Mississippi Lime Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 26, 1954

108 N.L.R.B. 83 (N.L.R.B. 1954)

MISSISSIPPI LIME CO. 83
ployee,s sought by the Petitioner constitute but a segmant of
a broader group of clerical employees with similar skills,
duties, working conditions, and interests. These factors together
with the fact that the insurance business is closely regulated
by the States and is affected with the public interest in much
the same manner as are public utilities all militate against
the appropriateness of the unit claimed by the Petitioner.
Upon the entire record we find that the unit requested by the
Petitioner is inappropriate for purposes of collective bar-
gaining and we shall dismiss the petition.6
[The Board dismissed the petition.]
Member Beeson took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Order.
6Crowell Collier Publishing Company, 102 NLRB 1236; Sperry Gyroscope Company,
94 NLRB 1725; Boeing Airplane Company, 94 NLRB 344; Consolidated R, Vultee Aircraft
Corp., 92 NLRB 1290.
MISSISSIPPI LIME CO. and INTERNATIONAL HOD CARRIERS,
BUILDING AND COMMON LABORERS UNION OF AMERICA,
LOCAL 829, A.F.L., Petitioner. Case No. 14-RC-2470. March
26, 1954
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before W.F. Trent,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hear-
ing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning
of the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent
certain employees of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the
following reasons:
The Employer is engaged at Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, in
the manufacture, sale, and distribution of lime and related
products. Its business is divided into 3 divisions, namely,
the Mississippi division, the Peerless division, and the Ste.
Genevieve division, which together employ some 700 employees.
The Mississippi division and the Peerless division each has,
among other facilities, a lime plant and a chalk plant.[
i These plants are hereinafter referred to as Mississippi Lime and Mississippi Chalk
and Peerless Lime and Peerless Chalk, respectively.
108 NLRB No. 18.
84 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Mississippi Lime and Peerless Lime and Chalk have been in
operation since 1947. Mississippi Chalk commenced operations
in December 1953.
The Employees of the Peerless and Ste. Genevieve divisions,
including those employed at Peerless Chalk, have been repre-
sented by the Petitioner and its parent organizations since
1947.2 The latest contract covering those employees was
executed on July 23, 1953, and will terminate on June 1, 1954.
The Mississippi division employees, including those at
Mississippi Lime, have been represented by International
Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, Local 883, the
Intervenor herein, and its International since 1947. The
latest contract covering those employees was executed on
July 31, 1953, and will expire on June 30, 1954. That
contract was made expressly applicable to Mississippi
Chalk.
The Petitioner seeks a unit. consisting of all the employees
at the Peerless and Mississippi Chalk plants. The Employer
and the Intervenor assert that the proposed unit is inappro-
priate, contending that Mississippi Chalk is merely an ex-
tension of Mississippi Lime's operations, which, as noted
above, is represented by the Intervenor under its July 31,
1953, contract with the Employer.
Mississippi Chalk was constructed for the purpose of
utilizing certain byproducts of Mississippi Lime in the
production of chalk. It is adjacent to the Mississippi Lime
plant, with which it is physically connected by an overhead
pipeline and an iron walkway for employees. Mississippi
Lime provides the CO2 gas and steam which are essential
to the chalk plant's operations. And once Mississippi Chalk's
shakedown operations are completed, Mississippi Lime will
also furnish it with the lime needed for its p r o d u c t i o n
process.3 Both operations are under the same immediate
supervision', and use the same oiler, truckdriver, and elec-
trical and maintenance crews. All the employees at the 2
plants are carried on the same seniority list; and in the bar-
gaining contract covering them, the 2 plants are considered
as constituting a single department. At the time of the hearing,
there were 6 "bid-in" employees at work at Mississippi
Chalk. The bids for those jobs were posted first in Mississippi
Lime and later plantwise. It appears that employees for the
other 8 to 14 jobs yet to be filled at Mississippi Chalk will
be recruited in a similar fashion. It also appears that from
3 to 6 Mississippi Lime employees are each day assigned
to work at Mississippi Chalk and that employees from Mis-
2 It appears that the Petitioner and its International also acted as the bargaining repre-
sentative for those employees from 1937 until the Employer acquired the facilities now
comprising its Peerless and Ste . Genevieve Divisions.
3During experimental operations , Peerless Lime is providing Mississippi Chalk with
its lime requirements.
CLINTON FOODS, INC. 85
sissippi Lime will continue to be assigned to the chalk
plant, even after it is fully staffed, for the performance
of nonrecurring tasks.
Peerless Chalk is located about three-eights of a mile
from Mississippi Chalk. It is adjacent to Peerless Lime, and
its operations are integrated with those of Peerless Lime in
virtually the same way as the operations of Mississippi Chalk
are integrated with those of Mississippi Lime. Peerless Lime
and Chalk are under different immediate supervision than
Mississippi Lime and Chalk. While there is an interchange of
employees between the Peerless Lime and Chalk plants, there
is none between those plants and Mississippi Lime and Chalk.
On the basis of all the foregoing, and the entire record, we
find that Mississippi Chalk is essentially an extension of Mis-
sissippi Lime's operation and that, therefore, the unit of
Mississippi Chalk and Peerless Chalk employees4 proposed
by the Petitioner is not appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of
the Act.5 For that reason, apart from other considerations,
we shall dismiss the petition. V
[The Board dismissed the petition.]
Member Beeson took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Order.
4It is not contended, nor does the record show, that any of the employees involved are
craftsmen.
5 Cf. Birdsboro Armorcast, Inc., 101 NLRB 22.
6 We therefore deem it unnecessary to pass upon the contract-bar issue raised by the
Employer and the.Intervenor.
CLINTON FOODS, INC.and TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS AND
HELPERS LOCAL UNION NO. 79, INTERNATIONAL BROTH-
ERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSE-
MEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, Petitioner. Case
No. 10-RC-2622. March 26, 1954
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Allen
Sinsheimer, Jr., hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings
made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Boards finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning
of the Act.
108 NLRB No. 16.