Piedmont Leaf Tobacco Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 6, 1949

83 N.L.R.B. 1148 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of PIEDMONT LEAF TOBACCO COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
UNITED TRANSPORT SERVICE EMPLOYEES, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 34-RC-124.-Decided June 6, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Howard A.
McIntyre, hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board. 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Gray].
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
2..The labor organization named below claims to represent certain
employees of the Employer.-
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation
of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The following employees of the Employer constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's Win-
ston-Salem, North Carolina, plant, excluding all office and clerical
employees, tobacco buyers, truck drivers, mechanics, and all guards,
professional employees, and supervisors, as defined in the Act.2
5. The Employer's tobacco leaf processing operation at its Winston-
Salem, North Carolina, plant, is seasonal in nature, with the peak of
the plant's productive season invariably being ushered in, sometime
1 United Tobacco Workers, Local 22 , C. I. O , also claiming to represent certain employees
of the Employer, attempted to intervene in the proceeding but was properly excluded there-
from when it failed to show either an existing contractual interest , or that it had ever been
In compliance with Section 9 of the Act.
2 The unit found appropriate is substantially the one agreed upon by the parties.
83 N. L . R. B., No. 164.
1148
PIEDMONT LEAF TOBACCO COMPANY 1149
in September, by the opening of the Winston-Salem tobacco market.
We shall, therefore, in order to make the franchise available to as
great a number of affected and interested employees as possible, direct
that an election be held at or about the peak of the plant's next produc-
tive season on such date as the Regional Director for the Region in
which this case was heard shall determine, among the employees in
the appropriate unit who are employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of the issuance of notice of the election
by the Regional Director.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 3
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted on a date to be selected by the Regional
Director for the Region in which this case was heard subject to the
instructions set forth in paragraph numbered 5, above, under the
direction and supervision of said Regional Director, and subject to
Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules
and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who are em-
ployed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of the issuance of notice of election by the Regional Director, includ-
ing employees who do not work during said pay-roll period because
they are ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but excluding those
employees who will have quit or will have been discharged for cause
and will not have been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the
election, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled
to reinstatement, to determine whether they desire to be represented,
for purposes of collective bargaining, by United Transport Service
Employees, CIO, or by United Tobacco Workers, Local 22, Food,
Tobacco, Agricultural and Allied Workers of America, CIO, or by
neither.
8 Since issuance of the above Decision, the Intervenor has complied with Section 9 (f),
(g), and (h) of the Act. The Board, therefore, by Order dated September 6, 1949, accords
the Intervenor a place on the ballot.