Fox Deluxe Foods, Inc.Download PDFNational Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsOct 29, 195196 N.L.R.B. 1132 (N.L.R.B. 1951) Copy Citation 1132 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD conditions should warrant an expansion of the working force; how- ever, he was unable to predict when such conditions might prevail. Under these circumstances we find, contrary to the contention of the Petitioner and the Intervenor, that the laid-off employees have no reasonable expectation of reemployment by the Employer, and that they are accordingly ineligible to vote in the election herein directed .6 [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this volume.] 6 Albion Malleable Iron Company, 90 NLRB 1640, 1642 Fox DELUXE FOODS, INC. and AMALGAMATED MEAT CUTTERS AND BUTCHER WORKMEN OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL , PETITIONER. Cases Nos. 18-RC-1214 and 18-RC-1232. October 29, 1951 Decision and Direction of Elections Upon petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before Clarence A. Meter, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hear- ing 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 these cases to a three- member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Murdock]. Upon the entire record in these cases, 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 employees of the Employer., 3. Questions affecting commerce exist 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 Petitioner seeks to represent the following employees as separate bargaining units : (1) All production and maintenance em- ployees at the Employer's Barron, Wisconsin, plant, including seas- onal employees, the truck driver, and the cattle buyer, but excluding office and clerical employees, construction employees, intake station employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act, and (2) all office and clerical employees at the Employer's plant, excluding supervisors as defined in the Act.' 'The Employer contended that the Petitioner cannot represent the office and clerical employees apparently on the ground that the Petitioner has no such jurisdiction As the Board has frequently held under similar circumstances, the willingness of a petitioner to represent the employees in issue is controlling under the Act, not the eligibility of em- ployees to membership nor the exact extent of the petitioner's constitutional jurisdiction. 96 NLRB No. 183. FOX DELUXE FOODS, INC. 1133 Although the Employer otherwise agrees that the proposed units are appropriate, with respect to unit 1, it objects to the inclusion of the cattle buyer and assumes a neutral position regarding the inclusion of the seasonal employees. The Employer is engaged in the business of processing eggs and poultry and in the purchase and sale of cattle. In the operation of its business, the Employer hires seasonal employees for the egg season, normally running from about January to June of each year, and for the poultry season, running from about August to mid-December of each year. These employees, principally housewives, are recruited from the immediate area. The record shows that a large proportion of this group return to work year after year. They perform the same type of work under the same working conditions as the year-round employees. Under these circumstances, we find that the seasonal and year-round employees have a sufficient community of interest to con- stitute an appropriate bargaining unit? Cattle buyer: The cattle buyer is primarily engaged in the purchase and sale of cattle. In this connection, he grades the cattle, determines their price, accepts final bids, and otherwise has full authority to complete these transactions. We find that his interests are more closely identified with those of management than with those of the other employees and, therefore, exclude him from the unit.-3 The following employees of the Employer constitute separate units appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. 1. All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's Barron, Wisconsin, plant, including seasonal employees and the truck driver, but excluding the cattle buyer, office and clerical employees, intake station employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act. 2. All office and clerical employees at the Employer's Barron, Wis- consin, plant, excluding supervisors as defined in the Act. 5. With respect to unit 1, the record shows that the peak of employ- ment occurs in the first half of December of each year during the poultry season. We shall, in accordance with our usual practice in seasonal industries, direct that an election be held at or near the peak of employment of the 1951 poultry season, on a day to be determined by the Regional Director, among the employees in unit 1 who are employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the issu- ance of the notice of election. [Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this volume.] 2 Libby, McNeill & Libby, 90 NLRB 279; York Band Instrument Company, 87 NLRB 1576. 'Federal Telecommunication Laboratories, Inc., 92 NLRB 1395; American Locomotive Company, 92 NLRB 115; see Stilverwood's, 92 NLRB 1114. Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation