The Colorado Fuel and Iron Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 20, 1945

63 N.L.R.B. 1049 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of THE COLORADO FUEL AND IRON CORPORATION,
MINNEQUA STEEL WORKS and UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA,
C. 1. 0.
Case No. 17-B-1099.-Decided September 00, 1945
Mr. Elmer P. Cogbwrn, of Denver, Colo., and Mr. George E.
Diggory, of Pueblo, Colo., for the Company.
Mr. Michael J. Soldren, of Pueblo, Colo., for the C. I. O.
Mr. Donald H. Franck, of counsel to the Board. -
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Steelworkers of America,
C. I. 0., herein called the C. I. 0., alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
The Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation, Minnequa Steel Works,
Pueblo, Colorado, herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Margaret L. Fassig, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held
at Pueblo, Colorado, on June 26, 1945. The Company and the C. I. O.
appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full oppor-
tunity 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 Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation is a Colorado corporation
with its principal offices in Denver, Colorado. The Company is en-
gaged in the manufacture of iron and steel products, in the quarrying
of limestone, in the mining of iron ore, and in the mining and sale of
63 N. L. R. B., No. 161.
1049
1050 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
coal. The Company operates mines in Wyoming, New Mexico, Cali-
fornia, Utah, and Colorado. Its iron and steel mill near Pueblo,
Colorado, known as the Minnequa Steel Works, the sole operation of
the Company involved in this case, receives its iron ore chiefly from
the Company's Sunrise, Wyoming, mine. The Minnequa' Steel Works
produces 500,000 tons of iron and steel products annually, of which
more than 50 percent is shipped to points outside the State of Colorado.
The Company admits, that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act, and we so find.
II. TILE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Steelworkers of America, affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to member-
ship employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the C. I. O. as the
exclusive bargaining representative of the Company's guards until the
C. I. O. 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 C. I. O. represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
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.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The C. I. O. seeks a unit of all the Company's guards, excluding the
chief and the foremen of the guards, whom the Company agrees are
supervisory employees within our usual definition. These guards per-
form the functions normally associated with their position. They
guard the plant against sabotage and theft; they control the vehicular
and pedestrian traffic into and from the plant; they report all viola-
tions of Company rules by employees to the guard supervisors. Their
duties are thus the same as they were prior to the date when the guards
were militarized. They are armed, uniformed; and deputized as well.
These employees are hired, paid, and discharged by the Company,
which assigns to them their jobs and duties.
I The Field Examiner reported that the C . I. O. submitted 18 application -for-membership
cards , 17 of which bore names of persons appearing on the Company 's pay roll of April
80, 1945, which contained the names of 36 employees in the appropriate unit; and that
the cards were dated 15 in February and 1 in March 1945, and 1 was undated.
THE COLORADO FUEL AND IRON CORPORATION 1051
The Company's position is that no unit is appropriate for these em-
ployees because they are militarized and because their duties make
them closely allied to management. We have considered both of these
contentions in numerous recent cases involving militarized guards with
substantially similar duties, and have found them to be without merit.2
The Company also asserted that these employees cannot be repre-
sented by the C. I. O. in the same unit with other employees of the
Company whom it presently represents. The record reveals, however,
that it is the C. I. O.'s intention to represent these employees in' a
separate unit for all purposes, in accordance with our established
requirements.
We find that all the Company's guards, excluding the chief and the
foremen of the guards, and any other supervisory employees with
authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect
changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such
action, 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 em-
ployees 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
Direction.
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 Rela-
tions 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 Colorado Fuel
and Iron Corporation, Minnequa Steel Works, Pueblo, Colorado, an
2 Matter of B. F Goodrich Company, 62 N. L. R. B. 206; Matter of General Motors Cor-
poration, Packard Electric Division , 62 N. L. R. B. 174; Matter of National Lead Company,
Titanium Division, 62 N. L. R. B 107 ; Matter of Sealed Power Corporation, 61 N. L. R. B.
1639; Matter of Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company, 61 N. L. R. B. 1398;
Matter of International Harvester Company, Milwaukee Works, 61 N. L. It. B. 912; Matter
of The Babock & Wilcox Company, 61 N. L. R B. 529.
Tl}e Company believes that this case should be governed by the decisions of the Circuit
Courts of Appeals for the Sixth and Seventh Circuits in N. L. R. B. v. Jones & Laughlin
Steel Corp., 146 F (2d) 718 (C. C. A 6), N. L. It. B. v. Federal Motor Truck Com-
pany, 146 F . ( 2d) 718 (C. C. A. 6), and N. L. It. B. v . E. C. Atkins & Company, 147 F. (2d)
730 (C. C. A. 7), especially in light of the fact that certiorari was granted , and the cases
remanded for further consideration on June 4, 1945 , 65 S. Ct. 1413 . We do not acquiesce
in the doctrines enunciated in those cases , not yet decided by the Court of final resort.
1052 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
election 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 Seventeenth
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations
Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules
and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate
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 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 any who have since quit or been discharged
for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date
of the election, to determine whether or not they desire to be repre-
sented by United Steelworkers of America, C. I. 0., for the purposes
of collective bargaining.