Ralston Purina Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 7, 1968

172 N.L.R.B. 1469 (N.L.R.B. 1968)

VAN CAMP SEA FOOD DIV.
Van Camp Sea Food Division , Ralston Purina Com-
pany' and Construction and General Laborers'
Union , Local 368 of the Laborer 's International
Union of North America , AFL-CIO , Petitioner.
Case 37-RC-1412
August 7, 1968
DECISION AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS
FANNING, JENKINS, AND ZAGORIA
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held before Hearing Officer Bernard
T. Hopkins . Thereafter , the Petitioner and the Em-
ployer filed briefs in support of their respective
positions.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's
rulings made at the hearing and finds that they are
free from prejudicial error. They are hereby af-
firmed.
Upon the entire record in this case , the Board
finds:
Van Camp Sea Food Division , Ralston Purina
Company is a Missouri corporation with a place of
business at Pago Pago, American Samoa. The
' The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing
' Alternatively, the Employer urges the Board to exercise its discretion to
1469
Samoan operation annually purchases tunafish
valued in excess of $50,000 from suppliers outside
of American Samoa and annually ships to the
United States canned tunafish valued in excess of
$50,000.
Petitioner seeks to represent a unit composed of
all hourly rated production and maintenance em-
ployees of the Employer at its Pago Pago operation,
including hourly rated feadmen , but excluding all
clerical employees , confidential employees , nurses
and professional employees , guards and/or
watchmen, and supervisors , as defined in the Act.
The Employer has moved that the petition be
dismissed on the grounds that the Board lacks ju-
risdiction over labor-management relations in
American Samoa.2
In a companion case, Star-Kist Samoa Inc., 172
NLRB No . 161, issued this date , we held that
American Samoa does not come within the jurisdic-
tion of the Act. Accordingly , we shall grant the Em-
ployer 's motion and dismiss the petition.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition herein be,
and it hereby is, dismissed.
Jecline jurisdiction In view of our disposition of the motion to dismiss for
want of jurisdiction , we do not reach the question of discretion
172 NLRB No. 162