Standard Slag Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 13, 1945

63 N.L.R.B. 313 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of STANDARD SLAG COMPANY and UNITED CONSTRUCTION
WORKERS, AFFILIATED WITH UMWA
Case No. 9-R-1776.-Decided August 13, 1945
Mr. R. D. Cline, of Youngstown, Ohio, and Mr. B. F. Rankin, of
Jackson, Ohio, for the Company.
Mr. Carl C. Schmidt, of Columbus, Ohio, for the UMWA.
Mr. Angelo Verdu, of East St. Louis, Ill., and Mr. Elman Haynes,
of Jackson, Ohio, for the Smelter Workers.
Miss Katharine Loomis, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Construction Workers, affil-
iated with UMWA, herein called the UMWA, alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Standard Slag Company, Jackson, Ohio, herein called the
Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an ap-
propriate hearing upon due notice before Herbert J. Nester, Trial
Examiner. Said hearing was held at Jackson, Ohio, on May 18, 1945.
The Company, the UMWA, and International Union of Mine, Mill and
Smelter Workers, Local Union 170, C. I. 0., herein called the Smelter
Workers, 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 Standard Slag Company has plants in various States. We
are here concerned solely with its plant at Jackson, Ohio, which is
63 N. L . R. B., No. 45.
313
314 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
engaged in the manufacture of crushed slag aggregates . The raw
material used at this operation consists entirely of slag, all of which
is purchased locally. The finished products of the Company 's Jackson,
Ohio, plant are sold to State , county, and township highway depart-
ments for road-building purposes and to individuals for agricultural
purposes . During the past year , 20 to 30 percent of its finished prod-
ucts was sold to the State of West Virginia and was shipped by the
Company to points in West Virginia.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Construction Workers, affiliated with the United Mine
Workers of America, is a labor organization admitting to membership
employees of the Company.
International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, Local
Union 170, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is
a labor organization admitting to membership employees of the Com-
pany.
III. THE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT
The UMWA seeks a separate unit of the production and maintenance
employees and watchmen of the Company's Jackson plant, excluding
the superintendent, the assistant superintendent, and all clerical em-
ployees. Neither the Smelter Workers nor the Company disputes the
categories requested for inclusion or exclusion from the claimed ap-
propriate unit. However, the Smelter Workers, which now represents
in one unit the employees of the Jackson Iron and Steel Company and
of the Globe Iron Company in addition to those of the Company, con-
tends that the history of collective bargaining between it and the three
'companies has established that the unit it now represents is the only
unit appropriate for the Company's employees. The UMWA, on the
other hand, contends that these workers, as employees of an independ-
ent employer, may properly constitute a unit separate from the em-
ployees of the other two companies. The Company appears to take no
position on this issue.
The three companies are separate corporations, all located in Jack-
son, Ohio. The Jackson Iron and Steel Company and the Globe Iron
Company are engaged in the manufacture of iron and the Company
in the manufacture of slag aggregates. Slag, the sole raw material
used by the Company, is a byproduct of the manufacture of iron which
is cast into pits during the production process. The Company pur-
chases all of its slag from the other two companies. Employees of the
Company extract the slag from the pits of the Jackson Iron and Steel
Company, whereas the Globe Iron Company's employees extract the
STANDARD SLAG COMPANY 315
slag from that company's pits. The Company returns to each of the
other companies iron that is reclaimed from the slag in the manufac-
ture of the slag aggregates. The Company is entirely dependent-upon
the other two companies for its slag as there are no other iron manufac-
turers in the vicinity and it would not be feasible to transport slag from
more distant sources. Moreover, the Jackson Iron and Steel Company
and the Globe Iron Company sell all of their slag to the Company
and they would be put to inconvenience and suffer financial loss if
they had to find other means of disposing of it.
The Smelter Workers entered into its first collective bargaining
contract with the three companies in 1919. Under it and successive
agreements which have been entered into at 5-year intervals since
then, the Smelter Workers has always represented the employees of
all three companies in one unit. The last contract between the parties is
an agreement which provided for termination on June 4, 1944, but
which has been extended by a supplemental contract of indefinite
duration. The companies, in negotiating collective bargaining agree-
ments with the Smelter Workers, have never been represented by an
employer association. The last contract, as were the others, was signed
by each company individually. The record indicates that the usual
manner of negotiating contracts between the Smelter Workers and
the three companies has been for representatives of the Smelter Work-
ers and of each of the three companies to discuss the terms of the con-
tract, reach an agreement, and sign the contract at a single meeting.
Our decision in Matter of Dolese d Shepard Company 7 makes clear
that the absence of an employer association does not preclude the estab-
lishment of a multiple-employer unit.2 In the Dolese d Shepard case,
as in this, the companies concerned were not represented by an em-
ployer association. Moreover, the method of negotiating contracts be-
tween the Smelter Workers and the three companies here concerned
closely parallels that of the unions and companies concerned in the
Dolese & Shepard case. There the Board's decision described the con-
duct of negotiations as follows :
Representatives of each of these four companies 3 have cus-
tomarily met over a long period of time with representatives of
1 56 N. L. R. B. 532.
2 In Matter of Rayonier Incorporated, Grays Harbor Division, 52 N. L. R. B. 1269, the
Board was not asked to pass on this question since the employer whose employees were
being sought in a separate grouping had bargained through an employer association of
which it was a member. However , the Board there found a single -employer unit inappro-
priate, and indicated that a multiple -employer unit was appropriate despite the fact that
the association - did not have the power to bind its members to collective bargaining agree-
ments. We considered as determinative the facts that, "the employers in question [had]
established a practiee of joint action In regard to labor relations by negotiation with
,an effective employee association , and [had ] by their customary adherence to the uniform
labor agreements resulting therefrom , demonstrated their desire to be bound by group
rather than by individual action."
8 Only three of these companies were parties to the proceedings , three single-employer
units having been requested by the petitioning union.
316 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the Laborers and the Operating Engineers for the purpose of nego-
tiating hours, wages, and other,conditions of employment covering
employees of these companies in units represented by these labor
organizations. . . . The customary procedure of these companies
was to have representatives from each meet together as a group,
decide upon a common course of action, and then enter into nego-
tiations with the Operating Engineers and the Laborers. Upon
completion of the negotiations, the Committee members then exe-
cuted either identical contracts or a single contract with these
labor organizations.
We there held that the four companies had, without combining them-
selves into a formal association, "conducted negotiations with the
Operating Engineers and Laborers covering their respective produc-
tion and maintenance employees upon a joint basis, and that these em-
ployees [could] be more properly represented in a single multiple-
employer unit." Consequently, we dismissed the petitions seeking
three single-employer units.
Viewing the facts in evidence in this case in the light of the principles
established in the Rayonier and the Dole.se cC Shepard cases, we are of
the opinion that the history of collective bargaining for a quarter of a
century between the Smelter Workers and the Company, the Jackson
Iron and Steel Company, and the Globe Iron Company demonstrates
that the employees of all three companies can be more properly repre-
sented in a single multiple-employer unit. Accordingly, we find that
the unit sought by the UMWA is inappropriate.
IV. THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Since the bargaining unit sought to be established by the petition
is inappropriate as stated in Section III, above, we find that no ques-
tion has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Com-
pany in an appropriate unit.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, the National Labor
Relations Board hereby orders that the petition for investigation and
certification of representatives of employees of Standard Slag Com-
pany, Jackson, Ohio, filed by United Construction Workers, affiliated
with UMWA, be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Order.