The Lawson Milk Co.Download PDFNational Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsAug 9, 1956116 N.L.R.B. 549 (N.L.R.B. 1956) Copy Citation THE LAWSON, MILK COMPANY ' 549 The Lawson Milk Company and Iriteriiational Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of Amer- ica, Milk and Ice Cream, Drivers and' Dairy Employees Union, Local 336, AFL--CIO, Petitioner. Case No. 8-RC-.700. August 9. 11956 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 Nora Friel, 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 case, the Board finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce- within the meaning of the Act. 2. The labor organization involved claiiiis 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 Petitioner seeks a unit of all truckdrivers and as an alternate position requests all the employees of the shipping departments which would include the truckdrivers, dockmeii, and cooler men. The Em- ployer contends that the appropriate unit should include all the employees of the Cuyahoga Fails and Stow plants in the milk process- ing department, milk bottling department, ice cream department; milk and ice cream shipping department, and bakery, egg, and candy ship- ping department, which shipping departments include cooler men and dockmen, but exclude maintenance employees and laboratory tech- nicians in the milk processing department. The Employer at its milk plants located at Cuyahoga Falls and Stow, Ohio (about 3 miles apart), is engaged in preparing milk and milk products, candy, and baked goods for its various stores which are the only retail outlets for the Employer's products, located through- out the Cleveland and Akron areas. Both plants are automatic and highly mechanized. The shipping facilities for both plaiits operate out of and are based at the Cuyaloga Falls plant. For' 3 or 4 Yeats; between 1935 and 1939, the Company was organized into a plantwide unit comprised of processing employees and truck- drivers; represented by Local- 497 of the Milk and Ice' Cream Drivers and Dairy Employees Union. Less than a year ago, on October 13, 1955; an election was held among the bakery and -candy making ein- 116 NLRB No. 73: 550 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD ployees,' but the employees, involved herein were excluded from the unit which the Board found appropriate.- Milk received at the plant is pumped into the processing equipment, consisting of pasteurizers,. homogenizers,, and coolers, and then into the bottling machines where it is bottled, capped, and placed in crates. Certain portions of milk not needed to fill current orders are sent to the drier and ice cream operations. There are 29 truckdrivers, 8 dockmen, and 3 cooler men in the milk shipping department; 12 truckdrivers and 2 dockmen in bakery ship- ping; 2 cooler men in the milk bottling department; and 1 dockman at the Stow plant. The remaining approximately 45 employees whom the Employer would include in the appropriate unit are engaged in processing and bottling milk and making ice cream. As the plant is highly mechanized, their duties consist of watching the operation to see that gauges are properly adjusted and conveyor belts run smoothly, that the bottles are clean when they come from the automatic washer and are properly filled and capped, preparing the ice cream mixture according to laboratory formulas, seeing that the ice cream cartons are filled to the proper level, removing the products from the line, and cleaning the equipment. Each department in the plant, milk processing, bottling, ice cream, candy, milk shipping, bakery shipping, the laboratory, etc., is under the direction of a supervisor who is 'responsible for that operation, to the general office. The milk shipping department is separate from the bakery shipping department. The latter is in a separate building and has its own dock. There are 3 types of drivers-the 'semidrivers who make only I trip each day, the straight drivers who make 2 trips, and the swing drivers.' With the assistance of 'the dockmen, the drivers load their trucks each morning and deliver the products to company stores where they load empty bottles and haul them back to the plant. At times the cooler men help the dockmen and drivers unload the trucks. The Employer's president testified that all dockmen are inter- changeable with truckdrivers, with the exception of 1 or 2 who are older employees and no longer go out on milk trucks; that all dock- men are drivers, and that most of the drivers have been dockmen. He 1 Case No. 8-RC-2514 , not reported in printed volumes of Board Decisions and Orders. The unit found appropriate was : "All production employees in the Bakery Department at the Employer 's dairy , bakery, and candy plant at Cuyahoga Falls , Ohio, including wrappers, packers , porters , and pastry order fillers and bread order fillers (otherwise designated 'as packers or shipping employees ) and all Candy Department employees , but excluding all Qther plant employees , dairy employees , powerhouse employees , dock men , drivers, office clerical employees , professional employees , guards, and the bakery supervisor (Jim Cramer ), the pastry lead man ( Bill Howard ), the candy supervisor ( Bert Rathmell), the assistant candy supervisor ( Bill Boyd ), the lead man , bakery shipping ( F. Andrews), and all other supervisors as defined in the Act." THE LAWSON MILK COMPANY 551 also stated that at times it is necessary to work short on the dock when another driver is needed, and if a dockman• were absent, a driver might work part of a day as a driver, make only,one trip, and the remainder of the day might work on the dock. The drivers receive a little higher pay than the majority of the in- side plant employees. Dockmen receive the same pay as a straight driver, and cooler men who put the, milk into the cooler and fill the orders from the stores are paid a,little more than the dockmen and the straight drivers. All the employees share the same company benefits, viz, vacations and health insurance. The majority of the inside employees begin work about 6: 30 a. m. and work until 5 or 5: 30 p. m. Three employees work from 11 p. m. until 7 or 8 a. m.- However, the drivers stagger their arrivals, coming in between 6 and 8 a. m., and, depending on how heavy the load for the day is, work from 61/2 to 71/2 or 8 hours. It takes about 15 minutes to load a truck and about 10 minutes to unload when the driver re- turns to the plant. The driver spends the remainder of the day away from the plant. - The Employer contends that the petition should be dismissed on the ground that the truckdrivers are a constituent part of the dairy operation, and because of the integrated process of the operation. Al- though the drivers herein share the same supervision as some of the dockmen and cooler men, work with the former in loading•and unload- ing the trucks, and on occasion spend time on dock work and may be replaced when absent by dockmen, the record shows that the duties of the drivers are materially distinct from those of the inside plant employees? As drivers, they perform a separate function and are employees to whom the Board has traditionally granted separate representation. Under these, circumstances, and on the basis of the entire record, we believe that the Employer's truckdrivers constitute an appropriate unit apart from the Employer's other employees. Ac- cordingly, we find that all truckdrivers, excluding supervisors and all other employees employed-by the Employer at its Cuyahoga Falls and Stow, Ohio, plants, constitute an appropriate unit • within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] MEMBER MURDOCK took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election. z See Jocie Motor Lines Inc., 112 NLRB 1201: Tennessee Egg Company , 110 NLRB 189; Airborne Instruments Laboratory , Incorporated, 104 NLRB 367; Q-P Wholesalers, Inc, 85 NLRB 582. Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation