California Packing Corp.

In the Matter of CALIFORNIA PACKING CORPORATION and UNITED CANNERY, AGRICULTURAL PACKING & ALLIED WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O. Case No. R-4^9/ f.-Decided March 9, 19.13 Jurisdiction : canning industry. Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question • re- fusal to recognize the union until ce:tified by the Board, election necessary Units Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : (1) all plant and warehouse employees at three of the company's plants, including specifically named em- ployees, and other regular plant and warehouse employees who acquire super- visory fuhctions dniIng the packing season, but excluding seasonal workers employed only dining the packing season, office and clerical employees, guards and watchmen, and employees who are superintendents, assistant superintend- ents, foremen and assistant foremen throughout the year; (2) all guards and watchmen, when company desired their exclusion from the industrial unit and the union desired a separate election among them in the event they should not be included in the unit. Mr. Henry E. Seyf arch,,, of Chicago, Ill., for the Company. Mr. Jack J. Fox, of Chicago, Ill., for the Union. Miss Meuriel,J. Levor, of counsel to the Board.. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon an amended petition duly filed by-United Cannery, Agricul- tural Packing and Allied Workers of America, C. I. 0.,1 herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of the California Pack-' ing Corporation, Rochelle "and De Kalb, Illinois, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an,appro- priate hearing upon due notice before Lester Asher, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Rochelle, Illinois, on February 24 and 26, 1943. The Company and the Union appeared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine I A motion iNas made and granted to strike "Local 18" from the name of the Union and to amend the petition and pleadings to set forth the name of the Union , as above. 48 N. L. R B., No. 87. 694 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR. RELATIONS BOARD 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. The Company filed a brief which the Board has considered. Upon the entire record in the case,2 the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY California Packing Corporation, a New York corporation with its principal office at San Francisco, California, is engaged in the can- ning of various agricultural products. Its Midwest Division oper- ates six plants: of the three which are alone involved in this proceed- ing two are located at Rochelle, Illinois, and one at De Kalb, Illinois. The Company rents farms in the territory adjacent to the two Rochelle canneries (Plants Nos. 109 and 110) and the De Kalb cannery (Plant No: 111), called collectively the Canneries herein, on which it grows peas, lima beans, and corn.' These vegetables are subsequently packed at the Canneries in sealed containers and stored there until shipping instructions are received. During the year 1942 the products of the Canneries amounted in value to approximately $7,000,000, about. 90 percent of which was shipped from the Canneries to points outside the State of Illinois. During the same period the value of canned goods purchased from other concerns and transferred from other plants of the Company, all from points outside the State of Illinois, was ap- proximately $1,000,000. H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED United Cannery, Agricultural Packing and, Allied Workers of America is a labor, organization affiliated with the Congress of In- dustrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Union requested the Company to confer for the purposes of collective bargaining. The Company refused unless and until the Board certifies the Union as representing a majority of its employees in an appropriate unit. A stipulation entered into by the parties providing for the correction of certain errors in the transcript is hereby made a part of the record and the transcript is ordered corrected eccordm;ly f' r% ' `CALIFORNIA. PACKING CORPORATION '695 A statement of the Regional Director, introduced into evidence at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of employees in the units hereinafter found 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 UNITS The -parties agree that the regular year-round permanent employees of the three canning plants located at Rochelle and De Kalb, Illinois, excluding supervisory and clerical employees and the seasonal em- ployees hired during the summer packing season, constitute a single appropriate unit. These three canneries are within 18 miles of each other, while the Company's other canneries are much further away. We therefore find that the three Canneries together form a suitable unit. The record shows that very few of the seasonal employees, who are employed from about June to September, return to work the following year and there is a more than 100 percent turn-over during the packing season. The seasonal employees have been principally recruited from among college students and housewives. It is expected that this coming season most of them will be housewives who have never before worked outside of their homes. Under these circum- i stances we conclude, in agreement 'with the parties, that the seasonal canning employees should be excluded from the unit 4 The parties further agreed that the employees of the farms operated by the Com- pany in the vicinity of the` three Canneries should- also be excluded. Since these employees are engaged in agricultural labor we find that they should be excluded. There are, however, diverse contentions as to whether or not certain categories of employees and certain specified employees should be in- cluded in the unit. , - Seed Department: There are about 30 persons employed in the Seed Department, located in 1 of the Rochelle plants (Plant No. 109), which processes the seeds for the adjacent farms. From October to March the seeds are dried, shelled, hand-picked, cleaned, stored, and then redistributed. The employees of the Seed Department are carried by the Company on the farm pay roll. The Company assumes that the Seed Department is agricultural, claims that its work occupies more than half the working time of the employees therein, and that its 9 The Regional Director reported that the Union submitted 100 designations of which 95, all bearing apparently genuine original signatures , correspond with names on the Company's pay roll of December 31, 1942, containing 224 names. 4 Matter of Ladoga Canning Company and Cannery Workers Local Union No 22961, A. F. L., 41 N. L. It. B. 51. t 696 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL.LABOR'_RE;LAMONB BOARa employees should'be excluded as agricultural laborers. The Union is -willing to exclude-such employees as do not appear on the Company's cannery pay. roll on the date which the Board decides shall be used to determine eligibility. The male employees of the Seed Department, of whom there are about 12, go back to the farms when the Seed Department shuts down in March and work in the fields until it resumes operations. Since these men are carried on the farm pay roll all year there is no contest concerning them and they will be accordingly excluded. However, there are also 19 women who work in the Seed Depart- ment. This has been the first season that the Company has employed women. It plans to find work for them about the cannery at the close of the Seed Department season, until the packing season commences, when they will be employed in canning. The Company then expects to carry them on the regular cannery pay rolls. As these women may be on the pay roll which determines eligibility, an issue has arisen in regard to them. The unit desired by both parties is composed of the regular all year round experienced workers who do maintenance and warehouse work in the winter. The record does not show at what kind of work, if any, these women will be employed between the seed and packing seasons and it appears that during the canning season they will be employed in the same manner as the seasonal employees who have been excluded: Under these circumstances we. conclude that the female employees of the Seed Department should not be included within the unit of regular canning employees. Seasonal foremen and assistant foremen. The parties agree that certain specified individuals 5 are supervisory and should be excluded. However, a controversy has Rrisen concerning other employees whom the' Company desires to exclude as supervisory and whom the Union desires to include, although it concedes they assume supervisory duties during the packing season. Some further information as to the Com- pany's operations is necessary to understand thejstatus of these con- tested employees. The principal crops packed at the Canneries are peas, beans, and corn, and the canning season extends from June 10 to September 28. During this period the Company employs from approximately 1300, for the pea-pack, to approximately 3000 addi- tional employees, for the corn-pack, all of whom are excluded by agree- ment of the parties. The experience and knowledge of the regular all year round employees who number about 220, is utilized during the packing season when, it appears, they all become key men having some supervisory functions over the inexperienced seasonal workers. 5 Jacob Vogeler, Thompson, Phelps. Harris, Erbes, Hayes, Halsey. Alexander. Zimmerman, Maiden, Drain, Rasmussen, Geiald Diaper, Owen Lamb, IIeltness, Sherwood, Arnold Draper, Calhoun, Adair, Haka, Poss, and Donald Dodge 'CALIFORNIA PACKING CORPORATION 697 No supervisory employees are obtained from among the seasonal workers. - The controversy concerns 20 of the regular year-round employees 6 most of whom it is conceded become foremen or assistant foremen during the packing season. The Union contends, however, that these employees have no supervisory authority during the rest of the year. The Company claims that they have some supervisory duties through= out the year. The record establishes that some of these contested em- ployees are paid on a salary basis while others are paid by an hourly rate. The work of these employees during the off-season falls into 2 categories. During the week or 2 to 2 months that it takes to get the machinery, ready before the packing season and to dismantle it after the season, 19 of these contested employees continue to have super- visory duties which they do not retain. The time varies but 2 weeks is probably average; when longer periods are required it is for the overhauling jobs required every few years for the maintenance of the various types of machinery. Many of these seasonal foremen and assistant foremen are specialists on certain types of machines and supervise the preparation, di mantling and repairing in the manner of straavbosses, except that whereas a man may be a leader over a few men on 1 job, he may follow on others. During the rest of the off- season these men usually do maintenance work involving no super- visory authority except for about 5 percent of their time when they may also act as strawbosses on repair jobs for which they are special- ists. Other seasonal foremen and assistant foremen work in the ware- house the rest of the year. The non-canning season work of the contested employees may be thus lumped together except for certain specified employees whose work is hereinafter described and except for Olsen, a millwright, whose work is somewhat different from the others as he does main- tenance work throughout the year with from one to four helpers. - We find the supervisory authority which these contested employees acquire during the packing season is for the most part over employees excluded from the unit, and that throughout the rest of the year except during the preparations for and the dismantling operations after the canning, season, they have substantially no supervisory duties. As the unit is composed of permanent year-round employees who also become key men during the pack, and since the Union desires to include them, we shall include them within the appropriate unit. The specified employees whose status is contested are as follows: Averill. The Union contends that Averill is a supervisory employee who should be excluded from the appropriate unit, while the Company °wm Vogeler, Baitkus, Win Peters , 'Mowry, Evensen , Stroyan , Ben and Chester La Hue, Davenport , Keeling, Danekas, Daub , Stioud, Carter, Nelson , Caspeis, Olsen, Averill , Royalty, and Votaw. 698 ' DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR, RELATIONS BOARD contends that he is not supervisory and should , therefore , be included. Averill was hired by the Company during March 1941, and has worked as a warehouse worker. During the 1942 packing season he was put in charge of the outside warehouse gangs. Since that time he has been .a regular warehouse worker and has occasionally acted as a leader of car loading gangs. He is paid on-an hourly basis . The Company does not know whether it will have any outside warehousing during the 1943 pack and does not know whether Averill will act as a supervisor, in which capacity he has had less experience than most of the other contested employees . We shall include him in the unit. Royalty. The Union claims that Royalty is a production man while the Company claims that he is a guard and as such should be ex- cluded, from the unit. Royalty supervises during the pack and the rest of the time does warehouse work, although since December 1942 ,he has performed guard duties for one 10-hour shift each week. He has not been sworn in as an auxiliary to the Military Police. We shall include him in the unit of plant and warehouse employees. Votaw. The Company contends that Votaw should be excluded as being a watchman or guard while the Union contends that Votaw is a warehouse employee. Votaw has been employed by the Company as a warehouse worker during the last three packing seasons and for some periods during the non-operating seasons. In December 1942 he was given the job of watchman at two buildings away from the Company premises which were rented as warehouses. Votaw takes care of the fires and boilers in these outside warehouses . He does not carry arms, has not taken . any military oath, and the Company's superintendent stated that Votaw will not take such an oath in the future and will not carry arms. The Company further stated that it does not know how long these outside warehouses will- be main- tained; if they are closed Votaw will return to his position of ware- house worker . We find that Votaw is only temporarily doing watchman work and that he should be included within the unit of plant and warehouse employees. Seeley, Spenser, and Jagle. These three employees worked at the farms throughout the 1942 season and work was found for them at the canning plants` during the winter months so that it would not be necessary to lay them off. The Union desires to have them included in the unit if they are on the Canneries' pay roll at the time of the eligibility pay roll, and the Company contends they should be excluded as agricultural laborers. Jagle has been working on the farms since January 1943, where he was working at the time of the hearing, and the Company stated that he would continue to be so employed . Seeley and Spencer will be put back at agricultural work when farm opera- CALIFORNIA PACKING CORPORATION 699 tions recommence in April. We find that Jagle, Seeley, and Spencer should be excluded from the unit. The watchmen and guards. There is a further dispute about the guards and watchmen whom the Union desires to include and, the Company to exclude from the unit. The Company calls those plant- protection employees who work outdoors guards, and those who work indoors watchmen, but their duties and status are essentially the same. There are approximately 25 such employees of whom about 22 have been sworn in as Auxiliary Military Police and the rest are about to be. All of these employees either carry arms or will do so after they have completed a course of training. The Union stated that in the event the, Board found that guards and- watchmen should not be in- cluded in the unit of plant and warehouse employees, it desired a separate election among the guards and watchmen. It is our usual practice to establish separate units for such employees, where, as here, they perform the customary duties of authorized plant-protection em- ployees and have been sworn in as auxiliaries of the military police. Accordingly, we find that all guards and watchmen at the Company's Plants 109, 110, and 111, located at Rochelle and De Kalb, Illinois, excluding Votaw, Royalty, and any supervisory guards or watchmen, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. We find that all plant and warehouse employees of the `Company at its Plants 109, 110,'and 111, located at Rochelle and De Kalb, Illinois, including Olsen, Royalty, Averill, and Votaw, and other regular plant and warehouse employees who acquire supervisory functions during the packing season ,° but excluding seasonal workers employed only during the packing season, office and clerical employees, guards and watchmen, and employees who are superintendents, assistant superin- tendents, foremen and assistant - foremen- throughout the year,8 em- ployees of the Seed Department, and Seeley, Spencer, and Jagie, con- stitute 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 elections by secret ballot among the employees in the appropriate units who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of our Direction of Elections, subject to the limitations and additions set forth therein. See footnote 6, supra. 8 See footnote 5, supra. 700 DECISIONS OF, NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD DIRECTIONS 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 Relations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby DIRECTED , that, as part of the investigation to ascertain represent a- •tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with California Pack- ing Corporation , Rochelle and De Kalb, Illinois, 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 direc- tion and supervision of the Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Section 10, of said Rules and-Regu- lations, 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 discharged- for cause, to determine (1) whether or not the employees in the plant and warehouse unit desire to be represented by United Cannery ; Agricul- tural Packing and Allied Workers of America, affiliated with the Con- gress of Industrial Organizations, for the purposes of collective bar- gaining; and ( 2) whether or not those in the guard and watchman unit desire to be represented by United Cannery; Agricultural Packing and Allied Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Orgaizations , for the purposes of collective bargaining: MR. JOHN M. HousTON took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election. 1