United Growers, Inc.

In the Matter Of UNITED GROWERS, INC., BLUE LAKE PACKERS, INC., AND KELLEY, FARQUAIIR & COMPANY, EMPLOYERS and INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS , LOCAL UNION No. 87, A. F. L., PETITIONER Cases Nos. 36-RC-2101, 36-RC-013, and 36-RC-214.-Decided October 18, 1949 DECISION AND ORDER Upon separate petitions duly filed, a consolidated hearing was held before Hubert J. Merrick, hearing officer. 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-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Gray]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employers are each engaged in commerce within the mean- ing of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The Petitioner and the Intervenor, Cannery Warehousemen, Food Processors, Drivers and Helpers, Local Union No. 670, A. F. L., are labor organizations claiming to represent certain employees of the Employers. 3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen- tation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act for the following reasons: In each case, the Petitioner seeks to sever from an existing plant- wide unit now represented by the Intervenor, all employees engaged in the operation and maintenance of refrigeration equipment, ex- cluding the chief engineer. The Employers and the Intervenor con- tend that only plant-wide units are appropriate. Each of the Employers is engaged in the preparation, processing, and storage of frozen fruits and vegetables. During the freezing period, which lasts from 4 to 9 months, each Employer employs a 86 N. L. R. B., No. 80. 583 584 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD chief refrigeration engineer, who is admittedly a supervisor, and three refrigeration operators to operate its refrigeration equipment. The refrigeration operators check various refrigeration gauges and thermometers to regulate temperatures in the cold storage and freezing rooms. During the remainder of the year, when a full complement of refrigeration operators is not required, these employees either per- form production and maintenance Work or are laid off, depending upon their plant-wide seniority. The Petitioner contends that the refrigeration operators are craft employees allegedly because they are highly skilled, work in separate rooms and receive a higher hourly rate of pay than production work- ers. However, the record fails to show that the refrigerator operators are highly skilled. Present operators have had little or no experience as refrigeration operators or mechanics before being assigned to the jobs. None of them has served an apprenticeship. Some of them have been permitted to act as regular operators without supervision after a training period of as little as 1 day. In these circumstances, we do not believe that these employees possess sufficient craft attributes to warrant their severance from the broader -unit of employees in which they have heretofore been represented.' We shall therefore dismiss the petition. ORDER IT Is HEREBY ORDERED that the petition filed herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed. 1 Matter of Columbia River Packers Association, Inc., 64 N. L. R. B. 9; 52 N. L. R. B. 535.