Tarke Warehouse Co.Download PDFNational Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsAug 15, 195195 N.L.R.B. 1133 (N.L.R.B. 1951) Copy Citation TARKE WAREHOUSE COMPANY 1133 plants, office , clerical, and professional employees , watchmen, guards, and all supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Sec- tion 9 (b) of the Act. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this volume.] TARKE WAREHOUSE COMPANY and AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GRAIN MILLERS, AFL, PETITIONER . Case No . 20-RC-1369. August 15, 1951 Decision and Direction of Election Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Robert V. Magor, 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 Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-mem- ber panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Murdock]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is a California corporation engaged in the business of storing and handling farm commodities, principally grain, beans, rice, and milo maize. The Employer owns and operates warehouses at Meridian, California; 2 Sutter, California; and Josephine, Califor- nia; all of which are within a 7-mile radius. There is a railroad siding at each of the three warehouses. The Employer is licensed by the Public Utility Commission of California. This commission pre- scribes certain operating procedures and fixes storage rates. Local growers or farmers haul the commodities to the warehouses where they are cleaned, packed into bags, stored, and handled. The grower receives from the Employer a warehouse receipt which he sells to a broker or other purchaser, or keeps the receipt himself. When the possessor of the warehouse receipts surrenders it, together with shipping instructions, to the Employer, the latter loads the commodities on trucks or railroad cars for shipment .3 1 The Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that the operations of the Employer did not affect commerce within the meaning of the Act. For the reasons hereinafter stated, this motion to dismiss is denied. This warehouse is also referred to in the record as the Tarke warehouse. A large amount of the commodities is shipped from the Employer 's warehouses to various warehouses of the Commodity Credit Corporation which are located within the State of California. 95 NLRB No. 147. 1134. DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD During the fiscal year from June 1, 1949, to May 31, 1950, .the Em- ployer purchased for resale burlap bags, sulphur, insecticides, and seeds in the amount of $215,000, and sold these articles together with certain services for $273,000. All these purchases and sales were made within the State of California. In the same period, the Company received $402,000 in income which was derived from the storage and. cleaning of commodities, the sale of sacks, and from brokerage fees., From the testimony of the office manager, it appears that, during the same fiscal year, commodities In the amount of $516,600 ° were shipped from the Employer's warehouses to destinations outside of the State of California. Furthermore, records of the Southern Pacific Railroad and of the Employer reveal that, of the beans grown by local farmers and passed through the Employer's warehouses, beans having a value of at least $94,360 6 were shipped by the Southern Pacific Rail- road to points outside the State from the Josephine, California, ware- house, alone. We find, contrary to the contention of the Employer, that it is en- gaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act' Furthermore, as the shipments from the Employer's warehouses to points outside of the State of California exceeded $25,000 in value, we find that it will effec- tuate the policies of the Act for the Board to assert its jurisdiction in this proceeding .8 2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em- ployees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce. exists concerning the representa- tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 . (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The appropriate unit : We find that all production and maintenance employees 9 at the Employer's warehouses and processing plants at Meridian, California; -Sutter, California ; and' Josephine, California; excluding, all execu- tives, buyers, salesmen, office clerical employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act,10 constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of 4 The Employer acts as agent for certain brokers within the State in the purchase of commodities from the grower. a This figure is reached by computing the value of, 123 carloads of commodities shipped, with a minimum of 600 bags per carload at $7 per bag. o This result is arrived at by computing . the total of 13,480 bags at $7 per bag. ' See Flemington Auction Market Cooperative Association, Inc., 91 NLRB No. 231 ; Gulf Shipside Storage Corporation , 91 NLRB 181 ; Riebs Company, 90 NLRB No . 103; Delta Cooperative Compress , 86 NLRB 649; Shippers Warehouse Company, 63 NLRB 1394. See Stanislaus Imtplement and Hardware Company , Limited, 91 NLRB 618. - ° Included under this classification , in accordance with the desires of the parties, is the part-time sack patcher who works in the Meridian warehouse , and who averages from 3 to 5 hours work a day. io we exclude under this classification the three foremen at the Employer 's three warehouses , each of whom is in charge of, and has power to hire and discharge, the employees at the warehouses under his supervision. EAST TEXAS STEEL CASTINGS COMPANY, INC. 1135 collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act11 5. As the Employer is engaged in storing and handling farm com- modities, the work of the Employer is necessarily seasonal in nature. Peak employment is reached at harvest time, which occurs in Septem- ber, October, and November. During these months, the Employer usually has about 40 to 45 employees working in the' warehouses. After November, the Employer generally has no more than 10 or 12 employees in the 3 warehouses. The election, then, should be held at or near the peak of employment in order that the franchise be made available to employees most interested in the selection of a bargaining representative. Under these circumstances, we. shall, in accordance -with our usual practice with-respect to seasonal industries,12 direct that the election be held at or near the peak of employment of the 1951 harvesting season, on a day to be determined by the Regional Director, among the employees in the appropriate unit who are employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the date of issuance of the notice of election. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this volume.] U The unit description appears in substantially the same form as agreed to by the parties. n See Wright Manufacturing Company, 94 NLR$ No. 167 and cases cited therein. EAST TEXAS STEEL CASTINCS COMPANY, INC. and UNITED STEEL WORK- ERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER . Case No. 16-RC-765. August 15, 1951 Decision and Direction of Election Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Joseph Alton Jenkins, hear- ing 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 Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Murdock]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1 The hearing officer referred to the Board the Employer 's motion to dismiss the petition on the ground that there was not an adequate showing of interest made by the Petitioner. The Board has consistently held that the showing of interest is an administrative matter not subject to challenge by the parties . Northern Redwood Lumber Company , 88 NLRB 272; J. P. Stevens & Co., Inc., 93 NLRB 1513. 95 NLRB No. 149. Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation