Wheeling Steel Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 30, 1944

59 N.L.R.B. 1313 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter Of WHEELING STEEL CORPORATION and UNITED STEEL=
WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O.
Cases Nos. 9-R-1'4490 and 9-R-1491 respectively. Decided December
30, 19444
Thorp, Bostwick, Reed cC Armstrong, by Cllr. Donald W. Ebbert,
of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Company.
Mr. Philip M. Curran, of Pittsburgh, Pa., and Messrs. Paul Rusen
and J. C. Carroll, of Wheeling, W. Va., for the Union.
Mr. Philip Licari, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon separate petitions duly filed by the United Steelworkers of
America, C. I. 0., herein called the Union, each alleging that a ques-
tion affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of
employees of Wheeling Steel Corporation, Portsmouth, Ohio, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board consolidated
the cases and provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Janies A. Shaw, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held
at Portsmouth, Ohio, on October 27, 1944. The Company and the
Union 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
Wheeling Steel Corporation, a Delaware corporation, with its prin-
cipal office and place of business at Wheeling, West Virginia, is en-
59 N. L. R. B., No. 240.,
1313
1314 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
'gaged in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of various steel prod-
ucts. The Company operates 10 plants located in various parts of the
States of West Virginia and Ohio. The Company's plant located in
Portsmouth, Ohio, is solely involved in this proceeding. During
the past 12 months, the Company purchased for the Portsmouth
Works raw materials valued in excess of $1,000,000, of which approx-
imately 50 percent was shipped from points outside the State of Ohio.
During the same period, the Company produced at its Portsmouth
Works finished products valued in excess` of $f,,000,000, of which
approximately 50 percent was shipped from points outside the State
of Ohio.
The Company admits, and we find, that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Steelworkers of America, affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to mem-
bership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On or about August 22, 1942, the Union advised the Company that
it represented a majority of the salaried and clerical employees in
the Company's Portsmouth Works 'and wished to be recognized as
their exclusive bargaining representative. Sometime during 1943,
the Union also requested recognition as the exclusive bargaining rep-
resentative of the Company's plant protection employees at its Ports,
mouth plant. The Company refused to recognize the Union on the
ground that the units requested by it are not appropriate.
Statements of a Field Examiner for the Board, introduced into
eviddnce 'at the hearing, indicate that' the Union represents, a sub-
stantial number of employees in each unit hereinafter found ap-
propriate.1
We find that questions affecting commerce have arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
'The Field Examiner reported ( salaried and clerical employees-Case No. 9-R-1490)
that the Union submitted 90 authorization cards, of which 70 bear names of persons listed
on the Company 's pay roll of October 2, 1944, which contained the names of 185 employees
in the alleged appropriate unit ; and that the cards were dated as follows : 19 in 1942
32 in 1943; 5 In 194-4 ; 14 undated.
The Field Examiner also reported ( plant -protection employees-Case No. 9-R-1491)
that the Union submitted 29 authorization cards, of which 25 bear names of persons listed
on the Company 's pay roll of October 2, 1944, which contained the names of 38 employees
in the alleged appropriate unit; and that the cards were dated as follows : 1 in 1942 ;
13 in 1943; 11 undated.
WHEELING STEEL CORPORATION 1315
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks the following units :
"All, salaried and clerical workers of the Wheeling Steel Corpora-
tion , Portsmouth-,Works, 'Portsmouth, Ohio, including nurses, ex-
cept for plant-protection employees and all supervisory employees
* * *7); and
"All plant-protection employees in the Company's Portsmouth
(Works), except for all supervisory employees * * *."
While the Company agrees upon the composition of the units as
requested except for certain exclusions which it seeks from the clerical
group and which are hereinafter discussed, it nevertheless contends
that, in view of its present collective bargaining relationship with the
Union, company-wide, multi-plant units of such employees are more
appropriate.'
In connection with its activities, the Company operates 10 plants
located in various parts of the States of Ohio and West Virginia.3 The
Portsmouth Works, the only plant of the Company located in Ports-
mouth, Ohio, is supervised by a general manager, who is subject only
to certain general controls exercised by the Company's main office at
Wheeling, West Virginia. At this plant, the Company employs,
among others, 185 clerical employees and 38 plant protection em-
ployees, all of whom are apparently residents of Portsmouth and its'
vicinity. Despite the facts that the operations of all the Company's
plants are somewhat interrelated and certain labor policies and
conditions of employment are controlled by the Company's main of-
fice, it appears that interchange of employees between the Portsmouth
Works and the Company's other plants is negligible,4 and that the
Portsmouth Works clerical and plant protection employees form homo-
geneous groups under separate supervision. Moreover, the record'
discloses that the Union's organizational efforts among,these classifi-
cations of employees have extended throughout a period of several
years, have been confined to the Portsmouth Works, and have resulted
in a desire for representation on the part of a substantial number of
employees.8
In view of the foregoing facts, we find that units of clerical em-
ployees and plant-protection personnel, limited, in scope to the Ports-
2 Since 1937 the Company has recognized the Union as the exclusive bargaining repre-
sentative of all its production and maintenance employees in a company-wide, multi-plant
unit. However, with respect to the employees now sought by the Union, there is no past
history of collective bargaining.
8 The Company operates plants in the following places : Portsmouth , Steubenville, York-
ville, Martins Ferry , all in the State of Ohio ; and Benwood , Beechbottom , Wheeling, all
in the State of West Virginia
4 Since 1943 , the Company has transferred from one plant to another approximately 900
of its 18,000 workers employed in all of its 10 plants.
8 See footnote 1, supra.
1316 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
mouth Works, are appropriates However, -our finding does not pre-
clude a later determination that larger or company-wile, units are
also appropriate.
Since the Company agrees with the Union upon the composition
of a unit of plant-protection personnel, we find 'that all plant-pro-
tection employees engaged at the Company's Portsmouth Works;
excluding all supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote,
discharge, discipline, 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.
With respect to the controversy between the parties regarding cer-
tain exclusions from the clerical unit which are requested by the Com-
pany,' we shall consider these employees in four groups : (1) em-
ployees alleged to have supervisory status; (2) employees who, while
having supervisory titles, possess no supervisory authority; ( 3) em-
ployees alleged to have confidential status; and (4) employees who
have no community of interest with the clerical workers.
Employees alleged to have supervisory status 8
The record is clear that these employees supervise a considerable
.number of workers and have the authority effectively to recommend
the hiring, discharging, and disciplining of employees under their,
supervision . In view of these facts, we shall exclude them.
Employees who, while having supervisory titles, possess no supervisory
authority 9
With reference to these employees, the record discloses that all re-
ceive a higher rate of pay than the other employees in their respective
departments. However, except for some who , on occasion, act as
supervisors in the absence of the heads of their respective depart-
8 See Matter of Milliken -Tomlinson Co., 59 N. L. R B. 786.
° While there was some discussion in the record concerning the metallurgical laboratory
head observer and observers (classifications #84 and #85, respectively ), the parties ulti-
mately agreed to exclude them from the unit. °
8 This group consists of cashier ' s clerk ( classification #2) ; janitor -supply man (classifi-
cation #14 ) ; clerk-traffic department ( classification #17) ; head clerks in the following
departments . general yard switching ( classification #67) ; coke plant ( classification #73) ;
blast furnace (classification #80) ; open hearth furnace ( classification #82) ; blooming mill
and billet yard ( classification #88) ; machine shop (classification #91) ; range boiler and
barrel shop ( classification #94) ; range boiler and boiler shop sales ( classification #104)
rod and wire department ( classification #115) ; army ordnance ( classification #117).
8 This group consists of the following employees • assistant manager of the order and
stock department • ( classification #22) ; assistant manager , in the, invoicing department
(classification #26) ; assistant chief cost clerk ( classification #31) ; assistant chief time-
keepers ( classification #41) ; supervisory statistical clerk ( classification #46) ; head clerks
in the following departments • brick mason department ( classification #89) , electrical de-
partment ( classification #72) ; warehouse Form. & shipping department ( classification
#89).
WHEELING STEEL CORPORATION 1317
ments, at no time do they have employees under their supervision.
We shall, therefore, include them..
Employees alleged to have confidential status
Compensation clerk (classification #48) : The record reveals that
he handles all compensation claims made by the Company's work-
men 10 In the course of his work, he has access to information re-
lating to the history of the injuries of employees seeking compensa-
tion., In many instances, he is required to assist the Company's at-,
torney in the preparation of compensation cases and to testify con-
cerning disputed claims. Since it also appears that the claims of
injured workmen are, at times, the source of grievances presented by
the Union to the Company, this employee has access to confidential
information concerning the Company's labor relations. We shall,
therefore, exclude him.
Employment clerks (classification #57) : The employment clerks
work in the Company's personnel department and are under the super-
vision of the head of that department. In the course of their work,
they have access to the employment history of all the workers in the
plant and also to records containing confidential information concern-
ing the Company's labor relations. We shall exclude them."
Clerk-stenographer, in the employment office (classification #58) :
This employee is substantially in the same position as the employment
clerks, above described, with reference to having access to confidential ^
information concerning the Company's labor relations. We shall,
therefore, exclude her.
Telephone and teletype operators (classifications #11 and #12) :
These employees are engaged in sending and receiving messages
through interplant communication systems. The Company contends
that, in the course of their work, these employees may come into pos-
session of confidential information and should be excluded from the
unit.
The testimony shows that it is against the Company's rules for the
telephone operators to listen in on telephonic conversations in the
plant. Since access to confidential information can be had by these
employees only through willful breach of the Company's rules, it is
our opinion that the remedy for such breach of duty lines in the Com-
pany's power to discharge or discipline its employees and not in the
denial of their right to collective bargaining. We shall include the
telephone operators.
10 The Company , pursuant to the workmen ' s compensation laws of the State of Ohio, is
a self-insurer and is required to adjust compensation claims directly with the injured
employees.
11 See Matter of Babcock & Wilcox Co ., 52 N. L . R. B. 900.
1318 D!CISIONS -OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
With respect to the teletype operator, it is apparent that this em-
ployees does not bear a confidential relationship to management and
that her duties are clerical in nature. We shall include her.
Employees who have no community of -interest with the
clerical workers
Nurses (classification #49) : These employees are graduate nurses
and perform the usual functions associated with their classification.
They are professional employees under the direct supervision of the
Company's physician. One of them spends a majority of her time
away from the plant and performs the duties of a social worker as
well as those of a visiting nurse, making direct reports to management
on her findings as to employees on sick leave. While we do not agree
with the Company's contention that these ^employeep,xart,,--eongdolitiaI
workers within the meaning of our usual definition, we are of the
opinion that, because of the professional nature of their work, they
should be excluded 12
Assistant director of welfare and safety (classification #65) : This
employee works under the direction of the welfare and safety director,
and his duties are to conduct safety meetings and enforce safety rules.
All of his time is spent among the Company's production and main=
tenance employees. In view of the foregoing, we find that he has no
community of interest with the clerical employees and we shall exclude
him.
Welfare and safety clerk and stenographer (classification #66) :
This employee performs the usual duties associated with her classifica-
tion and is clearly an ordinary stenographer and clerk. We shall,
therefore, include her.
Assistant steam engineers (classification #6) : These employees are
highly trained technical individuals whose duties are to make regular
tests of boiler pumps and mechanical equipment throughout the plant.
In the course of their work, they make reports of defective equipment
directly to the chief engineer. We shall, therefore, exclude the as-
sistant steam engineers as technical employees.
We find that all office and clerical employees engaged at the Com-
pany's Portsmouth Works, including the employees listed in Appendix
A, "annexed hereto, but excluding executives, professional, technical,
and plant protection employees, employees listed in Appendix B, an-
nexed hereto, and all supervisory employees with authority to hire,
promote, discharge, discipline, 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 mean-
ing of Section'9 (b) of the Act.
12 See Matter of American Steel and Wire Company, 58 N. L.-R. B., 253.
WHEELING STEEL CORPORATION 1319
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the questions concerning representation which
have arisen be resolved by elections by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate units who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tions herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction. '
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Re-
lations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relation Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRE-IM that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Wheeling Steel
Corporation, Portsmouth, Ohio, separate elections by secret ballot
shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30)
days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Ninth 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 units 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 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 those employees who' have since quit or been dis-
charged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to
the date of the elections, to determine whether or not they desire to
be represented by the United Steelworkers of America, C. I. 0., for
the purposes of collective bargaining,
APPENDIX A
Assistant manager of the order and stock department (classifica-
tion #22)..
Assistant manager in the invoicing department (classification #26).
Assistant chief cost clerk (classification #31).
Assistant chief timekeepers (classification #41).
Supervisory statistical clerk (classification #46).
Head clerk in the brick mason department (classification #89).
Head clerk in the electrical department (classification #72).
1320 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
1
Head clerk in the warehouse Form. & shipping department (classi-
fication #89).
Welfare and safety clerk and stenographer (classification #66).
Telephone and teletype operators (classifications #11 and #12).
APPENDIX B
Cashier's clerk (classification #2).
Janitor supply man (classification #14).
Clerk traffic department (classification #17).
Head clerk in general yard switching department (classification
#67)•
Head clerk in coke plant department (classification, #73).
Head clerk in blast furnace department (classification #80).
Head clerk in open hearth furnace department (classification #82).
Head clerk in blooming mill and billet yard department (classifica-
tion #88).
Head clerk in machine shop department (classification #91).
Head clerk in range boiler and barrel shop department (classifica-
tion #94).
Head clerk in range boiler and boiler shop sales department (classi-
fication .$104).
Head clerk in-rod and wire department (classification #115).
Head clerk in army ordnance department (classification #117).
Nurses (classification #49).
Employment clerks (classification #57).
Clerk-stenographer in the employment office (classification #58).
Metallurgical laboratory head observer and observers (classifica-
tions #84 and #85).
Assistant director of welfare and safety (classification #65).
Assistant steam engineers (classification #6).
Compensation clerk (classification #48).