Hueneme Wharf & Warehouse Co.

In the Matter Of HUENEME WHARF & WAREHOUSE COMPANY and AGRICULTURAL & CITRUS WORKERS LOCAL 22342, A. F. L. 'Case No. R--134f-Decided November. 27, 19410 Jurisdiction . warehousing industry. Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : refusal to accord recognition to union and request that certification be obtained ; election necessary. - Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees engaged in ware- housing operations including the cleaning, sacking, and shipping of beans, but excluding supervisory, clerical, and office employees and plant watchmen. Durley and Downes, by Mr. W. Mark Durley, of Oxnard, Calif., for the Company. Mr. A. H. Petersen, for the Union. Mr. Eugene Purver, of counsel,to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE On October 7, 1940, Agricultural & Citrus Workers Union, Local 22342, A. F. of L., herein called the Union, filed with the Regional Director for the Twenty-first Region (Los Angeles, California) a -petition alleging that a question affecting. commerce had arisen con- cerning the representation of employees of Hueneme Wharf & Ware- house Company, Port Hueneme, 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. On October 26, 1940, 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 Rela-' tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. On October 29, 1940, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and the Union. Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held on November 6, 1940, at Los Angeles, California, before David Sokol, the Trial Examiner 28 N. L. R. B., No. 21. 136 HUENEME WHARF, & - WAREHOUSE COMPANY 137 duly designated by the Board. The Company. was represented by counsel; the Union by its duly authorized representative; all partici- pated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing upon the issues was afforded all parties. During, the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings on motions. The Board- has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no preju- dicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Hueneme Wharf & Warehouse Company is a California corporation having its office and place of business at Port Hueneme, California, where it is engaged in receiving, storing, cleaning, and shipping beans belonging to its customers. The beans thus handled by the Company annually are valued at approximately $600,000. During 1939, 95 per cent of the beans handled by the Company were shipped by it to points outside the State of California. H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED Agricultural & Citrus Workers Union, Local 22342, A. F. of L., is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, admitting to membership all employees of the Company, excluding the foreman, the office force, and the watchman. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION By letter dated September 23, 1940, the Union requested the Com- pany to meet' with it "to discuss problems of mutual interest." The _Company, however, refused to recognize the Union in the absence of Board certification of it as the exclusive representative of the Com- -pany's employees. , At the hearing a report prepared by the Regional Director was introduced in evidence showing that the Union represents a substan- tial number of the employees in the unit found in Section V, infra, to be appropriate for the purposes of ,collective bargaining.,, We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Company. 1 The Statement of the Regional Director concerning Claims of Authorization for the Purpose of Representation shows that the Union submitted to the Regional Director undated petitions , signed by 41 persons , designating the Union as their bargaining agent, and 5 membership application cards, 3 of -which were undated and 2 of which were dated in July and August 1940. The Regional Director reported that 40 of the 46 signatures thus presented to. him appear to be genuine , original signatures of persons whose names were on the Company's pay roll of October 15, 1940. On that date, there were approximately 68 employees in the appropriate unit. - - - 138 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON COMMERCE 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 tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce and the free flow of commerce. . V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Company and the Union agreed at the hearing that the unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining consists of all employees of the Company engaged in warehousing operations includ- ing the cleaning, sacking, and shipping of beans, but excluding all supervisory, clerical, and office employees. It appears that there is a part-time watchman whom the Company and the Union also desire to exclude from the unit. We see no reason for departing from the agreed unit. We find that all employees of the Company engaged in warehousing operations including the cleaning, sacking, and shipping of beans, but excluding supervisory, clerical, and office employees and plant watch- men, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar- gaining and that said unit will insure to employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act. - VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We find that the question which has arisen concerning the repre- sentation of employees of the Company can best be resolved by an election by secret ballot. The Company's business is seasonal in nature, employment ranging from 22 or even fever employees in slack seasons to 68 or more in peak seasons. At the time of the hearing the business of the Company was in a slack season. It had been at a peak on October 15, 1940. At the hearing the union representative stated that such a peak would prob- ably again be reached at the end of November or the beginning of December. The Union desires that the employees on 'the Company's pay roll at that time should be those eligible to vote in the election. The Company does not object to this. We shall accordingly direct that the election be held not earlier than December 9, 1940, and that the employees within the appropriate unit whose names appear upon the pay roll of the Company for the last week in November or the first week in December, whichever contains the greater number of employ- HUENEME WHARF & WAREHOUSE COMPANY 139 ees, excluding any who will 'since have quit or been discharged for cause, shall be those eligible to vote. Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre- sentation of employees of Hueneme Wharf & Warehouse Company, Port Hueneme, California, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. - 2. All employees of the Company engaged in warehousing operations including the cleaning, sacking, and shipping of beans, but excluding supervisory, clerical, and office employees and plant watchmen, con- stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTION By virtue of and 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 amended, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Hueneme Wharf & Warehouse Company, Port Hueneme, Cali- fornia, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as soon as possible after December 9 , 1940, but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction , under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director 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 the employees of Hueneme Wharf & Warehouse Company engaged in warehousing operations, including the cleaning, sacking, and shipping of beans, whose names appear upon the pay roll of the Company for the last week in November or the first week in December 1940, whichever con- tains the greater number of employees, but excluding supervisory, clerical, and office employees, plant watchmen, and any who will since have quit or been discharged for cause , to determine whether or/ not, they desire to be represented by Agricultural & Citrus Workers Union, Local 22342, A. F. of L., for the purposes of collective bargaining. CHAIRMAN HARRY A. MILL Is took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election. 140 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR ' RELATIONS BOARD [SAME TITLE] CERTIFICATION. OF REPRESENTATIVES :January 2, 1941 On November 27, 1940, the National Labor Relations Board issued its Decision and Direction of Election in the above-entitled proceed- ings. Pursuant to the Direction of Election, an election by secret ballot was conducted on December 16, 1940, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Twenty-first Region (Los Angeles, California). On December 17, 1940, the Regional Director, acting pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, issued and duly served upon the parties his Election Report. No objections to the conduct of the ballot or the Election Report have been filed by any of the parties. As to the balloting and its results, the Regional Director reported as follows : Total on Eligibility List--- ---------------------------------- 36 Total Ballots Cast------------------------------------------ 34 Total Ballots Challenged------------------------------------ 0 Total Blank Ballots----------------------------------------- 0 Total Void Ballots------------------------------------------ 0 Total Ballots Not Counted---------------------------------- 0 Total votes for Agricultural and Citrus Workers Union, Local 22342, A. F. L-------------------------------------------- 26 Total votes against Agricultural and Citrus Workers Union, Local 22342, A. F. L---------------------------------------- 8 By virtue of and 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, Sections 8 and 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Agricultural & Citrus Workers Union, Local 22342, A. F. of L., has been designated and selected by a majority of the employees of Hueneme Wharf '& Warehouse Company, Port Hueneme, California, engaged in warehousing operations, including the cleaning, sacking, and shipping of beans, but excluding supervisory, clerical, and office'employees and plant watchmen, as their representa-, tive \for the purposes of collective bargaining,' and that, pursuant to the provisions of 9 (a ) of the National Labor Relations Act, -Agricul- tural & Citrus Workers Union, Local 22342, A. F. L., is the exclusive representative of all such employees for the purposes of collective bar- gaining in respect to rates of pay, wages; hours of employment, and other conditions of employment. 28 N. L. R. B., No. 21a.