California Spray-Chemical Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 10, 1950

91 N.L.R.B. 897 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of CALIFORNIA SPRAY-CHEMICAL CORPORATION, EMPLOYER
and CHAUFFEURS , TEAMSTERS & HELPERS, LOCAL No. 150, INTERNA-
TIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS , CHAUFFEURS , WAREHOUSEMEN
& HELPERS OF' AMERICA , AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 20-RC-1060.-Decided October 10, 1950
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Harry Bamford, 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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A 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.
4. The Petitioner seeks to represent production and maintenance
employees at the Employer's mill and warehouse at Sacramento, Cali-
fornia. The Employer contends that these employees are seasonal
and casual workers and have not sufficient interest in employment at
the plant to justify their establishment as a bargaining unit.
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture, distribution, and sale
of agricultural insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides at various
plants in the United States. The Sacramento, California, operation,
which is the only plant concerned in this proceeding occupies a single
building, of which the front part is used as an office, and the rear and
major portion is used for a dust mill and warehouse. Although the
office is open throughout the year, the mill and warehouse is open only
during the spring-to-fall agri cultural season, the exact dates depend-
ing upon weather conditions each year. Workers at the plant are all
unskilled laborers who,work during the open season in the mill and
warehouse, interchangeably. The Employer began operations at this
location in June 1949. One employee who worked during tl ie -1949
season worked also during the 1950 season, and two of the three work-
91 NLRB No. 126. 897
898 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS- BOARD
ers on the payroll at the time of the hearing worked at the plant over
a 3-month period during the current season. The seasonal nature of
their employment does not deprive these employees of their right to
the processes of collective bargaining.' We find that such employees
engaged in production and maintenance work at the plant during the
Employer's open season constitute an integral part of the Employer's
labor forces and may form a unit appropriate for collective bargaining
purposes.
The parties agree that the head utility man, the only year-round
worker in the mill and warehouse, who hires and discharges workers
as they, may be needed during the active season, is a supervisor within
the meaning of the Act, and should be excluded as such from the
appropriate unit. The Employer urges that any other year-round
worker who may later be added to its labor force at the mill and ware-
house should be specifically excluded from any unit herein found
appropriate, alleging that a year-round worker necessarily has em-
ployment interests essentially different from those of part-time work-
ers. The Petitioner contends that so long as part-time and year-round
employees are engaged in the same work, they belong in the same
unit. We agree with the Petitioner.'
We find that production and maintenance employees at the Employ-
er's mill and warehouse at Sacramento, California, excluding, office
clerical employees, the head utility man, and other supervisors, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
5. The parties agree that an election should be held among the
workers at the plant only at a period of substantially full employment';
that, if an election cannot be held during the current season, the elec-
tion should be held during the 1951 season, but not before a month and
a half after substantially full employment has been reached at the
plant; and that only those employees who have worked 15 days in the
30-day period preceding the issuance of the notice of election should
be deemed eligible to vote.
The period of full employment is from May through August. It
appears that an election cannot be held at a period of full employment
during the current season. The Regional Director is therefore in-
structed to conduct the election during the 1951 season in accordance
with the agreement of the parties.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication .in this
volume.]
1 California Spray-Chemical Corp„ 86 NLRB 453; Wm. P. McDonald Corp., 83 NLRB
427; Cain Canning Company, 81 NLRB 213.
2 California Spray-Chemical Corp., supra.