Tom Zweifel, Inc.

102 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD ultimately sold, shipped or slaughtered by the feeder" that is, the employer who operated both the feeding lots and the packing plant. In the situation you now present the employees are en- gaged in feeding, fattening, and caring for sheep for from 40 to 90 days prior to slaughter at pens located about a block from the employer's slaughter house. You wish to know whether the proximity of the feeding pens to the slaughter house and the shorter period of time involved are sufficient to change the conclusions set forth in our prior opinion. As indicated in our letter of April 1, 1953 the feeding and care of livestock over a brief period of a few days pending its sale, shipment, or slaughter cannot reasonably be characterized as the "raising of livestock" within the definition. It would ap- pear, however, that the 40 to 90 day period for feeding, fatten- ing, and caring for sheep is comparable to the 80 to 150 days in which the employees were engaged in raising cattle under the facts of our prior letter. It is my opinion that the employees here involved are engaged in "agriculture" within the meaning of section 3(f) of the Act even though the feeding, fattening and care of the sheep take place about a block from the packing house. Very truly yours, Stuart Rothman Solicitor of Labor TOM ZWEIFEL, INCORPORATED and AUTOMOTIVE ME- CHANICS LODGE NO. 510, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, and TRUCK DRIVERS AND ALLIED IN- DUSTRIES LOCAL 257, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, Jointly, Petitioner. Case No. 13-RC-3693. March 29, 1954 AMENDED DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION The Petitioner filed a petition seeking an election in a unit of the Employer's service and parts employees. On December 31, 1953, the Board issued its Decision and Direction of Election' in which it included new- and used-car salesmen and office clerical employees in the appropriate unit. On January 7, 1954, the Petitioner filed a motion with the Board to reconsider its unit finding, and requested oral argument, 2 contending that the new- and used-car salesmen and office iNot reported in printed volumes of Board Decisions and Orders. 2 The Petitioner's request for oral argument is hereby denied because in our opinion the record and the motion to reconsider adequately present the issues and the position of the parties. 108 NLRB No. 20. GUIDRY'S AUTO SERVICE 103 clerical employees should be excluded from the unit. The Employer takes no position. In Bogalusa Motors,' the Board reexamined its decisional pattern with respect to units in automobile retail and service establishments . It noted in its decision that many automobile dealers maintain small and closely knit establishments in which the relationship between the salesmen and the mechanics is as close as that between the salesmen and the office clerical employees. It concluded that a unit comprising all employees, including salesmen and clerks, is appropriate in such es- tablishments. In the instant case, however , the facts indicate that the basis on which the finding in Bogalusa Motors was predicated does not exist . The establishment of the Employer herein is sub- stantially larger than even the largest establishment in Bogalusa Motors, and it is reasonably clear that it is not closely knit nor is there the kind of relationship among the service employees , salesmen, and clerks which the Board contemplated in its rationale in that case. Here the Employer has approximately 59 employees, about 37 of whom are service and parts employees. In these circumstances , we shall amend our previous unit finding herein and find that the following employees con- stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar- gaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act: All of the Employer's service and parts employees , excluding new- and used-car salesmen , office clerical employees , professional employees , guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act. [Text of amended Direction of Election omitted from pub- lication.] Member Beeson took no part in the consideration of the above amended Decision and Direction of Election. 3Bogalusa Motors, Inc., 107 NLRB 97. LAWRENCE GUIDRY d/b/a GUIDRY'S AUTO SERVICE and PINE TREE LODGE 1983, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, AFL, and LOCAL UNION NO. 5, INTERNA- TIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, Joint Petitioners . Case No. 15-RC-967. March 29, 1954 SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES On December 4, 1953, pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Election of the National Labor Relations Board, ' an election 1 The Decision and Direction of Election was based upon a consolidated hearing involving this and eight other auto dealers in the city of Bogalusa, Louisiana. Bogalusa Motors, Inc., et al., 107 NLRB 97. This case is hereby severed for the purposes of this decision. 108 NLRB No. 25.