Southeastern Concrete Products Co., etc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 6, 1960

127 N.L.R.B. 1024 (N.L.R.B. 1960)

1024 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Southeastern Concrete Products Company, Southeastern Con-
crete Sales , Inc., Southeastern Sand Co.' and United Stone
and Allied Products Workers of America , AFL-CIO, Peti-
tioner. Cases Nos. 11-RC-13344 and 11-RC-1338. June 6, 1960
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9(c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before
Martin L. Ball, 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-member
panel [Chairman Leedom and Members Bean and Fanning].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The three corporations listed above, namely, Southeastern Con-
crete Products Company, Southeastern Concrete Sales, Inc., and
Southeastern Sand Co., as well as Southeastern Concrete Co., operate
several plants , producing ready-mixed concrete , prestressed concrete
beams and pilings, and concrete pipe and block, and a sandpit in con-
nection with these operations .' All four corporations have substan-
tially common officers, directors , and shareholders . Labor relations
policies, including wage scales, are set by W. R. Carson, president and
general manager of all four corporations . All supervisors are hired
by and are directly responsible to him. Bookkeeping for all corpora-
tions is done at a central office in Columbia, South Carolina, and pur-
chasing of most materials for all corporations is done through the
Employer's Cayce, South Carolina , office. Employees are inter-
changed freely in the same geographical area between operations of
the various corporations, and at Cayce, South Carolina, employees
receive a single paycheck when working for several corporations.
Trucks and drivers are used interchangeably by corporations operat-
ing in the same area. As the four corporations have substantially the
same officers , directors , and shareholders and operate on a closely
interrelated basis, we find that all four corporations are a single
employer within the meaning of the Act . We further find that the
Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. At the hearing , the Employer moved to dismiss the petitions on
the ground that the Petitioner's showing of interest was based on au-
' At the hearing , the Petitioner requested leave to amend its petition to include the
employees of Southeastern Sand Co within the unit requested and to add Southeastern
Sand Co as an additional party to this proceeding . The request is hereby granted
2 The corporations are hereinafter referred to as Products , Sales, Sand , and Concrete,
respectively.
127 NLRB No. 118.
SOUTHEASTERN CONCRETE PRODUCTS COMPANY, ETC. 1025
thorization cards of doubtful authenticity or validity. The hearing
officer advised the Employer that the showing of interest had been de-
termined by the Regional Director to have "been properly made" and
referred the Employer's motion to the Board for determination. We
hereby deny the Employer's motion. The Board has frequently held
that the adequacy of a showing of interest is a matter for administra-
tive determination, not litigable at a representation hearing.' More-
over, we are satisfied that the Petitioner's showing of interest is ade-
quate. We find that a 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.
4. As stated above, the Employer is engaged in the manufacture of
concrete products , and its operations involve those of four corpora-
tions. The Employer 's plants are located at Cayce, South Carolina.
(with an adjacent sandpit located 41/2 miles away at Dixianna, South
Carolina) ; at Aiken, South Carolina, 55 miles south of Cayce; and
at Ludowici, Georgia, 205 miles south of Cayce.
The Petitioner contends that a unit composed generally of all pro-
duction and maintenance employees , including truckdrivers, of thl-.-
Employer working at Cayce, South Carolina, and at nearby Dixianna.
South Carolina , is appropriate for collective -bargaining purposes.
The Employer objects to such a unit, contending that a unit of all
employees of the Employer at Cayce, Dixianna, and Aiken, South
Carolina, and Ludowici, Georgia, is the only appropriate unit. There
is no history of collective bargaining for any of the employees of the,
Employer involved here.
At Cayce, South Carolina, Products , Sales, and Sand produce con-
crete products at the same plantsite. In connection with production
at Cayce, a sandpit is operated by Sand at Dixianna, South Carolina;
one employee operates the sandpit , using a loading machine. Occa-
sionally, Dixianna sand is supplied for concrete production at the
Employer's Aiken , South Carolina , plant, upon customer demand for
special sand . At the Cayce plant, Products is engaged in the manu-
facture of concrete block and concrete pipe. Sales produces pre-
stressed concrete beams and piling at the same plant . Sand and
Products employ truckdrivers at Cayce that haul sand and other
materials for all three corporations operating there.
At Aiken, South Carolina , Products and Concrete operate on the
same plantsite . Ready-mixed concrete is produced by Products, and
Concrete is engaged in the manufacture of concrete block and con-
crete pipe . For the Aiken operation , sand is obtained from local
sandpits , except for occasional special orders for Dixianna sand.
'Economy Furniture, 122 NLRB 1113, 1114 , footnote 2.
560940-61-vol. 127-66
1 026 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Sales manufactures ready-mixed concrete at Ludowici, Georgia.
At this location, and on the same site, Sales also operates machines
which produce prestressed concrete beams and piling. Sales obtains
sand for this operation locally.
Each of the Employer's operations at its various geographical lo-
cations has a plant manager or foreman in charge. The manager at
each of the plants is responsible for the function of his plant only.
Although it appears that discharges of laborers must be approved by
the assistant general manager of the four corporations, hiring of pro-
duction and maintenance employees and truckdrivers is done locally,
apparently by the local plant manager. Each location, Cayce, Aiken,
and Ludowici, has its own administrative office.
Central bookkeeping for the four corporations at all locations is
done at one office at Columbia, South Carolina, but records for im-
mediate local operations are kept at Cayce, Aiken, and Ludowici.
Payroll methods are different at Aiken from methods used at Cayce;
at Aiken the employees receive separate paychecks from each corpora-
tion for which they worked during the pay period, but at Cayce a
single check is issued for work performed for any or all of the three
corporations located there. Most purchasing of materials is done
'through the Cayce office, but purchases are shipped directly to each
plant location.
As indicated above, employees are interchanged frequently between
corporations having plants at the same location, but employee inter-
change between cities appears to be infrequent, occurring only in time
of emergency or during severe slumps in employment to preserve the
work force of keymen, and plants at each of the three cities, Cayce,
Aiken, and Ludowici, appear to have substantial separation of im-
mediate supervision and separation in local operation.
In a previous proceeding involving this Employer and another
petitioner, from which no collective bargaining ever resulted, the
Board found a unit of truckdrivers, helpers, and mechanics at the
Employer's plants at Cayce, Dixianna, and Aiken, South Carolina,
to be appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining.' The Em-
ployer contends that, in view of this prior unit determination and
the nature of the operations of the Employer, the only appropriate
unit is one embracing all employees of the Employer at all its locations.
However, the prior unit determination is not controlling as to the unit
issue in this proceeding. So far as appears, there was no issue in that
case as to the propriety of a unit limited to the employees at any one
location; the sole issue was whether the unit should consist of the
truckdrivers, etc., of one company or of all the companies. Moreover,
4 Southeastern Ready-M ixed Concrete Company, Southeastern Sand Company, and
Southeastern Concrete Products Company, Case No 10-RC-1559, issued on December 19,
1951 (unpublished). The Employer had no operations at Ludowici at this time
LOCAL 344, RETAIL CLERKS INT'L ASSN., AFL-CIO; ETC. 1027
as no union seeks a unit consisting of employees at all the locations of
the Employer, and as no collective bargaining resulted from the
earlier proceeding, there is no obstacle to the Board's conclusion that
a more restricted unit may be appropriate.
In view of the geographic separation of the various operations, the
lack of employee interchange, the degree of local plant autonomy,
the separate immediate supervision at each plant, the absence of any
bargaining history, and the fact that no other labor organization
seeks a broader unit, we find, notwithstanding some degree of inter-
relation which exists between the Employer's plants, that a unit
confined to production and maintenance employees, including truck-
drivers, at the Cayce and Dixianna operations is appropriate.' Ac-
kcordingly, we find that the following unit is appropriate for purposes
of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the
Act :
All production and maintenance employees, including truckdrivers,
of Southeastern Concrete Sales, Inc., Southeastern Concrete Prod-
ucts Company, and Southeastern Sand Co. at Cayce, South Carolina,
and Dixianna, South Carolina, excluding all clerical employees, sales-
men, technicians and professional employees, guards, and supervisors
as defined in the Act.
In view of the above unit determination, the Employer's motion to
dismiss, based on the ground that the petitions herein request an inap-
propriate unit, is hereby denied.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
5 Maule Industries , Inc., 117 NLRB 1710, 1711-1712; Kennecott Copper Corporation,
125 NLRB 107; Standard Trucking Company, 122 NLRB 761, 762.
Local 344, Retail Clerks International Association , AFL-CIO;
and Retail Clerks International Association , AFL-CIO and
Alton Myers Brothers, Inc. Case No. 14-CB-686. Jwne 7,1960
DECISION AND ORDER
On November 30, 1959, Trial Examiner Earl S. Bellman issued his
Intermediate Report in the above-entitled proceeding, finding that
the Respondents had not violated the Act as alleged in the complaint
and recommending that the complaint be dismissed.' Thereafter, the
General Counsel and the Respondents filed exceptions and briefs.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
'Because the Board believes that this Decision and Order makes adequate disposition
of the issues presented, the Intermediate Report is not annexed hereto.
127 NLRB No. 138.