Anheuser-Busch, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 27, 1953

103 N.L.R.B. 1205 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

ANHEUSER-BUSCH, INC. 1205
ANHEUSER-BUSCH, INC., FALSTAFF BREWING CORPORATION , GRIESE-
DIECK BROTHERS BREWERY COMPANY , GRIESEDIECK-WESTERN BREW-
ERY COMPANY ( HYDE PARK PLANT ) and INTERNATIONAL UNION OF
UNITED BREWERY, FLOUR, CEREAL , SOFT DRINK AND DISTILLERY
WORKERS OF AMERICA , C. I. 0., AND ITS LOCAL UNION No. 187,
PETITIONER
ANHEUSER-BUSCH , INC. and INTERNATIONAL UNION OF UNITED BREW-
ERY, FLOUR , CEREAL , SOFT DRINK AND DISTILLERY WORKERS OF
AMERICA, C . I. 0., AND ITS BREWERY ENGINEERS , LOCAL 246, PETI-
TIONER
ANHEUSER -BUSCH, INC. and INTERNATIONAL UNION OF UNITED BREW-
ERY, FLOUR, CEREAL, SOFT DRINK AND DISTILLERY WORKERS OF
AMERICA , C. I. 0., AND ITS UNION No . 187, PETITIONER
ANHEUSER -BUSCH, INC., FALSTAFF BREWERY CORPORATION , GRIESE-
DIECK BROTHERS BREWERY COMPANY , GRIESEDIECK -WESTERN BREW-
ERY COMPANY ( HYDE PARK PLANT ) and BREWERY FIREMEN, OILERS
AND MAINTENANCE MEN, LOCAL UNION No. 367, AFFILIATED WITH
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS , CHAUFFEURS, WARE-
HOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA , A. F. L., PETITIONER
ANHEUSER -BIISCH , INC. and BREWING , MALTING AND GENERAL LABOR
DEPARTMENT , LOCAL No. 6, AFFILIATED WITH INTERNATIONAL BROTH-
ERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS , CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS
OF AMERICA , A. F. L., PETITIONER
ANHEUSER-BIISCH, INC., FALSTAFF BREWING CORPORATION , GRIESE-
DIECK BROTHERS BREWERY COMPANY , GRIESEDIECK-WESTERN BREW-
ERY COMPANY ( HYDE PARK PLANT ) and BREWING , MALTING AND
GENERAL LABOR DEPARTMENTS , LOCAL UNION No. 6, AFFILIATED
WITH INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS , CHAUFFEURS,
WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA , A. F. L., PETITIONER.
Cases N08. 14RC 1952, 14-RC-1955, 14-RC-1988, 14-RC-2034,
14-RC-2035, and 14-KC-2036. March 27, 1953
Decision, Order, and Direction of Elections
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before
Harold H. Gruenberg, hearing officer . The hearing officer's rulings
made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.'
The Employers' motion for an oral argument , joined in by the other parties to this
proceeding, is denied. In our opinion the record adequately reflects the positions of the
parties and the issues herein.
103 NLRB No. 110.
257965-54-vol. 103-77
1206 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board 2 finds :
1. The Employers 3 in the above-captioned cases are engaged in
commerce within the meaning of the Act.
2. The labor organizations named herein claim to represent certain
employees of the Employers.'
3. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employers herein within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate units :
The four Employers herein operate breweries in the St. Louis,
Missouri, area, where they manufacture and distribute malt bev-
erages and in addition, in the case of Anheuser, yeast and yeast prod-
ucts. The parties agree that no question exists concerning the
representation of brewing department employees of the Employers
herein concerned. The parties further generally agree that three
separate multiemployer units of (1) bottleshop employes,5 (2) ware-
house employees, and (3) powerhouse employees constitute appro-
priate collective-bargaining units. They further agree that a sepa-
rate unit of employees at the Anheuser yeast plant is appropriate.
They disagree, however, in certain particulars, with respect to the
composition of these units. Four main issues arise from these dis-
agreements, as follows :
(a) Whether receiving, storage, and shipping employees and mis-
cellaneous employees in bottleshop areas should be included in the
multiemployer bottleshop unit or in the multiemployer warehouse
unit.
(b) Whether oilers and machinists' helpers in bottleshop areas
should be included in the multiemployer bottleshop unit or in the
multiemployer powerhouse unit.
(c) Whether operating engineers should be included in the multi-
employer powerhouse unit or whether they may constitute a separate
multiemployer craft unit apart from other powerhouse employees.
2 Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act , the Board has delegated its
powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [ Chairman Herzog and
Members Styles and Peterson].
3 The Employers herein, whose names appear in the captions , are severally referred to
as Anheuser , Falstaff, Griesedieck , and Griesedieck -Western.
4 The Petitioner in Cases Nos . 14-RC-1952 and 14-RC-1988 Is herein referred to as
Brewery Workers, CIO, and its Local 187 ; the Petitioner in Case No. 14-RC-1955 is herein
referred to as Brewery Workers, CIO, and its Local 246 ; the Petitioner in Case No. 14-
RC-2034 is herein referred to as Local 367 of the Teamsters, AFL • and the Petitioner in
Cases Nos . 14-RC-2035 and 14-RC-2036 is herein refer red to as Local 6 of the Teamsters,
AFL
6 Brewery Workers, CIO, and its Local 187 advise in their brief that they no longer seek
to include laboratory employees in the bottleshop unit concerning whose inclusion there
was an issue at the time of the hearing ; furthermore it appears that the advertising ware-
house at Anheuser , over which a further issue arose at the hearing with respect to the
inclusion of the personnel thereof in the bottleshop or the warehouse unit, is no longer
used by the Employer as such. We find it unnecessary to consider these unit placements
at this time.
ANHEUSER-BUSCH, INC. 1207
(d) Whether the unit at the Anheuser yeast plant should include all
yeast plant employees or only those engaged in cutting, wrapping,
shipping, receiving, and storage activities.
These issues will be considered below seriatim.
(a) Receiving, storage, and shipping employees and nviscellaneous
employees in bottleshop areas
1. Receiving, storage, and shipping employees
Disputed employees in these categories exist only at the Falstaff
and Anheuser breweries.
Falstaff operations: Falstaff operates two plants, known as Plants
Nos. 1 and 5, each with its own bottling department. The disputed
employees are employed solely in Plant No. 1 in temporary storage
areas described as the loading dock, the Volt building, and the two
case storage areas. These facilities, situated across the street from
the Plant No. 1 bottling department and connected therewith by a
conveyor, serve as a conduit for the removal of cases of empty bottles,
herein called empties, from dead storage in warehouses remote from
bottling department areas,6 and the transmittal thereof, by means of
the conveyor, to the bottling department to meet current bottling needs.
Filled bottles are moved from the bottling department back to these
areas for city delivery by trucks or for railroad shipment. The con-
veyor belt is controlled by pushbuttons located in the bottling depart-
ment, and there is telephonic communication between the bottling
department foreman and the employees in the Volt building for the
purpose of coordinating the flow of empties between that point and the
bottling department. Although the employees in these areas across
the street from the bottling department are under a separate foreman,
they are under the general supervision of the bottling department
superintendent.
From 1935 to the end of 1948, the employees in the temporary
storage areas across the street from the bottling department were rep-
resented by Local 187 and Local 6 herein, and during that period
there was an interchange of employees between those areas and the
bottling department. In 1948, following a jurisdictional dispute,
Local 187 conceded jurisdiction over the storage area employees to
Local 6, and the interchange of employees ceased.
Anheuaser operations: Bottling operations at Anheuser are con-
ducted in a large seven-story building with a basement, known as the
Bevo building. This building constitutes a separate division of the
There is no dispute concerning the unit placement of the employees in the dead storage
warehouse at any of the breweries. The parties agree that they properly belong in the
warehouse unit.
1208 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Anheuser operations, known as the beer-packaging and shipping divi-
sion, and is under the supervision and control of a separate manager.
Although bottling operations at the Bevo building are conducted
on a larger and more complex scale than at the breweries of the other
Employers, they appear to be basically similar, and the parties agree
that with the exception of employees in the draught-beer washing and
packaging operations, of the third floor, respectively, and the Govern-
ment tellers, on the fifth floor, none of which are in issue in this pro-
ceeding,' employees on the upper five floors properly belong in the
bottling unite They disagree, however, with respect to the employees
in the basement and on the two lower floors, whom Local 6 of the
Teamsters, AFL, would include in the warehouse unit and whom
Brewery Workers, CIO, and its Local 187 would include in the bottle-
shop unit.
The following is a brief description of the basement and lower floors
in the Bevo building. The basement is in reality a large freight yard
into which, on 13 parallel tracks, come cases of empty bottles for refill-
ing on the upper production floors and from which go shipments of
full bottles. The large majority of employees in the basement load
and unload freight cars, placing the cartons of empties on conveyor
belts parallel to the cars; these conveyor belts feed into the main con-
veyor, which in turn moves the empties to the fourth floor, where the
cases are diverted to temporary storage or are started through the
numerous production bottling operations on the upper floors a Similar
loading and unloading operations occur with respect to trucks at the
first-floor levelle The second floor is devoted to the temporary stor-
4 The areas in which these draught-beer operations occur are known , respectively, as the
racking room and the washhouse . The parties agree that the racking room , washhouse,
and Government cellars are part of the brewing department.
8 The production bottling operations at the bottling departments of all of the Employers
may be generally described as follows : Cartons of empty bottles are brought by conveyor
to inspection tables, where inspectors remove from the carton all stranger bottles and
chipped or otherwise damaged bottles. The cartons of bottles proceed by conveyor to the
soakers, where soaker feeders remove the bottles from the cartons and place them in the
pockets of the soakers through which the bottles pass to be thoroughly cleaned and steri-
lized . When the bottles leave the soakers , an employee known as a shifter checks the
bottles and removes from the conveyor any that are damaged or unclean. The bottles
then proceed by conveyor to the automatic filling machines , where they are filled and
crowned . These machines are tended by employees known as filler machine operators.
The filled bottles next travel by conveyor through the pasteurizer , and from there past an
inspector who examines the filled bottles for foreign inclusions. The bottles then travel
by conveyor through the labeling machines which apply the body and neck labels to them.
The bottles are then carried by conveyor to the packing machines where the appropriate
number of filled bottles are mechanically placed in shipping cartons. The filled cartons
proceed next on a belt conveyor through an automatic tape sealer which closes and seals
the lids of the cartons . The filled and sealed cartons then travel by conveyor either to
loading docks or storage areas.
The beer canning operations are essentially similar, save that some of the bottling opera-
tions are eliminated , due to the fact that cans are never reused.
9 Also in the basement are carton balers, for the salvage of damaged cartons, and an
electrically operated can crusher , for the disposal of worthless cans.
io Although the draught-beer operations are on this floor , they are entirely separate
from the other operations , and the parties agree that they constitute a part of the brewery
operations , not in issue in this proceeding.
ANHEUSER-BUSCH, INC. 1209
age of filled cans and bottles, and the employees on that floor are prin-
cipally engaged in piling cartons on and off conveyors and pallets and
moving the same to and from storage by means of forklift trucks.
Although the exact amount of temporary interchange of personnel
between the basement and two lower floors, on the one hand, and the
upper floors, on the other, is not clear, temporary loans of employees
appear to be at least a regular and frequent occurrence in the Bevo
building operations."
An examination of the bargaining history at the Bevo building
reveals that the representation of the employees in the basement was
based on jurisdictional awards by the then common parent Interna-
tional of Locals 187 and 6 between the years 1919 and the spring of
1952, when Local 6 disaffiliated from the Brewery Workers, CIO, and
affiliated itself with the Teamsters, AFL. This bargaining history has
given rise to jurisdictional disputes too numerous to detail here, which
disputes have been resolved by arbitrary awards of segments of dis-
puted jobs to each local 12 The results of such bargaining have satis-
fied none of the parties, who urge that this Board ignore the bargain-
ing history, where to do so would effectuate more stable bargaining
relationships at the Employers' breweries.
2. Miscellaneous employees in the bottleshop areas at Anheuser
Brewery Workers, CIO, and its Local 187 seek to include in the
bottleshop unit nonsalaried elevator operators and the reception-room
bartender and cleanup man at Anheuser. These proposed inclusions
are opposed by Local 6 of the Teamsters, AFL, and by the Employers.
The nonsalaried elevator operators operate, in the Anheuser Bevo
building, an express elevator which they load and unload with mate-
rials. The bartender and the cleanup man work on the first floor of
the Bevo building, in a reception room used to serve brewery visitors.
Conclusions: In seeking a solution of this issue, uppermost in our
minds has been the dissatisfaction expressed by all parties with the
bargaining history for employees in the bottleshop and warehouse
units at the Falstaff and Anheuser breweries and the jurisdictional
strife attendant upon it. Under these circumstances, the only proper
11 Thus, although there is a utility crew on each floor , employees are borrowed from
utility crews on any floor for bottling operations whenever the need arises.
v For example, when improperly loaded railroad cars of bottled or canned beer were
returned for unloading and reloading , both of the locals claimed jurisdiction , and to settle
the dispute, Local 6 employees were awarded the actual unloading of the cars , while Local
187 employees were given the job of piling the cartons on pallets on the dock. Again, with
respect to miscellaneous materials and supplies coming to the Bevo building on pallets,
to avoid a dispute respecting the fork truck , the use of it was awarded to the locals on a
50-50 basis , the employees of each local operating the truck for half of a shift. Similar
"divisions of labor" have resulted from disputes over cleaning operations , jamups of the
conveyor , and the carrying of luncheon beer to employees , to mention a few.
1210 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
course, in our opinion, for us to pursue is to accord little or no weight
to that portion of the bargaining history which has been based on
jurisdictional awards or agreements.
Reviewing the evidence with respect to Falstaff, it is clear to us that
the loading platform, Volt building, and case storage areas are merely
extensions of the shipping and temporary storage operations essential
to the proper functioning of the bottling department. We accord no
weight to the fact that in recent years there has been no interchange be-
tween the bottling department and the areas across the street, it being
clear that the preexisting interchange was halted as a direct result of
a jurisdictional work award. Under these circumstances, and in the
absence of evidence indicating that the employees at the loading plat-
form, the Volt building, and the case storage areas have work
interests in common with other warehouse employees, possess craft or
peculiar departmental characteristics or conform to a separate ad-
ministrative sector of the Falstaff operations, we conclude that these
employees properly belong with the Plant No. 1 and Plant No. 5
bottling department employees in the multiemployer bottleshop unit
hereinafter found appropriate.
With respect to Anheuser, the same considerations apply. The rec-
ord reveals a close community of interest between the employees on
the upper and lower floors of the Bevo building and a considerable
amount of interchange between them. This community of interest is
in our opinion far stronger than that claimed by Local 6 of the Team-
sters, AFL, to exist between the lower floor and basement employees,
on the one hand, and warehouse employees in areas remote from the
Bevo building, on the other, who have little or no demonstrable con-
tact with Bevo building employees. The basic difficulty, as we see it,
with the position of Local 6 of the Teamsters, AFL, and of the Em-
ployers is that, although they profess a desire to do away with the
arbitrary and artificial bargaining practices heretofore adhered to,
they ignore such traditional and Board-sanctioned factors as inte-
grated plant operations and the close community of work interests
between employee groups, in favor of such artificial and relatively
unimportant factors as the aforementioned past bargaining history,
the physical locale in which the employee groups work (irrespective
of basic similarities in work content), and, in the case of the Em-
ployers, the fact that at the Bevo building one supervisor is in charge
of employees engaged in production bottling operations, while another
supervisor is in charge of employees engaged in receiving, storage, and
shipping operations.13 To establish bottling and warehouse units in
accordance with such factors would in our opinion continue indefi-
Is See Anheuser-Busch, Inc., et al., 102 NLRB No. 82.
ANHEUSER-BUSCH, INC. 1211
nitely the very jurisdictional disputes the parties so earnestly seek to
avoid. We therefore conclude that, with the above-noted exception
of employees in the draught-beer washing and packaging operations,
on the first and third floors, and the Government cellars, on the fifth
floor, none of whom are herein in issue, all employees in the base-
ment and on the first and second floors should be included with the
employees on the upper floors of the Bevo building in the multiem-
ployer bottleshop unit hereinafter found appropriate.
With respect to the miscellaneous employees at the Anheuser Bevo
building, we shall, in view of their similarity of working interests with
those of the other Bevo building employees, and in further view of the
fact that no cogent reason is advanced for their exclusion, in-
clude them in the multiemployer bottleshop unit hereinafter found
appropriate.
(b) Bottleshop oilers and machinists' helpers
1. Bottleshop oilers
Brewery Workers, CIO, and its Local 187 seek to include bottleshop
oilers in its multiemployer bottleshop unit. The Employers and Local
367 of the Teamsters, AFL, contend that they should be excluded from
the bottleshop unit and included in the powerhouse unit 14
At Griesedieck, 4 to 5 oilers work exclusively in the bottling depart-
ment, where they lubricate conveyors and the bottling department
production machinery, including the soaker, filler, crowner, pasteur-
izer, labeler, and packer; they also clean the conveyors, a task which
is also performed by the production bottlers. The bottleshop oilers,
though they emanate from the office of the chief engineer, are under
the supervision of the bottleshop foreman, who directs their work and
who has the power to discharge them. Of the 20 oilers at Griesedieck-
Western, 9 are assigned to the bottleshop under circumstances similar
to those which pertain at Griesedieck.
At Falstaff are 4 bottleshop oilers at Plant No. 5 and 4 bottleshop
oilers at Plant No. 1; the latter also act as machinists' helpers. These
oilers serve under the bottleshop superintendent, whereas the main-
tenance oilers in the plants are supervised by the chief engineer.
At Anheuser are 60 oilers who are assigned to the Bevo building
and who, like the oilers at the other breweries, lubricate bottling
machinery and conveyors. The oilers in the Bevo plant are under the
ultimate supervision of the engineering department maintenance sec-
tion and are under a separate oiler foreman or lead man, in the Bevo
building.
14 The powerhouse unit will be considered later in this Decision.
1212 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The bargaining history with respect to the bottleshop oilers at the
Employers' breweries has stemmed directly from jurisdictional ar-
rangements between Locals 187 and 367. Thus, bottleshop oiling,
formerly performed by bottleshop employees under the jurisdiction
of Local 187, is currently performed by oilers under the jurisdiction of
Local 367.
2. Machinists' helpers
Brewery workers, CIO, and its Local 187 seek to include machinists'
helpers in bottleshop areas in the multiemployer bottleshop unit.
Anheuser would include the machinists' helpers at Anheuser in the
bottleshop unit, but would include those at the breweries of the other
Employers in the powerhouse unit. Local 367 of the Teamsters, AFL,
would include all machinists' helpers in the powerhouse unit.
Machinists' helpers at the Employers' plants generally assist craft
machinists 15 in the routine maintenance of bottling and canning ma-
chinery; at Griesedieck, Griesedieck-Western, and Falstaff, they are
called oilers 16 and have recently been bargained for by Local 367 of
the Teamsters, AFL, as have bottleshop and maintenance oilers; at
Anheuser, however, they have been represented by Brewery Workers,
CIO, and its Local 187.
Conelusions: Bottleshop oilers and -machinists' helpers at the Em-
ployers' breweries appear to have few, if any, group employment inter-
ests in common with powerhouse or maintenance oilers, situated in
other brewery areas. On the contrary, all the evidence points to a
close community of interest between the bottleshop oilers and the
machinists' helpers, on the one hand, and other bottling department
employees, on the other. Bottleshop oilers and machinists' helpers
are not craft employees and do not have departmental group charac-
teristics which would entitle them to separate representation. Under
these circumstances, we do not feel bound by the aforementioned
bargaining history based on jurisdictional agreements , and we shall
include the bottleshop oilers and machinists' helpers in the multiem-
ployer bottleshop unit hereinafter found appropriate.
(c) Powerhouse employees; operating engineers
Brewery Workers, CIO, and its Local 246 seek a multiemployer unit
of operating engineers at the Employers' breweries, excluding all
other powerhouse employees and supervisors as defined in the Act.
The Employers and Local 367 of the Teamsters, AFL, agree that
a more comprehensive unit of powerhouse employees is appropriate,
11 Craft machinists and their helpers spend most of their time outside the machine shops
in the bottleshop areas Craft machinists , not in issue in this proceeding , are currently
represented by Local 9 of International Association of Machinists.
26 Machinists ' helpers do no oiling except in emergencies.
ANHEUSER-BUSCH, INC. 1213
including operating engineers knd other powerhouse classifications of
employees. They would exclude craft groups of maintenance em-
ployees, currently represented by other labor organizations ; clerical
employees; professional employees; guards; and supervisors as defined
in the Act.
At Griesedieck, Griesedieck-Western, and Falstaff , powerhouse op-
erations are of the conventional sort, similar to those which pertain
to cases involving other breweries wherein the Board has awarded
self-determination elections to powerhouse personnel. Although the
powerhouse operations at Anheuser, which include a steam plant, a
refrigeration plant, and a waterworks, are on a larger and more com-
plex scale , and lower echelons of powerhouse employees sometimes
perform functions reserved to operating engineers at breweries of the
other Employers, powerhouse operations do not appear to differ
basically 17
Operating engineers at all of the Employers' breweries are highly
skilled craft employees, and the only employees in the powerhouse
classifications who are required to hold State licenses in order to per-
form the work of their calling. They are, with few exceptions, hired
from outside sources. The Employers have no apprentice training
program to enable other powerhouse personnel to become operating
engineers, and they do not expect to be, and rarely are, elevated to
positions as operating engineers."'
For at least 45 years, Local 246 has separately represented a craft
unit of operating engineers at the Employers' breweries. Local 367
has in the past represented employees in other powerhouse classifica-
tions at these breweries. It does not appear that any discord has
resulted from this division.
Conclusions: Under these circumstances, including the long bar-
gaining history for the operating engineers in a separate unit and the
fact that there is no regular line of succession from other powerhouse
classifications to that of operating engineer, we find that the operat-
ing engineers at the Employers' breweries may constitute a separate
appropriate multiemployer craft unit or be included in the larger
multiemployer powerhouse unit, and we shall direct separate elections
among these two voting groupsl9
17 Blatz Brewing Company, 94 NLRB 1277.
is Of the 103 powerhouse employees at Anheuser , only 1 is studying to become an operat-
ing engineer . In the past 25 years only 4 have applied for licenses ; of these, 1 currently
works at Anheuser as an operating engineer ; 1, who received nearly all of his training
elsewhere , obtained a license during his 8 -months' employ at Anheuser and then moved
on to Falstaff ; and the other 2 left Anheuser a few months after receiving their licenses.
At Griesedleck, in a period of 6 years , only 1 powerhouse employee in a group of 16
became an operating engineer. At Griesedleck-Western and Falstaff , all current operating
engineers were hired from outside sources , and the powerhouse personnel do not appear
to be seeking licenses or to anticipate promotions to positions as licensed operating
engineers.
19 The Wooster Rubber Company , 77 NLRB 1044.
1214 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
(d) The Anheuser yeast-plant employees
Brewery Workers , CIO, and its Local 187 seeks a unit at Anheuser
of all employees engaged in the cutting , wrapping , shipping, receiving,
and storage of yeast at the Anheuser yeast plant , excluding all other
employees and supervisors as defined in the Act.
The Employer and Local 6 of the Teamsters , AFL, seek a unit at
the Anheuser yeast plant which includes all employees except craft
maintenance employees ( presently otherwise represented ), truck-
drivers , clerical and professional employees, guards , and supervisors
as defined in the Act.
The yeast plant is a single building with six floors and a basement.
Operations at this building include the manufacture of pharmaceuti-
cal and bakers ' yeast, both of them highly integrated operations which
are, to a large extent, conducted on a 24 -hour-a-day basis.
The production of bakers ' yeast at the yeast plant is briefly as fol-
lows : Raw materials in powder and liquid form arrive at the yeast
plant in tank cars and by motor truck, are unloaded at the first-floor
level, and are moved up to the top floor where they are mixed into a
mash. The mash is then carried to the third and fourth floors, where
it is fermented , innoculated with yeast, and divided as the culture
grows . When ready to harvest , the product is dropped to the second
floor and stored in refrigerated tanks. These operations are per-
formed on a round-the -clock basis. The yeast is then pressed and
deposited in hand trucks and taken to mixers on the second floor for
mixing with plasticizers and crushed ice. The yeast then falls to
the first floor from the mixers into the extrusion machine , where it is
extruded and cut into blocks , wrapped , packed, and placed in cold
storage.
Pharmaceutical yeast generally goes through the same processes
as the bakers' yeast , except that , following the fermentation and sepa-
ration processes , it is run over large drum dryers which evaporate the
liquid, leaving the yeast . These dryers are located on the fourth floor.
The yeast then goes through a dumping chute to the first and second
floors, where it is blended, sifted , and packed into drums . The drums
are ordinarily stored in the basement or in public warehouses prior to
shipment.-
The yeast plant is under the overall management of a superintendent
and an assistant superintendent , under whom are 3 production super-
visors and 5 yeast plant foremen.
For many years Local 6 has represented all employees working
above the second floor , including all production employees and em-
2° A small amount of pharmaceutical yeast is prepared in the Bevo building, where there
are suitable dryers therefor. All yeast, however, is prepared by employees attached to the
yeast plant.
ANHEUSER-BUSCH, INC. 1215
ployees who operate hand trucks to move yeast from the presses to
the mixers and mixer employees. On the other hand, the employees
who handle the bakers' yeast after it comes from the extrusion machine
on the first floor have all been represented by Local 187. With respect
to pharmaceutical yeast, the packing and storage has heretofore been
performed by employees represented by Local 6; with respect to ship-
ments, a jurisdictional agreement between the 2 labor organizations
provides that if an order calls for 19 packages or less, it is to be
transported to the truckloading dock by employees represented by
Local 187; otherwise, it is to be transported by employees represented
by Local 6.
Brewery Workers, CIO, and its Local 187 admit the appropriateness
of the more comprehensive yeast-plant unit sought by Local 6 of the
Teamsters, AFL. They urge, however, in support of their position,
that if this Board finds appropriate a multiemployer bottleshop unit,
rather than an equally appropriate, but more comprehensive, multi-
employer production and maintenance unit, then by the same token the
Board can establish the smaller unit at the yeast plant, where to do so
would promote the bargaining interests of the employees. We find
the contention without merit. A comprehensive multiemployer unit,
presumably appropriate, was never in issue in this proceeding; more
important is the fact that the bottleshop unit is found appropriate
in this Decision on the basis of well-established Board principles.
With respect to the proposed smaller yeast-plant unit, however, there
is no evidence to support its appropriateness on a craft, departmental,
or other traditional basis. Indeed, the only justification for such a
unit would be the bargaining history, to which, however, we accord
little or no weight, in view of its jurisdictional origin.
Conclusions: In view of the highly integrated nature of the opera-
tions at the Anheuser yeast plant and the close community of interests
of the employees therein, we conclude, notwithstanding the contrary
bargaining history, that a unit which includes within its scope pro-
duction and maintenance employees in the entire yeast plant is the
only appropriate unit. We shall, therefore, dismiss the petition of
Brewery Workers, CIO, and its Local 187 for the smaller yeast plant
unit.
Unit Findings
In accordance with the foregoing, we find the following multi-
employer units at the breweries of Anheuser-Busch, Inc., Griesedieck
Brothers Brewery Company, Griesedieck-Western Brewery Company
(Hyde Park Plant), and Falstaff Brewing Corporation in and around
St. Louis, Missouri, appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
1216 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
A. All hourly rated production and maintenance employees en-
gaged in production, shipping, storage, receiving, and noncraft main-
tenance operations in bottling departments and bottling department
areas, including employees employed at the loading platform, Volt
building, and storage areas across the street from the Plant No. 1
bottling department of Falstaff Brewing Corporation; and employees
in the basement and on the first and second floors of, and nonsalaried
elevator operators, the reception-room bartender and cleanup man in
the Bevo building at Anheuser-Busch, Inc.; but excluding laboratory
testers and technicans; employees in the draught-beer washing and
packaging operations in the Bevo building at Anheuser-Busch, Inc.,
and in Government cellers; brewing department employees; craft
maintenance employees; employees in areas other than bottling de-
partment areas; clerical and professional employees; watchmen;
guards; and supervisors as defined in the Act.
B. All employees engaged in receiving, shipping, and storing raw
materials, production supplies, advertising matter, and finished prod-
ucts outside of bottling departments and bottling department areas,
including employees engaged in noncraft maintenance work and yard
labor and refrigeration and waterworks laborers, but excluding jour-
neymen brewers, utility brewers, apprentice brewers, other brewery
department employees, clerical and professional employees, and super-
visors as defined in the Act.
We further find the following single-employer unit at the brewery
of Anheuser-Busch, Inc., in St. Louis, Missouri, appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the Act :
C. All production and maintenance employees in the yeast plant,
including employees engaged in cutting, wrapping, shipping, receiv-
ing, and storing yeast, but excluding craft maintenance employees
otherwise represented, truckdrivers, clerical and professional em-
ployees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
We further find that the following employee groups at the breweries
of Anheuser-Busch, Inc., Griesedieck Brothers Brewery Company,
Griesedieck-Western Brewery Company, and Falstaff Brewing Cor-
poration in and around St. Louis, Missouri, may constitute separate
multiemployer units appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
D. All operating engineers, excluding all other employees and
supervisors as defined in the Act.
E. All powerhouse, refrigeration, and waterworks employees, in-
cluding coal unloaders, pulverized coal operators, firemen, boiler
washers, water tenders, maintenance oilers, powerhouse utility men,
operators, auxiliary operators, turbine operators, pump operators,
LOCAL 1664, ( DOCK DIVISION ) '1217
temperature control men, and gluten feed and grain dryers,' but
excluding operating engineers, bottleshop oilers , machinists' helpers,
and supervisors as defined in the Act.
However, we shall make no final unit determinations respecting
these employees at this time, but shall establish them in separate voting
groups to determine their desires in the elections hereinafter directed.
If a majority of the employees in voting groups D and E vote for
Brewery Workers, CIO, and its Local 246 and for Local 367 of the
Teamsters, AFL, respectively, they will be taken to have indicated
their desires to be represented in separate bargaining units which the
Board, under such circumstances, finds appropriate. If, on the other
hand, a majority of the employees in voting group D votes for Local
367 of the Teamsters, AFL, they will be taken to have indicated their
desire to be included in a single bargaining unit with the employees
in voting group E, and, in the further event that a majority of the
employees in voting group E vote for Local 367 of the Teamsters, AFL,
the Board, under such circumstances, finds appropriate a single unit
which includes the employees in voting groups D and E.
Order
IT Is HEREBY ORDERED that the petition in Case No. 14-RC-1988 be,
and the same hereby is, dismissed.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
u We include in the unit the grain and gluten feed dryers, classified as oilers, who
operate grain dryers in powerhouse areas at Anheuser . No other labor organization seeks
to represent them.
LOCAL 1664, (DOCK DIvIsIoN) I. L. A . DISTRICT COUNCIL No. 1 AND
LOCAL 1664 (GENERAL LONGSHOREMEN DIVISION), I . L. A. DISTRICT
COUNCIL No. 1 and ANTONIO ANGLERO ALERS
LOCAL 1762 AFFILIATED WITH ILA DISTRICT COUNCIL OF P. R. (ILA-
AFL) AND ILA DISTRICT COUNCIL of P. R. (ILA-AFL) and FER-
MIN GARCIA
LOCAL 1664 (I. L. A.) AND LOCAL 1742 (I. L. A.) NOW ]KNOWN AS
LOCAL 1782 (I. L. A.) AND INTERNATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN 'S Asso-
CIATION DISTRICT COUNCIL OF PORTS OF PUERTO Rico and ALEJANDRO
QUIRINDONGO RODRIQUEZ
ILA LOCAL 1584 (G. GONZALEZ PENA, PRESIDENT ), AND ILA DIsnixc'r
CoUNCIL OF P. R. (ILA-AFL and DIONISIO SANTANA DIAZ
103 NLRB No. 112.