United States Gypsum Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 28, 1948

79 N.L.R.B. 1059 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter Of UNITED STATES GYPsuM COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
UNITED CEMENT, LIME AND GYPSUM WORKERS INTERNATIONAL
UNION, LOCAL 157, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 20-RC-178.-Decided September 28, 1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing officer
of the National Labor Relations Board. 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
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.
2. The labor organization named below claims to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of certain employees of the Employer within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all production and main-
tenance employees in the Employer's plant and quarry at Nephi, Utah,
excluding executives, technical and clerical employees, and supervi-
sors, as defined in the Act. The Employer is in general agreement with
the Petitioner as regards the unit sought, with the exception of the
following job classifications, which the Petitioner would include in
the unit and the Employer would exclude therefrom:
Tester: There is one employee in this category. The Employer
maintains its laboratory in a separate room. The tester is an hourly
'Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Reynolds.
79 N. L. R. B., No. 138.
1059
1060 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
paid employee who works under the separate supervision of the plant
superintendent. He performs physical and chemical tests on incoming
raw materials, materials in process of production, and finished prod-
ucts. The making of these tests consumes approximately 75 percent
of his time. The testimony indicates that a period of several years'
training is required before an employee in this position is reasonably
proficient in performing the duties thereof. In view of the technical
nature of his work, the lack of interchange between the tester and
employees engaged in production, and the fact that he is primarily
under separate supervision, we shall exclude him from the production
and maintenance unit? -
Head Mechanic: 2 There is one employee in this category. He is
charged with mechanical maintenance and repair work in the plant
and mine, and is under the general supervision of the foreman 3 Al-
though his pay is 5 cents more per hour than that of the other me-
chanic, he is essentially a working employee with extremely limited
powers of direction 4 We have held that the occasional and sporadic
exercise of supervisory powers does not constitute a sufficient basis
for excluding an employee from a bargaining unit .5 As the head
mechanic does not at any time exercise authority to recommend the
hiring, discharge, or promotion of employees, we do not agree with
the Employer's contention that he is a supervisor within the mean-
ing of the Act. Accordingly, we shall include 'him in the production
and maintenance unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees, including
the head mechanic, but excluding technical employees,6 office and cleri-
cal employees, guards, professional employees, and supervisors as
defined by the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes 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
'Matter of Unstedi States Gypsum Company, 79 N. L . R. B. 48; 72 N. L. R. B. 863; 66
N. L. R. B. 619
s Also classified as mechanic "A."
At the plant, the plant foreman ; at the mine , the mine foreman.
' This supervision is limited to sporadic occasions when men are assigned to him for a
particular job, or when temporary employees are hired for the purpose of completing a
particular assignment or task.
5 Matter of the Electric Auto-Lite Company, Kings Mills Division, 76 N. L. R. B. 1189.
6 Excluded under this category is the employee classified as tester.
UNITED STATES GYPSUM COMPANY 1061
supervision of 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-Series 5, as amended,
among the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph
numbered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, includ-
ing employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because
they were ill or on vacation or temporarily 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 rein-
statement, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented,
for purposes of collective bargaining, by United Cement, Lime and
Gypsum Workers International Union, Local 157, AFL.
809095-49-vol. 79-68