Trammell Construction Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 30, 1960

126 N.L.R.B. 1365 (N.L.R.B. 1960)

TRAMMELL CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, INCORPORATED 1365
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. United Textile Workers of America, AFL-CIO, is a labor organization within
the meaning of Section 2(5) of the Act.
2. All production and maintenance employees at the Respondent's Elizabethton,
Tennessee , plant , excluding all office clerical employees , professional employees,
watchmen , guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b)
of the Act.
3. At all times since April 1, 1959, the Union has been, and is, the exclusive
representative of all employees in said appropriate unit for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(a) of the Act.
4. By refusing to bargain collectively with the Union as the exclusive representa-
tive of its employees in said appropriate unit , the Respondent has engaged and is
engaging in unfair labor practices within the meaning of Section 8(a) (5) of the Act.
5. By said conduct the Respondent has interfered with, restrained , and coerced its
employees in the exercise of rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act, thereby
engaging in unfair labor practices within the meaning of Section 8 ( a)( I) of the Act.
6. The aforesaid unfair labor practices are unfair labor practices affecting com-
merce within the meaning of Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
[Recommendations omitted from publication.]
Trammell Construction Company, Incorporated I and East
Tennessee Building & Construction Trades Council, AFL-
CIO, Petitioner. Case No. 10-RC-4521. March 30, 1960
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before David L. Trezise, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-
member panel [Chairman Leedom and Members Rodgers and
Fanning].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. The Employer contends that no election should be held on the
grounds that (1) it does not have a stable work force and (2) its
current operations are coming to an end.
Since 1951, the Employer has been engaged in various commercial
construction projects in eastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia,
encompassed in the counties enumerated by the Petitioner in its re-
quested unit. It has about five regular employees who act as a nucleus
for the formation of construction crews at new projects. Although
the Employer at the time of the hearing was engaged solely in three
'The name of the Employer appears as corrected at the hearing.
126 NLRB No. 163.
1366 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
projects which are nearing completion, it is in the market for new
contracts and apparently will continue to operate in the same area.
As it appears from the foregoing that the Employer has a nucleus of
regular employees and that it will continue its normal business opera-
tions, we reject the Employer's contention that no election should be
directed herein.
Accordingly, we find that a question affecting commerce exists con-
cerning the representation of certain employees of the Employer
within Section 9(c) (1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The following employees of the Employer constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within Section
9 (b) of the Act :
All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's con-
struction operations in Johnson, Carter, Washington, Unicoi, Greene,
Hawkins, Sullivan, Claiborne, and Hancock Counties in Tennessee,
and Washington, Scott, and Lee Counties in Virginia, including
working foremen,' but excluding all office clerical employees, technical
employees, engineering employees, timekeepers, watchmen, guards,
and supervisors as defined in the Act.'
5. Contrary to the Employer, the Petitioner contends that em-
ployees who have worked intermittently for a substantial period of
time have sufficient interest in the Employer's working conditions to
warrant their inclusion in the unit and to entitle them to vote. Upon
the basis of the Employer's employment records, indicating that 652
employees were hired at least once within the past 3 years and that
their average employment was 65 days a year, it urges the Board to
adopt as an eligibility standard employment for at least 65 days in
the year preceding the filing of its petition. We agree with the Peti-
tioner that in view of the nature of the operations involved, inter-
mittent employees with records of substantial employment for the
Employer have sufficient continuing interests in their working condi-
tions to entitle them to vote. In the circumstances, as no alternative
standard was offered by the Employer, we shall adopt in substance
the standard proposed by the Petitioner. Accordingly, all employees
who worked for the Employer at least 65 days during the year imme-
diately preceding the eligibility date for the election hereinafter di-
rected, shall be eligible to vote. See Toledo Marine Terminals, Inc.,
123 NLRB 583.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
2 As the record shows that working foremen do not have the authority to discipline or
effectively recommend the hire or discharge of other employees, we find them not to be
supervisors and include them in the unit.
a The Employer agrees with the unit requested by the Petitioner, as defined in geo-
graphical terms. In agreeing that the unit so defined is appropriate , we emphasize that
we are in no way attempting to make a jurisdictional award The Plumbing Contractors
Association of Baltimore, Maryland , Inc., et at. , 93 NLRB 1081 , 108C-1088; The Heating,
Psping & Air Conditioning Contractors, at at ., 110 NLRB 261, footnote 12.