The American Steel and Wire Co. of New Jersey

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 28, 1945

63 N.L.R.B. 1244 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of THE AMERICAN STEEL AND WIRE COMPANY OF NEW
JERSEY and NATIONAL MARITIME UNION OF AMERICA (CIO)
Case No. 8 R-1931.Decided September f8, 1945
Mr. Lucian Y. Ray, of Cleveland, Ohio, for the Company.
Mr. Frank Jones, of Cleveland, Ohio, for the Union.
Miss Ruth E. Bliefceld, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by National Maritime Union of America
(CIO), herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
The American Steel and Wire Company of New Jersey,' Cleveland,
Ohio, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board
provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before John W.
Irving, Trial Examiner.' Said hearing was held at Cleveland, Ohio,
on August 17, 1945. The Company and the Union appeared and par-
ticipated. 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 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 American Steel and Wire Company of New Jersey, a New
Jersey corporation, is engaged primarily in the production of various
wire products and other iron and steel products. The Company op-
erates 15 plants located in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Con-
necticut, Minnesota, Illinois, and New Jersey, and has an office in
' The name of the Company appears in the caption and body of this Decision as It was
amended at the hearing.
63 N. L. R. B., No. 196.
1244
THE AMERICAN STEEL AND WIRE COMPANY OF NEW JERSEY1245
Cleveland, Ohio. In connection with its operations the Company
operates two freight-carrying ships, which are solely involved herein.
These freighters carry between various ports in the different States
bordering on the Great Lakes coal, stone, iron ore, and finished and
semi-finished iron and steel products amounting to approximately
250,000 tons per year. During the year 1944, the raw materials used
by the Company exceeded $25,000,000 in value, some of which were
transported in interstate commerce by the freighters.
The. Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act, and we so find.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
National Maritime Union of America, affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, is a labor Organization admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of the unlicensed personnel on
its freighters until the Union has been certified by the Board in an
appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
0
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit of all unlicensed employees on all ships
owned, operated, or chartered by the Company. The Company con-
tends that assistant electricians should be excluded from the unit,
whereas the Union desires their inclusion. The Company argues that
assistant electricians should not be included in a unit of unlicensed
employees because they exercise supervisory power, have interests
and duties which more closely align them with the licensed personnel,
and have no duties in connection with the navigation of the vessels.
The Company's vessels are equipped with cranes, which are used in
the loading and unloading of cargo. The crane on one vessel is oper-
2 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 38 statement of membership
cards , that there are approximately 55 employees in the appropriate unit ; and that 23
cards were dated June 1945 and 15 cards were dated July 1945.
1246 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ated entirely by electricity, and on the other it is operated partially
by steam and partially by electricity. The assistant electricians, who
are unlicensed employees, are required to maintain these cranes, as
well as deck engines and windlasses. In the performance of their
duties the assistant electricians may request the chief engineers to
assign members of the crew to assist them. Although it was testified
that they could recommend to the chief engineer the dismissal of any
employees who were not performing their duties satisfactorily, no
instance could be recalled where such a recommendation was made.
The assisant electricians are quartered with the licensed personnel, and
eat at the officers mess. Their salary is comparable to that of the third
assistant engineer, who is a licensed employee, but it is not as high as
that of certain other employees whom the parties agree are properly
within the unit. While it is true that they have no duties in connection
with the navigation of the vessels, it appears that there are other
employees among the unlicensed personnel, such as stewards and
cooks, who also have nothing to do with navigation. We are of the
opinion that assistant electricians are not supervisory employees and,
as unlicensed personnel, have a sufficient community of interest with
others in the appropriate unit to warrant their inclusion.3
The Union states that it desires the unit to be so defined as to allow
for the inclusion of all unlicensed personnel on any additional ships
the Company may in the future acquire. The Company, however, con-
tends that the unit should be confined to the employees of the two ships
it presently operates.4
We agree with the position of the Company. This is not a case in
which there may be an increase in the number of employees at the
plant or operation specifically concerned.5 In the absence of special
circumstances, we view each new ship to be acquired by the Company,
as owner or otherwise, as a separate operation. To determine now that
the employees of such operations are included in the unit may be to
deny them the right to a representative of their own choosing. The
propriety of including them should be determined in a representation
proceeding initiated when they are actually employed and have an
opportunity to voice their desires. We shall, therefore, limit the scope
of the present unit to the unlicensed personnel on the two ships pres-
ently operated by the Company.
We find that all unlicensed personnel employed by the Company on
the Steamers Clifford F. Hood and Steel Chemist, including assistant
5 Chairman Herzog does not concur in so much of the decision as includes the assistant
electricians in the unit , believing that greater weight should be given to the fact that they
are messed and quartered with the licensed personnel.
4 There is nothing in the record to indicate whether or not the acquisition of addi-
tional ships is more than mere speculation.
5 Cf. Matter of Aluminum Company of America, 52 N. L. R. B. 1040.
THE AMERICAN STEEL AND WIRE COMPANY OF NEW JERSEY1247
electricians , constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the employ-
ees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding'the date of the Direction of Election
herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direc-
tion.
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 Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with The American
Steel and Wire Company of New Jersey, Cleveland, Ohio, an elec-
tion by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not
later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction, under
the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Eighth
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said
Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found ap-
propriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including
employees who did not work during the said pay-roll period because
they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including
employees in the armed forces of the United States who present
themselves in person at the polls, but excluding those employees who
have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been re-
hired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented by National Maritime
Union of America (CIO), for the purposes of collective bargaining.