The American Steel and Wire Co. of New Jersey

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 9, 1941

31 N.L.R.B. 682 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of Tim AMERICAN STEEL AND WIRE COMPANY OF NEW
JERSEY, A , NEW JERSEY CORPORATION and OFFICE WORKERS UNION
#21276, A. F. OF L.
I
Case No. R-2430.-Decided May 9, 1914.1
Jurisdiction : wire products manufacturing.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question:
refusal to accord union recognition until it is certified by the Board ; election
necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : clerical workers at one of the
Company's plants excluding confidential and supervisory employees.
Mr. Clarence .I. Hartley, of Duluth, Minn., for the Company.
M. William F. Wright, of St. Paul, Minn., Mr. E. L. Slaughter, of
Duluth, Minn., and Mr. James A. Glenn, of Washington, D. C., for the
O. W. U.
Mr. John J. Brownlee, of Chicago, Ill., -Mr. Lester F. Collins, of
Waukegan, Ill., and Messrs. Lee Pressman, Anthony Wayne Smith,
and Joseph Kovner, of Washington, D. C., for the S. W. O. C.
Mr. Harold Weston, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On Decmber 9, 1940, January 14, 1941, and January 29, 1941, re-
spectively, Office Workers Union #21276, herein called the O. W. U.,
filed a petition, amended petition, and second amended petition,
with the Regional Director for the Eighteenth Region (Minneapolis,
Minnesota), alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen
concerning the representation of employees of The American Steel
and Wire Company of New Jersey, Duluth, Minnesota, herein called
the Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of
representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Libor
Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On February 27,
1941, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board,
acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act, and Article III, Sec-
31 N. L. R. B., No. 112.
682
THE AMERICAN STEEL & WIRE COMPANY 683
tion ' 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
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.
On March 4, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the O. W. U.,
and Steel , Workers Organizing Committee, herein called, the
S. W. O. C. Pursuant to the'notice, a hearing was held on' March
27, 1941, at Duluth, Minnesota, before Henry Lehman, the Trial
Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Com-
pany, the O. W., U., and the S. W. O. C. were represented by counsel
and participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to
examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bear-
ing on the issues was afforded all parties. At the opening of the
hearing, the S. W. O. C. moved to dismiss the petition on the grounds
that the unit sought by the O. W. U. is vague and indefinite, and
that an employer, and not a single plant, unit is appropriate. The
Trial Examiner referred this motion to the Board. For the reasons
noted below in Section V, the motion is hereby denied. 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 27, and April 2, 1941, the O. W. U., and on April 10,
1941, the S. W. O. C., filed briefs in support of their respective
positions. Pursuant to notice, a hearing for the purpose of oral
argument was held on April 11, 1941, before the Board in Wash-
ington, D. C. The O. W. U. and the S. W. O. C. appeared by
counsel and participated in the oral argument.
The Board has duly considered the briefs and, upon' the entire
record in the case, makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The American Steel and Wire Company of New Jersey, a New
Jersey corporation with its principal office at Cleveland, Ohio, is
engaged in the manufacture and sale of wire and wire products
at 21 plants located in various 'sections of the United' States. The
Company is a subsidiary of United State's Steel Corporation whch
owns an 1LS Voting SLOCK. I
684 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
- Tho Duluth,• Minnesota, plant of the Company, herein called the
Duluth Plant, which is the only division of the Company directly
involved in this proceeding, manufactures steel ingots, steel billets,
steel rods, and other wire and steel products. During 1940, the
Company purchased raw materials amounting to approximately
1,014,400 net tons, about 53 per cent of which were transported
from points outside the State of Minnesota to the Duluth Plant.
During the same period the Company shipped from its Duluth
Plant finished products amounting to 274,300 tons, of which approxi-
mately 82 per cent were shipped to States other than Minnesota
and to foreign countries.
The Duluth Plant employs about 2,000 persons, 200 of whom per-
form some clerical duties.
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED,
Office Workers' Union, Local #21276, affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, and Steel Workers Organizing Committee,
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, are labor
organizations admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Although the O. W. U. has requested the Company to bargain col-
lectively in respect to the clerical employees of the Duluth Plant,
the Company has refused to bargain with the O. W. U. until it has
been certified by the Board. At the hearing there was introduced in
evidence a report of the- Regional Director which shows that the
O. W. U. and the S. W. O. C. represent a substantial number of
employees in the unit which the O. W. U. alleges to be appropriate.-
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
1 The Regional Director reported that the O . W. U. submitted 54 authorization cards and
the S. W. O. C., 42 dues record cards . There are approximately 130 employees in the unit
desired by the O . W. U. Of the O . W. U. cards , 36 were dated March 1940 , 6 May-June
1940, 1 August 1940 , 1 November 1940, 3 December 1940, and 7 January 1941 . The most
recent dues payments revealed by the S W. O . C. dues records were 2 in September 1940,
33 in October 1940, 3 in November 1940, and 2 in December 1940; the 2 remaining dues
record cards are of 2 employees who are listed as being exempt from dues payments because,
they are shop stewards.-
THE AMERICAN STEEL & WIRE COMPANY 685
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate , and substantial
relation to trade, traffic , and commerce among the several States and
foreign countries and tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and
obstructing commerce and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The O. W. U. seeks a unit composed of the clerical employees' at
Duluth, excluding confidential 3 and supervisory employees, and in-
spectors. The S. W. O. C. contends that the Company's clerical
employees 4 belong with its production and maintenance employees in
an employer-wide unit.5 The Company would establish two multi-
plant clerical units including respectively, the monthly salaried em-
ployees, and the employees paid on a turn salary or hourly basis. The
record reveals that at the time of the hearing none of the employees
whom the O. W. U. would include in its desired unit was paid on other
than a turn salary or hourly basis.
The Company Comptroller testified that the Company's 21 plants
are administered uniformly and that there is an occasional interchange
of employees between the plants.
On March 17, 1937, the Company and the S. W. O. C. executed,
and on February 9, 1938, renewed, a contract which recognized the
S. W. O. C. for its members at the Company's plants and .which
contained provisions concerning wages, hours, and working con-
ditions, some of which appear to have, been applied to employees,,
without regard to membership or non-membership in the S. W. O. C.
The record is inconclusive, however, as to whether the contract was
intended to, or did in practice, cover clerical employees.
The Board has recognized that clerical employees generally have
distinct interests from manual workers.° Upon the present record,
8 At the time of the hearing the clerical employees were classified as follows . Bookkeeper,
Cashier, Stenographer , Billing and Invoicing Clerks, Departmental Clerks, Distribution
Clerks, Fieight Clerks, Pay Roll Clerks , Production Clerks, Standard Cost Clerks , Stores
Clerks, Comptometer Operators, Ditto Operators , Merchant Mill Loaders, Messenger, Pay-
master, Providers , Recorders , Shipping Checkers , Stenographers , Telephone Operator, Tele-
printer Operator , Typists, weighers, Procedure Analyst, and Technical Apprentice Some of
these clerical employees perform some manual labor Incidental to their primary, clerical
tasks. Other employees , while performing some clerical duties, are not clerical employees
because such duties are only incidental to their primary , non-clerical tasks.
6 At the hearing the Company, without objection by the O. W. U. and S. W. O. C, classified
the following as confidential employees : G. V. Arimond , K. Arimond , Elmer Conover, T P.
Hodgson, E . R. Johnson , M. Lacrosse , G. McNulty , M. Mullin , Agnes Murray , It. B. Park,
and R. Ramshaw.
It appears , however, that the S. W. O. C. would exclude from its desired unit clerical
employees in the Company ' s main offices
*Matter of American Steel and Wire Company and Steel and Wire Workers Protective
Association , 5 N. L R B 871 , relied on by the S. W. 0 C. is not in point The Board, in
that case , was not confronted with the problem of whether a unit composed of clerical
employees at one plant of the Company was appropriate
6M¢tter of Southern California Gas Company and Utility Workers Organizing Committee,
Local No. 132, 10 N. L. R. B. 1123. -
686 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
we are not convinced that these differences are outweighed by the
interests which the clerical and other workers may have in common.
We shall, therefore, overrule the S. W. O. C.'s contention that the
clerical workers should be merged with the production and main-
tenance employees.
The O. W. U. has organized .among, and sought to bargain in
behalf of, the clerical employees at Duluth. It has not extended its
organization throughout the, Company's many plants. Duluth is
the only plant at which clerical employees have attempted to bar-
gain as an ' appropriate unit. Under these circumstances, we find
that a clerical unit confined to the Duluth plant is appropriate.
We find that clerical workers employed by the Company at its
Duluth Plant, excluding confidential and supervisory employees and
inspectors, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining and that said unit will insure to the employees of
the Company the full benefit of their right to self-organization and
to collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the
Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question which has arisen concerning represen-
tation can best be resolved by the holding of an election by secret
ballot. and we shall so direct. Those employees in the appropriate
unit during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of
this Direction of Election, subject to such limitations and additions
as, are set forth in the Direction, shall be ,eligible to vote.
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 rep-
resentation of employees of The American Steel and 'Tire Company
of New Jersey, Duluth, Minnesota, within the meaning of Section
9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National'Labor Relations
Act.
2. Clerical workers employed by the Company at its Duluth,
Minnesota, plant, excluding 'confidential and supervisory employees
and inspectors, 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-
THE AMERICAN STEEL & WIRE COMPANY 687
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 bargaining
with The American Steel and Wire Company of New Jersey, Duluth,
Minnesota , an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as
possible but not later than thirty (30) days after the date of this
Direction , under the direction and supervision of the Regional Direc-
tor for the Eighteenth Region and subject to Article III, Section 9,
of said Rules and Regulations , among clerical workers employed by
The American Steel and Wire Company of-New Jersey, at its Duluth,
Minnesota , plant, during the pay-roll period next preceding the 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 temporarily laid
off but excluding confidential and supervisory employees , inspectors,
employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause , to 'de-
termine whether they desire to be represented for the purposes of
collective bargaining by Office Workers' Union Local 21276 , affiliated
with the American Federation of Labor, or Steel Workers Organiz-
ing Committee , affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organiza-
tions, or by neither.
MR. EDWIN S. SMITH, concurring :
The S. W. O. C. maintains that it has bargained with the Company
for clerical employees attached to its plants-as distinguished from
clerical employees attached to the main offices-along with other pro-
duction and maintenance employees. Had the record sustained this
position, I would igree with the S. W. O. C. that plant clerks would
belong in the, industrial unit and I would not merge them with main
office clerks. I am not persuaded, however, that collective bargaining
for employees of the Company by the S. W. O. C. has heretofore
recognized or developed a distinction between main office clerical and
other clerical employees.
Under the circumstances disclosed by this record, I concur in the
decision that the clerical employees at Duluth constitute an
appropriate unit.