Sentinel Elm Farms

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 17, 1976

225 N.L.R.B. 1373 (N.L.R.B. 1976)

SENTINEL ELM FARMS 1373
Myron J . Purdy d/b/a Sentinel Elm Farms and Ser-
vice Employees International Union , Local 200,
AFL-CIO. Case AO-182
September 17, 1976
ADVISORY OPINION
On May 7, 1976, Myron J. Purdy d/b/a Sentinel
Elm Farms, hereafter called the Employer, filed with
the National Labor Relations Board a petition for an
advisory opinion pursuant to Section 102.98 and
102.99 of the Board's Rules and Regulations, Series
8, as amended, seeking to determine whether the
Board would assert jurisdiction over its operations.
On May 18, 1976, the Regional Director for Region 3
filed a motion to intervene, with exhibits attached.
Such motion is hereby granted. Thereafter, on June
2, 1976, the Employer filed its response to the motion
to intervene.
In pertinent part, the Employer's petition, the Re-
gional Director's motion to intervene, and the
Employer's response thereto allege as follows:
1. There is pending before the New York State La-
bor Relations Board, hereafter called State Board, a
petition, docketed as Case CE-1276, filed by Service
Employees International Union, Local 200, AFL-
CIO, hereafter called the Union, requesting that the
Union be certified as the representative for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining of certain employees of
the Employer.
2. The Employer, an individual proprietorship
with its main office and place of business located at
West Main Street, Malone, New York, is engaged in
the business of picking up bulk milk from individual
farmer-members of Chateaugay Co-Op Marketing
Association and delivering it to a plant to be pro-
cessed into cheese and dairy products by McCadam
Cheese Co., Inc.
3. According to the Employer, inter alga, (a) it
leases trucks and miscellaneous services in an
amount in excess of $50,000 annually from Bailey
Ford, Inc., a company engaged in interstate com-
merce over which the Board has asserted jurisdiction,
which obtains such trucks directly from outside of
New York State; (b) it annually purchases two or
more stainless steel Heil tanks, at a cost of $10,000 to
$18,000 per tank, from Binghamton Equipment
Corp., which obtains these tanks directly from out-
side of New York State; and (c) during the preceding
calendar year, the Employer purchased tires at a cost
of $5,000 from Mobil Oil Co. and Fruehauf Distrib-
uting Co., which obtain such tires directly from out-
side of New York State.
4. After the above-described commerce data was
submitted to the State Board, the Employer and the
Union agreed that this data indicated that the Em-
ployer comes within the jurisdiction of the National
Labor Relations Board. As a result, the Union filed a
new representation petition with this Board in Case
3-RC-6604.1 There have been no findings by the
State Board with respect to the Employer's com-
merce data assertions.
5. Although served with a copy of the petition for
advisory opinion, as provided by the Board's Rules
and Regulations, the Union has filed no response. As
noted above, the Regional Director for Region 3
filed a motion to intervene herein.
On the basis of the foregoing, the Board is of the
opinion that:
1. The Employer is a nonretail enterprise engaged
at Malone, New York, in the business of picking up
bulk milk and delivering it to a plant to be processed
into cheese and dairy products by McCadam Cheese
Co., Inc.
2. The current standard for assertion of jurisdic-
tion over nonretail enterprises is an annual inflow or
outflow, direct or indirect, across state lines, of at
least $50,000.2 As it appears that the Employer annu-
ally spends more than $50,000 leasing trucks and
purchasing tanks and tires, which constitutes indirect
inflow, we conclude that its operations satisfy the
Board's current jurisdictional standards.'
Accordingly, the parties are advised, under Section
102.103 of the Board's Rules and Regulations, Series
8, as amended, that, on the basis of the allegations
made herein, the Board would assert jurisdiction
over the operations of the Employer with respect to
labor disputes cognizable under Sections 8, 9, and 10
of the Act.
1 In his motion to intervene , the Regional Director for Region 3 states
that, in securing the Union's withdrawal of its petition in Case 3-RC-6568
because of lack of jurisdiction, the assertions as to the Employer' s purchases
directly or indirectly from outside New York were never brought to the
attention of the Region and thus were never investigated
2 Siemons Mailing Service, 122 NLRB 81 (1958)
J In these circumstances , we find it unnecessary to consider the
Employer's alternative jurisdictional contentions that (I) as McCadam
Cheese Co , Inc , allegedly is a "user" which meets the Board 's jurisdictional
standards, the Employer' s annual deliveries of more than $ 50,000 constitute
indirect outflow, and (2) the Employer functions as an essential link in
interstate commerce and derives at least $50,000 annually from such opera-
tions
225 NLRB No. 196