Greenville Cotton Oil Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 19, 1948

78 N.L.R.B. 1175 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of GREENVILLE COTTON OIL COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GRAIN PROCESSORS, A. F. L., PETITIONER
Case No. 16-RC-32.-Decided August 19, 1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of,
the National Labor Relations Act.'
2. The labor organization named below claims to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the represeta-
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 appropriate unit :
The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all production and mainte-
nance employees, excluding clericals, watchmen, guards,2 and all super-
visors as defined in the Act. The Employer contends that the appro-
priate unit should be established along. departmental lines.
The record discloses that the production operations of the Employer
are divided into the following departments : seed house, linter room,
hulling or separating room, press room, cake mill, and mixed feed.
There is also a power plant, a bull gang (which consists of three to six
'Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Gray.
1 Matter of West Texas Cottonoal Co, 73 N L it B. 645. -
2 The petition was amended at the hearing to exclude watchmen and guards.
78 N. L. R. B., No. 166.
1175
1176 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
men who load and store lint), and some truck drivers. A majority of
all employees perform manual labor requiring no particular skill, and
there is considerable interdepartmental transfer of employees. There
is nothing in the record to indicate any diverse interest among the em-
ployees in the-various departments. We shall, therefore, in accord
with our practice,. include the Employer's production and maintenance
employees in a single unit.3
The Petitioner would include, and the Employer exclude, the truck
drivers and the employees in the power plant. The truck drivers per-
form the usual duties of such employees, hauling materials to and from
the Employer's plant. The record does not disclose any reason for ex-
cluding the power plant employees. In view of the fact that the truck
drivers and the power plant employees have interests in common with
these production and maintenance employees, and as no organization
seeks to represent them in a separate unit, we shall include the truck
drivers and power plant employees in the unit.4
There remains to be considered certain employees who have super-
visory powers. The record indicates that the mill superintendent, the
assistant mill superintendent, the night supervisor, and the head linter
man may hire and discharge other employees. The sack sewer and the
head of the seed house have authority to discharge, and may effectively
recommend the hiring of employees. As these job classifications re-
quire the exercise of supervisory powers, we shall exclude them from
the unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees, including
truck drivers, power plant employees, and seasonal employees,5 but ex-
cluding clericals, watchmen, guards, the mill superintendent, and as-
sistant superintendent, the night supervisor, the head linter man, the
sack sewer, the head of the seed house, and all other supervisors as
defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purpose of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
5. Determination of representatives :
It appears that a strike is now in progress at the Employer's plant.
If the strike is still current at the time of the election hereinafter di-
rected, both the new employees and all the strikers shall be deemed
presumptively eligible to vote, subject to challenges, the determination
of which, if necessary, will await further investigation concerning the
employment status of individual strikers and the replacements, pur-
suant to Section 9 (c) (3) of the Act as amended .6
8 Matter of Campo Rice Mtilling Co , 73 N. L. R. B. 927 ; Matter of Southland Cotton Ott
Co., 67 N. L R B 580.
Matter of Ideal Roller and Manufacturing Co., 60 N. L. R. B. 1105.
Matter of J M Smucker, 75 N L. R B 202
Matter of Pipe Machinery Co., 76 N L. R. B. 247.
. GREENVILLE COTTON OIL COMPANY 1177
As noted above, the operations of the Employer's plant are seasonal,
the production peak being between September and February or May.
The record does not indicate the exact number of employees carried
on the pay roll during the off-season lull, but it appears that it is sub-
stantially less than 50 percent of the number of employees carried
during full production operations. Under these circumstances, an
election held at this time would not be representative. Accordingly,
we shall direct that an election be held at such time during the next
peak season as the Regional Director for the Sixteenth Region finds
that a representative number of employees is employed.7
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Greenville Cotton Oil Com-
pany, Greenville, Texas, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted
on a date to be selected by the Regional Director in accordance with
the instructions set forth in Section 5, above, under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Sixteenth Region, and
subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, among the employees in
the unit found appropriate in Section 4, above, who were employed
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the
election, including employees then on strike, and employees who did
not work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on
vacation or temporarily laid off, 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 election, to determine whether
or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bar-
gaining, by American Federation of Grain Processors, A. F. L.
4 Matter of Edgar P. Hurff Co , 77 N L R . B. 762.