Pepeekeo Sugar Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 12, 1945

59 N.L.R.B. 1532 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter Of PEPEEKEO SUGAR COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL
LONGSHOREMEN'S & WAREHOUSEMEN'S UNION, LOCAL 142, UNIT 1,
C. I. O.
In the Vatter Of OLAA SUGAR COMPANY, LIMITED and INTERNATIONAL
LONGSHOREMEN'S & W`''AREHOUSEMEN'S UNION, LOCAL 142, UNIT 3,
C.I.O. A
In the Matter Of HAWAIIAN AGRICULTURAL COMPANY and INTERNA-
TIONAL LONGSHOREMEN'S & WAREHOUSEMEN'S UNION, LOCAL 141,
UNIT 1, C. I. O.
In the Matter of HAMAKUA MILL COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL
LONGSHOREMEN'S & WAREHOUSEMEN'S UNION, LOCAL 143, UNIT 1,
C. 1. 0.
In the Matter of KAIWIKI SUGAR COMPANY, LIMITED and INTERNA-
TIONAL LONGSITOREDTEN'S & WAREHOUSMEN'S UNION,. LOCAL 143,
UNIT 2, C. 1. 0.
In the Matter Of HUTCIIINSON SUGAR PLANTATION COMPANY and
INTERNATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN'S & WAREHOUSEMEN'S UNION, LOCAL
141, UNIT 2, C. I. O.
In the Matter of ONOMEA SUGAR COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL LONG-
SHOREMEN'S & WAREHOUSEMEN'S UNION, LOCAL 142, UNIT 4, C. I. O.
In the Matter of HILO SUGAR COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL LONG-
SHOREMEN'S & WAREHOUSEMEN'S UNION, LOCAL 142, UNIT 2, C. I. O.
In the Matter Of PAAUHAU SUGAR PLANTATION COMPANY and INTER-
NATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN'S & WAREHOUSEMEN'S UNION, LOCAL 143,
UNIT 3, C. I. O.
In the Matter of KOHALA SUGAR COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL
LONGSHOREMEN'S & WAREHOUSEMEN'S UNION, C. I. O.
In the Matter of HONOKAA SUGAR COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL LONG-
SHOREMEN 'S & WAREHOUSEMEN'S UNION, LOCAL 143, UNIT 4, C. I. O.
Cases Nos . 23-R-14, 23-R-16, 23-R-17, 23-R-19, P3-R-,23, 23-R-27,
23-R-28 , and 23-R-2 to 23-R-35.-Decided January 1 1,2, 1945
Mr. Ryburn Hackler, for the Board.
Mr. C. W. Carlsmith, of Hilo, Hawaii, Mr. Montgomery E. Winn,
of Honolulu , Hawaii, Vesey , Wheeler , Poole & Prince , by Messrs.
Rufus G. Poole , and George F. Hirmon, of Washington , D. C., for the
Companies.
59 N. L . R. B., No. 282.
1532
PEPEEKEO SUGAR COMPANY 1533
Messrs. Jack W. Hall, Bert H. Nakano, and Yasuki Arakaki, of Hilo,
Hawaii, Mr. Martin Raphael and Miss Harriet Bouslog, of Washing-
ton, D. C., for the CIO.
Mr. John A. Owens, of Honolulu, Hawaii, for the AFL.
Mr. Bernard Goldberg, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon separate petitions duly filed by various locals of International
Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union, C. I. 0., herein called the
CIO, alleging that questions affecting commerce had arisen concern-
ing the representation of employees of Pepeekeo Sugar Company, Olaa
Sugar Company, Limited, Hawaiian Agricultural Company, Hamakua,
Mill Company, Kaiwiki Sugar Company, Limited, Hutchinson Sugar
Plantation Company, Onomea Sugar Company, Hilo Sugar Company,
Paauhau Sugar Plantation Company, Kohala Sugar Company, and
Honokaa Sugar Company, all of Hawaii, Territory of Hawaii, herein
collectively called the Companies, the National Labor Relations Board
consolidated the cases and provided for an appropriate hearing upon
due notice before Peter F. Ward, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was
held at Hilo and Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, on August 29, 31,
September 12, 14, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, October 5, and 9, 1944.
The Companies, the CIO, and the Sugar Workers Union, Local 23712,
A. F. L., herein called the AFL, appeared and participated. All
parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and
cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing 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. Oral argu-
ment before the Board in Washington, D. C., was heard on December
19, 1944. The motion made by the Companies subsequent to the oral
argument that its "Analysis of Record" be incorporated in the record
is hereby granted. Such "Analysis" is received not as evidence, how-
ever, but as in the nature of a supplemental brief.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANIES
Each of the Companies involved in this proceeding is a corporation
engaged in the growing and processing of sugar cane. The following
1534 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
table shows for each of the Companies, the place of incorporation,
the amount and value of raw sugar and molasses produced during
the 1943 fiscal year, and the value of supplies and machinery purchased
during the same period.
Name of company Place of incorpora -tion
Tons of
raw sugar
produced
Approxi-
mate value
Tons of
molasses
produced
Approxi-
mate
value
Approxi-
mate
alue of
purchases
PepeekeoSugar Company ---- Hawaii ------------ 13,182 $973 , 715 4,563 $49,229 $253,891
Olaa Sugar Company , Lim - _ 40,292 3, 258,318 14,828 181 , 986 982,415
ited.
Hawaiian Agricultural Com- _ 646 2, 005,132 9, 626 80, 460 553,245
pang.
HamakuaMillCompany _-___ _____ do___--__-_-__ 0, 825 1 , 705,536 7,100 59,509 605,435
Kaiwiki Sugar Company, ----- do------------ 13, 236 1 , 299,530 4,798 53,290 355,565
Limited.
Hutchinson Sugar Plantation California--------- 13,564 967, 454 3, 661 22,894 308,384
Company.
Onomea Sugar Company ----- Hawaii------------ 22,,073 1,875,530 7, 355 79,837 380,117
Hilo Sugar Company --------- ----- do------------ 22, 415 1 , 866,974 8,619 97, 202 319,307
Paauhau Sugar Plantation California--------- 13,472 1 , 149, 010 4, 275 38, 315 254,983
Company.
Honokaa Sugar Company... Hawaii - ----------- 15,416 1,079, 120 4 , 500 50, 521 386,223
KohalaSugar Company ------ ----- do ------------ 40, 319 3,077,249 8 , 141 81 , 411 848,500
Substantially all of the raw sugar and molasses produced was
shipped to the mainland of the United States for refining. Part of the
supplies purchased by the Companies was bought in the United States
or other places outside the Territory of Hawaii and transported to the
Territory of Hawaii.
We find that the Companies are engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Locals 141, 142, and 143, International Longshoremen's & Ware-
housemen's Union, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organiza-
tions, are labor organizations admitting to membership employees of
the Companies.
Sugar Workers Union, Local 23712, affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, is a labor organization admitting to member-
ship employees of the Companies.
III. THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Companies have refused to recognize either the CIO or the
AFL as the bargaining representative of their employees, claiming
that all of their employees are agricultural laborers within the mean-
ing of Section 2 (3) of the Act and therefore exempt from its coverage.
A statement of the Regional Director, introduced into evidence at
PEPEEKEO SUGAR COMPANY 1535
the hearing, indicates that the CIO represents substantial numbers of
employees in the units claimed by the CIO to be appropriate.'
We find that questions affecting commerce have arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Companies, within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE EMPLOYEES WITHIN THE MEANING OF SECTION 2 (3) OF THE ACT
Each of the plantations involved in this proceeding is owned by a
heavily capitalized corporation, comprises thousands of acres of land,
employs hundreds of persons, and has total annual purchases and sales
aggregating more than $1,000,000. Sugar plantations in Hawaii are
complex, highly mechanized, carefully organized and operated large
scale business enterprises. The diversity of operations and the closely
integrated character of the plantation system is most clearly mani-
fested by the wide range of activities performed on the typical sugar
plantation. For purposes of convenience, these activities may be
.grouped under the following headings :
(a) Activities admittedly agricultural. These include the prepara-
tion of the land for planting, planting, cultivating, fertilizing, irri-
gating, and harvesting of sugar cane.
(b) Transportation. Harvested cane is transported from the fields
to the processing mill by (1) permanent railroads which run from the
edge of the cane fields to the processing mill yard, (2) permanent
flumes through which swiftly flowing water floats the cane to the proc-
essing plant, (3) motor trucks used to haul the cut cane directly to the
processing mill, to the main railroad lines, or to the main flume. Port-
able flumes and portable tracks laid in the fields during harvest time
are in some cases employed to haul the cane from the fields to the main
railroad or flume.
The following is a tubular summary of the CIO's showing of interest in each of the
cases as reported by the Regional Director in his "Report on Investigation of Interest of
Contending Labor Organizations ." All proof of representation was made in the form of
application for membership cards.
Name of company Case No. Numberin unit
Number
of desig- Date of designations
nations
Pepeekeo Sugar Company _____________ 23-R-14 101 55 Feb. to Aug. 1944.
Olaa Sugar Company , Limited --------- 23-R-16 490 394 Feb. to Sept. 1944,
Hawaiian Agricultural Company ____-_ 23-R-17 230 212 Feb. to Sept. 1944.
Hamakna Mill Company ------------- 23-R-19 14e 60 Mar. to Apr. 1944.
Raiwik! Sugar Comnanv Limited_____ 23-R-23 •102 66 May to Sept. 1944.
Hutchinson Sugar Plantation Company_ 23-R-27 198 154 June to Sept. 1941.
Onomea Sugar Company ____-___-_-___ 23-R-28 200 141, Marto Sept. 1944.
Hilo Sugar Company __________________ 23-R-32 149 82 Jan. to Sept. 1944.
Paauhau Sugar Plantation Company.- 23-R-33 128 99 Feb. to Sept. 1944.
Kohala Sugar Company ------ __-_-__- 23-R-34 379 230 May to Sept. 1944.
Honokaa Sugar Company -------------- 23-R-35 206 123 Aug. to Sept. 1914.
The Regional Director further reported that the AFL submitted an undated petition containing the
names of 95 persons in Case No. 23-R-35, Matter of Honokaa Sugar Company.
618683-45-vol. 59-98
1536 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
(c) Processing mill. The cut cane is transported to the processing
plant yard where it is unloaded, weighed when necessary, and then
carried on mechanical conveyors to a large barn-like building where
take place the various steps in the conversion of sugar cane. into raw
sugar. As the cane is carried along the mechanical conveyor it passes
under a series of flailing, knives which chop the stalks into a coarse
shredded mass which then passes through a crusher and a series of
rollers to press the juice from the cane. This juice is clarified by
mixing it with a solution of milk of lime and heating it to the boiling
point to arrest fermentation; it is then piped to settling tanks where
clear juice is drawn off. Excess water is driven off by boiling, and
the syrup obtained is then further boiled under high vacuum until a
product called "massecuite," which consists of crystallized sugar and
molasses is secured. After more boiling, the "massecuite" is run into
centrifugal machines where the molasses is flung off, leaving hard, dry,
sugar crystals-raw sugar, which is then conveyed to bins and there
bagged, weighed and transported to a warehouse for ultimate loading
onto trucks or railroad cars.
(d) Repair, maintenance, and new construction. Each plantation
has extensive repair facilities for keeping in condition buildings, agri-
cultural and other machinery, transportation equipment, and roads.
Crews are also engaged either full or part time in constructing new
roads, buildings, equipment, and facilities throughout the plantation.'
On each plantation there is a steam generating plant to supply energy
to drive plant machinery, to turn electric generators, and to furnish
heat for boiling and evaporating cane juice.
(e) Miscellaneous facilities. The typical plantation has a general
office where a staff of office employees keeps the accounts, makes up the
pay rolls, and handles general administrative work; a personnel de-
partment; company stores where general merchandise is sold; and a
medical department employing a full or part-time doctor and one or
more nurses. The Companies also maintain camps where their em-
ployees live. To keep these camps in condition, they employ camp
o-cleaners who cut and mow lawns, collect and dispose of garbage, trap
rodents and in general attend to the appearance and sanitation of the
camps. Two of the plantations also have small dairy ranches from
-which they sell dairy products and meat to their employees. Board-
ing houses, cafeterias, and coffee shops are operated by the plantations
in some cases.'
2 At the present time about the only new construction carried out is in connection with
road building.
3 The job titles of some of the employees engaged - in transportation , processing , repair,
maintenance and construction activities include the following : locomotive engineer, coh-
ductor , brakeman , locomotive fireman, yard engineer, yard brakeman , truck driver, strainer
tender, mill tender , engine tender, engine oiler, fireman, ashman , centrifugal tender, sugar
loader , night watchman, machinist, mechanic , welder, bricklayer , blacksmith , painter, car-
PEPEEKEO SUGAR COMPANY 1537
Section 2 (3) of the Act provides that the term "employee" shall
not include any individual employed as an "agricultural laborer."
The Companies contend, in effect, that they are engaged in agricul-
tural enterprises and that, therefore, all their employees, those en-
gaged in transportation, in the processing mill, in repair, maintenance
and construction activities, as well as those engaged in planting, cul-
tivating and harvesting are agricultural laborers and hence exempted
from coverage of the Act. The CIO, on the other hand, maintains
that the term "agricultural laborer" covers only those employees en-
gaged in field work, including those who load the harvested cane onto
the initial means of transporting the cane from the fields to the proc-
essing mill. All other employees, it asserts, are covered by and en-
titled to the protection of the Act.
Although the term "agricultural laborer" is not defined in the Act,
its meaning is not obscure. The guidepost is the ordinary meaning of
the phrase, that stemming from common usage and common under-
standing.4 The term "agricultural laborer," as commonly under-
stood, refers to a person employed on a farm in the cultivation of the
soil, including the harvesting of crops and the rearing and manage-
ment of livestock. Only confusion results. from an extension of the
meaning of the phrase "agricultural laborer" beyond its customary
sense. If the Companies' argument were accepted, some anomalous
conclusions would result : e. g., locomotive engineers, conductors,
brakemen, engine oilers, machinists, welders, bricklayers, service sta-
tion attendants, toolroom attendants, and stockroom clerks employed
by the Companies would perforce become agricultural laborers. There
is nothing in the Act itself or in the congressional reports and debates
preceding its enactment to indicate that Congress in excluding agri-
,cultural laborers from coverage of the Act intended so broad an inter-
pretation. The exclusions listed in Section 2 (3) of the Act are occu-
pational exclusions, determined by the nature of the work performed
by the employee on a farm.5 The test is not whether the various activi-
ties are considered part of a single enterprise and controlled by the
same management, or whether the employee is engaged in handling
products grown on a farm, but the essential character of the work
performed by the individual employee. Thus, the Board has held
that employees engaged in sorting and packing fresh fruits and vege-
tables whether in the packing shed of a dealer, a cooperative marketing
penter, service station attendant, battery man, tire man, stockroom clerk, toolroom attend-
ant, garbage truck driver, rat catcher, sales clerk, road construction man, power shovel
operator, and dump truck driver.
4 North Whittier Heights Citrus Association v. N. L. R. B., 109 F. (2d) 76, 80 (C. C. A. 9)
enf'g Matter of North Whittier Heights Citrus Association, 10 N. L. R. B. 1269.
5Matter of Saticoy Lemon Association, 41 N. L. R. B. 243; Matter of Stark Brothers
.Nurseries and Orchards Company, 40 N. L. R. B. 1243.
1538 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
association, or of the grower himself; 6 machine shop employees on
a hop ranch, engaged in repairing various types of agricultural and
ranching equipment and in constructing hop picking machines; 7 em-
ployees in the processing plant of a company engaged in growing,
purchasing, processing, and selling plant seeds; 8 bottlers in the dairy
of a large dairy ranch ; 9 sorters employed by dealers to sort potatoes
in the dealers' warehouses and in the cellars of growers notwithstand-
ing the fact that the farmer grower reimbursed the dealer for the
wages paid the sorters,10 are not agricultural laborers. And in two
proceedings involving a corporation engaged in the cultivation of
sugar cane , the transportation thereof to processing mills, the milling
of sugar cane, the refining of raw sugar, and the processing of various
byproducts, the Board found appropriate a production and mainte-
nance unit at one of its processing plants including sugar boilers,
ground and yard employees, employees on a narrow gauge railroad
used in the harvest season to transport cane from the Company's
fields to the processing mill, electric truck operators, longshoremen,
etc. but excluding agricultural employees, among others. 11 All of
the foregoing employees, though working on a farm or in close connec-
tion with farming operations and performing tasks which in a simpler
state of agricultural economy were performed by the farmer himself
or his hired hand, the Board found, had by the process of specializa-
tion lost their character as agricultural laborers and had become
primarily industrial workers.12
We are not unmindful of the fact that a somewhat broader defini-
tion of the term "agricultural laborer" than here indicated has some-
times been given by the courts and administrative agencies in
construing other statutes. But as pointed out by the court in the
North Whittier case, such other definitions "have grown out of special
statutory phraseology or out of judicial effort to conform to legislative
intent." 13 On the other hand, in a series of cases requiring the inter-
pretation of the exemption granted to employees "employed in agri-
culture" under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U. S. C.
§ 213), the Circuit Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has held
0 Matter of North Whittier Heights Citrus Association, supra ; Matter of John W.
Campbell , Inc., 58 N. L. R. B . 1153 : Matter of Antonio Tomasello, 46 N. L . R. B. 375 ;
Matter of Grower-Shipper Vegetable Association of Central California , 43 N. L . R. B. 1389;
Matter of Jameson Company , 25 N. L. R. B. 64 ; Matter of George G. Averill , et al.. 13
N. L. R. B. 411 ; Matter of American Fruit Growers, Inc., 10 N. L. R. B. 316.
7 Matter of F. Clement Horst Compa ny, 23 N. L. R. B. 1193.
N Matter of Newday Seeds, Inc., 55 N. L. R. B. 1049.
9 Matter of Hind-Clarke Dairy, 58 N. L. R. B. 99.
10 Matter of Idaho Potato Growers, Inc., 48 N. L. R. B . 1084 . enf'd Idaho Potato Growers,
Inc. v. N. L. R. B., 144 F. (2d) 295 (C. C. A. 9) cert. denied 65 S. Ct. 122 ; Matter of
J. H. Simplot , et al., 55 N . L. R. B. 1228.
11 Matter of Godchaux Sugars, Inc., 26 N . L. R. B. 33 and 36 N. L . R. B. 926.
12 Idaho Potato Growers, Inc., v. N . L. R. B., supra.
11 North Whittier Heights Citrus Association v. N. L. R. B., 109 F . ( 2d) 76, 79
(C. C. A. 9).
PEPEEKEO SUGAR COMPANY 1539
that employees on sugar plantations in Puerto Rico engaged in the
sugar processing mills, in the operation of transportation facilities,
and ill the repair and maintenance of transportation and mill equip-
ment were not "employed in agriculture"; only those employees en
gaged in planting, cultivating, and harvesting of sugar cane were
held to be exempt under that Act.14 In Calaf v. Gonzalez,'-' the Court
used very pertinent language in disposing of contentions similar to
those raised in the instant proceeding : "The mere fact that in this
case the owners of the farms are also the owners of the mills and the
transportation facilities does not make transportation an incident to
farming. The issue, therefore, is not whether the same owners man-
age and control the mill, the farms, and the transportation system,
but rather whether transportation is incident to farming or incident
to milling, an operation specifically within the purview of the Act."
It should be noted that the Court arrived at this conclusion despite
the extremely broad definition of "agriculture" contained in the Fair
Labor Standards Act.16
We find that only the employees of the Companies engaged in the
following operations are agricultural laborers within the meaning
of Section 2 (3) of the Act:
(1) Preparation of the land for planting, planting, cultivating,
fertilizing, irrigating, harvesting, including the loading by hand or by
crane of the cut cane onto the initial means of transporting the cane
from the fields, and the care of animals.'7
(2) On the diary ranch of the Hutchinson Sugar Plantation :
milkers, cowboys, man in charge of calving cows, calves and bulls, but
not the milk room attendant, or milk delivery man.18
(3) On the dairy ranch of the Hawaiian Agricultural Company:
milkers, cowboys, horse breaker, pig lean, lantana man, but not the
delivery boy or the bottle washer.ls
We find that all other employees of. the Companies including field
scalers, pump tenders, shoeing blacksmiths, employees engaged in the
operation of transportation facilities including railroads, trucks,
flumes, sleds , portable tracks and portable flumes, employees engaged
". Bowie v. Gonzalez, 117 F. (2d) 11, 19; Gonzalez v. Bowie, 123 F . (2d) 387; Calaf V.
Gonzalez , 127 F. ( 2d) 934.
15 Footnote 14, supra, at p. 937.
16 Section 203 defines that term to include farming in all its branches including "any
practices . . . performed by a farmer or on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction
with such farming operations, including preparation for market, delivery to storage or to
market or to carriers for transportation to market."
14 This classification corresponds generally with the different methods of compensating
field workers and other employees used by the Companies. The former are paid on a
short-term contract or long-term contract basis with the amount of their earnings deter-
wined either by the volume of work performed or the yield of cane from the fields on which
they work ; for other employees hourly, daily, or monthly payment systems are Used.
38 Matter of Hind - Clarke Dairy, 58 N. L. It. B. 99.
19 See footnote 18, supra.
1540 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
in repair, maintenance and new construction including road construe-
tion and repair, employees engaged in and about the processing mills,
camp cleaners, store employees, general office employees, medical de-
partment and personnel department employees perform non-agricul-
tural duties, and hence are covered by the Act.
The evidence indicates that some of the employees divide their time.
between strictly agricultural pursuits and those that are not agri-
cultural. For example, the railroad section gang on one plantation-
spend two-thirds of their time repairing and maintaining the rail-
road lines, and the other one-third in harvesting work. In another
case, employees on a dairy ranch spend half of their time in the plan-
tation slaughter house assisting the butcher foreman, and the other
half as cowboys or farm hands on the ranch. The Companies in their
supplemental brief have raised the question as to the proper classifi-
cation of such employees. Insofar as an employee is engaged in opera-
tions which have been defined herein as agricultural, he is an
"agricultural laborer" and hence excluded from operation of the Act..
However, when such an employee works at non-agricultural employ-
ment, he is an "employee" within the meaning of the At and therefore
entitled to its benefits. As an "agricultural laborer" he is, of course,,
excluded from any unit herein found appropriate, but as an ordinary
employee performing non-agricultural duties he is included in such
unit and may be represented by a union with respect to that part of
his work which is not agricultural in character. Accordingly, all em-
ployees dividing their time between agricultural and non-agricultural
employment are deemed to be included within the appropriate units
and either union, if successful, is authorized to bargain for such
employees with respect to that part of their activities which are not
agricultural in character.20
V. TIIE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The CIO urges that in each case a single uht' comprising all non-
agricultural employees, excluding executive, administrative, office, cler-
ical, accounting, personnel, and medical employees, timekeepers, sur-
veyors, the supervisory employees listed in Appendix A and attached
hereto, and any other supervisory employees be found appropriate.
In the alternative, the CIO suggests the establishment of two separate
bargaining units : (1) all employees engaged in processing, transporta-
tion, repair, maintenance and construction work, excluding the same
employees omitted in the preferred unit; (2) those employees working
in and about the camps where the employees live such as the camp
cleaners, store employes, butcher shop employees, milk room attendants,
20 Matter of Newday Seeds, Inc., 55 N. L. It. B. 1049-; Matter of H. J. Heinz Company,
49 N. L. R. B. 573.
PEPEEKEO SUGAR COMPANY 1541
milk delivery men, milk bottlers, boarding house and cafeteria
employees, and any other personal service employees, excluding
supervisory personnel listed in Appendix A. At the hearing, the
Companies took no definite position with respect to either the appro-
priateness of any unit or the specific composition thereof. The sole dis-
agreement between the parties pertained to the supervisory status of
certain employees discussed hereinafter. In their supplemental brief,
however, the Companies contend (1) that the evidence in the record
is inadequate and the units sought by the CIO so poorly defined as
to be incapable of definition; (2) that the unit or units sought by the
CIO -are inappropriate. We do not agree that the record is so deficient
or the units sought so vague as to require either the dismissal of the
petitions or the reopening of the record for the admission of additional
evidence. While the single unit sought by the CIO is inappropriate
because of the inclusion of store and similar employees in a production
and maintenance unit,21 the alternative units suggested follow well
established bargaining precedents. Unit (1) is the ordinary produc-
tion and maintenance unit frequently found appropriate by the
Board'22 and unit '(2) is the type of residual unit covering employees
not immediately connected with the production processes often found
appropriate as a supplement to a more homogeneously defined unit.23
We are of the opinion that the two alternative units sought by the CIO
are appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
in their supplemental brief, the Companies itemize a large number
of individual cases in which they claim that the record is defective.
Most of the instances cited relate to employees who divide their time
between agricultural and non-agricultural activities and whose status
was discussed in Section IV, supra, and to employees who allegedly
may be supervisory employees. Concerning the latter contention, it
is sufficient to point out that the parties in each case stipulated as to
the categories of employees who are supervisory employees within the
Board's definition, and as to those employees whose supervisory status
is disputed. The status of the latter is' discussed hereinafter.
Disputed categories of supervisory employees at Olaa Sugar'Compaigl,
Limited
Garage bookkeeper. This employee is in charge of the garage office
and has four other employees acting under his orders ; they are an
assistant bookkeeper, a timekeeper, and two stock clerks. He is in
charge of inventories, the making of reports for the head office, the
21 Matter of Potlatch Forests, Inc ., 52 N. L. It, B. 1377.
22 See Matter of Potlatch Forests, Inc., 52 N. L. R . B. 1377.; Matter of Godchaux Sugars,
Inc., 26 N. L. R. B. 33, and 36 N. L. R. B. 926.
23 Matter of General Electric Company , 54 N. L. R. B. 1299.
1542 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ordering and issuance of parts needed for repairs, the maintenance
of records of supplies, etc. The garage bookkeeper's position is one
of considerable responsibility for which he is remunerated at the rate
of $130 per month; the highest salary of any of his subordinates is
$75 per month. Although there has been little occasion for the exercise
of supervisory functions during his tenure, we are satisfied, on the
basis of the record, that the garage bookkeeper has the power to make
effective recommendations respecting the status of his subordinates,
and accordingly, find him to be a supervisory employee within the
Board's customary definition. We shall exclude him from the unit.
head blaclsmith. The principal difference in the duties of the so-
called head blacksmith and other blacksmiths is that the former is
assigned to more difficult, blacksmithing work. The evidence does not
show that he exercises the authority of a supervisory employee. We
find that the head blacksmith is not a supervisory employee and we
shall include him in the unit.
Head warehouseman. This employee works in the -mill warehouse
where repair parts for mill machinery and -some building material are
stored. He is assisted by two subordinates who act as stock clerks.
It does not appear that he exercises the customary attributes of super-
visory power with respect to his assistants, and we shall, therefore,
include him in the unit.
Cane carrier leanas.24 These employees are in charge of crews of
seven men engaged in transferring the cane from the cane cars to the
cane carriers. They substitute for their men during the absence of
any of the latter, operate strainers, and make machinery repairs or ad-
justments when necessary. Their compensation is at the rate of $2.40
per day, while the members of their gangs receive $2.24 per day. Al-
though it is contended that the cane carrier lunas have supervisory
authority, the record is clear that the lunas have never been apprised
of such authority by the management and.that they have not in fact
exercised any such authority. We find that the cane carrier lunas
are not supervisory employees within the Board's customary definition
thereof and we shall include them in the unit.
. Sugar room Tunas. These employees are in charge of crews of about
eight men working in the sugar room. They receive $2.48 per day,
while their subordinates receive either $2.24, or $2.40 per day. The
powers of the sugar room lunas with respect to their subordinates are
analagous to those of the cane carrier lunas, whom we have included
in the unit. We find that the sugar room lunas are not supervisory
employees and shall include them in the unit.
24 "Luna" is a Hawaiian word used to describe a person having authority. The nearest
English equivalent is "boss" or "strawboss."
PEPEEKEO SUGAR COMPANY 1543
Disputed categories of supervisory employees at other plantations
The parties stipulated that sugar room lunas at Onomea Sugar
Company, and flume switch foremen at Hilo Sugar Company, have
the same authority as the sugar room lunas and cane carriers lunas,.
respectively, at Olaa Sugar Company. In accordance with the stipu-
lation of the parties, we find that the sugar room lunas at Onomea_
Sugar Company and the flume switch foremen at Hilo Sugar Com-
pany are not supervisory employees ; we shall include them in the
unit.
The CIO generally requests the exclusion of office, clerical, and
accounting employees from the units. In accordance with our usual-
practice, we shall exclude only those clerical and accounting em-
ployees working in the general offices ; we shall include, however,.
plant clerical employees, i. e., clerical employees working along with.
and under the same supervision as non-clerical employees, in the same-
unit with such non-clerical employees .2-1
We find that in the case of each company the following units, ex-
cluding all supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote,,
discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of
employees or effectively recommend such action, are appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section-
9 (b) of the Act:
(1) All production and maintenance employees, including: (a) all
employees engaged in transportation, including portable flume and.
portable track men, flume watchmen, cane and other truck drivers and.
their helpers, railroad employees, sled drivers, and cane unloaders and.
loaders at the transfer points; (b) all employees engaged in and about
the processing mill and mill yard, including such operations as scaling,.
loading, unloading, washing, handling, cleaning, grinding, heating,.
liming, clarification, filtration, evaporation graining, drying, bagging,,
sewing, shipping, warehousing and delivery, molasses handling, and
chemical control, and including all employees engaged in steam and
power production, cane carrier lunas,26 sugar room lunas,27 flume
switch foremen,28 yardmen, watchmen, boiling house oilers, utility
men, and flume switchmen; (c) all employees engaged in repair,
maintenance and new construction, including machinists, mechanics,
welders, bricklayers, masons, carpenters of all kinds, blacksmiths,
head blacksmith,29 shoeing blacksmiths, tinsmiths, oilers, electricians,
22 Matter of Chicago Rawhide Manufacturin g Company, 59 N. L. It. B. 1234 ; Matter
of Goodman Manufacturing Company , 58 N. L. It. B. 531 ; Matter of Servel, Inc., 58
N. L. It. B . 5 ; Matter of Proximity Manufacturing Company , 56 N. L. It. B. 264.
20 At Olaa Sugar Company, Limited.
27 At Olaa Sugar Company, Limited , and Onomea Sugar Company.
28 At Hilo Sugar Company.
20 At Olaa Sugar Company , Limited.
1544 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
sweepers, watchmen, utility men, painters, plumbers, service station
attendants, battery men, tire men, field lubricators, sawmill attendants,
railroad section gangs, road maintenance cantoneers, road construc-
tion gangs, quarry gangs, power shovel operators, and scraper opera-
tors; (d) field scalers, plant clerical employees, warehouse employees,
head warehouseman,30 pump tenders, and hydroelectric plant em-
ployees; but excluding all agricultural employees as defined in Section
IV, above, garage bookkeeper,3' executives, general office clerical em-
ployees, accounting department employees, personnel department em-
ployees, medical department employees, timekeepers, surveyors,
engineers, employees engaged in research work, draftsmen, employees
of the macadamian nut factory,32 all employees listed in Appendix A
attached hereto and all employees included in unit (2) described
below.
(2) All camp cleaners, including yardmen, garbage truck drivers
and their helpers, cart drivers, rat catchers, and wood cutters; all
store and butcher shop employees, including sales clerks, store office
clerks, store bookkeepers, store warehouse clerks and store delivery
men; cafeteria, boarding house and coffee shop employees; milk room
attendant, bottle washer and milk delivery men on dairy ranches ; but
excluding agricultural employees as defined in Section IV, above,
all employees listed in Appendix A attached hereto, general office
clerical employees, accounting department employees, personnel de-
partment employees, medical department employees, and all employees
included in unit (1) above."
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the questions concerning representation which
have arisen be resolved by elections by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate units who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tions herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
As indicated in Section IV, above, some of the employees divide,
their time between agricultural and non-agricultural pursuits. While
all of such employees may be represented by the successful union in
respect to that part of their employment which is not agricultural,
only those employees who spend 50 percent or more of their time in
such non-agricultural employment have a sufficiently substantial in-
3° At Olaa Sugar Company, Limited.
31 At Olaa Sugar Compa.n.y, Limited.
11 At Honokaa Sugar Company.
33 The units here prescribed are more detailed than is required in any one particular case,
and sufficiently comprehensive to cover the employee situation in all cases. This procedure
has been adopted to avoid the necessity of prescribing 22 separate units which, except in
minor details, are essentially the same.
PEPEEKEO SUGAR COMPANY 1545
terest in the terms and conditions of employment to entitle them to
vote in the election. Accordingly, only those employees who spend at
least 50 percent of their time at non - agricultural employment within
.one of the units previously found appropriate shall be eligible to
-vote in the election to select a bargaining representative . for that unit.34
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations,
Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Pepeekeo Sugar
Company, Olaa Sugar Company, Limited, Hawaiian Agricultural
Company, Hamakua Mill Company, Kaiwiki Sugar Company, Lim-
ited, Hutchinson Sugar Plantation Company, Onomea Sugar Coin-
pany, Hilo Sugar Company, Paauhau Sugar Plantation Company,
Kohala Sugar Company, and Honokaa Sugar Company, all of Hawaii,
Territory of Hawaii , separate elections by secret ballot shall be con-
ducted as early as possible , but not later than sixty ( 60) days from
the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the
Regional Director for the Twenty-third Region, acting in this matter
as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article
III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations ; among the em-
ployees of each of the Companies in the units found appropriate in
Section V, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period im-
mediately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees
who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill
or on vacation or temporarily laid off , and including employees in the
armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person
:at the polls, but excluding any who have since quit or been discharged
for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of
the elections , to determine in Case No . 23-R-35, Matter of Honokaa
Sugar Company, whether they desire to be represented by Interna-
tional Longshoremen 's & Warehousemen 's Union, Local 143, Unit 4;
C. I. 0., or by Sugar Workers Union, Local 23712, A. F. L., or by
neither; and to determine in the other cases hereinafter designated
whether or not they desire to be represented by the following unions
for the purposes of collective bargaining:
(1) In Case No. 23-R-14, Matter of Pepeekeo Sugar Company, by
International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen 's Union, Local 142,
Unit 1, C. I. 0.;
$4 Matter of Swift and Company , 58 N. L. R. B. 657 ; Matter of Wadh a-m's Division
of Socony -Vacuum Oil Company , 54 N. L. It. B. 1165.
1546 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
(2) In Case No. 23-R-16, Matter of Olaa Sugar Company, Limited,
by International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union, Local 142,
Unit 3, C. 1 ' .0 . ;
(3) In Case No. 23-R-17, Matter of Hawaiian Agricultural Vom-
pany, by International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union, Lo-
cal 141, Unit 1, C. I. 0.;
(4) In Case No. 23-R-19, Matter of Hamakua Mill Company, by
International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union, Local 143,.
Unit 1, C. 1 .0 . ;
(5) In Case No. 23-R-23, Matter of Kaiwiki Sugar Company, Lim-
ited, by International Longshoremen's. & Warehousemen's Union, Lo-
cal 143, Unit 2, C. I. 0.;
(6) In Case No. 23-R-27, Matter of Hutchinson Sugar Plantation
Company, by International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union.,
Local 141, Unit 2, C. I. 0.;
(7) In Case No. 23-R-28, Matter of Onomea Sugar Company, by
International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union, Local 142,
Unit 4, C. 1 .0 . ;
(8) In Case No. 23-R-32, Matter of Hilo Sugar Company, by
International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union, Local 142,.
Unit 2, C. I. 0.;
(9) In Case No. 23-R-33, Matter of Paauhau Sugar Plantation
Company, by International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Un-
ion, Local 143,. Unit 3, C. I. 0.;
(10) In Case No. 23-R-34, Matter of Kokala Sugar Company, by
International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union. C. I. O.
APPENDIX A
OLAA SUGAR COMPANY, LIMITED
Manager
Assistant manager
Garage superintendent
Transportation superintendent
Head field blacksmith
Flume lunas
Road lunas
Assistant garage superintendent
Train dispatcher (assistant trans-
portation superintendent)
Section gang foremen
Flume carpenter foremen
Plant superintendent
Chief engineer
Head sugar boiler
Shift chemist
Chief electricians
Assistant plant engineer
Car carpenter foreman
Shift engineers
Assistant shift engineers
Shift sugar boilers
Store manager
Branch store manager
Store accountant
Carpenter foreman
Civil engineer
PEPEEKEO SUGAR COMPANY 1547
Manager
Head overseer
Field mechanical overseer
Garage foreman
Assistant garage foreman
Flume cane lunas
Flume carpenter lunas
Head warehouseman
Plant superintendent
Assistant engineer
Read sugar boiler
Manager
.Head overseer
'Garage superintendent
Transportation foreman
Road luna
Assistant garage superintendent
Flume carpenter foreman
Chief engineer
Head sugar boiler
Manager
Assistant manager
Transportation superintendent
Garage overseer
Flume Tunas
Head carpenter (house)
Head carpenter (flume)
Chief engineer
ONOMEA SUGAR COMPANY
Assistant sugar boiler
Chief electrician
Assistant electrician
Shift foremen
Erection foreman
Machine shop foreman
Store manager
Assistant store manager
Carpenter foreman
Mason foreman
Painter foreman
HILO SUGAR COMPANY
Shift chemist
Chief electrician
Assistant mill engineers
Shift foremen
Head warehouseman
Sugar boiler foreman
Carpenter foreman
Machine shop foreman
Painter shop foreman
PEPEEKEO SUGAR COMPANY
Sugar boiler
Shift engineers
Shift sugar boilers
Chief electrician
Store manager
Assistant garage superintendent
Plant repair foreman
HUTCHINSON SUGAR PLANTATION COMPANY
Manager
Head luna
Truck luna dispatcher
,Flume carpenter and
boss
Flume luna
Road gang luna
fire-break
Plant superintendent
Shift foreman
Laboratory luna
Machine shop' foreman
Electrician foreman
Welder shop foreman
Cane cleaning plant luna
1548 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Boiler room lung
Garage shop superintendent
Head carpenter
Assistant head carpenter
Painter foreman
Purchasing agent
Civil engineer
Store manager
Store bookkeeper
Honuapo branch store manager
Butcher foreman
Dairy foreman
KAIwIKI SUGAR COMPANY, LIMITED
Manager
Head overseer
Truck and tractor foreman
Garage supervisor
Assistant garage supervisor
Chief engineer
Assistant engineer
Engineer's shift foreman
Chief chemist and sugar boiler .
Assistant chemist and sugar boiler
Carpenter and painter foreman
Road construction foreman
Camp service supervisor
Store manager
Machine shop foreman
Chief electrician
HONOIcAA SUGAR COMPANY
Manager
Assistant manager
Head overseer
Garage superintendent
Garage foreman
Mechanical harvesting overseer
Railroad transportation foreman
Carpenter foreman
Flume carpenter foreman
Plant engineer
Assistant engineer
Head electrician
Shift foreman
Foreman, mechanical repairs
Machine shop foreman
Head sugar boiler-chemist
Shift sugar boilers
Store superintendent
Head store bookkeeper
Plikuihaele branch store manager
Warehouse foreman
Construction superintendent
Road gang lung
KOHALA SUGAR COMPANY
Manager
Truck foreman
Cane truck foreman
Railroad dispatcher
Railroad maintenance foreman
Sugar truck foreman
General mechanical superintend-
ent
Assistant plant superintendent in
charge of production
Chemist and sugar boiler
Shift sugar boilers
Laboratory clerk and foreman
Shift foremen
Fire room foreman
Machine shop foreman
Assistant machine shop foreman
Garage foreman
Assistant garage foreman
Outside repair foreman
Roundhouse foreman
Electricity and pump foreman
PEPEEKEO SUGAR COMPANY
Electric line and wiring. foreman
Blacksmith shop foreman
Warehouse superintendent
Camp overseers.
Civil engineer
Construction overseer
Construction superintendent
Carpenter shop foreman
Outside carpenter foreman
1549
Painter foreman
Assistant camp repair foreman
General merchandise and store
manager
Hawi store manager
Halaula store and coffee shop
manager
Store bookkeeper and cashier
HAMAKUA MILL COMPANY
Plantation manager
Assistant plantation manager
Truck and tractor foreman
Garage superintendent
Garage foreman
Plant superintendent
Head sugar boiler
Night sugar boiler
Night engineer
Head machinist
Warehouse foreman
Store manager
Branch store manager
Road superintendent
Grade foreman
Quarry foreman
Camp overseer and assistant per-
sonnel director
PAAUHAU SUGAR PLANTATION COMPANY
Manager
Head overseer
Garage superintendent
Garage foreman
Trucks, tractor luna
Head carpenter foreman
Plant superintendent
Chief engineer
Night engineer
Boiling house night luna
Boiling house day shift luna
Laboratory clerk and secretary
Machine shop foreman
Head electrician
Purchasing agent
Store manager
Store bookkeeper
Construction foreman
HAWAIIAN AGRICULTURAL COMPANY
Manager
Assistant manager
Garage superintendent
Flume lunas
Plant superintendent
Assistant engineer
Head shift sugar boiler
Shift sugar boilers
Chemist
Head electrician
Carpenter foreman
Road luna
Cane truck foreman
Sugar truck foreman
Laboratory clerk and foreman
Fireroom foreman
Machine shop foreman
Civil engineer
Head warehouseman
Dairy foreman