Goetz Ice Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 26, 1945

61 N.L.R.B. 761 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of GoETz ICE Co. and FRESH FRUIT AND VEGETABLE
WORKERS UNION, LOCAL 78 , F. T. A.-C. I. O.
Case No. 21-R-2671.-Decided April 26,1945
Mr. Charles E. Goetz, of Tolleson, Ariz., for the Company.
Mr. Charles Law, of Phoenix, Ariz., for the C. 1. 0.
Mr. William L. Stratton, of Phoenix, Ariz., for the Teamsters.
Mr. W. A. Gray, of Phoenix, Ariz., for the Operating Engineers.
Mr. Sidney Grossman, of-counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF TILE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Workers
Union, Local 78, F. T. A.-C. I. 0., herein called the C. I. 0., alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Goetz Ice Co., Tolleson, Arizona, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for
an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Charles M. Ryan, Trial
Examiner. Said hearing was held at Phoenix, Arizona, on February
22, 1945. The Company, the C. I. 0., Truck Drivers, Chauffeurs,
Teamsters and Helpers, Local Union No. 274, A. F. L., herein called
the Teamsters, and International Union of Operating Engineers, Local
No. 428, A. F. L., herein called the Operating Engineers, appeared and
participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard,
to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence
bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner reserved ruling on the
Teamsters' and the Operating Engineers' motions to dismiss the peti-
tion on the ground that existing agreements with the Company con-
stitute a bar to this proceeding and that the unit petitioned for is
inappropriate. For the reasons set forth in sections III and IV, infra,
the motions are denied. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All
parties were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
61 N. L. R. B., No. 121.
761
762 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Goetz Ice Co., an Arizona corporation , is engaged in the manu-
facture and distribution of ice to vegetable shippers and growers at
its Tolleson , Arizona, plant . During the fiscal year ending Juile 30,
1944, it delivered 55,540 tons of ice to its customers in Arizona for
use in the packing of vegetables , approximately 75 percent of which
was shipped to points outside the State of Arizona.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Workers Union , Local 78, F. T. A.,
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations , is a labor
organization admitting to membership employees of the Company.
Truck Drivers, Chauffeurs , Teamsters and Helpers , Local Union
No. 274, and International Union of Operating Engineers , Local No.
428, both affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, are labor
organizations admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On February 10, 1945, the C. I. O. addressed a letter to the Company
wherein it requested recognition as the exclusive bargaining repre-
sentative of the Company 's employees . The Company refused to ac-
cord recognition until the C. I. O. had been certified by the Board in
an appropriate unit. The Teamsters and the Operating Engineers
urge the existence of current agreements with the Company as a bar
to this proceeding.
The Teamsters and the Operating Engineers have been parties to
separate successive collective bargaining agreements with the Com-
pany for the past 4 years and 3 years , respectively . The last agree-
ment each had entered into was automatically renewable unless at
least 30 days prior to the expiration thereof either party thereto gave
written notice of a desire to alter or terminate it. On January 18,
1945, prior to the operative dates of the renewal clauses, the Teamsters
and the Operating Engineers each notified the Company by letter of
their desire to enter into negotiations for the purpose of altering the
terms of their agreements . The Company refused to negotiate new
agreements in view of the C. I. O.'s demand for recognition. Since
the Teamsters and the Operating Engineers , by their letters of Jan-
uary 18, 1945, evinced an intention to terminate their agreements with
the Company , we find that such agreements do not constitute a bar
to this proceeding.
GOETZ ICE CO. 763
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the C. I. O. represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT; THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The C. I. O. seeks a unit comprised of all employees engaged in the
manufacture and handling of ice at the Company's Tolleson, Arizona,
plant, including truck drivers, but excluding office and supervisory
employees. The Teamsters and the Operating Engineers urge the
appropriateness of separate units coextensive with the categories cov-
ered by their respective agreements with the Company. The Team-
sters would, therefore, include within its proposed unit truck drivers,
storage men, the storage foremen, and casual laborers, and the Oper-
ating Engineers would include within its unit watch engineers, the
chief engineer, and ice pullers. The Company takes no position with
respect to the composition of the unit.
The Company's operations are confined to a single building which
houses a majority of its employees consisting of watch engineers, ice
pullers, and storage men. The watch engineers operate compressors
and a large crane. The ice pullers, who work in a separate portion of
the building together with the watch engineers, operate a small crane.
Both groups of employees collaborate in the manufacture of ice which
is thereafter loaded on trucks by the storage men who work in the
storage room. They generally progress, after a brief training, from
storage men, who are unskilled, to the status of ice pullers and watch
engineers whose work also does not require an appreciable amount of
skill. During their absence storage men may replace them. The truck
drivers, who may also advance to the position of watch engineers,
deliver ice to the packing sheds of vegetable shippers and growers or
to local distributors. All employees are hourly paid and, with the ex-
ception of the storage men whose work is directed by the storage fore-
man, are supervised by the 'plant superintendent. Functional consid-
erations thus lend weight to the appropriateness of a single plant unit.
On the other hand, the previous history of collective bargaining in
the plant also indicates the appropriateness of separate bargaining
units. Under these circumstances, we are of the opinion that the
1 The Field Examiner reported that the C I O. submitted 9 application cards, all of
which represented the names of employees on the Company 's pay roll of February 5, 1945,
S cards bore dates in January 1945, and 1 card was dated February 1945. There are 21
employees in the alleged appropriate unit The Teamsters and the Operating Engineers
rely upon their agreements with the Company to support their interest in the employees
they seek to represent.
764 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Company's employees may constitute a single unit as proposed by the
C. I. 0., or may bargain collectively in separate units as proposed by
the Teamsters and the Operating Engineers. Accordingly, our deter-
mination of the appropriate unit will depend, in part, upon the desires
of the employees as expressed in elections which we shall hereinafter
direct.
There remains for consideration the specific composition of the
voting groups. As indicated above, the Teamsters would include the
storage foreman. The record discloses that the storage foreman has
authority to recommend the discharge of storage men whose work he
directs. Since he exercises supervisory functions within our customary
definition, we shall exclude the storage foreman from the Teamsters'
voting group.
The Operating Engineers would include the chief engineer who is
classified by the Company as the plant superintendent and has direct
responsibility for the hiring and discharge of all employees in the
plant. In view of his supervisory authority, we shall exclude the plant
superintendent from the Operating Engineers' voting group.
The Company employs during its peak season so-called casual
laborers whose duties are similar to those of storage men. Notwith-
standing the fact that these employees are presently covered to a
certain extent by the Company's contract 2 with the Teamsters, there'
is no evidence of any attempt on the part of the Company to recruit
the same employees from year to year. Inasmuch as the casual laborers
have no reasonable prospect of regular seasonal employment with the
Company, we are of the opinion that they lack that community of
interest with the regular employees which would entitle them to vote.
Accordingly, we find the casual laborers ineligible to participate in
the election .3
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by separate elections by secret ballot among
employees in the following groups, excluding office employees and all
supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, dis-
cipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees or
effectively recommend such action, who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tions herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction :
(1) All employees of the Company classified as truck drivers and
storage men, excluding the storage foreman; and
2 Pursuant to the wage provision of the contract , casual laborers receive 5 ¢ an hour less
than the regular ice storage men, and are also excluded from the closed -shop, minimum
work week , and other substantial provisions.
8 Matter of Detroit Creamery Company, Arctic Ice Cream Plant , 58 N. L, R B. 125.
GOETZ ICE CO. 765
(2) All employees of the Company classified as watch engineers
and ice pullers, excluding the chief engineer or plant superintendent.
As stated above, there will be no final determination of the appro-
priate unit or units pending the results of the elections. In the event
the majority of the employees in both, groups choose the CIO, such
employees will together constitute a single appropriate unit; other-
wise they shall constitute separate units.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Goetz Ice Co.,
Tolleson, Arizona, elections by secret ballot shall be conducted as early
as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this
Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Direc-
tor for the Twenty-first Region, acting in this matter as agent for the
National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sections
10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the
following groups, who were employed during the pay-roll period im-
mediately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees
who did not work during the said pay-roll period because they were
ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including employees in
the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person
at the polls, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been
discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to
the date of the elections, casual laborers, office employees, and all
supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge,
discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or
effectively recommend such action :
(1) All employees of the Company classified as truck drivers and
storage men, excluding the storage foreman, to determine whether
they desire to be represented by Truck Drivers, Chauffeurs, Teamsters
and Helpers, Local Union No. 274, A. F. L., or by Fresh Fruit and
Vegetable Workers Union, Local 78, F. T. A.-C. 1. 0., for the purposes
of collective bargaining, or by neither; and
(2) All employees of the Company classified as watch engineers
and ice pullers, excluding the chief engineer or plant superintendent,
to determine whether they desire to be represented by International
Union of Operating Engineers, Local No. 428, A. F. L. or by Fresh
Fruit and Vegetable Workers Union, Local 78, F. T. A.-C. I. 0., for
the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.
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