J. G. Boswell Co.

In the Matter of J. G. BOSWELL COMPANY and COTTONSEED AND VEGETABLE OIL WORKERS LOCAL UNION #23317, A. F. L. Case No. R-4845-Decided February 02, 1943 Jurisdiction : cotton growing and processing industry. Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : re- fusal to recognize union as bargaining agent for employees in unit claimed appropriate ; election necessary. Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all hourly paid employees at one plant of company, with specified inclusions and exclusions. Mr. Sidney J. W. Sharp and Mr. M. Wingrove, of Hanford, Calif., for the Company. Mr. W. T. O'I?ear and Mr. 0. L. Farr, of_ Fresno, Calif., for the Union. I Miss Viola JaMes, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon ;amended,petition filed by Cottonseed and Vegetable Oil Work- ers Local 'Union #23317, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, herein called the Union,' -alleging that a question affecting com- merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of J..G. Boswell Company, Los Angeles, California, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hear- ing upon due notice' before William B. Esterman, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Hanford, California, on January 26 and Feb- ruary 1, 1943. The, Company and the ,Union' appeared and partici- pated. Both' parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to'introduce'evidence bear- ing on the issues. The Company filed a motion to dismiss the petition, the main grounds being: (1) the Company is not engaged in commerce ' The amended petition was originally filed by Cotton Pioducts and Grain Mill Workers Union # 21798, affiliated with the •Anierican Federation of Labor, herein called Local #217,98 At the hearing the' Trial Examiner ' allowed an amendment substituting-the Union for Local #21798 47 N L. R. B No 111 ' 879 880 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD within the meaning of the Act; (2) there is no question concerning representation; and (3) the Union is not a successor to Local #21798, but is an entirely new union, and the motion to amend the petition and subsequent pleadings by substituting the Union for Local #21798 as the petitioner is not authorized by the Act. The Trial Examiner re- served ruling on the motion for the Board. For the reasons appearing herein, we hereby deny the motion. The Trial,Examiner's other rul- ings are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. On- February 11,'1943, the Company, filed a brief which the Board has ,considered. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY The J. G. Boswell Company is a California corporation having its principal' office in Los Angeles, California. It is authorized to transact business in the State of Arizona as well as in the State of California, and is engaged, in those States, in the business of'growing and financing the growing of cotton, ginning and baling cotton, ex- tracting cottonseed oil from cottonseed, selling and distributing-cot- ton, cottonseed oil, and cottonseed cake and meal, and purchasing, feeding, and selling cattle. The Company owns and operates 7 cot- ton gins, a cottonseed oil mill, and a cattle feed yard in the State of California, and 10 gins and a cottonseed oil mill in the State of Arizona. At the Corcoran plant- in California; which is the plant involved herein, the Company operates 6 cotton gins, a cottonseed oil mill, and a cattle feed yard. Between July 1, 1941, and June 30, 1942, fhe_ Company ginned and baled at its Corcoran plant 18,712 bales of cotton, of which 469 were owned by the Company; and 18,243 bwiles were owned by others. , Approximately 3,935 bales of cotton were shipped to compresses within the State of California where it was commingled with cotton purchased from other points within and without the State for subsequent shipment to points outside the State. - In baling the cotton the Company used 18,712 "patterns" of which the jute came from India and the steel bands from Alabama. During" the same period, the Company crushed and processed 10,390 tons of cottonseed, produced 500,194 gallons of cottonseed oil and 6,642 tons of cottonseed cake, and baled 4,000 bales of linters. Approximately 2,525 bales of linters were shipped to points outside the State of California, and 1,314 bales of linters were sold 'f. o. b. Corcoran, California. J. G. BOSWELL COMPANY 881 We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. IT. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED Cottonseed and Vegetable Oil Workers Local Union # 23317 is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, admitting to membership employees of the Company.2 III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Company refused to recognize the Union as the bargaining agent for the employees in the unit claimed by the Union as appropriate. A statement of the Regional Director's agent, introduced into evidence at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents. a substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found to be appropriate.3 We find that a question affecting commerce has 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. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The, Union, in general, seeks to include all employees who are directly related to the business of hauling, ginning, and baling cotton and the production of cottonseed oil, and to exclude all others, such as office and clerical employees, technicians, and employees incident to the operation of the cattle feed pens. The Company contends that a plant-wide unit is appropriate on the- ground that the plant is an integral operation. The parties agreed to exclude superintendents and managers and their assistants, agronomists and civil engineers, school boys who.work part.-time, and employees who are related to the fRrining activities:of'-the Company. We find,that.these groups should be excluded. The operations at the Corcoran plant consist of ginning and baling cotton and operating a cottonseed oil mill and cattle feed yard. The 2 The Union introduced evidence showing that on December 28, 1942, it was installed as an affiliate of the A. F. of L, with its membership limited to employees or the Company. Witnesses stated that the employees of the Company who were members of Local #21798 have transfeired to the Union, and that the officers are the same. In, view of these cir- cumstances, we find no merit in the Company's objection to the amendment substituting the Union for Local #21798 3 The Regional Director's agent reported that 51 authorization cards, dated from August to December 1942, were submitted, all bearing apparently genuine original signatures; that the authorizations bore the heading "Application for membership in the American 'Fedeiatiori of Labor and/or affiliates";,,aiid-that, sin ce'the•'Company=did+notssubmit a pay roll, it was impossible to check the signatures on the cards against a pay-roll list As stated above, witnesses testified that all the employees of the Company who were members of Lo^aI #21798 have transferred to the Union. -513024-43=vol. 47-56 882 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD gins, warehouses, oil mill, and other buildings incident to the opera- tions of the plant and the cattle feed pens, are situated closely together and are enclosed on three sides by a high wire fence. However, the feed pens are separate, from other operations and are under the' super- vision of a single manager. The running of the gins and oil mill is seasonal work. The business of feeding cattle is not. While the record indicates that employees are on occasion interchanged between the gins, warehouses, oil mill, baling yards, and cattle feed pens, it appears that most of the transfers to the cattle pens occur during the months when the gins and oil mill are not operating at capacity. The Company's pay roll of January 14, 1943, which was introduced into evidence, lists approximately 134 employees , exclusive of the agreed upon exclusions.. Of these, there are approximately 49 em- ployees falling with the categories which the Union would exclude. The remainder, whom the Union would include, are hourly paid em- ployees, except the watchman who is paid daily. The watchman per- forms the duties ordinarily incident to those of a night watchman, and we shall include him in the unit. Office and clerical employees. There are approximately 19 office and clerical employees . They include clerks , stenographers , and a tele- phone operator in the main office, clerks in the scale house who weigh and tag cotton bales, and a shop clerk. They are paid a monthly salary. We shall exclude these employees from the unit since their duties are of a clerical nature. Carpenters and carpenters' helpers. There are- approximately 7 car- penters and carpenters' helpers . These employees for the most part construct and repair ranch houses which , are not located within the confines of the plant: Since they have little in common -%bith the pro- duction employees, we shall exclude the carpenters and their helpers. . We shall exclude the jainitor, since he works only 2 or 3 hours a day for the Company and has other regular employment elsewhere. There is one chemzist, who is a salaried employee and has, his labora- tory in the office building. His duties consist of sampling 'and analyz- ing oil and cake, cottonseed , soil and fertilizer. We shall exclude the chemist, since he is a technical employee. There is one cotton buyer, who also is a salaried employee, and is in the office building. We shall exclude him, inasmuch as his duties are not closely related to those of the ordinary, employees: Cattle feed mixers and haulers., There are approximately 9 of these employees . They are paid on an hourly basis and their duties consist of hauling cottonseed cake from the oil mill, and hay and barley from the warehouses to the mixed, feed plant, and mixing them with molasses as cattle feed. These employees have also worked at the gins; have hauled cotton, and otherwise assisted inthe plant yards J. G. BOSWELL COMPANY. 883 which are- separate from the cattle feed pens . We shall include mix- ers and haulers in the unit. Feed pen repairmen , cattle feeders and cowboys . There are one- or two employees whose major duties consist of repairing fences in the cattle feed pens . They also work as general laborers in' cleaning the pens and cutting weeds. There are approximately three cattle feeders whose full-time job is feeding cattle. They are paid daily. There are four or five cowboys, most of whom work on the ranches some distance from the plant. The evidence indicates that the parties agreed to exclude cowboys . Since these employees-are primarily con- cerned with the cattle feeding operations, we shall exclude the feed pen repairmen , cattle feeders , and cowboys. J. I. Mize and T. B. and Joe Hammond are salaried employees. .The Company denies that these employees are supervisory . However, the plant superintendent testified that Mize is the head electrician and has two or three employees under him. In a priori case, the Board found that the Hammonds were foremen.4 There is no evi- dence that their duties have changed in any respect. We shall ex- cl nde Mize and the Hammonds as supervisory employees. We find that all hourly paid employees of the Company's Corcoran plant, including watchmen and cattle ' feed mixers '-and -haulers,' but excluding superintendents , and managers and their' 'assistants,'super- visory employees, agronomists , civil engineers, chemists, school boys Who work part time, employees related to the farming activities of The Company, office and clerical employees, the cotton buyer, carpen- ters and carpenters ' helpers, the janitor, feed pen repairmen ,' cattle feeders, and cowboys, constitute a-unit appropriate - for the- purposes of collective bargaining , within the meaning of Sectio_n 9 (b) of the Act. V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES The Union urged that eligibility to vote be determined by refer- ence to the pay-roll period of January 14, 1943, contending that this date represents the peak of the seasonal operations. At the time of the hearing there had been no general lay-off, and the evidence indi- cates that the first lay-off of employees?w<ill occur around The end of February. Under these circumstances, we see no reason for depart- ing from our usual practice of using a current pay roll. Accordingly, we shall direct that the question concerning representation which has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll pe- 4 See Matter of J a Boswell Company, a corporation, Associated Farmers of Kings County, Inc, a corporation, and Corcoran Telephone Exchange, a corporation, and Cotton Products and Grain Mill Workers Union, Local ## 21798, A. F of L, 35 N. L. R B 968. 884 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD riod 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 Rela- tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa- tives for the purposes of collective bargaining -with J. G. Boswell Compapy, Los Angeles , California . an election 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 supervision of the Regional Director for the Twentieth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Section 10, 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 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 to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Cottonseed and Vege- table Oil Workers Local Union #23317, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, for the purposes of'collective bargaining.