Tennessee Products Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 26, 1941

37 N.L.R.B. 971 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the, Matter of TENNESSEE PRODUCTS CORPORATION and INTERNA-
TIONAL UNION OF MINE, MILL AND SMELTER WORKERS (C. I. 0.)
Case No. R-3346.-Decided December 26, 1941
Jurisdiction : ferromanganese manufacturing and producing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re
fusal of Company to accord union recognition until certified by the Board ;
election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all production and maintenance
employees at the Company's Rockwood, Tennessee plant, excluding technical,
clerical and supervisory employees, and watchmen ; stipulation as to.
Mr. Gordon Jones, Jr., of Knoxville, Tenn., for the Company.
Messrs. Bernard Borah, of Knoxville, Tenn., Howard V. Hicks, of
Mascot, Tenn., and Charles H. Wilson, of Strawberry Plains, Tenn.,
for the Union.
-Mr. Raymond J. Heilman, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On October 17, 1941, International Union of Mine, Mill and Smel-
ter Workers, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
herein called the Union, filed with the Regional Director for the
Tenth Region (Atlanta, Georgia) a petition alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Tennessee Products Corporation, Nashville, Tennessee,
herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation and cer-
tification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On Novem-
ber 18, 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 Regula-
tions-Series 2, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized
the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate
hearing upon due notice.
37 N. L. R. B., No. 162.
971
972 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
On November 25, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and
the Union. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on December 2,
1941, at Knoxville, Tennessee, before John C. McBee, the Trial Ex-
aminer duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Company
and the Union were represented and participated in the hearing.
Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses,
and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded both
parties. During the course of the hearing, the Trial Examiner made
rulings with respect 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.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Tennessee Products Corporation is a Tennessee corporation. Its
principal office is in Nashville, Tennessee . It operates a plant at
Rockwood, Tennessee , in which it is engaged in the manufacture and
production of ferromanganese . The Company also operates a ferro-
manganese and mineral -wool plant at Rockdale , Tennessee , a wood-
distillation and charcoal- iron plant at Wrigley, Tennessee, and a
byproducts and coke plant at Chattanooga , Tennessee . The Com-
pany also owns and operates coal mines at Whitwell , Tennessee.
This proceeding concerns only the Rockwood plant. The principal
materials used at this plant are manganese ore. The plant uses
approximately 7,000 tons of this ore monthly, about 90 percent of
which is imported from South America; the remainder is obtained
in the State of Tennessee . The plant uses approximately 5,000 tons
of coke per month, of which about 2,000 tons are shipped to the plant
from States other than Tennessee ; the remaining 3,000 tons are pro-
duced in the Company's coke ovens at Chattanooga , ,Tennessee. The
plant also uses approximately 3,000 tons of coal per month, which is
obtained from points within the State of Tennessee . The plant
produces approximately 4,000 tons of ferromanganese per month, of
which about one-half is sold to steel plants in Pennsylvania , Ohio, and
Michigan . The approximate present value of ferromanganese is
$145 per ton . The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers is a labor
organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
TENNESSEE PRODUCTS CORPORATION 973
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On or about October 20, 1941, the Union requested that the Com-
pany recognize it as the exclusive representative of the Company's
employees in the Rockwood, Tennessee, plant for the purposes of
collective bargaining; the Company refused to recognize the Union
without its having been certified by the Board as such representative.
A statement of the Regional Director, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, shows that the Union represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit agreed upon between the Union and the
Company as appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.,,
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Company and the Union stipulated at the hearing, and we
find, that all production and maintenance employees within the
Company's Rockwood, Tennessee, plant, excluding technical, cleri-
cal, and supervisory employees and watchmen, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. We find fur-
ther that said unit will insure to employees of the Company the full
benefit of their right to self-organization and to collective bargaining
and otherwise will effectuate the policies of the Act.
3 The Regional Director repot fed that the Union submitted to him 249 signed application
cards for membership, of which 23 were undated and the rest were dated as follows'
7 prior to July 1941 ; 88 between July 1 and July 31, 1941 ; 99 between August 1 and
August 31, 1941 ; 23 between September 1 and September 30, 1941 ; 9 between October 1
and October 10, 1941 The Regional Director stated that 139 of the 249 signatures on
these cards were those of persons whose names were on the Company's pay roll of October
15, 1941 At the bearing the Trial Examiner stated that in addition to the cards men-
tioned above , there had been banded to him 88 cards authorizing the Union to act as the
signers' collective bargaining representative The Trial Examiner stated that the signa-
tures on 64 of these cards appeared to be those of persons whose names were on the Com-
pany's pay roll of October 15, 1941 Of the 88 cards, 72 were dated between September 1
and November 10, 1941 ; and 16 were undated At the hearing, the Trial Examiner stated
that the total number of employees in the alleged appropriate unit; whose names appeared
on the Company's pay roll of October 15, 1941, was 320.
974 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question which has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of the Company can best be resolved by an
election by secret ballot. At-the hearing, the Company assented to
the determination of eligibility of employees to vote at such an
election on the basis of the pay roll of the Company immediately
preceding the election. The Union took no position on this subject
at the hearing . Therefore , following our usual practice, we shall
direct that the employees of the, Company eligible to vote in the
election shall be those employed by the Company during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election,
subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon,the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following:
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Tennessee Products Corporation within
the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and ( 7) of the
National Labor Relations Act.
2. All production and maintenance employees within the Com-
pany's Rockwood, Tennessee, plant, excluding technical, clerical, and
supervisory employees and watchmen , constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
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, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series
2, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the
Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining with Tennessee Products Corporation, Knoxville, Tennessee,
an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible
but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction
of Election, under the direction and supervision of the Regional
Director for the Tenth 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 all employees of the Company
within its Rockwood, Tennessee, plant, who were employed by the
TENNESSEE PRODUCTS CORPORATION 975
Company during the pay-roll period immediately preceding thee date
of this Direction, including employees who did not work during
such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or in the
active military service or training of the United States, or tempo-
rarily laid off, but excluding technical, clerical, and supervisory
employees and watchmen and all employees who have since quit or
been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire
to be represented for the purposes of collective bargaining by Inter-
national Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, affiliated with
the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
MR. GIRARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Election.