Quanah Cotton Oil Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 3, 1949

83 N.L.R.B. 1041 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of QUANAH COTTON OIL COMPANY, EMPLOYER, and
UNITED CEMENT, LIME AND Gypsum WORKERS INTERNATIONAL
UNION, LOCAL No. 281, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 16 RC-312.Decided June 3, 19149
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Edmund Don-
ald Wilson, a hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board.
The hearing officer's ruling made at the hearing are free from prej-
udicial 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 this 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 representa-
tion of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The following employees of the Employer constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act: All regular and probationary 1 pro-
duction and maintenance employees at the Employer's cotton seed
processing mill at Quanah, Texas, including the machinist,' but ex-
x The probationary employees work under the same conditions as regular employees and
become regular employees usually after 60 days' employment . Matter of Susaea Hata,
Inc., 73 N. L R. B. 737.
9 Although the machinist has a helper for about 6 months of the year whose hiring and
discharge he can effectively recommend , and though , on exceedingly rare occasions when
the mill superintendent is absent, he shares some of the latter's authority , we believe that
the machinist 's supervisory duties-are not sufficiently great to constitute him a supervisor
as defined in the Act. We base our conclusion , inter alia, on the facts that he at all times
83 N. L. R. B., No. 149.
1041
1042 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
cluding the seed sampler, the janitor,' the trouble-shooter, all store-
keepers, salesmen, office and, clerical employees, and supervisors as
defined in the Act.
5. The Employer's seed processing operation at its Quanah, Texas,
mill is seasonal in nature. During its productive season, which ex-
tends roughly from about September to March or April, the mill has
a complement of approximately 75 employees. During the rest of the
year, its work force fluctuates between 15 and 50 employees, depend-
ing on whether there is any construction or repair work to be done at
the plant. Under these circumstances, an election held at this time
would not necessarily be representative. In order to make the fran-
chise available to as great a number of the affected and interested em-
ployees as possible, we shall, in accordance with our custom, direct
that an election be held at or about the peak of the next productive
season on such date as the Regional Director for the Sixteenth Region
shall determine 4
Anticipating an election during the 1948-49 season, the parties,
at the hearing held on February 2, 1948, agreed that the pay roll of
December 10, 1948, should determine eligibility to vote. In view of
our decision to hold the election during the next productive season, we
shall determine eligibility to vote by employment during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the issuance of the Notice
of Election.5
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes 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 Sixteenth Region, 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 employed during the pay-roll,
works himself , and that he at no time exercises any jurisdiction over any employee other
than his single helper . Cf. Matter of U. S. Gypsum Company, 81 N. L. R. B. 182; Matter
of Magnolia Petroleum Company, 78 N. L . R. B. 1168; Matter of Rocky Mountain Pipe
Line Company, 79 N. L. R. B. 1119.
a The janitor cares for the office and garden , and runs errands for office executives. He
does not work in the mill nor under the mill superintendent 's supervision , nor is he on the
mill's regular pay roll . We find his interests to be different from those of the mill workers.
Matter of Consolidated Copper Mines Corporation, 48 N. L . R. B. 1274 ; Matter of Newport
News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, 57 N. L . R. B. 1053.
4 Matter of Edgar F. Huri Company, 77 N. L. R. B. 762.
5 Matter of Ballantine Produce Co., Inc., 81 N. L. R. B. 629.
QUANAH COTTON OIL COMPANY 1043
period immediately preceding the date of issuance of the Notice of
Election, including 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 dis-
charged 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 or not they
desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by
United Cement, Lime and Gypsum Workers International Union,
Local No. 281, AFL.6
, The Petitioner 's compliance with Section 9 (g) has lapsed since the date of filing the
petition . In the event the Petitioner fails to renew his compliance within 2 weeks from the
date of issuance of this Direction , the Regional Director is to advise the Board to that
effect . No election shall be conducted unless and until compliance has been renewed.