Rainbo Bread Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 21, 1950

92 N.L.R.B. 181 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of RAINBO BREAD Co., EMPLOYER and BAKERY AND CON-
FECTIONERY WORKERS' INTERNATIONAL UNION OF AMERICA, LOCAL
No. 240, AFL, PETITIONER
In the Matter of AMERICAN LADY BAKERS, INC., EMPLOYER and BAKERY
AND CONFECTIONERY WORKERS' INTERNATIONAL UNION OF AMERICA,
LOCAL No. 240, AFL, PETITIONER
Cases Nos. 30-RC-273 and 30-RC-283.-Decided November 21, 1950
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before Clyde F. Waers,
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 proceeding, the Board finds :
1. The Employers are engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.'
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employers.
3. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employers within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Denver Bakers Association, hereinafter called the Associa-
tion, is an unincorporated body composed of 11 retail and wholesale
bakeries 2 located in Denver, Colorado. The employees of each of
these 11 bakeries are readily divisible into 3 distinct groups, to wit :
driver-salesmen; journeyman bakers and their apprentices; and shop
or miscellaneous employees, the last group including boxers, icers,
janitors, porters, bread slicers, bread wrappers and rackers, ingredi-
ent scalers, checkers, loaders, shipping clerks, pan greasers, and icing
and wrapping machine operators. Since the inception of the Associa-
tion in 1938, 2 of these groups, namely the driver-salesmen and the
journeyman bakers and their apprentices, have been represented sepa-
' Stanislaus Implement and Hardware Company , Limited , 91 NLRB 618.
Y The bakeries are : American Lady Bakers, Inc. ; .Campbell-Sell Baking Company ; Conti-
nental Baking Company ; Fairfax Bakery ( Safeway Stores , Inc.) ; Kilpatrick Baking
Company ; Macklem Baking Company ; Old Homestead Bread Company ; Rainbo Bread
Company; Star Baking Company ; Gus' Butter Maid Bake Shop; and Bender 's Bakery.
92 NLRB No. 42. -
181
182 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
rately through collective bargaining contracts on a multiple-employer,
Association-wide basis. On the other hand, the only collective bar-
gaining with respect to the, third group-the shop employees-has
been sporadic and, as will be discussed below, has been on a single-
employer basis.
The Petitioner seeks separate units of shop employees at Rainbo
Bread Co. and American Lady Bakers, Inc., both members of the Asso-.
ciation and herein collectively referred to as the Employers. How-
ever, if the Board finds these separate units inappropriate, the Peti-
tioner indicated at the hearing that it would be amenable to an election
in a multiple-employer unit of shop employees of members of the Asso-
ciation. On the ground that it currently represents the shop employees
of Continental Baking Company and Old Homestead Bread Company,
the Petitioner would exclude these employees from the broader unit.
The Employers, who were represented at the hearing by the Associa-
tion, contend that the separate single-employer units sought in the first
instance by the Petitioner are too narrow in scope. The Employers
maintain that the only appropriate unit for shop employees is a
multiple-employer, Association-wide unit.
Presumptively a single-employer unit is an appropriate unit. To
defeat a claim for such a unit in favor of a broader unit, a controlling
history of collective bargaining on the broader basis must exist.3 In
this case, in urging the appropriateness of the broad unit of shop
employees, the Employers contend that the pattern of bargaining for
this group of employees should be controlled by the Association-wide
pattern of bargaining established for the other groups of their em-
ployees. While the Board has held that the pattern of organization
for a special classification of employees should follow the pattern of
bargaining established generally for other employees of the particular
employer involved,4 it has never so held where, as here, the only and
current bargaining involving the special classification is contrary to
the pattern of bargaining for the other employees .5 Thus, the shop
employees of Continental Baking Company'and Old Homestead Bread
Company have for several years ending in 1949, been separately rep-
resented through written contracts by the Petitioner; and the shop
employees of Fairfax Bakery (Safeway Stores, Inc.) are currently
represented under a separate contract by the Teamsters. These con-
tracts have been executed by the Association on behalf of the respec-
tive employers, and in each instance the. negotiations were entered
into as a result of representation elections conducted by the Industrial
Crucible Steel Castings Company, 90 NLRB 1843.
Columbia Pictures Corporation , et at., 84 NLRB 647.
6 In the Columbia Pictures case , supra, the Board noted that the only history of bargain-
ing involving the "special classification " of employees had generally paralleled bargaining
established for other employees.
RAINBO BREAD CO. 183
Commission of Colorado and consented to by the Association. - The
consent election involving the shop employees of Fairfax Bakery was
held as recently as 1948. In the same year, the Association also entered
into a consent agreement for a representation election to be conducted
by the Industrial Commission of Colorado among the shop employees
of Campbell-Sell Baking Company. Although the Teamsters Union
prevailed in the election , no collective bargaining agreement was
consummated. Thus, not only has there been bargaining conducted
on an individual -employer basis, but the Association has given its
stamp of approval to the creation of single- employer units of shop
employees by consenting to elections on an individual -employer basis.
The Employers contend that the Board should not overlook the
fact that all members of the Association were consulted and kept in-
formed with respect to the past negotiations involving the shop em-
ployees of Continental Baking Company and Old Homestead Bread
Company. We do not deem this controlling as the negotiations
involved only the employees of the Employers , and the resulting col-
lective bargaining contract covered only those employees. Likewise,
we attach no persuasive signficance to the fact that the Association
opposed petitions filed with -the Industrial Commission of Colorado
in March 1950 for elections among shop employees of Star Baking
Company and Campbell-Sell Baking Company. There, as in the
instant case , the Association 's stand represents a mere change of posi-
tion which is insufficient to offset the actual collective bargaining
carried out on an individiial -employer basis.
Upon the basis of all the foregoing, we find that the shop employees
of the Employers constitute separate appropriate units. The sole
remaining question relates to whether certain individuals employed
by American Lady Bakers, Inc., are supervisors.
American Lady operates its bakery on 2 shifts , with over -all supervi-
sion entrusted to a plant superintendent . About 22 shop employees
are employed on each shift , 15 being engaged in production work and
7 in "clean-up" work. There is a clean-up supervisor on each shift
and a forelady on each shift who exercise general supervision over the
shop production employees. The parties agree and the record dis-
closes that these individuals are supervisors within the meaning of
the Act.
The shop employees engaged in production work either wrap, tend
the conveyor belt, ice cakes , or ice rolls . Each of these four operations
has a so-called department head in charge . American Lady contends
that the department. heads are supervisors. The number of employees
under each department head varies during the day as the employees
are switched from one operation to another to insure the greatest
184 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
coordination of operations-the number may be as high as six or as
'low as one, the average being slightly less than four. This fluidity in
so small a working force tends to indicate that actual supervision of
these employees is vested solely in the forelady who is in charge of
all four operations, rather than in the four department heads. How-
ever, testimony establishes that'the department heads direct the work
of their respective operations, hire and discharge employees, and ef-
fectively recommend promotions. On the basis of this testimony, we
find that the department heads are supervisors within the meaning
of the Act.
The contention of American Lady that its night checker and its
shipping clerk are supervisors is clearly without merit. The checker
has no employees working under him and the shipping clerk has only
a schoolboy assisting him part time.
. The following employees constitute units appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the Act :
a. All shop (sometimes termed miscellaneous) employees em-
ployed by Rainbo Bread Co. at its plant in Denver, Colorado, includ-
ing boxers, icers, janitors, porters, bread slicers, bread wrappers and
rackers, ingredient scalers, checkers, loaders, shipping clerks, pan
greasers, and icing and wrapping machine operators,'but excluding
bakers and their apprentices, driver-salesmen,. engineers, mechanics,
maintenance employees in the garage and plant, and supervisors as
defined in the Act.
b. All shop (sometimes termed miscellaneous) employees em-
ployed by the American Lady Bakers, Inc., at its plant in Denver,
Colorado, including boxers, icers, janitors, porters, bread slicers,
bread wrappers and rackers, ingredient scalers, checkers, loaders,
shipping clerks, pan greasers, icing and wrapping machine operators,
and night checkers, but excluding, bakers and their apprentices,
driver-salesmen, engineers, mechanics, maintenance employees in the
garage and plant, foreladies, department heads, and other super-,
visors as defined in the Act. .
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]