Damerel-Allison, Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 25, 1950

91 N.L.R.B. 1261 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of DAMEREL-ALLISON COMPANY, EMPLOYER and INTER-
NATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS, LOOAL 63, AFL,
PETITIONER
Case No. 21-RC-1481.-Decided October .25, 1950
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before George H. O'Brien,
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 [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and
Reynolds].
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 organizations involved claim to represent employees of
the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen-
tation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the following
reasons:
The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of all operating engineers
who operate refrigerating equipment, boilers, pumps, air compressors
and their appurtenances, excluding plant maintenance men, among
others. The Employer contends that an appropriate unit should in-
clude all production and maintenance employees. The Intervenor,
Fruit and Produce Drivers Warehousemen & Employees Union, Local
No. 630, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Ware-
housemen and Helpers of America, AFL, which presently represents
employees in plants 1 and 4, concedes the appropriateness of the
proposed unit provided it does not include employees whom it now
represents.
The Employer packages oranges and produces orange juice concen-
trates and byproducts. It has seven plants located near one another.
91 NLRB No. 195.
1261
1262 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Plant 1 processes fresh citrus fruits into citrus juices; plants 2 and 3
are warehouses ; plant 4 produces orange oil and co\v feed from citrus
peel; plant 5 produces citrus juices which are piped to plant 6 1 where
fruit juice concentrates are produced. The seventh plant, called the
Azusa plant, packages fresh oranges, manufactures ice, and has deep
freeze storage space for concentrates.
There is a small boiler in plant 1, two boilers under a separate roof
near plant 6, a compressor room containing refrigeration equipment
in plant 6, and refrigeration equipment in the Azusa plant. The
boilers and refrigeration equipment are of the automatic type.
The Employer has a separate maintenance department supervised
by a maintenance superintendent. Employees in this department
maintain and repair all equipment in plants 1 through 6. This in-
volves keeping in operating condition the conveyor equipment, bot-
tling equipment, and boilers. As to the boilers,. this requires adding
boiler compound each morning, blowing the boilers down, and check-
ing on water level and pressures from time to time during the day.
No single maintenance man is assigned specifically to the boiler main-
tenance work. During the operating season from May through Octo-
ber there are three men operating the compressor equipment in plant
6, one on each shift under the supervision of the man in charge of
plant 6. During the off season, the three operators are engaged in
general maintenance work under the supervision of the maintenance
superintendent. One employee during the operating season divides
his time equally between relieving maintenance men and compressor
operators. The refrigeration equipment in the Azusa plant operates
all year round. It is in charge of a chief engineer under whom are
several subordinates. These men operate the refrigeration equip-
ment, pull ice, and load ice cars. At night, a watchman checks on
the operation of the equipment. All major repairs to refrigeration
equipment in all plants is clone by an outside source. Minor repairs
to this equipment in plant 6 are performed by maintenance em-
ployees ; and by the chief engineer in the Azusa plant.
The Petitioner desires to include in its unit three maintenance em-
ployees who take care of maintenance work in plants 4, 5, and 6, three
employees in plant 6 who operate the refrigeration equipment, one
relief man who divides his time between relieving the refrigeration
operators in plant 6 and the maintenance men in plants 4, 5, and 6, and
the employees in the Azusa plant who operate the ice-making machin-
ery and perform other duties.
1 Plant 6 is owned by Cal-Grove Products, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the
Employer . All parties agree that employees in this plant should be treated as if they were
the employees of the Employer.
DAMEREL -ALLISON COMPANY 1263
None of these employees are licensed by any governmental agency.
There is absolutely no evidence in this record that any special skill or
training is required to tend the boiler and refrigeration equipment.
Nor do they constitute a clearly identifiable powerhouse group. Un-
der these circumstances, we can perceive no basis for grouping them
in a separate unit. We find, accordingly, that the unit proposed by the
Petitioner is inappropriate.2 We shall, therefore, dismiss the
petition.
ORDER
IT Is HEREBY ORDERED that the petition filed herein be, and it hereby
is, dismissed. '
2 United Growers , Inc., 86 NLRB 583; Columbia Packing Company, 80 NLRB 211.