Ore Steamship Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 22, 1944

59 N.L.R.B. 1216 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of ORE STEAMSHIP CORPORATION and AMERICAN COMMU-
NICATIONS ASSOCIATION, C. I. O.
Case No. 2-B-5046.-Decided December 22, 1944
Mr. John H. Morse, of New York City, for the Company.
Messrs. Leonard B. Boudin and Harry A. Morgan, of New York
City, for the ACA.
Messrs. Henry H. Silverman and Fred M. Howe, of New York City,
for the CTU.
Mr. Donald H. Frank, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by the American Communications Asso-
ciation, C. I. 0., herein called the ACA, alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of the Ore Steamship Corporation, New York City, herein,
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided
for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before James C. Paradise,
Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at New York City on Novem-
ber 17, 1944. The Company, the ACA, and the Radio Officers' Union,
.CTU, AFL, herein called'the CTU, appeared and participated. All
parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and
cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the
-issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial. error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were
afforded an 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
The Company is a Delaware corporation, having its principal office
and place of business at 25 Broadway, New York City. The Company
59 N. L. R. B., No. 220.
1216
ORE STEAMSHIP CORPORATION 1217
owns and operates five ore vessels in the transportation of iron ore
and other bulk dry cargoes from ports in the Caribbean area to ports
on the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf Coast of the United States, and in
the transportation of coal from such United States ports to ports in
the Caribbean area . The vessels' port of registry is New York,City.
During 1943 these vessels transported cargoes aggregating 519,000
long tons. The Board has exercised jurisdiction over this Company in
previous cases.,-
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
American Communications Association, affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to mem-
bership employees of the Company.
Radio Officers' Union, CTU, affiliated with the American Federation
of Labor, 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 ACA as the
exclusive bargaining representative of radio officers, until the ACA has
been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the ACA and the CTU each represents a substantial
number of employees 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) and (7) of the Act. '
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The ACA, the CTU, and the Company agree that the appropriate
unit consists of all radio officers employed by the Company on its
American Flag vessels; but there is a dispute as to whether the unit
should be'defined in terms which would be applicable to radio men on
vessels which the Company may operate in the future in a capacity
129 N.L.R B. 954 ; 31 N. L. R. B. 1151
2 The Field Examiner reported that the ACA submitted 11 authorization cards, 2 of which
bore names of persons in the appropriate unit , listed on the Company 's pay roll of October
20, 1944. Said pay roll listed 5 employees in the unit.
The CTU submitted two membership applications and dues records , both of which bore
names of persons in the appropriate unit and listed on the Company ' s pay roll of October
29, 1944.
1218 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
other than that of owner. The unions contend that the unit should
necessarily include any such personnel. The Company points out that
it now owns all the vessels whit i it operates, and it objects to a deter-
mination, before the fact, that personnel on vessels which it might oper-
ate in the future, in a different capacity, are to be,included in the same
unit with its employees on the vessels in its present fleet. We do not
agree that the scope of the appropriate unit for a single homogeneous
group of the Company's employees is determined by the character of
the Company's title to its vessels, per se.3 We, need not decide the
question in dispute, however, or undertake to predict the facts and
circumstances which might bear on the propriety of including in this
unit at some future time radio officers on vessels which the Company
may then operate but not own. We shall, therefore, define the unit in
the phraseology requested by the Company, which is descriptive of
the entire class of employees presently affected by this proceeding.
Our finding is without prejudice to a later determination, when and if
the question arises, that the unit properly includes similarly employed
personnel on vessels operated by the Company in a capacity other than
that of owner.
We find that all radio officers employed by the Company on Ameri-
can Flag vessels owned and operated by the Company constitute an
appropriate unit for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved in accordance with our established method for
the conduct of elections in maritime cases during this emergency pe-
riod, by an election by secret ballot among the employees in the ap-
propriate unit who were employed on the date of our Direction of
Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in
said Direction. We shall further direct that the Regional Director
for the Second Region, under whose direction the election shall be
held, shall determine the exact time, place, and procedure for giving
notice of the election and for balloting. The Regional Director is
hereby given specific authority to use mail for balloting purposes
whenever, in his discretion, expediency will be served thereby, and to
determine the period of time in which the receipt of ballots cast
will be accepted.
3 Matter of Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company/, 58 N. L R. B 708; Matter of Isbrand-
sten Steamship Co., Inc., 51 N L R. B. 883; American Hawaiian Steamship Company, 41
N. L R B 425; Matter of Cosmopolitan Shipping Co., Inc., 2 N. L. R. B 759.
ORE STEAMSHIP CORPORATION 1219
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions 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 repre-
sentatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with the Ore
Steamship Corporation, New York City, an election by secret ballot
shall be conducted as soon as possible, and beginning as promptly as
practicable after the date of this Direction, in conformity with the
instructions set forth in Section V, above, for the conduct of such
election, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director
for the Second 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 on the
date of this Direction, including employees who did not work on said
date because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and
including employees in the armed forces of the United States who pre-
sent themselves in person at the polls, but excluding those employees
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 they desire to be represented by the American Communica-
tions Association, C. I. 0., or by the Radio Officers' Union, CTU, AFL,
for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.