The Celotex Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 14, 1957

118 N.L.R.B. 1020 (N.L.R.B. 1957)

1020 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
lina, are supervisors within the meaning of the Act and are therefore
excluded from the units requested herein. We also find that the head
cashiers at this location are office clerical employees and we shall there-i
fore exclude them from the Retail Clerks' unit.
We find, in accordance with the foregoing, that the following groups
of employees at the Employer's retail store at 317 Hays Street, Fay-
etteville, North Carolina, constitute separate units appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the Act:
(a) All employees engaged in handling, cutting, selling, displaying,
processing or wrapping meat, poultry or fish, including regular part-
time employees,' excluding grocery clerks, produce clerks, dairy clerks,
head cashiers (bookkeepers),, watchmen, guards, meat department
heads, store managers, assistant store managers, .and all other super-
visors as defined in the Act.
(b) All retail food clerks, including regular part-time employees 4
but excluding all meat department employees, head cashiers (book-
keepers) and other office clerical employees, watchmen, guards, pro-
duce department heads, store managers, assistant store managers, and
all other supervisors as defined in the . Act.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
8 In the record in Cases Nos . 11-RC-914 and 11-RC-915, the parties stipulated that
only those part-time employees who performed part-time duties each week for 18 weeks
immediately prior to the issuance of notice of election should be included in the unit and
permitted to vote . In its decision in those cases , the Board construed this stipulation to
include all regular part-time employees who had a reasonable expectancy of continued
employment with the Employer , inasmuch as the Employer also employed casuals. The
Board therefore included these regular . part-time employees and found that they were
eligible to vote. In view of the stipulation in the instant proceedings , we also find that
these regular part-time employees are included in the unit and are eligible to vote in the
election directed herein.
' Ibid.
The Celotex Corporation and United Packinghouse Workers of
America, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case No. 15-RC-1595. August
14,1957
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National-Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before William W. Fox, 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-
member panel [Chairman Leedom and Members Bean and Jenkins].
1 The Employer's motion to dismiss the petition is granted for the reasons stated infra.
118 NLRB No. 137.
THE CELOTEX CORPORATION 1021
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 2
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent employees of
the Employer.
3. No 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, for the following
reasons:
The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of production and main-
tenance employees at the Employer's Terrebonne baling station at
Montegut, Louisiana, excluding all temporary employees who work.
exclusively during the grinding-baling season. The Employer con-
tends that there cannot be an appropriate unit at this station because
the permanent employees are supervisors during the seasonal peaks
and are guards in the off-season, and all other employees are temporary
and casual.
Terrebonne is one of 12 stations operated by the Employer in
Louisiana where bagasse, the residual fiber of sugar cane after the
juices have been removed, is baled and stored. Bagasse is a component
in the acoustical, packaging and building materials manufactured
at the Employer's plant at Marrero, Louisiana. The yearly cycle of
operations at a baling station begins each October when the sugar
mill upon which a station depends for its supply of bagasse, begins
grinding the newly harvested cane.' Bagasse is moved from the mill
to the baling station by conveyors, and is then compressed, baled, and
hauled into adjacent fields where it is stacked and covered. When
the mill ceases grinding in late December or early January, the flow
of bagasse is cut off and the baling station, after a short cleanup period,
also closes down. As the manufacturing plant at Marrero operates
continuously, it must receive bagasse in accordance with its produc-
tion needs. Each of the 12 baling stations therefore ships to Marrero
on a schedule which is based on the availability of railroad cars and
the amount of storage space at the stations. Normally, 3 or 4 stations
ship bagasse to Marrero at any given period and each one's shipping
season is approximately 3 months.
During the past few years' employment at Terrebonne has not
followed the pattern of the normal station with two seasonal peaks of
baling and shipping. There has been an unusual amount of road con-
struction caused by a switch from transportation by narrow gauge
railroad to trucks, and this has given some of the seasonal employees
steadier work than is customary at other stations. Thus, in the 1955-
2 The Employer's request for oral argument is denied as the record and briefs adequately
present the issues and the positions of the parties.
3 The Employer does not own or operate any of these sugar mills.
1022 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
56 season at Terrebonne there were an additional 23 weeks of con-
struction work which overlapped both the baling and the shipping
seasons. However, in the 1956-57 season construction work has been
limited to 4 weeks occurring during October, the first month of the
season. The Employer does not contemplate any further construction
work at Terrebonne which would give its seasonal employees any
additional weeks of employment beyond the normal seasonal peaks.
During the 3-month grinding- baling season there are from 70 to 90
employees at Terrebonne. Most of these are transients , and have no
expectation of being reemployed in the shipping season or in subse-
quent baling seasons. Beside the station foreman, an admitted super-
visor, the Employer maintains a permanent force of six employees who
are known as keymen . They serve as foremen at the plant during
the baling sesason or as crane operators in charge of stacking and
loading crews during both the baling and shipping seasons. They
responsibly direct the operations of their crews which range from 5
to 10 men in size, and may effectively recommend the transfer from
their crew of anyone they consider unsuitable . When they are not
serving as foremen, they do minor repair and maintenance work and
serve as guards, protecting the plant and stacks in the field against
intruders and fire hazards. They are entitled to vacations and the
other benefits accorded permanent employees. Operations during the
shipping season require, in addition to the keymen, 10 or 12 extra
employees. Many of these employees have worked fairly steadily
at Terrebonne the past few years because of the construction program,
and have been given preference in employment after layoffs.
In effect, the Petitioner's unit request is for all employees who are
not hired solely for work in the baling plant during the baling season.
It includes the keymen and all employees who work during the ship-
ping season, distinguishing these from the employees hired for the
baling season alone, on the grounds that the former have a greater
expectancy of reemployment and have had more regular work due to
the construction projects of the past few years. The Employer con-
tends that this unit is not appropriate because a majority of those
sought to be included are supervisors or guards while the employment
expectancy of the others, in view of the cessation of further construc-
tion, is too uncertain to qualify them as "employees." Of the 17 per-
sons employed at the time of the hearing, which occurred during the
shipping season, 5 were keymen who were then serving either as guards
or as crane operators in charge of loading crews. As all the keymen
spend regular and substantial parts of their time both as supervisors
and guards, we find that they may not be included in the Petitioner's
proposed unit.4 Of the remaining employees who work during the
shipping season , at least 2 were also acting as guards on a full or part-
* Whitmoyer Laboratories , Inc., 114 NLRB 749.
ATLANTIC MILLS SERVICING CORPORATION OF CLEVELAND, INC. 1023
time basis, leaving at the most 10 employees who are neither supervisors
nor guards. There are no significant differences in working conditions
between the baling and shipping seasons and many of the transient
employees hired during the baling season do the same work in the
fields on the stacks that is done by those employees hired for the ship-
ping season. Although as permanent residents of the area there is a
greater likelihood that those previously employed for the shipping
season will be reemployed, we do not believe that this factor is alone
sufficient reason for establishing a unit limited to some of the seasonal
employees.' As the Petitioner does not wish to represent all the
seasonal employees, we find that its proposed unit is inappropriate for
bargaining purposes and we shall, therefore, dismiss the petition filed
herein.
[The Board dismissed the petition in Case No. 15-RC-1595.]
G Oregon Frozen Foods Company and Ore-Ida Potato Products, Inc., 108 NLRB 1668..
Atlantic Mills Servicing Corporation of Cleveland , Inc., and its
subsidiaries Atlantic Mills Menswear of Cleveland , Inc., At-
lantic Mills Fashions of Cleveland , Inc., Atlantic Mills Chil-
dren 's Apparel of Cleveland , Inc., Atlantic Mills Accessories of
Cleveland, Inc., and/or Virginia Dare Stores Corporation and
Retail Clerks International Association , Local 41, AFL-CIO,
Petitioner. Case No. 8-RC-92787. August 14,1957
ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO AMEND PETITION
On February 8, 1957, pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Elec-
tion issued by the Board on January 16, 1957,' an election by secret bal-
lot was conducted in the above-entitled matter under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Eighth Region. Upon
the conclusion of the election, a tally of ballots was duly served upon
the parties. The tally of 1ballots showed that there were approximately
40 eligible voters and that 40 ballots were cast, of which 15 were for
the Petitioner, 21 were against the Petitioner, and 4 were challenged.
On February 13, 1957, the Petitioner filed timely objections to the
election. The Regional Director investigated the objections and, on
June 12, 1957, issued and duly served upon the parties his report on
objections. In this report, the Regional Director recommended that
certain of the Petitioner's objections be sustained and others be over-
ruled. He further recommended that the election be set aside. No
exceptions were filed to the Regional Director's report by any of the
1117 NLRB 65.
118 NLRB No. 132.