Central Juncos

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 14, 1957

119 N.L.R.B. 493 (N.L.R.B. 1957)

CENTRAL JUNCOS 493
There remains for consideration the unit placement of six utility
employees who perform the usual janitorial duties in the section or
department to which they are assigned. Two are in the machine shop
and two in the vehicle fabrication and service department. In addi-
tion to their regular, duties, the utility men in the fabrication depart-
ment run errands and occasionally drive the pickup truck. The
remaining two utility men are under the supervision of the secretary-
treasurer responsible for maintenance; they keep the lawns mowed
and watered, and each morning wheel coffee around to all employees.
We find that all the utility men belong in the production and main-
tenance unit.
' We find that the following employees of the Employer at its plant
at Fort Worth, Texas, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the
Act :
All production and maintenance employees, including all employees
in the materials department, plant clericals, and utility men, but
excluding the inspectors, experimental machinist, experimental elec-
trician, office clerical employees, professional and technical employees,
guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
Eastern Sugar Associates (a Trust) d/b/a Central Juncos and
Asociacion de Empleados Semanales de la Central Juncos
de Juncos, Puerto Rico, Petitioner. Case No. fd4--RC-1001.
November 14, 1957
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 George A. Yager, 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 Rodgers, Bean, and Jenkins].
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 em-
ployees of the Employer.'
1 The Employer would not stipulate that the Petitioner is a labor organization. Be-
cause the Petitioner exists for the purpose of bargaining collectively on behalf of its
members with employers concerning hours , wages , and other conditions of employment,
119 NLRB No. 57.
494 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 Employer owns and operates several sugarcane plantations
and four sugar mills located in Puerto Rico. At its sugar mills it
processes into raw sugar and molasses sugarcane from its own planta-
tions and from those of independent farmers. In connection with its
sugar mills, the Employer also operates about 30 miles of railroad for
transporting sugarcane from the plantations to the mills. Railroad
employees, under the railroad and maintenance superintendent, com-
prise one department at the Central Juncos mill., and the factory pro-
duction and maintenance employees make up the other department.
Only the Central Juncos mill is herein involved.
The Petitioner seeks to represent all salaried railroad and produc-
tion and maintenance employees excluded from the existing unit of
hourly paid employees at the Central Juncos mill represented by
Union Industrial de Trabaj adores de la Central Juncos, the Intervenor
herein? The Employer contends that they are supervisory or confi-
dential personnel and were excluded as such from the production and
maintenance unit represented by the Intervenor. As the employees
sought by the Petitioner comprise the only unrepresented railroad
and production and maintenance employees at Central Juncos, and
in view of our finding below that none of them are confidential em-
ployees or supervisors, we find that they constitute an appropriate
residual unit .3
The parties are in agreement with respect to unit placement except
as to the following categories.
The five cane weighers weigh sugarcane delivered by truck and
train and prepare records and reports. They routinely direct the
laborers or winch operators with respect to moving vehicles onto the
scales. Although they can make recommendations affecting the status
of employees, such recommendations are subject to an independent
-investigation. In these circumstances, we find that the cane weighers
are not supervisors but are employees and we accordingly include
them in the unit.
we find that it is a labor organization. Wyinan, Cordon Co., Ingalls Shepard Division, 117
NLRB 75. As it was not in compliance with the filing requirements of the Act, Union
Industrial de Trabajadores de la Central Juncos, the Intervenor , was permitted to inter-
vene only to protect its contractual interest. Member Jenkins agrees with permitting the
intervention since he has been administratively advised that the noncompliance of the
Intervenor is a matter of happenstance and inadvertence and not the consequence of de-
liberate policy. The action taken in this case is not, therefore , inconsistent with the
position taken in his dissent in West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company, 11.8 NLRB 1595.
2 The Intervenor was certified under the name "Union Independiente de Trabajadores
Industrials de Juncos, Inc." for all production and maintenance employees including rail-
road and maintenance-of-way employees pursuant to a consent election in Case No, 24-
RC-138.
3 The Carborundum Compa ny, 115 NLRB 216 ; The Yale and Towne Manufacturing Coan-
pany, 112 NLRB 1268, 1269-70; Sealtest, Ohio Divi-lion. of the National Dairy Products
Corporation, 117 NLRB 1628.
CENTRAL JUNCOS 495
The traffic clerk was excluded from the existing unit on the grounds
he is confidential. He is secretary to the railroad and maintenance
superintendent, who, the record shows, attends union negotiations but
does not dictate his comments regarding such negotiations to the traffic
clerk. The superintendent handles grievances that are "local con-
troversies of little importance." The traffic clerk prepares claims re-
ports based only on number of hours worked. In these circumstances,
we find that the traffic clerk does not act in a confidential capacity to
a person who formulates, determines, and effectuates management
policies in the field of labor rela°tions.' Accordingly, we include him
in the unit.
The chief of the powerplant or chief electrician is in charge of the
operation of the powerplant and of the installation and maintenance
of motors and powerlin.es. He is the immediate supervisor of the
electricians and their helpers, to whom he assigns work and gives
instructions. He has effectively recommended the hiring of two
electricians.
The mayordomo timekeeper acts as assistant to the chief mayor-
domo, an agreed supervisor who has authority to transfer and lay off
personnel. He regularly substitutes 1 day a week for the chief mayor-
domo. The timekeeper keeps lists of employees, assigns employees
to various types of work, and secures replacements.
The assistant engineer, directly responsible to the chief engineer,
is in charge of the operation of plant machinery and of all. personnel
engaged in maintaining and repairing such machinery. He super-
vises 25 to 150 mechanics and operators per shift, depending on the
season, and spends 95 percent of his time in supervision. He assigns
work to the employees and recommends their hiring to the chief
mayordomo.
The chief of the sugar warehouse is responsible for the proper
functioning of the two warehouses and is in charge of work performed
there, including the storing of sugar and the dispatching of molasses.
In this connection, he directs the work of a driver, a sugar weigher,
and a laborer and "tells them the better way to do their work." Al-
though he works on only 1 shift, he leaves instructions for the em-
ployees on the other 2 shifts, and the next day "supervises" to see that
such instructions have been carried out.
The chief of materials and supply warehouse and clerks is in
charge of and is custodian of the supply warehouse of the mill and in
this connection has 3 to 5 employees, including the weekly paid ware-
house clerk, under his direction during the grinding season.5 He
assigns work to and checks the work of the warehouse clerk. He
4 The B. F. Goodrich Company, 115 NLRB 722.
5 The parties stipulated that the warehouse clerk , the only salaried employee, was not a
supervisor and that he be included in the unit.
496 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
effectively recommended the transfer of one employee and may ef-
fectively recommend the assignment of employees. He hires clerical
personnel and has the authority to grant time off.
The chief of railroad maintenance and repair is in charge of main-
tenance and repair of railroad tracks and way. He has under his
supervision several crews of about seven employees each, to whom he
assigns work. His recommendations concerning discharges and dis-
cipline of personnel are followed.
The train dispatchers in the railroad department are in charge of
train traffic. They receive cane delivery quotas for pickup, make the
necessary distribution of railroad carts, and assign routes and see
that they are followed. Each train dispatcher has a crew of 12 men
to whom he gives orders and instructions and assigns work. He also
makes effective recommendations for discharge.
The telephone system supervisor is in charge of the operation and.
maintenance of the Employer's telephone system which services its
mills and plantations. Normally he has one linesman under his di-
rection to whom he assigns work and gives instructions and whom
he reprimands for faulty job performance. During a period of
approximately a month each year, the telephone system supervisor
directs 10 men in replacing wooden poles with concrete poles. He
can effectively recommend hiring during an emergency.
In view of the above facts and upon the record as a whole, because
the above-described individuals either responsibly direct or make
effective recommendations affecting the status of employees under
their supervision, we find that they are supervisors and exclude them
from the unit.
The analysts perform laboratory analysis under the supervision
of the laboratory head. Their work consists of chemical analysis of
sugarcane juices, sugar, bagasse, molasses, syrup, and filter cake. They
are required to be specialized workers or graduate or licensed chemists.
Although none of the analysts has a chemistry degree, all have "vast
experience." In these circumstances, we find that the analysts are
technical employees 6 and because the parties disagree as to their unit
placement, we shall not include them in the unit.'
We find that the following employees constitute a unit appropriate
for purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the Act: All cane weighers, the traffic clerk (secretary to the
railroad and maintenance superintendent), and the weekly paid ware-
house clerk employed by the Employer at its Central Juncos sugar.
6 United States Gypsum Company, 116 NLRB 1939, 1943 ; General Foods Corporation,
Northland Dairy Division, 115 NLRB 263, 265-6.
7 Hancock Electronics Corp., 116 NLRB 442, 443.
PERVEL CORPORATION 497
mill at Juncos, Puerto Rico, but excluding analysts, the chief mayor-
domo, the assistant engineer, chief of the powerplant or chief elec-
trician, mayordomo timekeeper, chief of the sugar warehouse, chief
of materials and supply warehouse and clerks, the sobrestante, chief
of railroad carts maintenance and repair, chief of railroad way
maintenance and repair, the railroad timekeeper, train dispatchers,
telephone system supervisor, all professional, administrative, and ex-
ecutive personnel, office clerical employees, watchmen, and supervisors
as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
Pervel Corporation and Textile Workers Union of America, AFL-
CIO, Petitioner . Case No. 1-11C-4979. November 15, 1957
DECISION AND DIRECTION
On July 30, 1957, pursuant to a stipulation for certification upon
consent election, an election by secret ballot was conducted under the
direction and supervision of the Regional Director of the First Region
among the employees in the stipulated unit. , Following the election,
the parties were furnished with a tally of ballots which showed that
of 20 votes cast, 10 were for the Petitioner, 8 were against the Peti-
tioner, and 2 were challenged by the Petitioner.
No objections to the election or to the conduct of the election were
filed. As the challenges are sufficient in number to affect the results
of the election, an investigation was made pursuant to Section 102.61
of the Board's Rules and Regulations by the Regional Director, who
on August 21, 1957, issued his report on challenged ballots recom-
mending that the two challenges be overruled. The Petitioner filed
timely exceptions to the report and the Employer filed a reply to the
exceptions.
The Board 1 has considered the ' Regional Director's report, the
Petitioner's exceptions thereto, the Employer's reply to the excep-
tions, and the entire record in this case and finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
I 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 Murdock , Rodgers, and Bean].
119 NLRB No. 64.
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