Strathmore District Orange Growers Association

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 30, 1949

85 N.L.R.B. 1029 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter Of STRATHMORE DISTRICT ORANGE ASSOCIATION, STRAT$-
MORE COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION, STRATHMORE FRUIT GROWERS Asso-
CIATION, EMPLOYERS and PRODUCE EMPLOYEES, WAREHOUSEMEN AND
HELPERS UNION, LOCAL No. 69, AFFILIATED WITH THE INTERNA-
TIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN
AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 00-RC-454.-Decided August 30, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Glenn L.
Moller, hearing officer. 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 [Members Reynolds, Murdock, and
Gray].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employers are engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen-
tation of employees of the Employers within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit:
The Petitioner contends that one bargaining unit should be estab-
lished covering the employees of all the Employers, while the latter
urge the appropriateness of separate units confined to the employees
of each Employer. The parties are not in dispute, however, as to the
specific composition of the unit.
The Strathmore District Orange Association, herein called the
District, the Strathmore Cooperative Association, herein called the
Cooperative, and the Strathmore Fruit Growers Association, herein
called the Fruit Growers, are separate nonprofit cooperative asso-
ciations incorporated under the laws of the State of California. They
85 N. L. R. B., No. 179.
1029
1030 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
are engaged in the washing, waxing, grading, and packing of oranges
grown by their members. Each association operates its own packing
shed, to which the grower-members deliver oranges for processing,
packing, and shipment. Each association is a member of the Cali-
fornia Citrus Growers Exchange, which markets all of the oranges
'packed by the association under the trade name "Sunkist." Each
association, however, has its own brand names, and there is no com-
mingling of the fruit. The stockholders of each association consist
of a separate group of growers. Each association has its own board
of directors; there are no interlocking directorates nor is there any
financial relationship other than contractual, between the associations.
The Employers occupy a 7-acre tract of land at Strathmore, Cali-
fornia. The three packing sheds adjoin each other and face a spur of
the Santa Fe railroad. A common office building, owned by the Co-
operative, services all three associations. The District and the Fruit
Growers pay rent for their use of the office facilities. There is one
warehouse on the property, also owned by the Cooperative, which is
apparently operated in the same manner as the office building. The
physical lay-out of the property is completed by a number of cabins
which are used to house the employees.
The three associations are under the joint operation of one person,
a manager whose salary is divided among the three associations on
the basis of their shipments. The manager is also the secretary of
each association. There is also an assistant manager, one full-time
clerical assistant, and occasional part-time office help; the salaries of
these employees are likewise shared by the three associations. On
the other hand, each shed has its own packing foreman who has general
direction over the work done in the shed; the packing foreman has
complete authority to hire and discharge employees working under
him. These foremen are employed by the individual boards of direc-
tors upon the recommendation of the manager.
There are two orange packing seasons in this section of the country.
The larger, the navel season, begins about November 1, reaches a
peak early in December, and ends late in January or early in Febru-
ary. The valencia season starts about April 1, reaches a peak early
in May, and usually is over by mid-June. Until 1946 each shed had
its own crew. For the past 3 years, however, the crop has been
handled by two crews. These crews work the three sheds under
their own foremen as necessity dictates. Thus, if there is a slackening
of fruit at one shed, the whole crew will transfer to another shed
where the pack is larger. There are, normally, about 75 employees in
STRATHmIORE DISTRICT ORANGE ASSOCIATION 1031
each crew, and a worker is known as an employee of the association
for which he usually works. During the course of a season, however,
the names of most employees will appear on at least two of the pay
rolls. During the last valencia season, because of the frost and re-
:sulting small harvest, the District board of directors decided not to
open the District shed. Arrangements were made for the Coopera-
tive to handle the fruit of the District members on a cost basis and the
District members were treated just as if they were Cooperative mem-
bers. Only one crew operated during this season and it handled both
the Cooperative and Fruit Growers pack.
There is no evidence in the record that any of the Employers
presently bargain collectively or have bargained collectively for
the employees here involved. In 1945, the Board directed elections
at some 50 citrus fruit packing plants, including those of the Em-
ployers.' The petitioning union won the election Sand was certified
at the Cooperative plant; it lost the District and Fruit Growers elec-
tions. The Board found separate units at each. of the sheds to be
:appropriate, but no question was raised in that case with respect to
a more inclusive unit.
Although there are other factors in this case which evidence a
rather high degree of integration of operation among the Employers,2
which together with the facts outlined above, indicate the advisability
of our finding a single unit appropriate' for the employees of the
three associations, other considerations tend in the opposite direction.
'Thus, the Employers are separate and distinct entities with no finan-
'cial relationship between them. Moreover, the separate boards of
directors meet regularly and determine the policies, including the
general labor relations policy, for each association. Under these cir-
cumstances, in the absence of a collective bargaining history on a basis
broader than that of the single employer, and in the absence of a
common labor relations policy conducted by a joint bargaining repre-
sentative, we shall not, over the objection -of the Employers involved,
find a multiple-employer unit appropriate.3 Accordingly, we find
' Matter of Allen and Sandilands Packing Company , et at ., 59 N. L. R. B. 724.
2P, or example, one maintenance man services all three sheds . Supplies are purchased
by the manager for all three sheds. There are common showers and a common laundry
for the employees who occupy the cabins. All these costs are allocated among the three
:associations.
3 Matter of Associated Shoe Industries of Southeastern Massachusetts , Inc., et at., 81
N. L. R. B. 224; Matter of Clark Thread Company, 79 N. L. R. B. 542 ; Matter of Veneer
Manufacturing Company , 77 N. L. R. B. 659.
1032 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
appropriate in this case units restricted to the employees of each of
the employers.4
We find that all productions and maintenance 6 employees at each of
the packing sheds of the Employers at Strathmore, California, ex-
cluding office and clerical employees, and supervisors as defined in
the Act, separately constitute units appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
5. The determination of representatives :
As this case involves the selection of representatives in a seasonal
industry, the elections should be held at or near the peak of employ-
ment in order that the franchise be made available to the employees
most interested in the selection of a bargaining representative. We
shall, therefore, direct that the elections be held at or near the peak
of employment of the next season following this decision, on a date
to be determined by the Regional Director, among the employees in
the appropriate units who are employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of issuance of the notice of election.
The Employers contend that any certification of representatives in
this case should be limited to the employees of the season involved.
They argue that there are more itinerant workers during the navel
season than during the valencia season, and that it would be unfair,
for example, to bind the valencia workers by the results of elections
held during the navel season. We see no merit in this contention.
While the record discloses that many new employees are employed by
the Employers each season, it is also true that there is a substantial
nucleus of employees who regularly return to work season after season.
On the basis of the entire record, it is our opinion that elections held
at or near the peak of employment of either the navel or valencia
season will be essentially representative and will afford the employees
here involved an adequate method of expressing their desires with
respect to representation for purposes of collective bargaining.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employers, elections 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
* The Petitioner has agreed to participate in separate elections.
Including the counter and tally girls.
There are two general watchmen who spend about two -thirds of their time performing
maintenance functions and about one-third of their time on guard duties . They are in-
cluded in the unit. Matter of Paraffins Companies, Inc., 85 N. L. R. B. 325.
STRATHMORE DISTRICT ORANGE ASSOCIATION 1033
direction and supervision of the Regional Director, and subject to
Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules
and Regulations, among the employees in the units found appropriate
in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of issuance of the notice
of election, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll
period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off,
but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged
for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of
the elections, 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 Produce
Employees, Warehousemen and Helpers Union, Local No. 69, affiliated
with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Ware-
housemen and Helpers of America, AFL.