Corona Citrus Association

In the Matter of CORONA CITRus AssoCIATION and CORONA CITRUS WORKERS INDUSTRIAL UNION, LOCAL #342 OF THE UNITED CAN-NERY,,11 A(RICULTURAL, PACKING AND ALLIED WORKERS OF AMI:RICA, C. 1. 0.1 Case No. R-1871.-Decided July 3, 1941) Jurisdiction : citrus packing industry Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question where employer refuses to accord full recognition to union; election necessary. ' After retus'e] to bargain with petitioning union on the ground that the Company's employees are not subject to the Act, a new local assumea jurisdiction over said employees and no showing is made that said local requested recognition. Held that a question concerning representation has arisen irrespective of change in the structure of the union Under the provisions of the constitution of the international union, an application for membership in it is also an application for membership' in the appropriate local or locals Held applications for membership in international union by a substantial number of employees of the Company is sufficient designation of local seeking its name on ballot. Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all production employees of the Company employed in processing, grading, packing, and shipping products of the Company, and all maintenance employees wherever located, including receivers, general floor laborers, graders, packers, lidders, tally girls, box makers, mechanics, and the assistant bookkeeper, but excluding officials of the Company, supervisory employees, employees having the right to hire and/or fire, and clerical employees wherever located Definitions: Packinghouse workers engaged in handling, processing, and packing citrus fruits held not agricultural laborers within the meaning of the Act. Practice and Procedure: Pursuant to a motion made subsequent to the hearing, one local ordered substituted for the petitioning local as party petitioner in the proceedings in all respects as if said local had participated in the proceedings provided the substi- tuted local files with the Board a statement that it assents to the substitution of itself and waives any right of notice and binds itself to the record as. made. Mr. James A. Cobey, for the Board. Mr. Ivan G. McDaniel, by 111r. George C. Lyon, of Los Angeles,. Calif., for the Company. Mr. T. R. Rasmussen, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the Union. Mr. Louis S. Penfield, of counsel to the Board. In accordance with a motion filed after the heaiing heicin, which we hereinafter grant, the caption of the case has been changed 25 N. L. R. B., No. 15. 77 78 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE On April 5, 1940, Fruit and Vegetable Packing House Workers Union #78, affiliated with United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers of America,2 herein called the Fruit and Vegetable Workers Union, a local of United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers of America, an International labor organization, herein called the United, filed with the Regional Director for the Twenty- first Region (Los Angeles, California) a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce bad arisen concerning the representation of employees of Corona Citrus Association, Corona, California, herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. In accordance with our ruling below upon a certain motion of the Fruit and Vegetable Workers Union filed with the Board after the hearing herein, men- tioned hereinafter, said petition is amended nine pro tune as of April S. 1940, by striking therefrom the name of the Fruit and Vegetable Workers Union, as party petitioner, and substituting therefor as party petitioner the name of Corona Citrus Workers Industrial Union, Local #342 of the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers of America, C. I. 0., herein called the Union, a labor organi- zation which also is a local of the United. On May 13 the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. On May 20, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing, copies of which, together with copies of the petition, were duly served upon the Company and upon the Fruit and Vegetable Workers Union.' Pursuant to the notice a hearing was held on June 3 4 at Los Angeles, California, before James A. Cobey, the Trial Examiner This is the correct name of the labor oigauization, as set forth in its constitution 3 The Union was not served with notice of hearing nor did it participate in the hearing Howeier, as appeals from what is set forth below, we assume that the Union has waived or is willing to wane, notice of hearing and pal ticipation in the hearing upon the petition, and to accept the record as made for purposes of a determination of repi- sent.itives we have piovided below for an opportunity to it to affirm this assumption 3 The notice of hearing specified that said heating would be conducted on June 4. 1940 At the heating the parties waived notice of the change of date of hearing and all objections to holding the hearing on June CORONA CITRUS ASSOCIATIONS 79 ,duly designated, by the Board. The Company was represented by counsel and the Fruit and Vegetable Workers Unions by its representatives. Both of said parties participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine wit- nesses, and to introduce evidence bearing oil the issues was afforded the parties. At the beginning of the hearing the Company moved to dismiss the proceedings for want of jurisdiction of the subject mat- ter, on the ground that all the employees of the Company referred to in the petition and involved herein are excepted, as agricultural laborers, from the provisions of the Act, and, further, that the Com- pany is not engaged in nor do its operations affect interstate com- merce. Ruling upon this motion was reserved for the Board. For reasons sufficiently appearing below, the motion is hereby denied. During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made various rulings on objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prej- udicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed. Snice the hearing the Company has submitted to the Board a brief in support of its position. Subsequent to the hearing and on June 14 the Fruit and Vegetable Workers Union, by its representatives lodged with the Board a written motion, together with a certain stipulation annexed thereto entered into by itself and the Company.' On June 19 the Board issued an order snaking said motion and stipulation part of the record herein, and duly served copies thereof upon, among others, the Company and the .Fruit and Vegetable Workers Union. The The Company has not opposed the- allowance of this motion, and we assume from its participation in said stipulation that it has no ob- jection to action by the Board in conformity therewith. In said -notion the Fruit and Vegetable Workers Union requested that its name be striken from the record wherever the same therein appeared and that the name of the Union be substituted therefor. In the annexed stipulation it and the Company agreed, subject to approval by the Board, that if a certain named individual were called as a witness herein, he would testify, in substance, that on May 27, 1940, the United chartered the Union as a local thereof comprising the membership of the United 8 in and about Corona, California, in- cluding employees of the Company who were members of the United, that the Union has jurisdiction over employees of the Company. 6 See footnote 3, supra 6 This is the same individual who appeared at the hearing in behalf of the Pnut and vegetable workers Union 'while it is not entirely clear from these documents, we base concluded that the Piuit and Vegetable workers Union is the party making the motion and in whose behalt the stipulation was executed 8 Membership in any local of the United includes membership in the United 80 DECISIONS OF NA1IONAL LABOR' RELATIONS BOARD and that "this change in organizational structure" was not known by the representative of the Fruit and Vegetable Workers Union at the time he appeared for the petitioner at the hearing herein- The record shows that the membership of the Fruit and Vegetable Workers Union includes members of the United employed in wide areas in Arizona and California, and in the Hawaiian Islands. At the hearing this organization claimed jurisdiction over, and to rep- resent for collective bargaining purposes, persons affiliated with the, United in and about Corona, California. In view of the facts thus stipulated to and the record, the Board interprets the motion in question as one to amend the petition in the manner already indicated, to substitute the Union as party petitioner in these proceedings in the place and stead of the Fruit and Vegetable Workers Union in all respects and to the same extent as if the Union and not the Fruit and Vegetable Workers Union had been and had acted as the party petitioner herein, to place the name of the Union and not that of the Fruit and Vegetable Workers Union upon the ballot in any elec- tion which may be directed herein, and for any and all other action con- sistent therewith and with the application made in said motion; and to that end suggesting that the Union be taken as assenting to the foregoing, waiving all right to notice of and participation in a hearing on the petition, and consenting to being bound by the record to the same extent as the Fruit and Vegetable Workers Union herein may be bound. The Board hereby approves said stipulation, finds the facts to be as therein alleged and hereinafter set forth, and grants said motion. Inasmuch as it is unclear from the motion papers whether the Union itself has joined in the application therein made and, hence, whether it assents to action herein in conformity there- with, the election which we have directed below shall be held only if the Union files with the Regional Director, as part of the record herein, and leave is hereby granted the Union so to do, its statement setting forth that it assents to the substitution of itself as party petitioner herein, waives any right to notice of or participation in a hearing upon the petition, and binds itself to the record as made to the same extent as the Fruit and Vegetable Workers Union may or otherwise would be found. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY The Company is a cooperative association organized and existing under the laws of the State of California.s It has a membership of 9 Agi icultural Code of California , Ch, 4, div 6 CORONA CITRUS ASSOCIATIONS 81 t 9 citrus fruit growers, who own some 990 acres of citrus fruit groves in and near Corona, California. The Company is engaged in the business of picking, receiving, handling, washing, grading, assem- bling, and packing the citrus fruits of its members, and in shipping the fruit for marketing, as more particularly set forth hereinafter, under a marketing agreement with the Queen Colony Fruit Ex- change, a California corporation, -,whicli has a marketing agreement with the California Fruit Growers Exchange, herein called the Fruit Exchange, also a California corporation. In connection with its operations the Company owns and inai n- iains a packing house in Corona where the various processes from receiving to shipping the fruit of its members are carried on. The work involved is seasonal, dependent upon the maturity of the vari- ous - fruits and upon grove conditions. In 1939 the Company em- ployed a maximum of 106 and a minimum of 27 persons in its packing house. Between May 1 and 16, 1940, it employed 73 such workers. These proceedings are concerned only with employees of the Company who work at the packing house. As already indicated the fruits packed by the Company are grown by its constituent members. In pursuance of a contract with each member the Company undertakes to market all fruit grown, and upon a sale thereof transmits to such member the avails thereof less an amount to cover the- cost of packing. and marketing and certain capital expenditures. The Company does its marketing through the Queen Colony Fruit Exchange, a so-called district exchange, and the Fruit Exchange, an organization comprising the afore-mentioned and 24 other district exchanges. The Company has a written con- tract with the Queen Colony Fruit Exchange which provides for marketing by the exchange of all fruit controlled by the Company. In turn, the Fruit Exchange has a written agreement with the Queen Colony Fruit Exchange for the marketing of all fruit controlled by such district exchange. The Fruit Exchange sells the fruit marketed through the Queen Colony Fruit Exchange, and shipments are made under bills of lading designating the Fruit Exchange as consignor and consignee. Seventy-eight per cent of all citrus fruits grown in California and Arizona are marketed in similar manner by and through the Fruit Exchange. It conducts a large sales or- ganization with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, and with district sales offices in 57 of the larger cities of North America. It has 32 additional suboffices in smaller centers. It engages in adver- tising campaigns featuring the trade mark "Sunkist" throughout the United States, and in Canada and Great Britain, and advertises in periodicals, recipe books, consumer educational material, and dealer displays which are circulated all over the world. The agree- ment between the Fruit Exchange and the Queen Colony Fruit Ex- 82 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD change lists as one of its principal purposes and objects, "That the business engaged in, being interstate in character, to secure at all times full compliance with the laws of the United States concerning Interstate Commerce. . . ." 10 In the 1938-1939 citrus fruit crop year, a typical year for the Com- pany, the Company received at its packing house an amount of citrus fruit totalling, when packed, at least 243,900 boxes. It diverted 31,346 of these boxes for use as byproducts, and, under the agreements above mentioned marketed through the Fruit Exchange, which made ship- ments thereof, 13,502 boxes in intrastate commerce, and 199,502 boxes, valued in excess of $100,000, in interstate and foreign commerce. As set forth below the fruit destined for such commerce was placed by employees of the Company onto railroad cars consigned for markets in California, other States, and foreign countries. H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED Corona Citrus Workers Industrial Union, Local #342 of the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers of America, C. 1. 0., is a local of United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers of America, a labor organization affiliated with Congress of Industrial Organizations. The Union admits to membership persons employed at packing houses in and about Corona, California, including persons employed in the packing house of the Company. The Union was chartered as a local of the United on May 27, 1940, with its member- ship comprising the membership of the United in the mentioned area and with jurisdiction over the Company's employees. Fruit and Vegetable Packing House Workers Union #78, affiliated with United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers of America, is a local of United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers of America, admitting to membership workers em- ployed in and around fruit and vegetable packing sheds, warehouses, and grounds in Phoenix and Yuma, Arizona; Imperial Valley, Salinas, and Lindsay, California; Hawaiian Islands, and elsewhere. On May 27, 1940, in pursuance of a reorganization of the parent body, the Fruit and Vegetable Workers Union lost what jurisdiction it had over, and its representation of, workers so employed in and about Corona, California, including employees of the Company. III. THE EMPLOYEES OF THE COMPANY The Company employs in its packing house, receivers, floor laborers, graders, packers , lidders, tally girls, •box makers, mechanics, and an 10 Pi tut Growers Supply Company, a subsidiary supply department of the Fruit Fx- chanee, futuishes orchard and packing materials to affiliated grower members and con- trols tmrbei holdings, lumber mulls, and box-manufacturing plants Approximately 15 per cent of the lumber used comes from outside California CORONA CITRUS ASSOCIATIONS 83 assistant bookkeeper. Upon arrival by motor truck at the packing house of the fruit from the groves, the receivers and floor laborers re- move from the trucks the field boxes wherein the fruit is contained, cart them into the packing house and place them or the fruit on proper con- veyor belts, into hoppers or into the-so-called "pre-sorter." The floor laborers also stack and load boxes of fruit which have been packed, and do various other jobs around the packing house. Many of the opera- tions performed in the packing house are done automatically by ma- chines. The fruit placed in the "pre-sorter," has all leaves, trash, and rocks there removed, and then is dumped into a soaking tank where it passes through brushes which scrub it with soapy water. Next the fruit goes into a tank containing a solution of borax; then past rollers and dryers; then onto a waxer where clear wax is applied; and then passes along on a moving belt for grading. The grading is performed by the graders who in the course of their duties systematically separate the various grades of fruit and remove the inferior fruit. After thus being graded, the fruit passes into bins. The packers stand alongside the bins and pick up the fruit, wrap it, and place it in boxes according to a set standard of packing. The grading and packing work is done exclusively by women. After the packcws finish packing the boxes of fruit, the boxes are placed on a moving belt which conveys them to the lidding machine where the lidders nail on the tops of the boxes. The lidded boxes are checked by the tally girls and are then conveyed into the "pre-cooler" storage room where they remain from 8 to 10 days after which they are trucked to the loading platform by the floor laborers and'placed in railroad cars adjacent to the packing house to be shipped to markets within California, in other States,-and in foreign countries. The box makers operate box machines which make the boxes in which the fruit is packed. The mechanics oil and grease the packing-house machinery. The so-called assistant bookkeeper checks and keeps a record of fruit going in and out of the, "pre-cooler" storage, but the larger part of his time is spent in stacking boxes. The question concerning representation which we hereinafter find to have arisen involves the afore-mentioned packing-house workers. As above stated, the Company contended in support of its motion to dismiss the proceedings that these workers are excepted, as agricul- tural laborers, from the provisions of the Act. This contention is T^ ithout merit.h1 We find that the afore-mentioned employees of "North Whittier Heights Citrus Association v National Labor Relations Board, 109 F. (2d) 76-(C. C A 9), enf'g Matter of North Whittier Heights Citrus Association and Citrus Packing House Workers Union, Local No 21091, 10 N L R B 1269 See also Matter of Sierra Madre-Lamanda Citrus Association and Benjamsn H Bet'x, an sndi- vidual doing business as Beta Packing Company and Citrus Packing House Woibers Union , Local No 20,00, 28 N L R B 143, and cases cited in footnote 12 therein DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD the Company are not agricultural laborers, within the meaning of the Act. IV. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION On April 4, 1940, the Conlptuiy refused, although requested by the Fruit and Vegetable Workers Union, to bargain collectively with that labor organization as the statutory representative of workers employed by the Company in its packing house, on the ground, among others, that the Company and its employees were not subject to the Act. Thereafter, that union filed the petition herein claiming to represent these employees for collective bargaining purposes and alleging that a question concerning their representation had arisen. Plainly, the refusal of the Company to bargain collectively gave rise to such a question. As above stated, on May 27, 1940, the Union was chartered as a local of the United comprising as its members, and hence representing for collective bargaining purposes, the member- ship of the United in and about Corona, California, with jurisdiction over the afore-mentioned employees of the Company either affiliated with or applying for membership in the United '12 Whom the Fruit and Vegetable Workers claimed to represent and as to whom the ques- tion concerning representation had arisen. ' While it is not slho-,w-n whether the Union upon assuming jurisdiction over said employees - of the Company, and thus, representing them for collective bargain- ing, as set forth in Section VII, infra, ever requested collective bar- gaining of the Company, it is evident in view of the maintained position of the Company concerning the application of the Act to itself and its packing-House workers, and Ave find, that any such request had it been made would not have been granted.13 The question con- cerning representation of these employees brought about by the Company's position continued to exist, and now exists, irrespective of of the change in the structure of the United which resulted in an assignment to the Union of jurisdiction over and representation of the employees involved herein. That question is presented by the petition, as amended, and by the record before us. We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Company. 12 see Section VII, infr a 13 We have held under analogous circumstances that the labor organization involved "is entitled to have its status as a statutory bargaining agency clarified and to present that question concerning representation to the Board" Matter of National Mineral Com- pany and Chronic Furniture, Handlers and Miscellaneous Ciafts Union, Local No 658 of the Upholsterers' International Union affiliated with the American' Federation of Labor, successors to Beauticians' Supplies and Cosmetic Woi'ters Unson,'Local 21107 (A, F of L ), 25 v L R B 3 - CORONA CITRUS ASSOCIATIONS 85 V. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON" CONIMERCE We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States, and between the States and foreign countries, and tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce and the free flow of commerce. \'I. TIIL AI'PROJ'RIAJE UNIT The petition alleges that "all production employees employed in processing, grading, packing and shipping products of the Company; and maintenance employees wherever located," but excluding officials of the Company, supervisory employees, employees having the right to hire and/or fire, and clerical employees wherever located" 15 consti- tute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, vv ithin the meaning of Section 9. As further defined by evidence taken at the hearing, the unit would include receivers, general floor laborers, graders, packers, lidders, tally girls, box makers, mechanics; and an assistant bookkeeper. The Company does not contend that such a unit would be inappropriate for collective bargaining, and has no objection to such a unit being found to be appropriate. AVe see no reason for not so finding. Accordingly, we find that all produc- tion employees of the Company employed in processing, gracing, packing and shipping products of the Ccnnpany, and all maintenance employees wherever located, incluchug receivers, general floor la- borers, graders, packers, lidders, tally girls, box makers, mechanics, and the assistant bookkeeper, but excluding officials of the Company, supervisory employees, employees having the right to hire and/or fire, and clerical employees wherever located, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining and that said unit will insure to the employees of the Company the full benefit of the right to self- organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act. vii. DE'I'ERMTNATION OF REPRESENT'TTVES As of May 1 to 16, 1940, the Company employed 73 persons within the unit we have found to be appropriate. It appears from a state-- 14 There is no showing as to what is meant by "wherever located " However, no issue has been raised concerning he matter , and, as stated, the Company has no objection to the unit claimed in the petition to be appropriate 15 See footnote 14, supra 2S i036-42-vol 25 i 86 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD ment and report made at the hearing by the Trial Examiner that between March 11 and April 17, 1940, a substantial number of these persons executed certain union application cards making application of the United for membership in the United, and authorizing the United "its local[,] 18 district and national offices [officers] 1' and agents" to represent them "in all matters pertaining to wages, hours, and conditions of work." We construe these cards as designating the United and also the officers aiid agents of the local having from time to time jurisdiction over the applicant, as collective bargaining rep- resentative. We already have found that on May 27, 1940, the Union was chartered as a local of the United, comprising in part as its members the membership of the United among the Company's em- ployees and having jurisdiction over the Company's employees. We presume, and find, in view of the provisions of the constitution of the United, that an application for membership in the United is also an application for membership in the appropriate local or locals of the United having jurisdiction over the applicant, in this instance, the Union. In view of the foregoing and upon the record we find that a substantial number of the employees of the Company by their applications for membership in the United, and, therefore, in the Union, as well as by their afore-mentioned authorizations, have designated the Union as their collective bargaining representative. However, under all the circumstances, we are of the opinion, and find, that the question which has arisen concerning representation of em- ployees of the Company can best be resolved by holding an election by secret ballot. Accordingly we shall direct that an election be held among those employees in the appropriate unit who were em- ployed by the Company during the j)ay-roll period next preceding the date of the Direction of Election, subject to such limitations and additions as are set forth in the Direction. Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following: CONCLUSIONS OF L. w 1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the rep- resentation of the employees of Corona Citrus Association, Corona, California, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act. ie It is apparent that an error was made in transcription of the hearing and that the conjunctive "local district" was not intended, in view of the provisions of the con- stitution of the United which refer to locals and districts , and not to local districts 17 This appears to be another error in tianscription • _ CORONA CITRUS ASSOCIATIONS 87 2. All production employees of the Company at Corona, Califor- u:a, employed in processing, grading, packing and shipping products of the Company and all maintenance employees wherever located, including receivers , general floor laborers, graders, packers , lidders, Ially girls, box makers, mechanics, and the assistant bookkeeper, but, excluding officials of the Company. supervisory employees, em- ployees having the right to hire and/or fire , and clerical employees wherever located constitute a -unit appropriate for purposes of col- lective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) of the Na- tional Labor Relations Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTION By virlue of :uid pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as :upended, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargalunlg with Corona Citrus Association. Corona, California, all election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction of Election, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Di- rector for the Twenty-first Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among, all production em- ployees of the Company at Corona, California, employed in proces- sing, grading, packing and shipping products of the Company and all maintenance employees wherever located, including receivers, gen- eral floor laborers, graders, packers, hdders, tally girls, box makers, mechanics, and the assistant bookkeeper, whose names appear on the pay roll of the Company during the pay-roll period next preceding the date of this Direction of Election including employees not on that pay roll because they were ill or on vacation, but excluding those on said pay roll who have since quit or been discharged for cause, and further excluding officials of the Company, supervisory employees, employees having the right to hire and/or fire, and clerical employees wherever located, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Corona Citrus Workers Industrial Union, Local #342 of the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers of America., C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective bargain- ing; Provided, however, that said labor organization file with the 88 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Regional Director as part of the record herein a statement made by it'or its agent in that behalf setting forth that it assents to the sub- stitution of itself as party petitioner herein, waives any right to notice of or participation in a hearing upon the petition, and binds itself to the record as made and to the Direction of Election to the same ex- tent as Fruit, and Vegetable Packing House Workers Union #78, affiliated with United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers of America would have been bound as a party petitioner. MR. WILLIAM M. LEISERSON took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election.