Cooperativa Azucarera Los Canos

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 31, 1958

122 N.L.R.B. 817 (N.L.R.B. 1958)

COOPERATIVA AZUCARERA LOS CANOS 817
Cooperativa Azucarera Los Caiios and Sindicato de Trabajadores
(Packinghouse ) Distrito 9 de Puerto Rico , UPWA, AFL-CIO,1
Petitioner. Case No. 24-RC-1109. December 31, 1958
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. His rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are affirmed.
Pursuant to Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act,
the Board has delegated its powers herein to a three -member panel
[Members Rodgers , Bean, and Fanning].
Upon the entire record , the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning
of the Act.
2. The labor organizations named below claim to represent cer-
tain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen-
tation of certain employees of the Employer, within Section
9(c) (1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act2
4. The following employees of the Employer constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within Sec-
tion 9 (b) of the Act :3
All production and maintenance employees employed at the Em-
ployer 's Arecibo , Puerto Rico , sugar mill , including mechanics and
their helpers, electricians and their helpers, warehouse nonclerical
employees, factory and office cleanup personnel , and sugarcane
weighers, but excluding all executive, administrative and profes-
sional employees, office clerical employees, dispensary employees,
department chiefs and their assistants, laboratory technicians, chauf-
The name of the Petitioner appears as corrected at the hearing.
2 Federation Libre de Los Trabajadores de Puerto Rico and its local , Union de
Trabajadores do Factoria , Talleres , Vias y Obras de Arecibo , FLT, herein called the
Intervenor , moved to dismiss the petition , filed on July 23, 1958, on the ground that it
was filed prematurely with respect to the December 31, 1958, expiration date of its
collective-bargaining agreement with the Employer.
The Employer is engaged in the production of sugar and molasses , a seasonal industry.
The next grinding season will commence during the first week in January 1959 and will
last until the middle of June 1959 . The peak of employment will be during the months
of March and April, at which time the Company anticipates a complement of more than
200 employees . The Board has recently reaffirmed that the general rule, that a petition
is premature if filed more than 150 days before the expiration date of a current collective-
bargaining agreement , does not apply to seasonal industries . Deluxe Metal Furniture
Company, 121 NLRB 995 , footnote 9. Accordingly , we find that the petition was timely
filed and we deny the Intervenor ' s motion. We note, however , as a caveat, that the
Board policy established in the Deluxe Metal Furniture case pertaining to the 60-day
insulated period immediately preceding and including the expiration date of an existing
contract is fully applicable to seasonal industries , and that a petition filed during such
period will be dismissed as untimely regardless of the nature of the industry.
S The unit description is in accordance with a stipulation of the parties.
122 NLRB No. 97.
505395-59-vol . 122-53
8i8 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR. RELATIONS BOARD
Teti of eg Laves, superintezidents, majordomos, timekeepers, head
mechanics, professional sugar= boiler operators and their helpers,
technical employees, office , messengers , watchmen, guards, foremen,
and supervisors .4s defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction. of Election4 omitted from publication.]
A'As the. Employer's operation is seasonal , we direct that the, election be held at or near
the , peak pf the 1959, season on a specific date to be determined by the Regional Director
amodg :the, emplbyees in the appropriate unit who will be employed during the payroll
period immediately . preceding the' date of ' issuance of notice of election . Tropicana
Products, Inc., 122 NLRB 121.
News Syndicate Company , Inc. and Burton Randall and Pub-
lishers' Association of New York City, Party to the Contract
New York Mailers' Union No. 6, International Typographical
Union,. AFL-CIO and Burton Randall and Publishers' Asso-
ciation of New York City, Party, to the Contract
New York Mailers ' Union No. 6, International Typographical
Union, AFL-CIO, and Julius Arrigale and The Wall Street
Journal , Dow Jones & Company, Inc., Publisher , Party to the
Contract and Publishers' Association of New York City, Party
in Interest . Cases Nos. 2-CA-4967, 2-CB-1769, and 2-CB-1807.
January 2, 1959
DECISION AND ORDER
On April 15, 1958, Trial Examiner Louis Libbin issued his
Intermediate Report in the above-entitled, consolidated proceeding
finding that News Syndicate Company, Inc., the Respondent Com-
pany, and New York Mailers' Union No. 6, International Typo-
graphical Union, AFL-CIO, the Respondent Union, had engaged
in and were engaging in certain unfair labor practices and recom-
mending that they cease and desist therefrom and take certain
affirmative action, as set forth in the copy of the Intermediate
Report attached hereto. Thereafter, the Respondent Union and its
parent .organization, International Typographical Union, AFL-
CIO,1 an Intervenor herein, jointly filed exceptions to the Inter-
,mediate .-Report and a supporting brief. The General Counsel filed
exceptions to some portions of the Intermediate Report ,and a brief
in support of those exceptions; the General Counsel's brief other-
wise supported portions of the Intermediate Report to which. he
did -not except. On October 21, 1958, the Board heard oral argu-
ment; the General Counsel and Unions participated.
The Board has reviewed the rulings made by the Trial-Examiner,
at the hearingk`and I finds that no prejudicial error ' was `committed.
1 Hereafter, jointly called the Unions.
122 NLRB No. 92.