Bornstein Sea Foods, Inc.

198 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD STUDENT DINING HALL Assistant Food Supervisor Chief Food Supervisor AF Requisition Clerk AF Requisition File Clerk Assistant Director Director Supply Editing Clerk Memorandum Receipts Clerk Clerk Typist SUPPLY Reparable Follow Up Clerk Reporting Clerk Requisition L/P Clerk Secretary Stock Record Clerk Technical Supply Clerk NONCONTRACT EMPLOYEES All employees excluded BORNSTEIN SEA FOODS, INC. and INTERNATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN AND WAREHOUSEMEN 'S UNION, LOCAL No. 3, INDEPENDENT, PETITIONER. Case No. 19-RC-1571. January J3, 1955 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 Kenneth McClaskey, 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 organizations involved claim 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 Employer is engaged in processing crabs at its Southside plant at South Bellingham, Washington, and in processing, freezing, and packaging other seafood products at its other two plants, located at North Bellingham, Washington, and Anacortes, Washington, re- spectively. The Petitioner seeks a unit of all production and main- tenance employees engaged in crab processing at the Southside plant, 'For reasons set forth below, we conclude that the department herein sought to be represented is a new operation , not in the contemplation of the Employer and Amal- gamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America , Local No. 247, AFL, the Intervenor, when they executed their current contract some 7 months prior to the com- mencement of that operation. We therefore find, contrary to their contention , that the- contract is no bar. United States Rubber Company, 109 NLRB 1293 . The Intervenor'& motion to dismiss on the basis of a contract bar is accordingly denied. 111 NLRB No. 27. BORNSTEIN SEA FOODS, INC. 199 with the customary exclusions. The Employer and the Intervenor contend that the single-plant unit sought by the Petitioner is inap- propriate and that a multiplant unit which covers the Employer's em- ployees at all three plants is alone appropriate. The South Bellingham plant comprises 2 buildings , of which 1 is a storage warehouse manned by employees not here in issue ; the other building houses the Employer 's entire crab processing operations, also known as, and herein referred to as, the crab processing department. Of the approximately 24 employees in this department, there are 16 crab pickers and shakers , 1 washer, 3 packers, 2 butchers and cooks; 1 helper, and 1 truckdriver. The Employer 's three-plant operations are administered from its main office at the North Bellingham plant, known as the North Pa- cific plant, at which point are maintained its centralized purchasing and sales organization , its overall clerical operations, and its per- sonnel and payroll records. The Southside plant is 21/2 miles distant from the North Pacific plant and 40 miles distant from the Anacortes plant. Employees at each plant are under separate supervision. The crab processing department is a separate administrative sector of the Employer's total operations . The employees there are hired locally and, unlike the other employees , are paid on a piecework basis. Inter- change is small . The work of crab pickers and shakers, who comprise the majority of the crab processing department work force , requires skills and machinery different from those at the other plants. Pro- ficiency as a crab picker and shaker requires approximately a year of experience. Since 1940 , the Employer and the Intervenor have bargained con- tractually with respect to a multiplant unit of indefinite scope, de- scribed in their current contract as covering "all employees in the production department and such others as may come under," the Inter- venor's jurisdiction. The contract was executed on April 1 , 1954, and is effective by its terms until April 1, 1955. The crab processing de- partment was placed in operation on or about October 1, 1954. Although in the past the Employer has conducted crab processing operations, since discontinued, at its North Bellingham plant, the con- tract omits all reference to crab processing employees, as a group or by job classifications, and it appears that there have never been any bargaining discussions or negotiations between the Employer and the Intervenor respecting these employees. On the basis of the above facts, we are of the opinion that either a separate unit of the employees in the crab processing department at the Employer's Southside plant at South Bellingham , Washington, or a unit consisting of the employees currently represented by the 2 Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America , Local No. 247, AFL. 200 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Intervenor at the Employer's three plants, at South Bellingham, North Bellingham, and Anacortes, Washington, may constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.' We shall therefore make no final determination with respect to the crab process- ing department employees at this time, but shall first ascertain the de- sires of these employees as expressed in the election directed herein. We shall direct an election among the following employees : All production and maintenance employees in the Employer's crab processing department at its South Bellingham, Washington, plant, excluding office clerical employees, professional employees, licensed refrigeration engineers, guards, all other employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act. If a majority of the employees in the voting group selects the Peti- tioner, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate appropriate unit and the Regional Director conducting the election is instructed to issue a certification of representatives to the Petitioner for such unit, which the Board, under such circumstances, finds to be appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining. On the other hand, if a majority of the employees in the voting group vote for the Intervenor, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to become part of the existing unit currently represented by the Inter- venor, and the Regional Director will issue a certification of results of election to that effect. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] 3 United States Rubber Company, supra. A. O. SMITH CORPORATION, GRANITE CITY FRAME PLANT 1 and INTER- NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL 309, AFL 2 AND UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO ' AND DISTRICT No. 9, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS , AFL 4 AND INTERNA- TIONAL UNION9 UNITED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, AFL 5 AND INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF BOILERMAKERS , IRON SHIP- BUILDERS , BLACKSMITHS , FORGERS AND HELPERS, LOCAL 530, AFL,- PETITIONERS. Cases Nos. 14-RC-2611, 14-RC-2614, 14-RC-2628, 14-RC-2632, and 14-RC-2654. January 13, 1955 Decision, Order, and Direction of Elections Upon petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before John M. 1 The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing. s Herein called the IBEW 3 Herein called the Steelworkers 4 Herein called the IAM 5 Herein called the UAW. 9 Herein called the Boilermakers 111 NLRB No. 34.