Seaboard Lemon Association

In the Matter Of SEABOARD LEDION ASSOCIATION and AGRICULTURAL & CITRUS WORKERS UNION, LOCAL No. 22342 , A. F. L. Case No. R-3365.-Decided May 25, 1942 Jurisdiction : citrus fruit pickers held "agricultural laborers" and, therefore, not subiect to the Act. Practice and Procedure : petition dismissed. Mr. Ivan G. McDaniel, by Mr. George C. Lyon, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the Company. Mr. A. H. Petersen and Mr. Jonathan H. Rowell, of San Francisco, Calif., for the Union. Mr. Raymond J. Heilman, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND ORDER I STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon petition filed by Agricultural & Citrus Workers Union, Local No. 22342, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Seaboard Lemon Association, Oxnard, California, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Richard A. Perkins, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Los Angeles, California, on November 28 and December 5, 1941. The Company and the Union appeared, par- ticipated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine 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 heeby affirmed. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF TIIE COMPANY Seaboard Lemon Association is a non-profit corporation, organized tinder the Cooperative Marketing Association Laws of the State of California and having its principal office at Oxnard, Ventura County, California. Its membership consists of about 50 lemon growers of Ventura County. 41 N. L. R. B , No. 55. 248 SEABOARD LEMON ASSOCIATION 249 The Company, together with other similar local associations, is a member of the Ventura County Citrus Exchange, herein called the Ventura District Exchange, one of 25 district exchanges throughout the State of California, each of which is a non-profit corporation organized under the Cooperative Marketing Association Laws of that State, with its board of directors made up of one representative from every member organization. All district exchanges, including that of which the Company is a member, are in turn affiliated with the California Fruit Growers Exchange, herein called the Central Exchange, a non-profit corporation also organized under the Coopera- tive Marketing Association Laws of the State of California. Pur- suant to a contract of the Company and the Ventura District Ex- change, and between the latter and the Central Exchange, all the fruit controlled by the Company is marketed through the Ventura District Exchange and the Central Exchange. The fruit grown by individual members of the Company is delivered by them to the Com- pany's packing house. The Company packs the fruit for shipment and loads it into railroad cars. All shipments are made in the name of the Central Exchange as both consignor and consignee and the bills of lading are delivered, to the Central Exchange. The Cen- tral Exchange has its principal office in Los Angeles, California, 55 district offices in the United States and Canada, and offices in London, England, Honolulu, Hawaii, and Manila, Philippine Islands. For the crop season 1938-1939, the Company received 7,876 tons of lemons. Of this quantity, 926 tons were marketed within the State of California, and 6,950 tons in other States and in foreign countries. During the crop seasons, 1939-1940 and 1940-1941, approximately 60 percent and 40 percent, respectively, of the Company's shipments were in interstate commerce. This proceeding is concerned with those employees of the Company who are engaged in picking lemons. Lemon growers who are members of the Company employ their own help to irrigate, fertilize, and cultivate their orchards, but depend upon the Company to conduct the work of picking.' The grower- member arranges with the Company in advance at what time the picking of the lemon crop shall be done, and at the time fixed the necessary pickers are furnished at the orchard by the Company until the work is completed. - The Company operates trucks in which it transports the pickers to and from the orchards.2 In the orchards the i With special permission from the Company , a member grower may handle the picking of his own orchard From January to about May 1941, during a picker's strike,, all of the Company's subscribers did so. At the time of the hearing two of the largest growers who are members of the Company had continued doing so. At that time the picking of about 1100 acres of about 1800 acres owned by the Company's subscribers was being handled independently of the Company. 2 The pickers are provided by the Company with equipment and tools, which they retain in their possession until the close of the periods of their employment. I 250 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD pickers are supervised by foremen, all of whom are employees of the Company. A field foreman, who is in full charge, has under him a number of "picker foremen,"' each of whom works with and super- vises a crew of from 20 to 50 pickers.3 The crew foreman assigns each picker to a row or a group of trees. The picker carries a picking bag on one shoulder, a ring in one hand, and a clipper in the other. Lemons which can be passed through the ring are not picked, in the absence of special instructions to the contrary. The picker, beginning at the lowest branch and using a ladder when clip- ping near the top of the tree, clips the stems of the lemons and places the lemons in the bag. When the bag is filled it is emptied by the picker into a field box. The boxes containing lemons are transported to the packing house by the grower or someone he has engaged for this purpose. The lemon crop is somewhat seasonal. The greatest number of pickers are employed from December to about the first of June. , The number of men employed may reach about 200 at the height of the picking season. At the time of the hearing the Company was oper- ating with a crew of 30 men. The Company contends that its employees engaged in picking lemons are "agricultural laborers" within the meaning of Section 2 (3)' of the National Labor Relations Act and are, therefore, exempt from the operation of the Act. The Union contends, as it did in flatter of Saticoy Lemon Association and Agricultural ce' Citrus Workers Union, Local No. 22342, A. F. L.,4 decided this day, that" these employees of the Company are not "agricultural laborers" with- in/the meaning of the Act. For the reasons stated by us in that pro- ceeding, we find that the employees concerned are "agricultural laborers" within the meaning of Section 2 (3) of the Act and that,' therefore, the Board does not have jurisdiction to entertain the peti- tion filed in this proceeding. ORDER Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and pursuant to Sections 2 (3) and 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the petition for investigation and certification , of representatives of employees of Seaboard Lemon Association, Oxnard, California, filed by Agricul- tural & Citrus Workers Union, Local No. 22342, be, and it hereby is, dismissed. 1 'Although the grower frequently is present in the orchard and suggestions or criti- cism's which he may make to a field foreman or picker foreman generally are followed, it is apparent from the record that this is done as a natter of courtesy and accommoda- tion 4 Case No R-3364