107 N.L.R.B. 953 (N.L.R.B. 1954)

Grower-Shipper Vegetable Association of Central California

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsJan 27, 1954

107 N.L.R.B. 953 (N.L.R.B. 1954)

GROWER-SHIPPER VEGETABLE ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL CALIFORNIA 953 We shall direct an election among all employees employed in the Employer's steam plant in Etiawanda, California, ex- cluding technical assistants , guards, statisticib.ns, store- keepers, and supervisors as defined in the Act.' If a majority of the employees in the voting group cast their ballots for the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to be included in the Long Beach-Redondo unit cur- rently represented by Petitioner, and the Regional Director shall issue a certificate of results of electionto that effect. [The Board amended the certification of representatives issued in Case No . 21-RC-276 on July 26, 1948, to exclude the classification of technical assistant . This amendment is not to be construed as anew certification. ] [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] 2 The parties stipulated to the appropriateness of these exclusions, except for the technical assistants. GROWER-SHIPPER VEGETABLE ASSOCIATION OF CEN- TRAL CALIFORNIA; BUD ANTLE CO.; ARENA CO.; ARROW LETTUCE CO.; JACK T. BAILLIE CO.; F. V. BIRBECK CO.; CHRISTENSEN BROS.; BRUCE CHURCH, INC.; J. J. CROSETTI CO.; CROWN PACKING CO.; D'ARRIGO BROS. CO. OF CALIFORNIA; DU-BAL PACKING CO.; O. O. EATON, INC.; R. T. ENGLUND CO.; FARLEY FRUIT CO.; FREMONT PRODUCE DISPATCH CO.; THE GARIN COM- PANY; GRO-PAK FARMS, GROWERS PRODUCE DISPATCH; HARDEN FARMS, INC.; D. W. HENNING; HITCHCOCK PACKING CO.; HOLME & SEIFERT; INDEPENDENT GROWERS CO.; JEROME KANTRO CO.; KIRBY AND LITTLE PACKING CO.; MAJOR DISTRIBUTING CO.; H. W. MANN; J. G. MARINOVICH, INC.; MARTIN PRODUCE, INC.; AL MASSERA, INC.; MERIT PACKING CO.; MERRILL PACK- ING CO.; K. R. NUTTING CO.; RUSSELL PACKING CO.; SALINAS CELERY DISTRIBUTORS; SALINAS LETTUCE FARMERS COOP.; SALINAS MARKETING COOP.; SALINAS PACKING CO.; SCHOENBURG BROS. PRODUCE CO.; SCHU- MAN FARMS; SEARS BROS. & CO.; SHIP SHAPE PACKING CO.; JERE SMITH CO.; PETER A. STOLICH CO. INC.; CONRAD F. STORM PACKING CO.; VERTIN-EDMONDS CO.; W. & S. PACKING CO.; WATSONVILLE EXCHANGE INC.; ZARLING PRE-PAK CO. and GENERAL TEAMSTERS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS UNION, LOCAL 890, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF 107 NLRB No. 191. 954 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD. AMERICA, AFL, AND GENERAL TEAMSTERS, PACKERS, FOOD PROCESSORS AND WAREHOUSEMEN UNION, LOCAL 912, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, Joint Petitioners . Case No. 20-RC-2405. January 27, 1954 DECISION AND ORDER Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before David E. Davis, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby af- firmed. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds: 1. The Employers are engaged in commerce within the mean- ing of the Act. 2. The labor organization involved claims to represent em- ployees of the Employer. 3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of employees of the Employer within the mean- ing of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the following reasons: The Joint Petitioners 1 seek a single unit of all fiber box stitchers engaged in the field packing of lettuce on the Em- ployers' farms,' or, in the alternative, separate units of fiber box stitchers at each of the Employers' farms. The Employers contend that: (1) The employees sought are agricultural em- ployees and therefore not covered by the Act; and (2) in any event, only separate individual units are appropriate. Under the current Board Appropriations Act, the definition of "agriculture" in Section 3 (f) of the Fair Labor Standards Act is made applicable to the exclusion of agricultural laborers appearing in Section 2 (3) of the National Labor Re- lations Act. Section 3 (f) reads as follows: "Agriculture" includes farming in all its branches and among other things includes the . . . production, cultiva- tion, growing, and harvesting of any agricultural . . . com- modities . . . and any practices . . . performed by a far- mer or on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction with such farming operations, including preparation for mar- ket, delivery to storage or market or to carriers for transportation to market. (Emphasis added.) The fiber box stitchers assemble and staple, by use of a stitching machine, cardboard boxes in which the lettuce is packed. 1The names of the Joint Petitioners appear in the caption as amended at the hearing. 2 The names of the Employers appear in the caption as amended at the hearing The record indicates that some of these Employers do not engage in the field packing of lettuce, but do employ stitchers in their packing sheds. SANITARY FARMS DAIRIES, INC. 955 They perform this operation on a flat truck which is driven along each row of lettuce on the Employers' farms. One and occasionally two stitchers are employed on each of the Em- ployers' farms. After the box is stitched, it is thrown from the truck adjacent to the various rows of lettuce. (The truck pro- ceeds at the rate of about one-half mile an hour and thus keeps up with the cutters and packers, who cut and pack the lettuce for shipment.) When the lettuce is packed, it is taken directly to the cooling plant from where it is shipped. Although the stitchers are not usually interchanged with the other field employees, they are under the same supervision and are hired by the field superintendent. They work with, and are on the same payroll as, field employees, but receive a substantially higher wage scale. In these circumstances, particularly the fact that their duties are performed on the Employers' farms, not in con- junction with any other commercial enterprise, we believe that their duties are incidental to the Employers ,' farming opera- tions. Accordingly, we find that their duties fall within the definition of "agriculture" contained in Section 3 (f) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and hence that they are agricultural laborers excluded from coverage by Section 2 (3) of the National Labor Relations Act. 3 We shall therefore dismiss the petition.4 [The Board dismissed the petition.] 3Luce R Company, et al., 98 NLRB 1103; N. L. R. B. v. Dofflemeyer Bros., 206 F. 2d 813 (C. A. 9); Bianchi & Son, 107 NLRB 864. 4In view of our findings above, we find it unnecessary to determine whether the unit sought is appropriate. SANITARY FARMS DAIRIES, INC. and SALES DRIVERS LOCAL UNION NO. 949, Petitioner. Case No. 39-RC-662. January 27, 1954 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Clifford W. Potter, hearing officer. The hearing officer' s rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.' 'The Employer moved to dismiss this petition because it was instituted very shortly after the Petitioner reneged from a consent-election agreement duly executed. In that agree- ment the Petitioner, contrary to the unit contention it makes here, had agreed to go to an election in a plantwide unit, as consistently urged by the Employer. As the Employer's attack upon this proceeding is essentially a restatement of its unit contention, and as our finding here on that point is in accord with the Employer's position, we find it unnecessary to consider what merit there would be in the Employer's complaint in other circumstances. The motion to dismiss is therefore denied. 107 NLRB No. 202.