The Harris Clay Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 7, 1950

88 N.L.R.B. 934 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of THE HARRIS CLAY COMPANY,' EMPLOYER and UNITED
STONE AND ALLIED PRODUCTS WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. 0.,
PETITIONER
Case No. 3/.-RC-165.Decided March 7,1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Henry L.
Segal, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hear-
ing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.2
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Reynolds].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.3
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
(1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit :
The Petitioner seeks a single unit of production and maintenance
employees at the Employer's plants at Kaolin, Gusher Knob, and
Sparks, all in the vicinity of Spruce Pine, North Carolina. As an
alternative, the Petitioner agrees with the Employer's position that
each plant constitutes a separate unit.
I The Employer's name as amended at the hearing.
2 As the adequacy of Petitioner's showing of interest is solely an administrative matter
to be determined by the Board, the hearing officer properly rejected the Employer's offer
of evidence pertaining to the authenticity of Petitioner's application cards. See Henderson
Lumber Company, Inc., 80 NLRB 1392.
8 We find no merit in the Employer's contention that it would not effectuate the policies
of the Act to assume jurisdiction or direct an election because of asserted unstable employ-
ment conditions at its plants due to periodic shutdowns.
88 NLRB No. 177.
934
THE HARRIS CLAY COMPANY 935
The Employer mines and processes clay at its plants at Kaolin,
Gusher Knob, and Sparks.4 This product is used principally by
manufacturers of china. At the first two plants, mica, a byproduct, is
also mined and processed. The greatest distance between any two
plants is approximately 11 miles. Each plant is supervised by a plant
superintendent responsible to the general superintendent who has over-
all supervision of the three plants. The general superintendent main-
tains his office at the Kaolin plant, where the employee records for all
the plants, including those relating to payrolls and social security and
withholding taxes, are kept.
The skills exercised by the employees at the three plants are, for the
most part, the same. All the employees work 48 hours a week and are
comparably paid. The only evidence in the record of any interchange
of employees in the past 11 years related to a transfer of employees
from one plant to another in the summer of 1949 to avoid layoffs.
Although each plant superintendent promulgates the working rules for
his plant, he consults with the general superintendent with respect to
general labor policies. There is no previous history of collective
bargaining at any plant.
In view of the similarity of operations at the three plants, the close
proximity of the plants, the similarity of the skills and working condi-
tions of the employees, the centralized supervision, and the absence of
any bargaining history, we are persuaded that a single unit covering
the three plants is appropriate.
Accordingly, we find that all production and maintenance employ-
ees at the Employer's Kaolin, Gusher Knob, and Sparks plants, all
situated in the vicinity of Spruce Pine, North Carolina, including so-
called foremen,5 but excluding office and clerical employees, guards,
professional employees, the plant superintendents, the mining foreman
(Pitman), and all other supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days
from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of
4 The Employer 's sales and executive offices are located at Dillsboro , North Carolina,
approximately 100 miles from the plants.
5 The record discloses that the Employer has several employees designated "foremen"
who possess no supervisor authority as defined in the Act but who are actually leadmen
performing manual labor along with the other employees in their respective group. The
Employer requests that these "foremen" be included in the unit. The Petitioner takes no
position . We shall include them.
936 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was heard, and
subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found
appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed
during the payroll period immediately preceding the date of this
Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during
said payroll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporar-
ily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been
discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to
the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are
not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they desire
to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by United
Stone and Allied Products Workers of America, C. I. 0.