Gooch Blue Ribbon Meats

GOOCH BLUE RIBBON MEATS Gooch Blue Ribbon Meats, a Division of Gooch Packing Company, Inc. and Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, AFL-CIO, District Local No. P-777, Petitioner. Case 16-RC-7447 September 22, 1977 DECISION ON REVIEW AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION BY CHAIRMAN FANNING AND MEMBERS JENKINS AND MURPHY On April 27, 1977, the Regional Director for Region 16 issued a Decision and Order in the above- entitled proceeding in which he dismissed the petition filed herein, finding inappropriate the Petitioner's requested unit of employees at the Employer's Midland, Texas, meat processing plant, on the basis that the only appropriate unit must also include employees at the Employer's Abilene, Texas, meat processing plant. Thereafter, in accordance with Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, the Petitioner filed a timely request for review of the Regional Director's decision, on the grounds, inter alia, that in finding the requested unit inappropriate he departed from precedent. The National Labor Relations Board, by telegraph- ic order dated June 10, 1977, granted the request for review. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the National Labor Relations Board has delegated its authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel. The Board has considered the entire record in this case with respect to the issues under review and makes the following findings: The Petitioner contends that the Regional Director erred in finding the requested single-plant unit inappropriate by (I) failing to follow the decision in Case 16-RC-5435, involving the same operations, in which it was found that a requested unit of all plant employees at the Abilene facilities was appropriate,' absent any showing of substantial changes in the operations since that time; (2) failing to note the 150- mile geographic separation of the plants and the absence of temporary interchange of employees between them; and (3) giving insufficient weight to the degree of autonomy exercised by the Midland i Decision and Direction of Election issued April 29, 1970, by Regional Director Elmer Davis. Pursuant thereto. on September 14. 1970, Amalga- mated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America. AFL-CIO, District Local Union P-54, was certified as the representative of the unit found appropriate. There is no testimony in the record as to whether or not a collective-bargaining relationship was established for the certified unit. In 232 NLRB No. 50 plant manager in day-to-day labor relations. We find merit in these contentions. The Employer and Gooch Packing Company, Inc., herein called Gooch Packing, which comprise a single corporate entity, are engaged in meat product processing at their facilities in Abilene and Midland, which are approximately 150 miles apart. Gooch Packing employs about 380 employees at its Abilene facilities where it slaughters livestock and processes carcasses into various products. The Employer, which further processes meat into special cuts for hotels, restaurants, and other institutional customers, has approximately 60 employees at the Midland plant and 15 at the Abilene plant. It is undisputed that there is substantial product integration and interdependence between the two plants. The Employer's principal office is in Abilene. Officers and staff based there perform support services such as personnel, accounting, livestock purchasing, and sales management for both plants. Production policies and operations are under the overall control of the operations vice president who spends approximately 20 percent of his time at the Midland plant. All employees receive the same employee handbook, are subject to the same policies as to conduct, merit increases, and promotions, and are under the same benefits plans. The payroll is handled in Abilene with checks drawn on Abilene and Midland banks for employees of the respective plants. Employees of like classifications are compar- ably paid and all participate in a profit-sharing plan funded from revenues of both plants. The Employer introduced evidence of four perma- nent personnel transfers between the Midland and Abilene plants, at least three of which were at the request of the employee. Employees retain seniority upon being transferred. As indicated, the plants are 150 miles apart, and there is virtually no temporary interchange of employees. There is evidence that Midland employees help Abilene drivers unload or deliver meat in the Midland area, and that Abilene employees help Midland drivers in the Abilene area. The 15 employees of the Employer stationed in Abilene process beef into special cuts for the Employer's institutional customers in Abilene. At the Midland plant there is a plant manager, Joe Ellis, and four stipulated supervisors-J. D. Avery, head supervisor of processing; Danny Ellis, steak department supervisor; Raymond Gonzales, ship- ping department supervisor; and E. O. Douglas, maintenance supervisor. In the earlier decision in view of the Employer's contention that the only appropriate unit herein must encompass employees of both plants, and the absence of any assertion by the Petitioner as to bargaining history at the Abilene plant, we infer that there is no controlling history of bargaining for the unit of Abilene plant employees. 277 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Case 16-RC-5435, it was stated that the Midland plant manager hires, discharges, promotes, lays off, and recalls employees subject only to review by the personnel director at Abilene for compliance with company policy. The record in the instant case reveals that he retains the same authority subject only to general policies and decisions from Abilene. The personnel director testified that he does not review hires by the Employer's plant manager on a regular basis. In view of the foregoing we find, contrary to the Regional Director, that there is insufficient evidence in the record to rebut the presumption favoring the appropriateness of the requested single-plant unit.2 Clearly, the Midland plant manager has substantial autonomy in the control of day-to-day labor rela- tions matters. Also, the two plants are 150 miles apart and there is no significant employee inter- change between them. 2 Dixie Belle Mills. Inc., 139 NLRB 629 (1962); Duluth Avionics, Guidance & Control Systems Division of Litton Systems, Inc., 156 NLRB 1319 (1966); Bourns Inc.. 217 NLRB 21 (1975); Szabo Food Services, Inc., 219 NLRB 538 Accordingly, we find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of certain employees of the Employer within the meaning of Sections 9(c)(l) and 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 full-time and regular part-time production and maintenance employees, including truck- drivers, employed by the Employer at its Mid- land, Texas, plant, excluding office clerical employees, professional employees, technical employees, guards, quality control employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act. [Direction of Election and Excelsior footnote omitted from publication.] (1975). While, as stated by the Regional Director, the employerwide unit is presumptively appropriate, as one of the units set forth in the statute, in the instant case there is no labor organization seeking to represent that unit. 278