Vermont Marble Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 7, 1945

63 N.L.R.B. 798 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter Of VERMONT MARBLE COMPANY and UNITED STONE AND
ALLIED PRODUCTS WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O. -
Case No.1-R-344L Decided September 7,1945
Messrs. Grant & Angof, by Mr. Edmond I. Blake, of Boston, Mass.,
for the Company.
Mr. Harold B. Roitman, of Boston, Mass., for the C. I. O.
Mr. James S. Abatiell, of Rutland, Vt., for the Independent.
Mr. David V. Easton, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Stone and Allied Products
Workers of America, C. I. 0., herein called the C. I. 0., alleging that
a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa-
tion of employees of Vermont Marble Company, Proctor, Vermont,
herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board pro-
vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Leo J. Hal-
loran, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Rutland, Vermont,
on July 3, 1945. The Company, the C. I. 0., and Independent Marble
Workers of Vermont, herein called the Independent, appeared and
participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity 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
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Vermont Marble Company is a Vermont corporation with its
principal office at Proctor, Vermont. The Company also operates
under the trade name of "Vermarco Lime Company," and owns the
63 N. L. R. B., No. 120.
798
VERMONT MARBLE COMPANY 799
entire capital stock of the Clarenden & Pittsford Railroad Company,
a Vermont corporation. The Company is engaged in the quarrying,
finishing, and sale of marble, and the manufacture, distribution, and
sale of lime. It maintains and/or operates plants and quarries at
West Rutland, Center Rutland, Florence, Proctor, Danby, and Swan-
ton, Vermont. The Company also operates power houses located at
Proctor, New Haven and Weybridge, Vermont, which are engaged
in furnishing electrical power, for the Company's operations. During
the calendar year 1944, the Company purchased materials and sup-
plies for use in its operations valued in excess of $100,000 of which
more than 50 percent was purchased outside of and shipped into the
State of Vermont. During the same period, the Company produced
finished products valued in excess of $2,000,000, of which more than
50 percent was shipped to points outside the State of Vermont.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Stone and Allied Products Workers of America, a$iliat d
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and Independent
Marble Workers of Vermont, unaffiliated, are labor organizations ad-
mitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On April 26, 1945, the Company refused to grant recognition to
the C. I. O. as the exclusive bargaining representative of certain of its
employees, asserting that it was obliged to recognize the Independent
as such representative under the terms of a contract which had since
expired.
A statement of the Regional Director, introduced into evidence at
the hearing, indicates that the C. I. O. represents a substantial num-
ber 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 mean-
ing of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
Substantially in accord with the agreement of the parties, we
find that all full-time production, maintenance, power and railroad em-
1 The Regional Director , reported that the C . I. O. submitted 326 designations and that
the unit alleged as appropriate contains 923 employees.
The interest of the Independent is established by its prior certification by the Board on
August 17 , 1942 (Matter of Vermont Marble Company, 42 N. L. R. B. 175), and its re-
cently expired contract with the Company , dated July 21, 1944.
800 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ployees of they Company and its auxiliary companies, Vermarco Lime
Company and Clarenden & Pittsford Railroad, at Center Rutland,
West Rutland, Danby, Florence, Proctor, Swanton, Weybridge, and
New Haven, Vermont, including office janitors, truck drivers and auto-
mobile repairmen, passenger chauffeurs, but excluding clerical, office
and part-time employees, employees regularly and solely employed in
the lumbering operations of the Company, mill graders, mill checkers,
shop designers, shop checkers, guards, watchmen, executives, and all
supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, dis-
cipline, 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 Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
lives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Vermont Marble
Company, Proctor, Vermont, an election by secret ballot shall be con-
ducted 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 First 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
2 This unit differs somewhat from the unit of the Company ' s employees in which the
Independent had been previously certified in that ( a) it is confined to "full-time" employees ;
(b) the town of Middlebury is struck out and the towns of Weybridge and New Haven are
added because the Company now operates facilities in the latter two towns but not in the
former ; ( c) certain classifications set forth in the description of the unit previously estab-
lished are omitted because they are no longer in use by the Company; ( d) the parties agree
upon the exclusion of guards , whom the Company now employs ; and (e ) the parties agree
upon the inclusion of power employees , for whom the Independent has been bargaining
collectively with the Company for several years. _
VERMONT MARBLE COMPANY 801
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 they
desire to be represented by United Stone and Allied Products Workers t
of America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
or by Independent Marble Workers of Vermont, unaffiliated, for the
purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.