Crest Wine and Spirits, Ltd.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 7, 1967

168 N.L.R.B. 754 (N.L.R.B. 1967)

754 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Crest Wine and Spirits, LTD. Employer -Petitioner
and Distillery Rectifying Wine and Allied Work-
ers International Union, Local 19 , AFL-CIO.
Case 4-RM-631
December 7, 1967
DECISION AND DIRECTION
By CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS
FANNING AND BROWN
Pursuant to a Stipulation for Certification upon
Consent Election approved August 8, 1967, an
election by secret ballot was conducted on August
24, 1967, under the direction and supervision of the
Regional Director for Region 4 among the em-
ployees in the stipulated unit. At the ' close of the
election, the parties were furnished with a tally of
ballots showing that of approximately 12 eligible
voters, 12 cast ballots, of which 5 were for, 4 were
against, the Union, and 3 were challenged. The
challenged ballots were sufficient in number to af-
fect the results of the election. No objections to the
election were filed.
In accordance with National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations, the Regional
Director conducted an investigation and, on Oc-
tober 4, 1967, issued and duly served upon the
parties his Report and Recommendations on Chal-
lenged Ballots, in which he recommended that the
challenge to one ballot be sustained and that two
ballots be opened and counted. Thereafter, the
Union filed exceptions to the Regional Director's
report and the Employer filed a brief in opposition
to the exceptions.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its
powers in connection with this case to a three-
member panel.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board
finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act and it will effectuate the pur-
poses of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The Petitioner is a labor organization claiming
to represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists con-
cerning the representation of the employees of the
Employer within the meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and
Section 2(6) of the Act.
4. The parties stipulated, and we find, that the
following employees constitute a unit appropriate
1 The Union's exception to the Regional Director's recommendation
that the ballot of Gertrude Hampton be overruled, in our opinion, raises
no issue of fact or law which would warrant reversal of the Regional
Director's findings and recommendations.
168 NLRB No. 99
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All office clerical employees of Crest Wine and
Spirits, Ltd., 711 Pine Street, Camden, New
Jersey , but excluding all other employees in-
cluding salesmen, drivers, warehousemen,
guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
5. The Board has considered the Regional
Director 's report , the Union 's exceptions thereto,'
and the Employer's brief, and hereby adopts the
Regional Director 's findings and recommendations
to the extent consistent herewith.
The Regional Director recommended overruling
the challenge to the ballot of Betty Ann Hampton
on the grounds that , aside from working during
summers and holiday periods, she had a pattern of
recurring , regular part -time employment during the
nonsummer months, which pattern made her a regu-
lar part-time employee eligible to vote in the elec-
tion.
We do not agree with the Regional Director that
Betty Ann Hampton was a regular part-time em-
ployee. The record shows that in addition to her
working summers in 1965, 1966 , and 1967, and
Christmas vacations in 1964 , 1965, and 1966, Betty
Ann worked about 3 months from January to
March 1965 , for between 6-27 hours per week, and
3 months from October to December 1966 , averag-
ing 3 -1/2 to 6 hours per week . Other than the
foregoing , there is no evidence that she worked dur-
ing periods coinciding with the school term.
Although the Board generally excludes summer
employees from the appropriate unit , such em-
ployees will be deemed eligible if, upon returning to
school , their employment evidences regular part-
time status.2 In this connection, we find that Betty
Ann Hampton's employment history of two periods
of part-time employment during the school term
within a 3-year period is insufficient to establish a
pattern of recurring , regular employment during the
school year . Her employment , in this regard, on
each occasion occurred during different seasons of
the year , did not exceed 3 months , and consisted of
varying hours. In our opinion , such a pattern of in-
termittent , sporadic employment is insufficient to
establish that Betty Ann enjoys regular part-time
status.3 Nor is a contrary result required by the
evidence that Betty Ann intended , in the future, to
work during the school year , as permitted by her
schedule , since this declaration , considered against
her employment history, merely establishes no
more than that she may continue to work during the
school term as a casual, irregular part-time worker.
Accordingly, we disagree with the Regional
'- Sandy's Stores, Inc, 163 NLRB 728: Giordano Lumber Co., Inc.,
133 NLRB 205,207
3 Brown-Forman Distillers Corporation, 118 NLRB 454,455.
CREST WINE AND SPIRITS
Director and shall sustain the challenge to the ballot
of Betty Ann Hampton.
However, as we agree with and adopt the Re-
gional Director's recommendation that the chal-
lenge to Gertrude Hampton be overruled, and since
that ballot is sufficient to affect the results of the
election, we shall order that the ballot of Gertrude
Hampton be opened and counted, and that a revised
tally be prepared and served upon the parties.
DIRECTION
755
IT IS HEREBY DIRECTED that the Regional
Director for Region 4 shall, pursuant to the Rules
and Regulations of the Board, within 10 days from
the date of this Direction, open and count the ballot
of Gertrude Hampton and prepare and cause to be
served upon the parties a revised tally of ballots and
an appropriate certification.
336-845 0 - 70 - 49