Crenshaw Bros. Produce Co.

In the Matter Of CRENSIIAW BROS. PRODUCE COMPANY, EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN'S ASSOCIATION (AFL), PETITIONER Case No. 10-RC-725.-Decided January 30,1950 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Willis C. Darby, Jr., 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 Houston and Murdock]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain employees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa- tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The following employees of the Employer constitute a unit ap- propriate. for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act: All employees engaged in loading or discharging vessels in or about the port of Tampa, Florida, including stackers, beltmen, holdmen, water boys, clean-up men, riggers, winch- men, and gang-headers, but excluding maintenance men, checkers and IAt the hearing , the Employer moved to dismiss the petition herein, on the grounds (1) that the Board 's field examiner used an inappropriate pay-roll period in ascertaining the Petitioner's showing of interest, and (2 ) that the authorization cards submitted by the Petitioner were not checked against the signatures of employees in the Employer 's office. The hearing officer reserved ruling on the motion . We deny the motion. It is well estab- lished that a showing of interest is an administrative matter, not litigable by the parties. Decker Clothes, Inc., 83 NLRB 484. 88 NLRB No. 76. 324 CRENSHAW BROS. PRODUCE COMPANY 325 graders (inspectors), clerical employees, guards, the superintendent and timekeeper, and supervisors.2 5. The Employer, whose "high market" periods occur in the summer and the fall, hires its employees from a general labor pool, on which its competitors also draw for stevedoring work. The same workman may work for the Employer and other stevedoring companies during any weekly or monthly period of time. The parties disagree with respect to the eligibility of these workmen to vote in the election among the Employer's employees. The Employer contends that any workman should be eligible to vote in the election who has been employed as a stevedore by the Employer one or more times during the 6-month period preceding the date of the issuance of this Decision and Direction of Election. The Petitioner contends that any workman should be eligible to vote whose name appears on the Employer's payroll eight or more times during the 6-month period preceding September 14, 1949, the date of the filing of the petition herein. To accept the Employer's contention, that any employee should be eligible to vote in the election if he has been employed by the Employer one or more times during the 6-month period preceding the date of the issuance of the Decision and Direction of Election, might confer eligi- bility to vote on persons who have only a slight and insignificant inter- est in collective bargaining with this Employer. If payroll listings for eight or more times during the 6-month period preceding Septem- ber 14, 1949, be used in determining eligibility, as the Petitioner sug- gests; both persons hired by the Employer after the filing of the instant petition and persons currently employed by the Employer for a sub- stantial time who did not happen to work for the Employer eight times within the stipulated period, who might otherwise be entitled to vote under our general eligibility policy, would be precluded from voting in the election directed below. Upon the entire record in the case, we are of the opinion that all employees in the appropriate unit should be eligible to vote in the election if their names appear on eight of more different payrolls of the Employer within the period beginning June 1, 1949, and ending with the date of the payroll immediately preceding the issuance of this Decision and Direction of Election, and we so provide 3 2 Banana Exchange , a Florida corporation, which buys ripe bananas on boats which the Employer unloads, employs fruit cutters to cut the bananas from the bunches , and there- after sells them for its own account . Banana Exchange does similar work on boats un- loaded by other employers in the Tampa area . Banana Exchange hires, pays , supervises, and discharges its fruit cutters . As they are employees of Banana Exchange , and not em- ployees of the Employer, we find , despite the Petitioner's contentions , that the fruit cutters are not properly within the unit otherwise restricted to employees of the Employer. 3 Cf. American Fruit and Steamship Company , 88 NLRB 20T; and B and C Stevedoring to., Incorporated, 88 NLRB 321. 326 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super- vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, and under the conditions described in paragraph numbered 5, above, excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to rein- statement, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by International Longshore- men's Association (AFL).