Norton Coal Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 29, 1940

22 N.L.R.B. 55 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

In the Matter of NORTON COAL CORPORATION and UNITED MINE
WORKERS OF AMERICA, DISTRICT #231 AFFILIATED WITH THE C. I. O.
and PROGRESSIVE MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, DISTRICT #5, AFFILI-
ATED WITH THE A. F. OF L., PARTY TO THE CONTRACT
In the Matter of NORTON COAL. CORPORATION and UNITED MINE
WORKERS OF AMERICA, DISTRICT #23, AFFILIATED WITH THE C. I. O.
Cases Nos . C-1405, and R-1601, , respectively
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 09, 1940
On November 13, 1939, the National Labor Relations Board,
herein called the Board , issued a Decision, Order, and Direction of
Election in the above-entitled case.' Pursuant to the Direction of
Election an election by secret ballot was conducted on December
5, 1939, at Nortonville , and Illsley , Kentucky , under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Eleventh Region (In-
dianapolis , Indiana ). On December 15, 1939, the Regional Director,
acting pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, issued and duly
served upon the parties an Election Report containing a tally of the
ballots, his findings , and recommendations.
,As to the balloting and its results , the Regional Director reported
as follows : ,
Total number of employees, alleged eligible-to vote ------------- 186
Total number of ballots cast_______________________________ 180
Totalnuniber of ballots counted____________________________ 149
Total number of ballots cast for United Mine Workers of
America, District No. 23, affiliated with the C. I. 0--------- 80
Total number of ballots cast for Progressive Mine Workers of
America, District No. 5, affiliated with the A. F. of L_______ 66
Total number of ballots cast for neither organization--------- 3
Total number of blank ballots_______________________________ 0
Total number of void ballots________________________________ 0
Total number of challenged ballots__________________________ 31
1 17 N L R B 569
22 N. L. R. B., No. 7.
55
56 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LA1OR RELATIONS BOARD
The Regional Director ruled that the 31 employees whose ballots were
challenged were not eligible to vote because they were not regular
production workers as of November 6, 1939, the pay-roll period des-
ignated by the Board in its Direction of Election, but were persons
employed by the Company for temporary construction work, whose
employment had terminated on or before December 6, 1939. None
of the parties objected to the Regional Director's ruling that these
31 employees were ineligible to vote. We therefore affirm the
Regional Director's ruling on these challenged ballots.
On December 26, 1939, Norton Coal Corporation, Nortonville, Ken-
tucky, herein called the Company, filed its objections to the Election
Report and an affidavit in support of its objections and requested
that the election be set aside, that a new election be held, and that
it be permitted to amend its objections thereafter when it had com-
pleted an investigation it was then making. The Company objected
to the conduct of the ballot and to the Election Report upon the
grounds, inter alia, that the Board's agents in charge of the election
had in various ways favored United Mine Workers of America, Dis-
trict No. 23, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
herein called the United, and that the United had intimidated and
improperly influenced the Company's employees.
On December 28, 1939, the United filed a document captioned "De-
murrer, Motion, and Answer to Objections," in which it denied the
allegations made by the Company and prayed that the objections be
overruled and that the United be certified as the representative of the
Company's employees.
On December 27, 1939, the Regional Director, acting pursuant to
Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and
Regulations-Series 2, issued and served upon the parties his Report
on Objections to the Election Report, in which, after investigation,
he reported each of the objections made by the Company to be with-
out merit and overruled them and recommended that the Company
.not be permitted to amend-itsaobjections.
'l he Board has considered the Election Report, the objections, and
affidavit filed by the Company, the answer filed by the United, and
the Report on Objections to Election Report, and finds that the ob-
jections filed by the Company do not raise substantial or material
issues `with respect to the conduct of the ballot or the Election Re-
port. The Regional Director's rulings with respect to the objections
are hereby affirmed. The Company's requests that it be permitted
to amend its objections and that the election be set aside and a new
election held are hereby denied.
NORTON COAL CORPORATION 57
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations-Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Re-
lations Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Sections 8 and
9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Se-
ries 2, as amended,
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that United Mine Workers of America,
District No. 23, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organiza-
tions, has been designated and selected by a majority of the persons
employed in the mining operations of the Norton Coal Corporation,
Nortonville and Illsley, Kentucky, as production employees, excluding
superintendents, mine foremen, section foremen, room bosses, face
bosses, top bosses,, entry bosses, electricians in a supervisory capacity,
all other supervisory employees, and "guards" or "watchmen," as their
representative for the purposes of collective bargaining and that pur-
suant to Section 9 (a) of the National Labor Relations Act, United
Mine Workers of America, District No. 23, affiliated with the Con-
gress of Industrial Organizations, is the exclusive representative of
all such employees for the purposes of collective bargaining in re-
spect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other con-
ditions of employment.