Rosiclare Lead & Fluorspar Mining Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 19, 1942

41 N.L.R.B. 1143 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of ROSICI.ARE LEAD & FLUORSPAR MINING COMPANY and
DISTRICT 50, UNITED MINE WORKERS UNION
Case No. R-3812.-Decided June 19, 1942
Jurisdiction : fluorspar mining and milling industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : re-
fusal to accord petitioner recognition until certified by the Board ; election
necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees of the Company,
excluding guards, and clerical and supervisory workers ; stipulation as to.
Mr. J. M. Blayney„Mr. Harold S. Cook, and Mr. J. M. Blayney,
Jr., of St. Louis, Mo., and Mr. James A. Watson, of Elizabethtown,
Ill., for the Company.
Mr. Robert H. Allison, of Pekin, Ill., and Mr. M. J. Hanagan, of
Benton, Ill., for District 50.
Mr. William F. Scharnikoiv, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by District 50, United Mine Workers of
America,' affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
herein called District 50, alleging that a question affecting commerce,
had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Rosiclare
Lead & Fluorspar Mining Company, Rosiclare, Illinois, herein called
the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice before Charles K. Hackler, Trial
Examiner. Said hearing was held at Elizabethtown, Illinois, on
May 7, 1942. The Company and District 50, appeared, participated,
and 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. A brief was filed
by the Company which the Board has considered.
' Inadvertently designated in the petition as "United Mine Workers Union."
41 N. L. R. B., No 205.
1143
1144 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Rosiclare Lead & Fluorspar Mining Company, a Delaware corpora-
tion, is engaged in the mining and milling of fluorspar at Rosiclare,
Illinois. During the calendar year 1941, the Company produced more
than $500,000 worth of fluorspar, approximately 90 percent of which
was shipped to points outside the State of Illinois. ' The Company
admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
District 50, United Mine Workers of America, is a labor organiza-
tion affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admit-
ting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to recognize District 50 unless and until
the Board certifies District 50 as the exclusive representative of the
Company's employees in an appropriate unit.
A statement of the Regional Director, in evidence, shows that
District 50 submitted to him 125 applications for membership, of
which 113 were dated between July 17 and 30, 1941; 3 were dated
between August 1 and 18, 1941; and 9 were dated between February
11 and' 28, 1942. Of the 125 applications, 116 bore the apparently
genuine, original signatures of persons whose names appear on the
Company's pay roll for the period ending February 28, 1942. There
are 212 employees in the unit which the parties have stipulated is
appropriate.
The Company contends that almost all of the applications which
were submitted to the Regional Director were signed by its employees
to designate Local 7734 of District 12, United Mine Workers of
America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations;
that, in July 1941, the Company recognized the Local on-the basis
of these same cards; and that, therefore, the claim of District 50
that it represents the Company's employees is without proper support
in the present proceeding.
District 12 started organizing the Company's employees in August
1940. In July 1941, some of the employees signed cards, applying
for membership in "United Mine Workers of America" and desig-
ROSICLARE LEAD & FLUORSPAR MINING COMPANY 1145
nating it as their representative. On July 22, 1941, these cards were
presented to the Company with the request of Local 7734 of District
12 for recognition. The Company recognized the Local on July 25,
1941, but subsequent negotiations for a written contract were broken
off because of disagreement on the check-off and closed-shop issues,
and the result was a strike which lasted from August 11 to September
9, 1941. After the strike, all the employees were returned to work.
In January 1942, the United Mine Workers of America limited
membership in District 12 to coal miners, created District 50 to em-
brace other classes of mining employees, including those of the Com-
pany, and revoked the charter of Local 7734. The organizer for Dis-
trict 50 testified that on or about March 1, 1942, he and a fellow or-
ganizer interviewed approximately 60 percent of the subscribers to
the earlier designations mentioned above; that union employees inter-
viewed the rest; and that all the subscribers agreed that they should
be "chartered in a local union in District 50." The organizers then
inserted "Gas, Coke and Chemical Workers, District No. 50" on their
cards and submitted them to the Regional Director. The organizer
testified that neither Local 7734 nor District 12 contests the jurisdic-
tion of District 50 over the Company's employees. Without deciding
whether or not the foregoing testimony establishes District 50's right
to represent the employees who had previously designated Local 7734,
we are of the opinion that District 50's showing of representation
among the Company's employees is substantial enough to warrant the
holding of an election to determine the employees' intention.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of the employees of the Company, within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
We find in accordance with a stipulation of the parties that all
employees of the Company, excluding guards, and clerical and super-
visory workers, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of col-
lective 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 by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who worked for the Company during
the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction
of Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth
in the Direction.
1146 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as,amended, it is
hereby
DmEcTFD that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Rosiclare Lead
& Fluorspar Mining Company, Rosiclare, Illinois, an election by se-
cret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction
and supervision of the Regional Director for the Fourteenth Region,
acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board
and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations,
among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV,
above, who worked for the Company during the pay-roll period im-
mediately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees
who did not work for the Company during such pay-roll period be-
cause they were ill or on vacation or in the active military service or
training of the United States, or temporarily laid off, but excluding
any who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented by District 50, United
Mine Workers of America (C. I. 0.), for the purposes of collective
bargaining.