The Vesta Coal Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 8, 1940

27 N.L.R.B. 696 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

In the Matter of THE VESTA COAL COMPANY and, NATIONAL MARI-
TIME UNION, INLAND BOATMEN'S DIVISION, AFFILIATED WITH THE
C. I. O. 1
Case No. B-2049.-Decided October 8, 1940
Jurisdiction : coal mining, producing and transportation industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: dis-
pute as to appropriate unit; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : mates, watchmen, deckhands, fire-
men, strikers, cook house or galley employees, deckmen, and coal passers,
excluding captains, pilots, and engineers.
Mr. William L. Standard, by Mr. Maas Lustig, of New York City,
for the Union. '
Mr. W. L. Copeland and Mr. J. T. Ross, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for
the Company.
Mr, Norman Al. Neel, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On July 15, 1940, National Maritime Union, Inland Boatmen's
Division, affiliated with the C. I. 0.,1 herein called the Union, filed
with the Regional Director for the Sixth Region (Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania), a petition alleging that a question affecting com-
merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of The
Vesta Coal Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, herein called the,
Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of rep-
resentatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On August 19, 1940,
the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, act-
ing pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3,
National Labor Relations Board rules and Regulations-Series 2,
as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional
1 The petition was filed by National Maritime Union, Inland Boatmen's Division, Pitts-
burgh Branch, Affiliated with the CIO. At the hearing, upon motion by counsel for the
Union , the petition was amended to omit the words "Pittsburgh Branch " from its name.
27 N. L. R. B., No. 131.
696
THE VESTA COAL COMPANY 697
Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice.
On August 27, 1940, and September 3, 1940, respectively, the Re-
gional, Director issued a notice of hearing and a notice of postpone-
ment of hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Com-
pany and the Union. Pursuant to the notices, a hearing was held
.on-September 9, 1940, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, before Robert
H. Kleeb, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The
Company and the Union were represented by counsel and partici-
pated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and
cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the is-
sues was afforded all parties. During -the course of the hearing
-the Trial Examiner made several rulings on motions, and on ob-
-jections 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
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Company, a Pennsylvania corporation, is a wholly owned sub-
sidiary of Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation, also a Pennsylvania
corporation, engaged in mining, producing, transporting, and selling
coal and its products. The Company owns nine towboats, a motor
vessel, and numerous barges which it employs in the intrastate ship-
ment of coal to its parent corporation. Three of these vessels, during
the period from August 1, 1939, to July 31, 1940, were engaged in
towing Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation products in "down-river
movements" outside the State of Pennsylvania, to the extent of
,approximately 160,000 net tons.
The Company concedes for the purposes of this hearing that it is
subject to the jurisdiction of the Board within the meaning of the Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
National Maritime Union, Inland Boatmen's Division , is a labor
organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
admitting to membership licensed and unlicensed personnel of the
Company.
III. THE-QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Union began organizing the Company's employees about Janu-
ary 1939, but .has had no contractual relationship with the Company
698 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
up to the present' time. The Company adui^litted that it had refused
to recognize the Union as the exclusive bargaining agency for the pro-
posed unit for the reason that it denies the propriety of the unit con-
tended for by the Union, and questions the Union's status as majority
representative in any unit.
There was adduced in evidence a report of the Regional Director
showing a substantial union membership.2
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
In its petition the Union claimed a unit consisting of all unlicensed
personnel, including mates and watchmen, on company-owned boats.
The Company contends that mates and watchmen are almost invari-
ably licensed at its own insistence and that these employees, occupying
positions second in command, should be excluded from the appropriate
unit.
Besides the licensed personnel, consisting of captain, pilot, chief
engineer, and first assistant engineer, the crew of a towboat of the
Company usually consists of six deckhands, a mate, a watchman, about
four firemen, one or two strikers ,3 a cook and two maids in the galley,
and a boiler deckman.4
The boats have two watches tinder command of the captain and pilot
respectively, the watchman serving on the captain's watch and the
mate on the pilot's watch. The duties of the mate and watchman on
their respective watches are similar, consisting of supervising and
working with the deckhands in putting "tows" (barges) through locks,
and in making up and breaking tows. They exercise some measure of
2 The unit sought by the Union is comprised of approximately 180 employees The Union
submitted to the Regional Director 110 application cards, 96 of which were signed by
persons whose names were on the Company's August 31, 1940, pay roll in that unit.
3-Strikers are engine-room employees engaged in oiling engines and handling the throttles
under the supervision of the engineers.
4 Boiler deckmen take care of the paint work on the boats and keep the upper deck out-
side of the cabins clean , shining brass , and cleaning cuspidors . They are sometimes called
"flunkeys" or "roustabouts."
THE VESTA COAL COMPANY 699
independent authority in, issuing orders to deckhands and coal passers 5
and in recommending hire and discharge, but they are not concerned
with navigating and issue no orders to the engineers. Although
almost all the mates and 5 or 6 of 11 watchmen on the Company boats
have obtained licenses at the instance of the management, none of
them are required to be licensed by the United States Bureau of
Marine Inspection and Navigation.
All employees from the mates and watchmen down to the least skilled
employees are eligible to membership in the Union and have been
organized on that basis in the past. The Union organizes captains,
pilots, and engineers separately but has not yet undertaken the organ-
ization of such employees of the Company. The Union states that
when such organization does occur, that group will conduct its bar-
gaining separately. Since the only union involved admits mates and
watchmen to membership and claims to have organized them in the
group sought, we shall include them within the unit.
We find that mates, watchmen, deckhands, firemen, strikers, cook
house or galley employees, deckmen, and coal passers, employed on
company-owned boats, excluding captains, pilots, and engineers, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective 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 representation
can best be resolved by the holding of an election by secret ballot. We
shall direct that such an election be held.
The Union stated that the Company's August 31, 1940, pay roll was
satisfactory as a basis for determining eligibility to participate in an
election. The Company expressed no preference in this regard. We
shall direct that all employees in the appropriate unit whose names
appear on the Company's pay roll immediately preceding our Direc-
tion of Election, including employees who did not work during such
pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation, and employees
who were then or have since been temporarily laid off, but excluding
those who have since quit or been discharged for cause, shall be eligible
to vote. -
g Coal passers wheel coal from a "wheel flat" to the boilers. Four of them are so en-
gaged on each of the three "down-river" boats.
700 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 The Vesta Coal Company, Pittsburgh, Penn-
sylvania, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (j6) and
(7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All mates, watchmen, deckhands, firemen, strikers, cook house or
galley employees, deckmen, and coal passers on company-owned boats,
excluding captains, pilots, and engineers, constitute a unit appropri-
ate 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 Relations 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 ordered by the Board to
ascertain representatives for the purpose of collective bargaining with
The Vesta Coal Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as soon as convenient and beginning as
promptly as is practicable after the date of this Direction, under the
direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Sixth
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Rela-
tions Board and subject to Article" III, Section 9, of said Rules and
Regulations, among all mates, watchmen, deckhands, firemen, strikers,
cook house or galley employees, deckmen, and coal passers on company-
owned boats, whose names appear on the Company's pay roll next pre-
ceding the date of this Direction, including those who did not work
during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation and
employees who were then or have since been temporarily laid off, but
excluding those who have since quit or been discharged for cause, and
further excluding captains, pilots, and engineers, to determine whether
or not they desire to be represented by National Maritime Union, In-
land Boatmen's Division, affiliated with the C. I. 0., for the purposes
of collective bargaining.