United Growers, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 18, 1949

86 N.L.R.B. 583 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter Of UNITED GROWERS, INC., BLUE LAKE PACKERS, INC.,
AND KELLEY, FARQUAIIR & COMPANY, EMPLOYERS and INTERNATIONAL
UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS , LOCAL UNION No. 87 , A. F. L.,
PETITIONER
Cases Nos. 36-RC-2101, 36-RC-013, and 36-RC-214.-Decided
October 18, 1949
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon separate petitions duly filed, a consolidated hearing was held
before Hubert J. Merrick, 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 [Chairman Herzog and Members
Reynolds and Gray].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employers are each engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The Petitioner and the Intervenor, Cannery Warehousemen, Food
Processors, Drivers and Helpers, Local Union No. 670, A. F. L., are
labor organizations claiming to represent certain employees of the
Employers.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen-
tation 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:
In each case, the Petitioner seeks to sever from an existing plant-
wide unit now represented by the Intervenor, all employees engaged
in the operation and maintenance of refrigeration equipment, ex-
cluding the chief engineer. The Employers and the Intervenor con-
tend that only plant-wide units are appropriate.
Each of the Employers is engaged in the preparation, processing,
and storage of frozen fruits and vegetables. During the freezing
period, which lasts from 4 to 9 months, each Employer employs a
86 N. L . R. B., No. 80.
583
584 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
chief refrigeration engineer, who is admittedly a supervisor, and
three refrigeration operators to operate its refrigeration equipment.
The refrigeration operators check various refrigeration gauges and
thermometers to regulate temperatures in the cold storage and freezing
rooms. During the remainder of the year, when a full complement
of refrigeration operators is not required, these employees either per-
form production and maintenance Work or are laid off, depending
upon their plant-wide seniority.
The Petitioner contends that the refrigeration operators are craft
employees allegedly because they are highly skilled, work in separate
rooms and receive a higher hourly rate of pay than production work-
ers. However, the record fails to show that the refrigerator operators
are highly skilled. Present operators have had little or no experience
as refrigeration operators or mechanics before being assigned to the
jobs. None of them has served an apprenticeship. Some of them
have been permitted to act as regular operators without supervision
after a training period of as little as 1 day. In these circumstances,
we do not believe that these employees possess sufficient craft attributes
to warrant their severance from the broader -unit of employees in which
they have heretofore been represented.' We shall therefore dismiss
the petition.
ORDER
IT Is HEREBY ORDERED that the petition filed herein be, and it hereby
is, dismissed.
1 Matter of Columbia River Packers Association , Inc., 64 N. L. R. B. 9; 52 N. L. R. B.
535.