Paulus Bros. Packing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 7, 1945

62 N.L.R.B. 1171 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter Of PAULUS BROS. PACKING Co. and INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND
HELPERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 324, AFL
Case No. 19-R-1500,-Decided July 7, 1945
Mr. Ralph R. Bailey, of Portland, Oreg., for the Company.
Messrs. Green & Landye, by Mr. James Landye, of Portland, Oreg., for
the Union.
Mr. Jack Mantel, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by International Brotherhood of Teamsters,
Chauffeurs, Warehouseman and Helpers of America, Local 324, AFL,
herein called' the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had
arisen concerning the representation of employees of Paulus Bros. Pack-
ing Co., Salem, Oregon, herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Joseph D. Holmes, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at
Salem, Oregon, on April 25, 1945. The Company and the Union appeared
and participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard,
to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bear-
ing on the issues. 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:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Paulus Bros. Packing Co., an Oregon corporation, is engaged in the
processing and packing of fruit and vegetables in Salem, Oregon. During
62 N L. R. B., No. 151. -
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1172 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the year 1944, the Company's finished products were valued at approx-
imately $3,000,000, of which 95 percent was shipped to points outside
the State of Oregon. About 50 to 60 percent of the finished products is
sold to the United States Government.
The Company does not deny, and we find, that it is engaged in com-
merce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen
and Helpers of America, Local 324, affiliated with the American Federa-
tion of Labor, is a labor organization admitting to membership employees
of the Company.
III. THE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit comprised of the Company's warehousemen,
shipping and receiving clerks, loaders, truck helpers, labeling machine
operators, and working foremen, asserting that these employees consti-
tute a homogenous group, and that it has limited its organizational activi-
ties to them.' The Company claims that the unit sought is inappropriate,
and that an appropriate unit should include all of its employees on a
plant-wire basis.'
The Company's operations are carried on in seven different buildings
within the city of Salem, Oregon. In one, referred to as the cannery, the
raw fruits and vegetables are received, processed, and canned, and then
transferred to the others, referred to as the warehouses, where the canned
goods are labeled, procoated,' cased, loaded, and shipped. During the
busy season at the cannery, labeling is performed there, and some of the
• warehouse employees may be required to work as labeling crews at the
end of the cannery production line. In order to provide year-round em-
ployment for a nucleus of 35 to 40 keymen, during the slack season the
Company transfers many of such employees from the cannery to the ware-
houses, where they work on labeling and loading crews, repair machinery,
and perform general maintenance duties. The wage rates of all employees
are fixed in accordance with the amount of experience, skill, and manual
labor involved in each job, without regard to whether the work is per-
formed in the warehouses or the cannery. All employees who are included
in the unit sought by the Union are not employed solely at the ware-
houses, as receiving clerks work regularly at the cannery where they
1 The Union points to the failure of the Cannery Workers Union, AFL, to win an election in a
plant-wide unit held in 1942, and calls attention to the fact that a recent petition alleging a similar
unit to be appropriate, which was filed by the same union, was dismissed by the Regional Director
because of failure to present evidence of substantial representation.
The Company and the Union have a bargaining contract coveting truck drivers, a group which
is not in dispute.
3 Procoating is a process whereby cans are treated to prevent spoilage caused by salt water.
PAULUS BROS. PACKING CO. 1173
receive incoming shipments of raw fruits and vegetables, and, when
occasions arise, shipping clerks and loaders also work at the cannery.
Despite the physical separation of the cannery and the warehouses, the
record indicates that the integration and interrelation of the Company's
operations, coupled with substantial interchange of its employees, preclude
the establishment of a unit restricted to warehouse employees, much less
a unit which also includes several, but not all, workers at the cannery.
That a union has limited its organizational activities to an arbitrary
grouping of employees does not justify the creation of a separate bar-
gaining unit for such workers, where, as here, they are but an integral
part of a larger appropriate unit.' Accordingly, we find that the unit pro-
posed by the Union is inappropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining, and we shall dismiss the petition filed herein.'
III. THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Since the bargaining unit sought to be established by the petition is
inappropriate, as stated in Section III, above, we find that no question has
arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Company, within
the meaning of Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, and the entire record in
this proceeding, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that
the petition for certification of representatives of employees of Paulus
Bros. Packing Co., Salem, Oregon, filed by International Brotherhood
of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, Local
324, AFL, be, and it is hereby dismissed.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above Deci-
sion and Order.
4 Moreover , the record indicates that collective bargaining in the canning industry in Salem,
Oregon, and the Pacific Northwest has been conducted on a plant -wide basis
6 See Matter of California Packing Company , 59 N. L . R. B. 941 , Matter of Libby, McNeil! &
Libby, 59 N L. R. B. 864, and Matter of Eugene Fruit Growers Association , 51 N L R B 835
wherein we found plant -wide units to he appropriate in the Pacific Northwest canning industry