Potash Co. of America

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 17, 1950

89 N.L.R.B. 1368 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of POTASH COMPANY OF AMERICA, EMPLOYER and JoHN
E. WATLAVAGE, AN INDIVIDUAL, PETITIONER and CARLSBAD POTASH
WORKERS LOCAL 415 OF INTERNATIONAL UNION OF MINE, MILL AND
SMELTER WORKERS,' UNION
Case No. 33-RD-4.-Decided May 17, 1950
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition for decertification duly filed under Section 9 (c)
of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Joseph
A. Butler, 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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-mem-
ber panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Murdock].
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 Petitioner, an employee of the Employer, asserts that the
Union, the certified representative. of the Employer's production and
maintenance employees, is no longer the representative, as defined in
Section 9 (a) of the Act, of the warehouse employees herein involved.
3. No 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, for the following
reasons:
The Employer is engaged at its only plant near Carlsbad, New
Mexico, in the business of mining, processing, and selling potash
products. The Employer has 941 employees, of whom 660 are in the
production and maintenance unit represented by the Union, 65 are
machinists represented by International Association of Machinists,
The Union did not appear at the hearing.
89 NLRB No. 189.
1368
POTASH COMPANY OF AMERICA 1369
and 55 are electrical employees represented by International Brother-
hood of Electrical Workers.
The supply warehouse helpers in the group seeking to be decertified
from the production and maintenance unit are hourly paid employees
who work in the supply warehouse, where they keep stock records,
check stores received, issue parts and material to production and
maintenance employees, maintain a running inventory by constantly
.making a physical spot check of stores against the record, and order
parts and material when supplies fall below a set minimum. These
employees have been included in the production and maintenance
-unit for bargaining purposes since 1942, although the current con-
tract makes their inclusion contingent upon the outcome of this pro-
-ceeding.
These six individuals appear to be plant clerical employees such
as are customarily included in production and maintenance units.
We recently included employees performing similar duties in a unit
with the production and maintenance employees of an employer in the
chemical industry on the ground that their interests were closely
allied 2
Even if these six individuals were to be considered as office clerical
•employees, there is no evidence in the record as to the existence of an
office clerical unit in which they might be included, nor is there any
evidence to warrant establishing this group alone as a separate appro-
priate bargaining unit 3 Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petition.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY oRDEREo that the petition herein be, and it hereby is,
dismissed.
I Victor Chemical Works, 85 NLRB 495.
8Lone .S.tar Producing Company, 85 NLRB 1137.