Tennessee Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 21, 1941

30 N.L.R.B. 500 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the .Matter of U. S. PHOSPHORIC PRODUCTS DIVISION, TENNESSEE
CORPORATION and" INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS,,
LOCAL UNION No. 925, AFFILIATED WITH AMERICAN FEDERATION OF
LABOR
Case No.• R-2351,=Decided March 21, 1.9.1.x,1
Jurisdiction : phosphate,' gypsum, and agricultural insecticide products manu-
facturing industry
Practice and Procedure : petition dismissed where no appropriate unit within
the scope of the petition
McKay, Macfarlane, Jackson c6 Ferguson, of Tampa, Fla:, by Mr.
Howard Macfiarlane, and Mr. J.' H.Hansbrough, and Frantz, Mo
Connell & Seymour, of' Knoxville, Tenn., by Mr. R. M. McConnell,
for , the , Company.
Maxwell & Cobbey, of Tampa, Fla., by Mr., O. C. 'Maxwell, for-
the Association.
Mr. Glenn McClung, of Tampa, Fla., for Local 925.
Mr. Louis S. Penfield, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On December 24, 1940, International Union of Operating Engi-
neers, Local Union No. 925, affiliated with the American Federation
of Labor, herein called Local 925, filed with the Regional Director
for the Fifteenth Region (New Orleans, Louisiana) a petition, and
on January 16, 1941, an amended petition, alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of U. S. Phosphoric Products Division, Tennessee Corpora-
tion, Tampa, Florida, herein called the Company, and requesting
an investigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Sec-
tion 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein
called the Act. On February 3, 1941, the National Labor Relations
Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of
the Act, and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered an
30 N.L.R B, No 72
5 .Ì€)o
U. S. PHOSPHORIC PRODUCTS -,DIVISION,' 501
investigation and ordered,,the Regional Director to conduct it and
to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On February 6, 1941, the Regional- Director issued. a notice of
hearing, and on February 10, a supplemental notice of hearing; copies
of each of which were duly served upon the Company, upon Local
925, and upon U. S. Phosphoric Products Employees Association,
herein called the Association, a labor organization claiming to repre-
sent employees directly, affected by the investigation. Pursuant to
notice, a hearing was held on February 24, 25, and 26, 1941, before
C. Paul Barker, the Trial Examiner duly- designated by the Chief.
Trial Examiner. The Company and the Association were repre-
sented by counsel, Local 925 by its representative; all participated in
the hearing. At the opening of the hearing the Association filed a
motion for intervention. The motion is hereby granted. Full op-
portunity to be heard to examine and cross-examine witnesses and to
introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties.
During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made several
rulings on motions and on objections to the admission of evidence.
The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds
that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby
affirmed.
On March 19, 1941, the Company filed with the Board a motion
that a certain pay roll'therewith submitted be admitted in evidence
and made a part of the record. This motion is hereby denied.
On March 20, 1941, pursuant to notice, a hearing for the purpose
of oral argument was held before the Board in Washington, D. C.
The Company and the Association were represented by counsel and
participated in the hearing. On March 20, 1941, the Association and
the Company, respectively, filed briefs with the Board in support
of their respective positions.
Upon the entire record in the case the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
U. S. Phosphoric Products Division, Tennessee Corporation, a New
York corporation, is engaged in the production of triple super-
phosphate, 20 per cent super-phosphate, gypsum products, and agri-
cultural insecticide products at its Tampa, Florida, plants: The
principal raw materials used by the Company in connection with its
business are sulphur, phosphate rock, and gypsum. Annually ap-
proximately 63 per cent of such raw materials, valued in excess of
$1,000,000, are purchased by the Company and shipped to it from
502 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
points outside the State of Florida. Annually approximately 77
per cent of the finished products, valued in excess of $1,000,000, are
sold and shipped by the Company to points outside the State of
Florida.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
International Union of Operating Engineers, Local Union No. 925,
is a labor organization affiliated with-the American Federation of
Labor. It admits to membership operating engineers employed by
the Company.
U. S. Phosphoric Products Corporation Employees Association is
,an unaffiliated labor organization admitting to membership all em-
ployees of the Company, excluding supervisors.
III. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT .
The amended petition alleges that "operators of draghnes, cranes,
hoists, mixers, granulators, bagging loaders, compressors, agitators,
hardiiige machines,'pumps, circulators, thickeners, Dorr systems, Ray-
mond Mills, locomotives, roasters, recipitators, oilers, and firemen,"
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing. As hereinafter set forth, this unit was further defined by Local
925 at the hearing and its scope limited in. certain respects. The
Company and the Association contend that a unit comprised of all
employees of the Company at its Tampa, Florida, plants, excluding
clerical and supervisory employees, constitute a unit appropriate for
collective bargaining.
The Company manufactures four products : triple super-phosphate,
20 per cent super-phosphate, gypsum products, and agricultural
insecticide products.
Triple super-phosphate and 20 per cent super-phosphate, the prin-
cipal products, are produced from the processing of sulphur and phos-
phate rock in adjoining and connected plants, herein called the
phosphate plants, on the Company's property at Tampa, Florida. At
separate plants located approximately 100 and 300 yards, respec-
tively, from the phosphate plants, but within the same enclosure, the
Company manufactures gypsum products from gypsum rock, and
agricultural insecticide products from sulphur. The operations at
these latter plants are for the most part entirely separate from the
operations at the phosphate plants. Each of the Company's prod-
ucts is produced by a complex set of mechanical and chemical opera-
tions which require the use of various electrically and mechanically
driven machines to-load, transport,-dump, mix, grind, dry, and other-
wise process the various raw materials. Numerous persons are em-
U. S. PHOSPHORIC PRODUCTS DIVISION 503
ployed as operators of these machines. Local 925 which has
jurisdiction over such machine operators generally, seeks, in the
present instance, to include in the bargaining unit only, certain of-
the machine operators in the triple super-phosphate and 20 per cent
super-phosphate plants and to exclude entirely from such unit
machine operators in the gypsum and insecticide plants.'
The machines operated in the various plants are not identical but
it does not appear that marked differences exist among them. The
work done by machine operators at all plants is semi-skilled and can,
in most instances , be learned in from 1 to 5 days, and the degree of
skill required by machine operators does not vary substantially from
plant to plant. Transfers of machine operators from one plant to
another are a frequent occurrence. All plants at Tampa are centrally
managed and the chemical operations performed and the electrical
and mechanical equipment located in each are under the respective
supervision of a chief chemist, chief electrician, and a master
mechanic.
The Association was formed in November 1937 for the purpose of
bargaining collectively for all employees of the Company excluding
supervisors. On February 3, 1938, the Company and the Association
signed a collective agreement whose provisions were applicable' to
members -only. On March 4, 1939, this agreement was succeeded by
a subsequent collective agreement, apparently also applicable to
members only, the provisions of which are still in effect.
Under the circumstances presented herein we do not believe that
the machine operators should be classified for purposes of collective
bargaining so as to exclude from the unit other machine operators
who are doing the same kind of work as those included in the unit.
Accordingly we find that the unit now sought by Local 925, is not
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
IV. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Since, as stated in Section III, we are unable to find an appropriate
unit within the scope of that alleged in the petition filed in this case,
we find that no question has arisen concerning the representation of
employees of the Company in an appropriate bargaining unit.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the 'entire
record in the case the Board makes the following :
3 The Company manufactures sulphuric acid at a plant located a short distance from
the phosphate plants, all of which is used in the = manufacture of the phosphate products.
Although sulphuric acid is a basic raw material in the manufacture of the phosphate
products , Local 925 would exclude machine operators working in this plant . Local 925
would also exclude certain other workers in the phosphate plants proper whose work
seems to coincide with, that of -workers it seeks to include in the unit.
'504 DECISIONS "OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
CONCLUSION OF LAW
No question concerning the representation of employees of U. S.
Phosphoric Products Division, Tennessee Corporation, Tampa, Flor-
ida, in a unit which is appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining has arisen within the meaning of Section 9 (c) of the
National Labor Relations Act.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and conclusion
of law,, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the
petition for investigation and certification filed by the International
.Union. of Operating Engineers, Local No. 925, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, be, and it hereby is, dismissed.