Central Carolina Farmers Exchange, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 1, 1956

115 N.L.R.B. 1250 (N.L.R.B. 1956)

1250 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Warehousemen and Helpers Union, Local 980, each affiliated with AFL-CIO,
are labor organizations within the meaning of Section 2 (5) of the Act.
3. By engaging in concerted activities where an object thereof was to force or
require Morris Trubin, H. H. Stacey , Williams & Son, and their respective employees
to cease doing business with Sebastopol Apple Growers Union, Respondents have
engaged in and are engaging in unfair labor practices within the meaning of Section
8 (b) (4) (A) of the Act.
4. The aforesaid unfair labor practices are unfair labor practices within the
meaning of Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
5. The allegations of the complaint , as amended , that Respondents have engaged
in and are engaging in unfair labor practices within the meaning bf Section 8 (b)
(4) (B) of the Act have not been sustained.
(Recommendations omitted from publication.]
Central Carolina Farmers Exchange , Inc. and Amalgamated
Meat Cutters & Butcher Workmen of North America, AFL-
CIO, Petitioner . Case No. 11-RC-807. May 1, 1956
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 Lewis Wolberg, hearing of-
ficer. 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 : 2
1. The Employer, a North Carolina corporation, is a farmers' co-
operative association engaged in processing and marketing poultry,
eggs, grain , seed , and livestock. It has approximately 15,000 stock-
holders and serves both member and nonmember farmers located in
Durham and surrounding counties. Its operations include 10 depart-
ments, consisting of the main office, feed mill and grain, egg, poultry,
hatchery, seed and wholesale farm supply, trucking, garage, livestock
market and slaughterhouse, and cold storage and freezer locker de-
partment. The Employer also has eight service stores which sell at
retail various farm supplies. All but the livestock and slaughterhouse
department, which is located 10 miles from Durham, and 7 of the serv-
ice stores, which are located in surrounding counties, are in Durham,
North Carolina.
The Employer contends, in effect, that all its employees are engaged
in agriculture and that therefore the Board does not have jurisdiction.
1 At the hearing , an attorney purporting to represent 179 of the Employer 's employees
sought to intervene for the purpose of introducing evidence to show that these employees
do not wish to be represented for the purposes of collective bargaining by any union. We
affirm the hearing officer's ruling denying intervention to this employee group, who did
not purport to be, or to function as, a collective -bargaining representative . The ques-
tion of representation can be best resolved by means of the election hereinafter directed.
Pasoo Paokdng Co., 106 NLRB 1223.
2 As the record and the briefs adequately present the issues and positions of the parties,
we deny the Employer 's request for oral argument.
115 NLRB No. 191.
CENTRAL CAROLINA FARMERS EXCHANGE, INC. 1251
Section 2 (3) of the Act excludes from the definition of "employee"
any individual employed as an "agricultural laborer." The Board's
current appropriation at 3 precludes the Board from processing repre-
sentation petitions involving agricultural laborers as defined in Section
3 (f) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.4
According to Section 3 (f) "agriculture" includes, inter alia:
... farming in all its branches and among other things ... the
raising of livestock, bees, fur bearing animals or poultry .. . and
any practices performed by a farmer or on a farm as an incident
to or in conjunction with such farming operations, including
preparation for market, delivery to storage or to market or to
carrier for transportation to market.
The mere fact that a cooperative enterprise is owned by and operated
in behalf of farmers does not impel the conclusion that it is a farmer.
If such an enterprise's volume of business satisfies the Board's min-
imum jurisdictional standards, the Board will normally assert juris-
diction over it .5 However, irrespective of its corporate identity, if
certain employees of an employer clearly perform agricultural labor,
such employees are excluded from the coverage of the Act.' Thus it is
clear that the Employer's baby chick hatchery employees are engaged
in the raising of poultry, an occupation specifically listed in the above
definition as agricultural. Accordingly, we find that they are agricul-
tural laborers, and not employees within the meaning of the Act.'
We sliall exclude them from the unit hereinafter found appropriate.
In compliance with the provisions of local law, the Employer's live-
stock and slaughterhouse department is not located in the city but
on a "farm," I 10' miles- distant from Durham. However, there is no
showing that the employees of this department raise livestock, or
any other agricultural commodity within the above definition, or
perform work incidental to or in conjunction with any farming opera-
tions.' Nor is this true of any of the Employer's other employees.
Upon the foregoing, we find that, except for the baby chick hatchery
employees, the Employer's employees are not agricultural laborers
within the meaning of the Act, and that as the Employer" ships
products valued in excess of $50,00011 to points outside the State of
68 ;tat 434
4 32 Stat 1060
5 Mississippi Chemical Corporation, 110 NLRB 826 at 829; Associated Cooperatives,
112rNI.RB '1012, I
6 Brooksville Citricas Growers Association , 112 NLRB 707 at 708; but see Hershey Es-
tates, 112 NLRB 1300 at 1302
1 Miller Hatcheries v. Boyer, 2 WHC 193, 131 F 2d 283 (C. A. 8).
8 The record is clear that the Employer conducts no farming operation at this location.
The term "farm" is used merely to designate location.
0 See Swift and Company , 104 NLRB 922
'(!For reasons appearing hereinafter in paragraph 4, we find that the 10 departments
constitute a single integrated enterprise operated by a single employer
11 During the past year , the Employer 's direct outflow amounted to approximately
$2,217 ,080 Jonesboro Grain Drying Cooperative, 110 NLRB 481 at 483.
1252 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
North Carolina, it is engaged in interstate commerce and that it will
effectuate the purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The labor organization involved claims'to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.12
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, in its amended petition, requests a unit of all pro-
duction and maintenance employees in the feed mill and grain de-
partment, the egg department, the poultry department, the baby chick
hatchery department, and the trucking department, including the
part-time cafeteria employee, but excluding all employees in the live-
stock and slaughterhouse department, the garage department, the seed
and farm wholesale supply department, the cold storage and freezer
locker department, the eight service stores, the main office, and plant
clerical employees, guards, and supervisors within the meaning of the
Act. In the alternative, the Petitioner requests that separate elec-
tions be directed for each of the departments sought by it and that
an overall unit be established among those departments in which it is
selected as representative. The Employer contends that the units
sought by the Petitioner are inappropriate; that each of its depart-
ments should be regarded as a separate unit in view of their separate
locations, separate supervision, different skills involved, and lack of
interchange. In the event an election is directed, the Employer takes
the alternative position that the unit requested by Petitioner should
include the employees in the service stores, the livestock and slaughter-
house department, the garage department, the seed and farm whole-
sale supply department, the cold storage and freezer locker depart-
ment, office clerical employees, and watchmen.
The record shows that the Employer is a single corporation under
the control of a single board of directors which determines the overall
policy of every department. This policy is carried out by a general
manager who personally selects each department manager. Although
each department maintains a separate bank account and all depart-
ments pay for the goods and services which they receive from each
other, just as in the case of outside suppliers, the Employer's main
office regularly audits all such transactions. Salary checks for the
employees of all departments are drawn by the main office on the ac-
>a The Employer moves that the petition be dismissed on the grounds that the Petitioner
failed to file separate petitions independently supported by a 30-percent showing of interest
for each of the Employer's departments, and that, due to the recent merger of the AFL-
CIO with which the Petitioner is affiliated, the Petitioner is not in compliance with the
Act In view of our finding below with respect to the appropriate unit, and as we are
administratively satisfied that the Petitioner and its paient federation, AFL-CIO, are in
compliance, we find the Employer's contentions to be without merit The Employer's
motion to dismiss is therefore denied
CENTRAL CAROLINA FARMERS EXCHANGE, INC. 1253
count of , and in the name of, the corporation . All tax obligations
and dividends to stockholders are determined on an overall rather than
a departmental basis. Where a department 's earnings do not cover
that department 's divided assessment , funds from the Employer's
general account are supplied to overcome the deficit and the defaulting
department is charged with the amount of the deficit . Although each
department hires and discharges its own employees and establishes its
own vacation plans, a uniform application blank is used by all de-
partments and an Employerwide insurance plan covers all employees.
We are not persuaded that, in the circumstances here present, we
should find to be appropriate the units limited to separate depart-
ments which the Employer seeks to establish ; and it is clear that
neither of the Petitioner 's unit requests is based on accepted standards,
but rather that each of its alternatives is to be justified only by the
extent of the Petitioner 's organization-in the one case as disclosed
by the specifications of the petition , and in the other as would be
revealed by the results of the separate elections which the Petitioner
would have us conduct . Under all the circumstances , we find that an
Employerwide production and maintenance unit is appropriate in
this proceeding.
The parties are also in disagreement as to the inclusion or exclusion
of the following employees :
Livestock and slaughterhouse department, garage department, cold
storage and freezer locker department, and seed and wholesale farm
supply department employees : The Petitioner would exclude these
employees as having no community of interests with the employees in
the requested unit. In view of common overall supervision, the same
employee benefits, relatively close geographical proximity , and, for
the most part, same manner of payment , we find, contrary to the Peti-
tioner's contentions , that these employees have substantial interests in
common with the Employer 's other employees, and shall include them
in the unit.13
Cafeteria employees: The Employer's cafeteria is located in the
poultry department , and employs 2 full time and 1 part -time em-
ployee. These employees perform the usual cafeteria duties such as
preparing and serving meals. The part-time employee spends about
one half of her time working in the cafeteria and spends the remainder
of her time working in the poultry department . Although one em-
ployee, designated by the Employer as the "senior employee," appears
to be in charge of the cafeteria , there is no showing that her direction
of other employees is more than routine.
13 See B F. aoodrich, Company, 112 NLRB 757 at 759 , Parrot Packing Company, 112
NLRB 1432 at 1434, The Berbhne Corporation, 114 NLRB 375
1254 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Accordingly, we find that the "senior employee" is not a supervisor,
and along with the two other cafeteria employees, we shall, in accord
with our customary policy, include her in the unit.14
Watchmen: The Employer has three armed watchmen who patrol
the Durham premises. It is the duty of these employees to detect
fires and to keep out trespassers. As the watchmen perform plant-
protection duties, we find that they are guards within the meaning of
the Act and exclude them from the unit.15
Clerical employees: The Employer would include and the Peti-
tioner would exclude the clerical employees working in the main office
and those working in the plant departments. In accord with our
usual policy, we shall exclude the main office clericals as office clerical
employees.l5 With respect to the clerical employees located in the
plant departments and performing clerical duties attendant to the
production processes, we find that these employees are essentially plant
clerical employees and shall include them in the unit.
Service stores employees: The Employer operates eight service
stores. These stores are located at Durham and the surrounding
towns of Pittsboro, Oxford, Roxboro, Hillsboro, Carrboro, Creed-
moor, and Siler City and sell at retail both the Employer's products
and products of other manufacturers. Like the Employer's other em-
ployees, the service stores employees are under the overall supervision
of the Employer's general manager, and are paid by checks issued from
the Employer' s main office . Since no union seeks to represent these
employees on any other basis, we shall, in accord with Board precedent,
include them in the unit."
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Employer at Durham, North Carolina, and surrounding counties, in
the feed mill and grain department, egg department, poultry depart-
ment, trucking department, garage department, seed and farm whole-
sale supply department, cold storage and freezer locker department,
livestock and slaughterhouse department, including plant clerical
employees, service stores employees, and cafeteria employees, but
excluding baby chick hatchery employees, office clerical employees,
guards, and supervisors 18 as defined in the Act, constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
14 Sunnyland Packing Company and Sunnvyland Poultry Company, 113 NLRB 162
"Miller Manufacturing Company, 110 NLRB 904. -
16 Westvnghouse Electric Corporatcon, 110 NLRB 475 at 476.
11 Sachs-Lawlor Company, 112 NLRB 507 at 509.
18 The parties stipulated that the following are supervisors within the meaning of the
Act • General manager, managers, assistant managers , flock supervisors , office manager,
information and sales manager, and director of livestock and dairy products.