Sheffield Farms Co., Inc.

In the Matter of SHEFFIELD FARMS CO., INC., EMPLOYER and UNITED WAREHOUSE AND PRODUCE WORKERS' UNION, NEw ENGLAND JOINT BOARD, CIO, PETITIONER Case No. 1-R-3155.-Decided October 25, 1946 Mr. R. L. Dieffenbacher, of New York City, for the Employer. Mr. Frank J. Dumas, of Burlington, Vt., for the Petitioner. Mr. Samuel C. Hamilton, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Vergennes, Vermont, on July 23, 1946, before Samuel G. Zack, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju- dicial error and are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER Sheffield Farris Co., Inc., is a New York corporation, having its principal place of business in New York City, and various milk plants or operations in other parts of the United States. The operations here involved are located at Vergennes, Vermont. Here, the Employer is engaged in the processing and shipment of fluid milk and its by- products. The Employer purchases each month for use at its Ver- gennes plant raw milk amounting in value to approximately $800,000 and weighing about 2,500,000 lbs., 90 percent of which is shipped to points outside the State of Vermont. The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the Employer. 71 N. L. R. B., No. 65 427 428 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD III. TIIE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit. We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The parties are in agreement on the composition of an appropriate unit at the Employer's Vergennes, Vermont, operations, except with respect to the laboratory technician, whom the Petitioner would in- clude and the Employer would exclude. The sole laboratory technician 1 examines, makes tests of, and an- alyzes and controls, the quality of the Employer's products. He has had 15 years' experience, including a training period of 2 years. He is carried on a separate pay roll from the employees whom the parties agree to include, and, unlike these employees, reports directly to the New York office rather than to the Vergennes superintendent. Al- though a formal technical education is not required of him, it appears that he falls within the classification of a technician, and that his work, supervision, and interests are dissimilar from those of the employees whom the parties agree to include. Accordingly, we shall exclude the laboratory technician from the unit hereinafter found appropriate.' We find that all employees of the- Employer at its operations at Vergennes, Vermont, excluding the laboratory'technician, office and clerical employees, temporary or seasonal employees,' executives, and all other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, dis- charge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em- ployees, 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. DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Sheffield Farms Co., Inc., Vergennes, Vermont, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as ' Leon Purenton. 2 See Matter of E I. du Pont de Nenours d Company, Rayon Division, 62 N L R B. 146: Matter of Armour Fertilizer Works, 66 N . L R. B. 365; Matter of United States Gypsum Company, 65 N. L R B . 575; 66 N L If . B. 619. 3 A large majority of these employees are transitory workers who seek employment only during a few months of the year . and who vary from year to year and even from week to week. SHEFFIELD FARMS CO., INC. 429 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 First Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections 203.55 and 203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations- Series 4, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Sec- tion IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period imme- diately 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 and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election , to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by United Warehouse and Produce Workers' Union, New England Joint Board, CIO, for the purposes of collective bargaining.