Farmers Produce Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 17, 1947

72 N.L.R.B. 714 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of E. M. GOLDBERG, D/B/A FARMERS PRODUCE COMPANY,
EIIPLo1'1 R and LOCAL 19, FooD, TOBACCO, AGRICULTURAL AND ALLIED
WORKERS or AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 15-R-1887.-Decided Febiuac,y 17, 1947
Messrs. David Hanover and E. M. Goldberg, of Memphis, Tenn.,
for the Employer.
Mr. John Mack Dyson, of Memphis, Tenn., for the Petitioner.
Miss Muriel J. Levor, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon an amended petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held
at Memphis, Tennessee, on December 19,1946, before Gerald A. Brown,
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 the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
E. M. Goldberg, doing business under the name of Farmers Produce
Company, is engaged in the processing of eggs and the dressing of
poultry, and the sale of these products at wholesale. The Employer's
only plant is located at Memphis, Tennessee. During the past year,
the Employer purchased raw materials, consisting chiefly of eggs and
poultry, valued at approximately $300,000, of which 95 percent came
to the plant from points outside Tennessee. During the past year the
Employer's sales amounted to approximately $450,000, of which about
$5,000 represented sales to customers located outside the State of
Tennessee.
72 N L R. B, No. 123.
714
FARMERS PRODUCE COMPANY 715
We find, contrary to the contention of the Employer, that the Em-
ployer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National
Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations , claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.'
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. TIIE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Employer and the Petitioner agree that production and main-
tenance employees at the Employer's Memphis, Tennessee, plant, ex-
cluding office clerical employees, watchmen, salesmen, and supervisory
employees, constitute an appropriate bargaining unit. They disagree
with respect to the unit placement of truck drivers. The Employer
would exclude and the Petitioner include the truck drivers.
The truck drivers are engaged in delivering poultry and eggs from
the plant to the Employer's customers. They do no- production work.
Plant production employees receive hourly wages; truck drivers are
salaried employees. Production employees work irregular hours at
the plant, and their hours are determined by the varying amounts of
poultry and eggs to be processed. Truck drivers work irregular and
different hours, and their hours are determined by the number and
location of customers to be served and the amount of products to be
delivered. One truck driver owns his own truck, for the use of which
he receives compensation. Truck drivers were excluded from coverage
under the recently expired contract between the Employer and the
Meat Cutters covering the production and maintenance workers at
the plant. In view of the diverse duties, interests, and conditions of
employment of the truck drivers, the disagreement of the parties, and
'The Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher workmen of North America, Local No
348, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, herein called the Meat Cutters,
also served with notice did not appear at the hearing A representative of the Meat
Cutters informed the hearing officer that the Meat Cutters, which represented the emplovee^
herein concerned nuclei a contract that expired in August 1946, no longer claimed to repie-
sent these ernplevees
716 - DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the previous bargaining history, we will exclude truck drivers from
the unit.'
We find that all production and maintenace employee's at the Em-
ployer's Memphis, Tennessee, plant, excluding office clerical employees,
watchmen, salesmen, truck drivers, and all supervisory employees with
authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect
changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such
action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with E. M. Goldberg, d/b/a Farmers
Produce Company, Memphis, Tennessee, an election by secret ballot
shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30)
days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Fifteenth Region, acting in this
matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject
to Sections 203.55 and 203.56, of National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations-Series 4, among the employees in the unit
found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during
the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction,
including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period
because they were ill or-on vacation or temporarily laid off, and in-
cluding employees in the armed forces of the United States who pre-
sent themselves in person at the polls, but excluding those employees
who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been re-
hired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented by Local 19, Food,
Tobacco, Agricultural and Allied Workers of America, CIO, for the
purposes of collective bargaining.
8 Matter of Thomasville Chair Company , 65 N. L. A. B. 1290; Matter of West Virginia
Armature Company, 65 N. L. R. B. 1015.