Carl Buddig & Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 15, 1999

328 N.L.R.B. 929 (N.L.R.B. 1999)

CARL BUDDIG & CO. 929
Carl Buddig and Company and Highway Drivers,
Dockmen, Spotters, Rampmen, Meat, Packing
House and Allied Products, Drivers and Help-
ers, Office Workers and Miscellaneous Employ-
ees, Local Union No. 710, affiliated with Interna-
tional Brotherhood of Teamsters, AFL–CIO, Pe-
titioner. Case 13–RC–19660
July 15, 1999
DECISION ON REVIEW, ORDER, AND DIRECTION
OF ELECTION
BY CHAIRMAN TRUESDALE AND MEMBERS FOX
AND LIEBMAN
On July 25, 1997, the Regional Director for Region 13
issued a Decision and Direction of Election finding ap-
propriate the petitioned-for residual unit of maintenance
employees and linemen, excluding sanitation and ship-
ping department employees. Thereafter, in accordance
with Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations, the Employer filed a
timely request for review of the Regional Director’s De-
cision. In its request for review, the Employer asserts
that the Regional Director erred in finding that the ship-
ping and sanitation department employees could consti-
tute appropriate units separate from the maintenance em-
ployees/linemen unit, and argues that the smallest appro-
priate unit should include all of the unrepresented em-
ployees. The Petitioner filed a timely opposition to the
request for review. By Order dated August 19, 1997, the
Board granted the Employer’s request for review.
The National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
The Board has considered the entire record in this
case, including the Petitioner’s brief on review, and con-
cludes, contrary to the Regional Director, that the Em-
ployer’s shipping department employees should be in-
cluded in the residual unit. The Board affirms the Re-
gional Director with regard to the exclusion of the sanita-
tion employees.
A. The Employer’s Operations
The Employer produces sliced, vacuum-packaged
meats sold at retail grocery chains. The Employer’s op-
erations include production facilities in South Holland
and Chicago, Illinois. Local 546, United Food and
Commercial Workers Union has represented the ap-
proximately 350 production employees for the past 40
years. In addition to the employees represented by Local
546, the Employer employs 95 other employees, includ-
ing 50 linemen, 20 shipping employees, 20 sanitation,
and 5 maintenance employees.1
The Employer’s operations are highly integrated, with
one segment of production leading directly into the next.
Because the Employer does not maintain a large inven-
tory, the product is processed, packaged, and shipped
within a very short period of time. As a result, the Em-
ployer’s operations rely heavily upon each of its compo-
nents’ (processing, packaging, and shipping) smooth
functioning.2 Production employees at the Chicago facil-
ity perform the initial processing of beef, ham, and poul-
try products, including defatting, desinewing, deboning,
and grinding. The product is then trucked to the South
Holland facility for further processing and packaging. At
South Holland, production workers cook, smoke, and
chill the product. The product is then sent to the packag-
ing area where production workers slice and package the
product. Linemen in the packaging area maintain the
packaging machines run by the production employees
and place the boxed product in the coolers. From there,
shipping employees process customer orders and transfer
the product from the coolers to the trucks for shipping.

1 The shipping department also employs a number of temporary em-
ployees, whom neither party sought to include in the unit.
B. Linemen and Maintenance Employees
The linemen spend 85–95 percent of their time on the
production floor monitoring and maintaining the packag-
ing machines. Linemen prepare the machines, load film,3
enter the code dates, and make minor mechanical ad-
justments to the packaging machines. In replacing or
replenishing film rolls, which occurs five to six times per
day, linemen follow the work order sheet composed by
Shipping Supervisor Gaylord Meyers or his assistant.
Meyers or his assistant takes the customer orders, sets the
shipping schedule, and fills out the work order sheets that
he posts on a bulletin board located between the machine
and maintenance shops. Once the product is packaged,
two linemen move it into the adjacent coolers using pal-
let loaders. Linemen or shipping employees occasionally
move the packaged product directly from the packaging
area onto the trucks.
Linemen work on the first and second shifts, and are
supervised by the Packaging Supervisors Wally Jukovich
and Walter Mazur. They are salaried and receive be-
tween $7.75 and $16.43 per hour. The Employer does
not seek any particular skill as a prerequisite to hiring
linemen, and their training is limited to approximately 1
week’s on-the-job training by a senior employee.
Maintenance employees work during the first and sec-
ond shifts primarily in the processing department with
two maintenance employees assigned to service and re-
pair the packaging equipment. Maintenance employees
also service the forklifts and loaders in the shipping de-
2 For example, the Employer’s president and plant manager, William
Buddig, testified that if linemen were not performing their jobs, the
product would not get packaged and the processing department would
not be able to move the product out of its section, essentially rendering
it unable to function.
3 “Film” is plastic product packaging for the Employer’s product. It
comes in large rolls that the machines then fill, date, cut to size, and
seal.
328 NLRB No. 139
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 930
partment. Their salaries range from $9.50 to $19.52 per
hour and they are supervised by Ted Wojas.
C. Shipping Employees
Shipping employees move the packaged product from
the coolers to the docks, using pallet movers and fork-
lifts. Two shipping employees are assigned the task of
supplying the film to the packaging area, which requires
them to come onto the packaging room floor several
times a day. Shipping employees may on occasion re-
trieve product from the production department. They
work on the first and second shifts, and are supervised by
Gaylord Meyers, shipping supervisor. They have their
own locker room, receive the same benefits as other un-
represented employees, and are paid between $8 to
$18.58 per hour.
D. Sanitation Employees
Sanitation employees work only on the night shift,
starting work either at 9 or 11:30 p.m., after the produc-
tion employees have left the area, and ending at 6 a.m,
before the linemen, maintenance, production, or shipping
employees arrive. Sanitation employees are not permit-
ted into the production area until all of the other employ-
ees have left. Their primary duties include cleaning and
sanitizing the packaging lines and packaging room using
high pressure hot water hoses, and performing janitorial
duties such as cleaning the lunchrooms, hallways, locker
rooms, restrooms, and floors, and emptying trash cans.
They are supervised by Joe Kacprzak.4 Sanitation em-
ployees’ wages range from $8 to $12.23 per hour.
E. Analysis
Where a portion of a workforce is already represented,
the Board evaluates petitions to represent remaining em-
ployees first to determine whether the petitioned-for em-
ployees share a separate and distinct community of inter-
est apart from the represented unit employees. If the
community of interest of the petitioned-for employees is
not separate and distinct such that they could not consti-
tute an appropriate separate unit, the Board then deter-
mines whether they constitute an appropriate residual
unit. A residual unit is appropriate if it includes “all un-
represented employees of the type covered by the peti-
tion.” Fleming Foods, 313 NLRB 948, 949 (1994). See
also American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corp., 114
NLRB 1151, 1154–1155 (1955).
In the instant case, we agree with the Regional Direc-
tor that the petitioned-for linemen and maintenance unit
is a residual unit because the employees share a close
community of interest with the production employees
4 The Petitioner contends that Kacprzak also supervises packaging
employees. Although the Employer’s organizational chart indicates
that Kacprzak is part of the packaging department, there is no evidence
or indication that he supervises any other employees. We note that
sanitation employees are the only employees on duty during the night
shift.
represented by Local 546 and do not constitute an appro-
priate unit separate from the production employees. The
linemen work side-by-side with the production employ-
ees, monitor the packaging machines run by the produc-
tion employees, supply film, and take the packaged
product from the machines. Similarly, maintenance em-
ployees have a high degree of contact with production
employees and linemen and maintain the machines used
by the production employees.
Contrary to the Regional Director, however, we find
that the linemen and maintenance employees are not the
only unrepresented employees of the type covered by the
petition and that the appropriate residual unit must also
include the shipping employees. The shipping supervi-
sor, Meyers, sets the packaging and shipping schedules
followed by the linemen and shipping employees. The
linemen and shipping employees work in tandem to
package, box, and ship the customer orders as quickly as
possible. Shipping employees come in contact with
linemen when stocking film in the packaging room;
likewise, linemen come in contact with shipping employ-
ees when moving the product from the packaging room
to the coolers. Shipping employees may also have con-
tact with maintenance employees, who service and repair
their loaders. Shipping employees and linemen work
shifts similar to those of production and packaging em-
ployees, are paid comparable wages, and operate loaders
and power lifters on a daily basis.5
We agree with the Regional Director that sanitation
employees are a sufficiently distinct and homogenous
group that could, if sought, constitute a separate appro-
priate unit. Therefore, they need not be placed in the
residual unit. In contrast to the shipping employees,
sanitation employees rarely come into contact with pro-
duction employees, linemen, or maintenance employees.
Sanitation employees perform distinct duties, using dif-
ferent skills from those of all other employees. Sanita-
tion employees also work different hours, earn lower
wages, and are separately supervised. They do not oper-
ate or maintain the production equipment and are the
only employees operating sanitation equipment, such as
high pressure hoses or performing janitorial duties.
In sum, we find that a residual unit composed solely of
maintenance employees and linemen is too narrow and
must also include the shipping employees to be appropri-
ate. Fleming Foods, 313 NLRB at 950. Accordingly,
and inasmuch as the Petitioner expressed a willingness to
proceed to an election in any unit found appropriate, we
shall amend the voting unit designated by the Regional
Director to consist of the following employees:6
5 See, e.g., Texas Color Printers, Inc., 210 NLRB 30 (1974).
6 Because the inclusion of the shipping employees changes the com-
position of the unit specifically sought, the Petitioner may have an
inadequate showing of interest. In these circumstances, we direct the
Petitioner to submit to the Regional Director within 30 days of this
CARL BUDDIG & CO. 931

All full-time and regular part-time linemen, shipping,
and maintenance employees employed by the Em-
ployer at its facility currently located at 50 W. Taft,
South Holland, Illinois, and 16615 S. Vincennes Ave-
nue, South Holland; but excluding all other employees,

Decision any additional showing of interest that may be required to
support its petition.
including production and sanitation employees, office
clericals, guards and supervisors as defined in the Act.
ORDER
The Regional Director’s Decision is affirmed in part
and reversed in part, and his Direction of Election is va-
cated.
[Direction of Election omitted from publication.]