Home Brewing Co. Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 15, 1959

124 N.L.R.B. 930 (N.L.R.B. 1959)

930 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. Anderson and Jeffries are respectively engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the Act and their respective operations meet the jurisdictional standards
set by the Board.
2. The Union is a labor organization within the meaning of Section 2(5) of the
Act, and, within the meaning of Section 9^(a) of the Act, at all times material herein
has been the exclusive representative for purposes of collective bargaining of all
lithographic ( direct or offset ) production employees of all the employers , including
Anderson and Jeffries , who designated U.E.S. their bargaining representative; the
said employees constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act.
3. By failing and refusing to execute and abide by the terms of the contract
executed with the Union on their behalf by U.E.S., Anderson and Jeffries respec-
tively have refused to bargain within the meaning of the Act, thereby engaging
in unfair labor practices within the meaning of Section 8 (a) (1) and (5) of the Act.
4. The aforesaid unfair labor practices are unfair labor practices affecting com-
merce within the meaning of Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
[Recommendations omitted from publication.]
Home Brewing Company, Incorporated and International Union
of United Brewery , Flour, Cereal, Soft Drink and Distillery
Workers of America , AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case No. 5-RC-
2829. September 15, 1959
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 Sidney Smith, 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 Leedom and Members Bean and Fanning].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer I is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists 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 a production and maintenance unit of all
the Employer's employees at its Richmond, Virginia, plant, including
driver-salesmen. The Employer maintains that there should be six
departmental units: (a) soft drink production and maintenance em-
ployees; (b) beer bottling production and maintenance employees;
(c) brewery production and maintenance employees; (d) shipping
'The Employer' s name appears as amended at the hearing.
124 NLRB No. 121.
HOME BREWING COMPANY, INCORPORATED 931
department employees; (e) soft drink driver-salesmen, including lead
salesmen; and (f) beer driver-salesmen including lead salesmen and
promotion men.
The Employer is engaged in the brewing and bottling of beer and
the production of carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks. Pro-
duction of soft drinks is handled by two wholly owned subsidiary
.organizations of the Employer known as Tru-Ade and Climax, which
are operated as departments of the Employer's Richmond plant. This
plant is comprised of the brewery, beer bottling, soft drink bottling,
beer drivers, soft drink drivers, and main office departments. The
brewery employees make the beer and put the "draught" beer in kegs.
'The bear bottling employees prepare and label bottles and then can,
bottle, and package, the beer. The soft drink bottling employees pre-
pare the soft drinks, and bottle and package the finished product.
'The beer driver-salesmen deliver beer only, and are paid on a conunis-
:sion basis, while the soft drink drivers, who are paid on a commission
.and salary basis, generally deliver soft drinks only, but some make
occasional deliveries of beer. Both the beer and soft drink drivers are
under the same supervision. The shipping department employees
-work from an office on the loading dock where they check the loads
,of soft drinks and beer, compute the amounts of money due from the
.driver salesmen, and receive the money they collect.
All the plant buildings are in close proximity to one another and
are connected by fire doors or a pipeline. The plant records are kept
in a common office, and the Employer's president sets labor relations
policies for all employees. A common lockerroom is provided for all
employees, including the driver-salesmen. All employees punch the
;same time clock and have the same employee benefits. On the basis
of the entire record, we find that all the employees have a sufficient
,community of interest to constitute a single overall bargaining unit,2
.and, as no labor organization seeks to represent any of the depart-
ments as a separate unit, we find such a unit sought appropriate.'
There remains for consideration the unit placement of certain in-
dividuals whom the Petitioner would exclude but the Employer would
include.
The Petitioner maintains that three contact men, who are engaged
in promotion work and the soliciting of new accounts , should bye ex-
cluded as "ordinary" salesmen . The Employer would include these
men with the driver-salesmen . Although they do not make any de-
liveries , they work in association with the driver- salesmen . They are
not uniformed as are the driver-salesmen, drive their own cars, and
receive a salary plus expenses , but their earnings are about the same
as those of the driver- salesmen. The contact men are under the same
2 Burrus Mills; Incorporated, 119 NLRB 384, 385.
3 S. Martinelli & Co., 99 NLRB 43, 44; Coca- Cola Bottling Company, 96 NLRB 1425, 1427.
932 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
supervision as the driver-salesmen, and one of them substitutes as a
beer driver-salesman when a lead man is not available for substitution.
Upon the entire record, we find these employees have sufficient com-
munity of interest with the driver salesman to warrant their in-
clusion, and we shall, therefore, include them in the unit.4
The regular summer employees are seminary students who have
worked from one to eight summer seasons for the Employer. Four
of them work as production and maintenance employees in the soft
drink bottling department, and another works in the shipping depart-
ment. They receive a Christmas bonus given by the Employer, but
none of the other employee benefits. We find that these students do
not have a sufficient community of interest with the other employees
to warrant their inclusion, and we shall, therefore, exclude them from
the unit.5
The Petitioner contends that lead salesmen are supervisors, whereas
the Employer would include them as driver-salesmen. These indi-
viduals travel with the driver-salesmen and perform substantially
the same duties, except that they also set up advertising displays in
customers' stores. They have no authority to hire, discharge, or
effectively recommend such action. As they perform basically the
same duties as the driver-salesmen and possess no supervisory au-
thority, we shall include them in the unit.'
The Petitioner would also exclude Louis B. Corso as a supervisor.
He works as a cashier in the shipping department and receives ap-
proximately the same earnings as the one other cashier. Though he
was informed by the Employer that he is in charge of this depart-
ment, the record indicates that his direction of department employees
is routine. He has no authority to hire, discharge, or discipline em
ployees, nor can he effectively recommend such action. Accordingly,.
we find this individual not to be a supervisor, and we shall include
him in the unit.'
Accordingly, we find that the following employees constitute a unit
appropriate for the purpose of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's Rich-
mond, Virginia, plant, including shipping department employees,..
driver-salesmen, lead salesmen, and contact men, but excluding the-
regular summer employees, office clerical employees, professional em-
ployees, guards, and all supervisors as defined in the Act.
.[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
6 Norfolk Coca-Cola Bottling Works, Incorporated, 123 NLRB 641.
5 Belcher Towing Company, 122 NLRB 1019.
6 Norfolk Coca-Cola Bottling Works, Incorporated, supra.
7 ,The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, 119 NLRB 603,.606; Georg Jensen, Inc.,
and Fredrick Lunning, Inc., 94 NLRB 16, 18, and footnote 7.