Southland Cotton Oil Co.

SOUTHLAND COTTON OIL COMPANY 433 4. By initiating, forming, sponsoring, promoting, assisting, interfering with, domi- nating, and contributing support to the Employee-Management Committee, the Respondent has engaged in and is engaging in unfair labor practices, within the meaning of Section 8 (a) (2) of the Act. 5. By interfering with, restraining, and coercing its employees in the exercise of rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act, the Respondent has engaged in and is engaging in unfair labor practices, within the meaning of Section 8 (a) (1) of the Act. 6. The aforesaid unfair labor practices are unfair labor practices affecting com- merce, within the meaning of Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. [Recommendations omitted from publication.] Appendix A NOTICE TO ALL EMPLOYEES Pursuant to the recommendations of a Trial Examiner of the National Labor Relations Board, and in order to effectuate the policies of the National Labor Re- lations Act, we hereby notify our employees that: WE WILL NOT discourage concerted activities, or membership in any labor organization, by discharging or refusing to reinstate any of our employees, or by discriminating in any other manner in regard to their hire or tenure of employ- ment or any term or condition of employment. WE WILL NOT dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any labor organization or contribute financial support thereto. WE WILL NOT otherwise interfere with the representation of our employees through a labor organization of their own choosing. WE hereby disestablish the Employee-Management Committee as the repre- sentative of any of our employees for the purpose of dealing.with us concern- ing grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, or other conditions of employment, and we will not recognize it or any successor thereto for any of the foregoing purposes. WE WILL offer John C. Martins immediate and full reinstatement to his former or substantially equivalent position, without prejudice to any seniority or other rights and privileges previously enjoyed, and make him whole for any loss of pay he may have suffered as a result of the discrimination against him. All our employees are free to become or remain, or to refrain from becoming or remaining, members of any labor organization, including International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL, except to the extent that said right may be affected by an agreement in conformity with Section 8 (a) (3) of the Act. We have not discrimi- nated, and we will not discriminate, in regard to the hire or tenure of employment or any term or condition of employment, against any employee because of membership in or nonmembership in any such labor organization. STANDARD COIL PRODUCTS, INC., Employer. Dated---------------- By-------------------------------------------=-- (Representative) (Title) This notice must remain posted for 60 days from the date hereof, and must not be altered, defaced, or covered by any other material. SOUTHLAND COTTON OIL COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL CHEMICAL WORKERS UNION, LOCAL 525, AFL. Case No. 15-RC-1110. Oc- tober W, 1954 Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Fred A. Lewis, hearing 110 NLRB No. 60. 338207-55-vol. 110-29 434 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Southland Cotton Oil Company is a Delaware corporation with its main office located in Paris, Texas. It operates plants at Paris, Waxahachie, Corsicana, Temple, Richmond, and Dallas, Texas; at Bossier City and Tallulah, Louisiana; at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and at Jackson, Mississippi. This proceeding concerns the employees of the Bossier City, Louisiana, plant. During the last year purchases of cotton seed for this plant alone exceeded $200,000 in value, of which approximately 15 percent came from outside the State of Louisiana; sales of cotton oil and cotton meal from the Bossier City plant exceeded $300,000 in value, of which approximately 30 percent was shipped out- side the State of Louisiana. The Employer urges that its plant at Bossier City is of a local nature and that from all indications, the sales for the current season will be confined to the State of Louisiana and that the Board should not assert jurisdiction over its operations as it will be engaged, essentially, in intrastate operations. In this case, it is clear that the Employer's volume of business for the past year warrants the Board's assertion of jurisdiction, and we shall, therefore, assert jurisdiction in accordance with our usual policy without regard to the speculative changes in its business. We find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The Employer questions the Petitioner's status as a labor organi- zation. The Petitioner presented evidence of the International's charter, of the existence of its Local 525, and that it existed for the purpose of representing employees with regard to wages, hours, and other working conditions. We find that the Petitioner is a labor or- ganization and that it 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 Petitioner seeks to represent all production and maintenance employees at the Employer's Bossier City, Louisiana, plant. The Em- ployer contends that its employees are engaged in the first processing of an agricultural product and are "agricultural laborers" not within the jurisdiction of the Board. The Employer purchases cottonseed from cotton ginners and plan- tation owners. The seed is usually delivered to the mill by the seller. From the milling process, the Employer derives cotton oil, cottonseed hulls, cottonseed cakes, and some lint. The crude oil is loaded into tank cars and shipped to refineries; the hull and seed cakes are ground into SOUTHLAND COTTON OIL COMPANY 435 meal for sale as cattle feed. Such operation is clearly a commercial enterprise not incidental to or in conjunction with farming operations. We find the employees of the Employer are not agricultural laborers.' The Employer does not contend that the unit sought by the Peti- tioner is inappropriate, except that it would exclude the mixed feed operation. The Employer further contends that the following indi- viduals should be excluded from the unit : Robert Gilyard and Sandy Edwards as they perform guard duties; John Howard, Jim Adger,, R. N. Powell, Walter Carter, and Emmett Player as they are super- visors. After evidence was presented relative to the duties of the above individuals, the Petitioner agreed that John Howard was a. supervisor and should be excluded, but left the determination of the status of the others to the Board. John Howard and Jim Adger are foremen of the pressroom and are sometimes referred to as meal cooks as they supervise the process of cooking the meal. Howard is in charge of the pressroom group during the day shift and Adger during the night shift. Approxi- mately 8 employees comprise the pressroom crew on each shift, and both Howard and Adger receive approximately 4 cents per hour higher rate of pay than the members of the crews. Neither has the authority to discharge employees, but either may effectively recommend the dis- missal of unsatisfactory employees and have been so advised. They do no manual work and most of their time is spent checking gauges and directing the work of the crews. R. N. Powell and Walter Carter are foremen in charge of the lint room. Each has a crew-Powell who works on the day shift directs 3 employees, and Carter who works on the night shift always has I employee under him and may have more. In the lint room are ap- proximately 32 lint machines, and the employees working there watch the machines to see that they are operating properly, change saws, keep the machines in proper adjustment, and clean up the room. Pow- ell and Carter are required to do very little manual labor; it is their responsibility to make assignments of work to the crew members and see that they perform their duties properly. Both have been advised of their authority to recommend the discharge of employees for whose operations they are responsible. Emmett Player is foreman of the meal room where the meal is ground and made into pellets. Under his direction are 3 employees who work in the meal room, and usually there are 3 other employees engaged in loading the meal into trucks or cars that he has charge of_ He has the authority effectively to recommend the discharge of any of these employees. 'See Wells Dairie,, Cooperatetie, 107 NLRB 1445, of J. G . Boswell Gom pantry, lOT NLRB 360. 436 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Although the evidence established that neither of the above five alleged supervisors may grant an increase in wages, any recommen- dation of that nature made to the superintendent would be given con- sideration. In view of the above facts, and the record as a whole, we find that John Howard, Jim Adger, R. N. Powell, Walter Carter, and Emmett Player are, supervisors and shall exclude them from the unit hereinafter found appropriate. Sandy Edwards and Robert Gilyard alternate 1 night a week per- forming guard duties while the plant is in operation. During the period of dormant operations, these 2 rotate their shifts so that the plant is under their protection 7 nights a week. They are usually armed while performing guard duties. While the plant is operating, in addition to performing guard duties, Edwards works as an oiler and a press cloth sewer and Gilyard drives an over-the-road truck and performs miscellaneous duties around the plant. As these employees regularly perform guard duties, we shall exclude them from the unit? The building in which the mixed feed operation takes place is lo- cated some 70 or 80 feet from the rest of the plant. This operation runs only during the heavy winter months-probably 100 to 120 days in a normal year-or when market conditions demand it. The proc- ess involved is mixing a certain percentage of meal and a certain percentage of hulls and grinding them all together. Usually there are not more than four employees who work in this operation; some- times they are employees from the milling operation and sometimes they are new employees. Employees engaged in this operation receive substantially the same wages and have similar working conditions as other employees. However, the hours are controlled by the Em- ployer's demand for this product. We find that the mixed feed opera- tion is a part of the regular production of the Employer, although somewhat irregular depending upon the current demand. The rec- ord fails to show that the employees are not a part of the group of seasonal employees that comprise the Employer's complement of em- ployees. We shall include these employees in the unit and permit them to vote. We find that the following employees of Southland Cotton Oil, Company, Bossier City, Louisiana, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act : All production and maintenance employees, includ- ing the employees in the mixed feed operation, but excluding office clerical employees, cashier, bookkeeper, salesmen, chemists, clerks, stenographers, weighers, samplers, professional employees, pressroom, 2 See Empire Zinc Division, The New Jer8el Zinc Company/, 108 NLRB 1663 , footnote 10. MOCK, JUDSON, VOEHRINGER COMPANY 437 lint room, and meal room foremen,' guards,4 and supervisors as de- fined in the Act. 5. The Employer's processing plant operates on a seasonal basis. Both parties request that any election directed be held at the peak of the season. It is the Board's policy in seasonal industries to direct an election at or about the peak of the season. Accordingly, we di- rect that an election be held at or about the peak of the season on a date to be determined by the Regional Director among the employees in the appropriate unit who are employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the date of the notice of election. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] 8 John Howard, Jim Adger, R. N. Powell, Walter Carter, and Emmett Player. 4 Including Sandy Edwards and Robert Gilyard. MOCK, JUDSON, VOEHRINGER COMPANY OF NORTH CAROLINA, INC. and AMERICAN FEDERATION OF HOSIERY WORKERS, AFL, PETITIONER. Case No . 11-RC-614. October 20,1954 Decision and Direction of Election Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Gerald B. Sindler, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. . Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. 2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em- ployees 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 Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of full-fashioned hosiery knitters and helper-trainees. It contends that the knitters constitute a distinct and homogeneous skilled craft group which is entitled to separate representation. The Employer opposes the petition. It challenges the Petitioner's claim that the knitters are a skilled crafts- man group and assert that they are neither a true craft nor a func- tionally distinct and separate departmental unit of the type to which the Board in the past has granted separate representation. In any event, the Employer contends that the Petitioner may not represent the knitters as a separate unit because the Petitioner is an industrial union which has traditionally represented all hosiery mill workers 110 NLRB No. 59.