F. Hilgemeier & Bro., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 21, 1954

108 N.L.R.B. 352 (N.L.R.B. 1954)

352 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We find that the following employees at the Employer's
Dayton, Ohio, operations, constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees, including machine
operators, electrical technicians, and janitors, but excluding
designers, detailers, electrical draftsmen, office clerical em-
ployees, professional employees, guards, and supervisors as
defined in the Act.
5. The determination of representatives:
All new employees of the Employer are required and agree to
serve the equivalent of a 3-month probationary period, during
which time their future employment status is determined. These
employees, whom the Petitioner and Intervenor would include
among those eligible to vote and the Employer would exclude,
are not generally accorded certain benefits, such as paid
holidays, vacations, and leaves of absence, or participation in
the group insurance, profit sharing, and pension plans. However,
like the regular employees, they are paid on an hourly basis,
are carried on the same payroll, are subject to the same shop
rules, and serve with the regular employees. Because their
general conditions of work and their employment interests are
similar to those of regular employees, we find, in accordance
with our policy in this regard, that probationary employees
are entitled to vote.12
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication,]
Member Beeson took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Election.
signers and detailers was raised. Although the Employer's operations today place greater
emphasis on custom orders, thereby necessitating more collaboration between the designers
and detailers and the toolmakers and production employees, the record is clear that the duties
and functions of the designers and detailers have not changed since the Board's earlier
decision.
12 David S. Pearl and Ephraim Werner d/b/a National Torch Tip Company, 107 NLRB
1271 at 2 and 3.
F. HILGEMEIER & BRO., INC. and UNITED PACKINGHOUSE
WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, Petitioner . Case No.
35-RC-993. April 21, 1954
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 W. Bruce
Gillis, Jr., hearing officer . The hearing officer's rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.
108 NLRB No. 74.
F. HILGEMEIER & BRO., INC. 353
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Petitioner asserts that the operations of the Employer
are within the jurisdiction of the Board. The Employer and
Intervenor' declined to take a position in this respect.
F. Hilgemeier & Bro., Inc., herein called Hilgemeier,
operates a meat packing plant at Indianapolis, Indiana. Opera-
tions, which were discontinued in 1942, were resumed on
January 4, 1954. All sales, approximating $60,000 per month
or $720,000 per year, when projected on a yearly basis, are
made to hotels, restaurants, and grocery stores within the
State of Indiana. All purchases are made from the Indianapolis
stockyards. Because the volume and nature of the Hilgemeier
operations, if considered alone, would not warr ant the assertion
of jurisdiction, it is necessary to decide whether the Board
should, for jurisdictional purposes, consider also the operations
of certain related corporations.
Hilgemeier is owned on a 51 percent-49 percent basis by
2 brothers, George and Edward Hilgemeier, who hold the
positions of president and vice president, respectively. The
South Side Cold Storage Company, herein called Cold Storage,
a division and wholly owned subsidiary of Hilgemeier, operates
a warehouse, renting space to the public. It received in excess
of $50,000 annually from General Foods and Hilgemeier
Frosted Foods, Inc., herein called Frosted Foods. The latter
corporation is wholly owned by George Hilgemeier. It operates
as the exclusive distributor for Birdseye Frozen Foods, a
division of General Foods, in the geographical areas around
Indianapolis, and maintains branch offices in Muncie, Terre
Haute, and Evansville, Indiana. Frosted Foods rents a bin
room for preparing orders and uses as much storage space
as is required or available from Cold Storage. Frosted Foods
receives annually, directly from outside the State of Indiana,
over $1,250,000 in purchases, and makes annual sales out of
the State in excess of $46,000 annually.
The three companies are located in adjacent buildings.
George Hilgemeier is the operating head of all three com-
panies and is in charge of their labor relations policies.
Hilgemeier's powerhouse and maintenance employees serve
all three companies. However, because Hilgemeier presently
has no maintenance employees, the general maintenance is
being performed on a part-time basis by an employee of Cold
Storage. On occasions , Cold Storage lends employees to both
Frosted Foods and Hilgemeier. Both Hilgemeier and Cold
Storage employ the same auditor. There is no indication what,
if any, adjustments are made between the companies for these
employee services.
ILocal 167, Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, AFL,
intervened on the basis of a current showing of interest in the unit involved. It had pre-
viously represented the group of employees sought herein before the Employer discontinued
the meat packing operations, which were recently resumed.
339676 0 - 55 - 24
354 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
In view of the foregoing and the entire record, including the
substantial identity of ownership and control of the companies,
the physical proximity of the plants, the related nature of the
operations of the 3 companies, the interchange of employee
services, and the fact that the same individual is operating
head and in charge of the labor relations policies of all 3 com-
panies, we find that Hilgemeier, Cold Storage, and Frosted
Foods constitute a single employer within the meaning of
Section 2 (2) of the Act.' Because the annual total direct out-
of-State purchases by the group found to constitute a single
employer exceeds $500,000 and direct out-of-State shipments
exceed $25,000, we find that the Employer is engaged in com-
merce and that it will effectuate the policies of the Act to
assert jurisdiction over this enterprise.'
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent
certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of F. Hilgemeier & Bro., Inc.,
within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and
(7) of the Act.
4. The parties herein are in agreement, and we find, that
the following employees of F. Hilgemeier & Bro., Inc., con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees at the Indiana-
polis, Indiana, meat packing plant of the Employer, excluding
office clerical employees, plant clerical employees, and all
guards, professional employees, and all supervisors as defined
in the Act.4
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
Member Rodgers took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Election.
2See Central New York Beer Distributing Company , et al., (Case No . 3-RC-1280); Maloney-
Chambers Lumber Co , et al., 104 NLRB 503; cf. Dan Dee Central Ohio Corporation, 106
NLRB 1303; Goodman 's Inc. , 101 NLRB 352, 353.
SSee Stanislaus Implement and Hardware Co., Ltd., 91 NLRB 618; Federal Dairy Co., Inc.,
91 NLRB 638. By their assertion of jurisdiction here, Chairman Farmer and Member Beeson
are not to be deemed as adopting the Board ' s past jurisdictional standards.
4The parties stipulated to the exclusion of three delivery-truck drivers , the powerhouse
employees , the employees of the other two companies consisting of truckdrivers and ware-
housemen currently represented by another labor organization , a watchman , and Foreman
Scress and H. Hilgemeier.