Bowman Dairy Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 9, 1959

123 N.L.R.B. 707 (N.L.R.B. 1959)

BOWMAN DAIRY COMPANY 707
Bowman Dairy Company, Petitioner and Dairy, Bakery and
Food Workers Local 379, Retail , Wholesale and Department
Store Union , AFL-CIO and Truck Drivers Union Local 413
affiliated with International Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauf-
feurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America .' Case No.
9-RM-194. April 9, 1959
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Harold V. Williams, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Members Rodgers, Bean, and
Fanning].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9(c) (1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act, for the following
reasons:
Dairy Workers Local 379 asserts that its current collective-bargain-
ing agreement is a bar to this proceeding. Teamsters Local 413 agrees
with the Employer-Petitioner that the conflicting representation
claims of the Unions should be resolved by an election.
In May 1955, the Bowman Dairy Company, of Illinois, acquired all
the stock of the Richer Dairy Company in Columbus, Ohio. It con-
tinued to operate the Richer Dairy under that name until late in
August 1958, when the corporate name of the subsidiary, the Em-
ployer-Petitioner herein, was changed to Bowman Dairy Company
(of Ohio). Since the purchase, Richer Dairy has maintained collec-
tive-bargaining agreements with the Dairy Workers. The current
contract, which is to expire on February 1, 1960, was entered into
February 1, 1958.
On August 23, 1958, Bowman of Illinois acquired Fairmont Foods
Company, a wholesale dairy in Columbus, whose employees were
represented by the Teamsters under a contract that was not assumed
by Bowman. In October 1958 the operations and the personnel of
Fairmont Dairy were transferred to the Employer's plant in Colum-
1 The names of the parties appear as corrected at the hearing.
123 NLRB No. 89.
708 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
bus, Ohio. At the time of this consolidation, the Employer had 26
employees, Fairmont had 31 employees. The expanded operations of
the Employer remained substantially the same in character, except
that it acquired a cottage cheese operation from Fairmont, employing
two or three employees. The Employer also uses two or three of the
former Fairmont employees to do maintenance work which was for-
merly subcontracted. The employee classifications at the Bowman
plant remained substantially unchanged.
At least 30 percent of the Employer's enlarged complement had been
employed at the time the 1958 contract with the Dairy Workers was
executed, and at least 50 percent of the plant job classifications were
also in existence at that time. The merger and consolidation of the
operations of Bowman of Ohio and Fairmont did not result in the
creation of an entirely new operation with major personnel changes.2:
The employees transferred from Fairmont to Bowman have no par-
ticular skills and no special interests not possessed by the original
employee complement of the Employer with whom they are now com-
mingled 3 Accordingly, pursuant to the rules established by the Board
in the General Extrusion case,' we find that the Dairy Workers' con-
tract of February 1, 1958, covers the employees of both the former
Richer Dairy and the Fairmont Foods plant, and is a bar to the.
proceeding. We shall, therefore, dismiss the petition.
[The Board dismissed the petition.]
2 See New Jersey Natural Gas Company, 101 NLRB 251, 252, where the Board found'
the merger of two gas utility systems which resulted in a fivefold expansion of the--
Employer ' s original operation, as comparable to an entirely new operation.
3 Builders Emporium, 97 NLRB 1113, 1115.
d General Extrusion Company, Inc., at al., 121 NLRB 1165.
Whittaker Controls Division of Telecomputing Corporation
(Lynwood Plant ) and International Union , United Automobile,,
Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America,.
UAW-AFL--CIO
Whittaker Controls Division of Telecomputing Corporation,.
(Hollywood Plant) and International Union , United Auto-
mobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of
America, UAW-AFL-CIO. Cases Nos. 21-RC-5344 and f21-RC--
5494. April 10, 1959
DECISION, ORDER, AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
On December 19, 1958, the Board issued a Decision and Direction
of Election in Case No. 21-RC-5344,' finding therein that a unite
1 Whittaker Controls Division of Teleconvputing Corporation , 122 NLRB 624 , herein
called the Lynwood case.
123 NLRB No. 90.