Gerlach Meat Co., Inc.

GERLACH MEAT CO. 559 Gerlach Meat Company, Inc. and Amalgamated Meat Cutters & Butcher Workmen of North America, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 15-RC-4600 August 9, 1971 DECISION ON REVIEW AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION BY CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS JENKINS AND KENNEDY On April 20,197 1, the Regional Director for Region 15 issued his Decision and Order in the above-entitled proceeding, in which he dismissed the petition as premature. Thereafter, in accordance with Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, as amended, the Petitioner filed a timely request for review, contending that the Region- al Director departed from officially reported Board precedent by not directing an immediate election. The Employer filed opposition. By telegraphic order dated May 25, 1971, the National Labor Relations Board granted the request for review. Thereafter, the Employer filed a Motion for Reconsideration of Order Granting Petitioner's Request for Review i and a brief on the merits. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the National Labor Relations Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel. The Board has reviewed the entire record in this case including the briefs of the parties with respect to the issues under review and makes the following findings: In its petition, the Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of-all-warehouse employees, truckdrivers, meat cutters, meat handlers and plant clerical employees employed at the Employer's Shreveport, Louisiana, plant. The Regional Director, in agreement with the Employer, dismissed the petition on the ground that "the present complement of employees is not a substantial and representative complement of the total anticipated work force to be employed within the foreseeable future." We disagree. Since 1948, the Employer has been in the business of buying prime cuts of fresh meat and selling them in portion size cuts to hotels, restaurants, drive-ins, and other institutions. In 1968, the Employer began formulating plans to expand its product line to include cooked, prepared foods. To this end, the Employer has installed additional- drains, freezers, floors, walls, lighting, and rails, It also expanded its plant facility from 4,000 square feet to 8,000 square feet and plans to expand an additional 2,000 square feet in February 1972. In February 1970,.the United States Department of Agriculture approved the Employer's application to go into, the cooked food field. On March 30, 1971, the date of the hearing in this case, the Employer . was operating , ones shift and employed a meatcutter, five meat handlers, a meat boner and handler, a warehouseman, three truckdri- vers, and two shipping clerks. There were 13 vacant job classifications. According to its schedule, by December 31, 1971, the Employer will have employed 31 employees occupying 12 job classifications and by December 31, 1972, it will be operating on a two-shift basis with 57 employees filling all 19 job classifica- tions. In concluding that the present complement was not substantial and representative of the anticipated work force ; in'the foreseeable future,, the Regional Director apparently was measuring the present work force against the anticipated complement as of December 31, 1972. However, in our opinion, an expansion as anticipated almost 2 years after the hearing herein is too remote and speculative to form a basis for denying present employees an opportunity to select a bargain- ing representative. Rather, we regard the expansion contemplated by December 31, 1971, to be a more realistic date for measuring the substantiality of the present force.2 As of the hearing date, the Employer's work force constituted 35 percent of the complement working in 50 percent of the classifications projected by it for the next 9 months. We find that the present complement is substantial and representative of those to be employed in the near future. Accordingly, we find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of certain employees of the Employer within the mean- ing of Section 9(c)(1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act and that the following employees of the Employer constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act: All warehouse employees, truckdrivers, meat cutters, meat handlers and plant clerical employ- ees employed at Employer's Shreveport, Louisia- na, plant, excluding all office clerical employees, guards and supervisors as defined in the Act .3 3 Consistent with this Decision, this motion is hereby denied. Contrary to the Employer, we find that the truckdrivers have a 2 See, for example, Geneva Forge, Inc., 114 NLRB 1295, 1297. community of interest with the other employees and they are therefore 3 In agreement with the Regional Director, we find that Bill Baker and included in the unit. See, e.g., Marks Oxygen Company of Alabama, 147 Malcolm Ernest, categorized in the record as shipping clerks, are NLRB 228. supervisors and therefore excluded from the unit. 192 NLRB No. 86 560 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD [Direction of Election 4 °omitted from publication.] +. In order to assure that all eligible voters may have the opportunity to by the Employer with the Regional Director for Region 15 within 7 days of be informed of the issues in the exercise of their statutory right to vote, all the date of this Decision on, Review, and Direction of Election. The parties to the election should have access to a' list of voters and their Regional Director shall make the list available to'all parties to the election. addresses which may be used to communicate with them. Excelsior No extension of time to file this list shall be granted by the Regional Underwear Inc., 156 NLRB 11236; N,L.R.B. v.Wyman-Gordon Co, 394 U.S. Director except in extraordinary circumstances. Failure to comply with this 759.' Accordingly, it is hereby directed that an election eligibility list, requirement shall ,be grounds for setting aside the election. containing +the names and addresses of all the eligible voters, must be -filed