Mission Pak Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 13, 1960

127 N.L.R.B. 1097 (N.L.R.B. 1960)

MISSION PAK COMPANY 1097
Mission Pak Company and Allied Industrial Workers Local
976, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case No. 21-RC-616. June 13,
1960
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before David S. Reisman, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The Petitioner and the Intervenor, Bakery and Confectionery
Workers, Local 400, are labor organizations who claim to represent
certain employees of the Employer.
3. No 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, for the following
reasons:
The Employer is engaged in the business of packing and selling
dried fruit gift packages. Throughout the year, it operates with a
permanent force of some 50 workers. It does 97.6 percent of its busi-
ness at Christmastime, and beginning with mid-October begins hiring
seasonal employees until the end of the year. For the 1959 season, the
Employer hired between 800 and 1,000 such workers, whose average
employment period was from 2 to 4 weeks. The seasonal employees
are, in the main, housewives who wish to earn extra Christmas money.
The workers hired during the season do the same type of work as the
permanent force performs during the remainder of the year; that is,
cleaning, sorting, and packing fruit. The regular employees are paid
at a higher rate than the seasonal workers, and the latter do not receive
insurance, health, welfare, vacation, or other benefits granted to the
former.
The Employer and the Intervenor contend that the unit appropriate
for collective-bargaining purposes should be limited to the permanent.
year-round employees.' The Petitioner urges that the appropriate
unit should include all production and maintenance employees, both
permanent and seasonal.
Under established Board policy, these seasonals are casual employ-
ees, who do not have a sufficient community of interest to warrant their
inclusion in a unit with the permanent employees 2 Accordingly, the-
The Intervenor further urged that the petition should be dismissed on the ground that
it is barred by its contract As we are dismissing the petition on other grounds, we find
it unnecessary to consider this contention.
2 Wilshire Manufacturing Company , 115 NLRB 1499, 1501, 1502; F. W. Woolworth
Company, 119 NLRB 480, 484; Montgomery Ward & Company , 110 NLRB 256, 258.
127 NLRB No. 147.
1098 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
'appropriate unit would consist solely of the permanent employees.
However, we are administratively satisfied that the Petitioner does
not have an adequate showing of interest in that unit. Therefore, we
.-shall dismiss the petition.
[The Board dismissed the petition.]
CHAIRMAN LEEDOM took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Order.
Cook Paint and Varnish Company 1 and District No. 50, United
Mine Workers of America, Petitioner. Case No. 33-IBC-1490.
June 14, 1960
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before C. L. Stephen, hearing officer.
'The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju-
dicial 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 [Members Rodgers, Jenkins, and Fanning].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim 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.
The Employer and the Intervenor, Brotherhood of Painters, Deco-
rators and Paperhangers of America, Paint Makers Local Union No.
1523, AFL-CIO,a contend that the existing collective-bargaining con-
tract between the Intervenor and the Employer effective June 1, 1957,
up to and including May 31, 1960, constitutes a bar to these
proceedings.
This contention is denied. A contract having a fixed term, as in
this instance 3 years, operates as a bar only for as much of its term
as does not exceed 2 years.' As the petition was filed subsequent to
the end of this 2-year period, we find that the petition was timely filed
and that the contract does not constitute a bar to these proceedings.
'The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing.
2 Intervenor was permitted to intervene on the basis of its contractual interest.
3 Pacific Coast Association of Pulp and Paper Manufacturers , 121 NLRB 990, 992.
127 NLRB No. 150.