief electrician is responsible for the
quality of their work. Shift foremen may take disciplinary action
against these employees in cases of indolence or insubordination while
on shift duty, but -the chief electrician is consulted when other work
deficiencies occur.
The record as a whole reveals that the employees sought herein are
an identifiable, skilled, and homogeneous craft group. Therefore, we
find that these employees may constitute a separate unit, if they so
.desire notwithstanding their previous inclusion in a broader 'unit.'
However, the Board will notmake any unit determination until it has
first ascertained the desires of the employees involved.
We shall direct that an election be held among all maintenance elec-
tricians, switchboard operators, and power department helpers 8 in
the power department at the Employer's Dallas, Texas, plant exclud-
ing all other employees, the chief electrician, and all other supervisors
.as defined in the Act. If in this election, a majority of the employees
voting elect the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated their
desire to constitute a separate bargaining unit. If, however, a ma-
jority of such employees select the Intervenor, they will be taken to
have indicated their desire to continue to be represented by the Inter-
venor as part of the production and maintenance unit.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an. election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was
heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were
employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work
during said payroll period because they were ill or on vacation or
e United States Gypsum Company, 79 NLRB 1282 ; cf. Reed Roller Bit Company, S7
NLRB No. 45 (the employees there involved did no motor or transformer rewinding and were
subject to assignment to production or maintenance jobs outside the electrical department).
8 As the Employer has no employees classified as apprentices in the unit requested, we
shall make no determination as to the inclusion of this category in the unit found appropriate
herein.
LONE STAR CEMENT CORPORATION 411
temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or re-
instated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining,
by Local Union 59, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,
A. F. L., or by Local 142, United Stone & Allied Products Workers of
America, C. I. 0., or by neither.