Underwriters Salvage Co. of New York

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 27, 1952

99 N.L.R.B. 337 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

UNDERWRITERS SALVAGE COMPANY OF NEW YORK 337
13-RC-2286: This group consists of one electrician and one em-
ployee hired temporarily for the installation of certain new electrical
equipment. The latter was hired by an electrical engineer from the
St. Louis office for a special project at the Ottawa plant, and may be
allowed to stay on as a production worker when the project is com-
pleted. The electrician spends his time on electrical maintenance in
the plant, with the exception of an hour or more a day when he makes
tests on the boiler water. He is on 24-hour call in case of emergency.
However, he has no license and acquired the necessary skill for his
work on the job. Apart from other considerations we shall grant the
motion of the Employer and the Intervenor to dismiss this petition
inasmuch as the unit requested, in effect, consists of but one employee.'
13-RC-2287: This group actually consists of a journeyman car-
penter who, except for occasional cabinet work in the plant, devotes
his whole time to moldmaking, and two other employees who divide
their time between machine repair and carpentry .5 The latter, like
all other maintenance employees requested by the Petitioner, are su-
pervised by the plant's master mechanic when engaged in machine re-
pair work; the moldmaker, who is the plant's only moldmaker and
works without helpers, is supervised by a production foreman. There
are no carpenter helpers or apprentices. Despite the admitted car-
pentry skill of the sole moldmaker in the plant, there is no justification
on this record for severance of the group requested as skilled em-
ployees commonly engaged in craft work.6
As none of the units requested by the Petitioner is appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining, we shall dismiss the petitions.
We therefore do not pass upon the apparent contract bar issue raised
by the Intervenor.
Order .
Upon the entire record in these cases, the National Labor Relations
Board hereby orders that the petitions filed herein be, and they hereby
are, dismissed.
4 See Griffin Wheel Company, 80 NLRB 1471.
5 One of these employees, Harry Werner, was requested in connection with petition No.
13-RC-2285 as a machine repairman.
e Compare Gulf Oil Corporation, 77 NLRB 308. 312.
UNDERWRITERS SALVAGE COMPANY or NEW YORK and INTERNATIONAL
CHEMICAL WORKERS UNION, LOCAL #430, AFL, PETITIONER. Cia$e
No. 20-RC-1737. May 27,1952
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 Albert Schneider, hearing
99 NLRB No. 54.
338 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-mem-
ber panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Styles and Peterson].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
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 seeks a unit of all production and maintenance
employees employed in the Employer's pickery and general salvage
operations. The Employer contends (1) that no unit is appropriate,
and (2) that if any unit is appropriate, only a unit limited to its
pickery operations, excluding employees in its general salvage opera-
tions, is appropriate. The parties also disagree as to the unit place-
ment of a truck driver, whom the Petitioner would include and the
Employer would exclude.
The Employer is engaged in salvaging property which has been
damaged by fire, water, or other causes. In connection with its
Fresno, California, operations, the only operations involved in this
proceeding,' the Employer maintains a pickery, where cotton is re-
conditioned, baled, and stored, and a general salvage warehouse,
where other types of property, such as grain, hardware, lumber,
canned goods, and automobiles, are salvaged. The pickery and ware-
house are located about 300 feet apart, separated by a large open space
used for storage.
The Employer's cotton salvaging operations are seasonal in nature,
and correspond roughly to the California cotton picking season,
which lasts from about October to March. The general salvage
operations, on the other hand, are conducted on a year-around basis.
Most of the Employer's salvaging operations are carried out at the
site of the loss; only when property cannot be conveniently or eco-
nomically salvaged at that point is it transported for salvaging to the
pickery or warehouse. Because the Employer's operations are de-
pendent on the occurrence of losses, such operations are generally
intermittent.
In addition to its supervisory personnel, the Employer employs
two or three regular employees in connection with its operations at
the pickery and warehouse. Other employees are hired as operations
1 The Employer also conducts its operations at other locations in California and other
States of the United States.
UNDERWRITERS SALVAGE COMPANY OF NEW YORK 339
at the pickery and warehouse warrant, and are laid off when they are
no longer needed? Employees at the pickery are hired by the pickery
superintendent, while employees at the warehouse are hired by the
warehouse superintendent or the warehouse supervisor. Both the
pickery and the warehouse are under the supervision of a special
agent in charge of the Fresno operations.
As the warehouse operations generally require heavy manual labor,
employment at the warehouse is generally restricted to men; on the
other hand, women are generally employed for the pickery operations..
The regular employees have duties in connection with both the pick-
ery and the warehouse operations; there is, however, little inter-
change among the other employees. The nonregular employees at the
pickery and the warehouse are all classified as common laborers, and
their duties require little skill and virtually no training.
The Employer's contention, noted above, that no unit is appro-
priate, is based on the seasonal and intermittent nature of its opera-
tions, and the allegedly high rate of turnover among its employees.
Although these factors may present certain problems in connection
with the conduct of the election and the determination of eligible
voters, they do not, in our opinion, constitute a valid basis for deny-
ing to the employees their statutory right to engage in collective
bargaining, should they so desire.3 Accordingly, we find this con-
tention to be without merit.
The Employer's further contention that only a unit limited to em-
ployees in its pickery operations is appropriate is based on the above-
described differences in supervision and hiring, including the main-
f enance of separate payrolls, and the absence of interchange.' How-
ever, as we have already indicated, the employees in both the pickery
and warehouse operations have common ultimate supervision, the two
operations are conducted in close proximity to each other, the em-
ployees in both have a common classification as laborers, and the
regular employees have duties with respect to both operations. Under
these circumstances, and particularly as no labor organization seeks
to represent either group of employees separately, we find that the
pickery and warehouse employees have a sufficient community of in-
terest to constitute a single appropriate unit .5
2 Employees are also hired as needed in connection with operations conducted away
from the pickery and warehouse. The parties agree that such employees should be excluded
from any unit found appropriate here.
8 See California Almond Growers Exchange, 73 NLRB 1367.
4 The Employer also relies on the Petitioner's acknowledgment that•it does not represent
any other general warehouse or general salvage employees , and the fact that the ware-
house employees are generally men, whereas the pickery employees are generally women.
However , as the Board has frequently stated, an alleged jurisdictional limitation is not
a valid reason for excluding from a unit employees who would otherwise appropriately be
included therein. See Denton's, Inc., 83 NLRB 35, 38. And as the Board has also con-
sistently held, a difference in the sex of employees is not a valid basis for determining the
appropriateness of a bargaining unit. The Mansfield Telephone Company, 92 NLRB 83, 84.
B 'Wm F. Crome ci Co., 80 NLRB 986, 987.
340 DECISIONS -OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The truck driver spends most of his time in over-the-road driving,
hauling loads to and from the pickery and warehouse. However, he
also does some work at the pickery and warehouse. The Board has
sanctioned the inclusion of truck drivers in production and main-
tenance units when no labor organization seeks to represent them
separately, and particularly when, as here, there is only one truck
driver who could not by himself constitute an appropriate unit .6
Under these circumstances, we shall include the truck driver in the
unit. In accord with usual Board practice, we shall also include in
the unit the nonregular employees who work at jobs within the unit.?
On the basis of the foregoing and the entire record, we find that
all production and maintenance employees at the Employer's pickery
and general salvage warehouse at Fresno, California, including ,the
truck driver and the nonregular employees, but excluding office and
clerical employees, guards, professional employees, and supervisors
as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the
Act.
5. As noted above, the Employer's operations are,seasonal and inter-
mittent. The Employer maintains lists of former nonregular em-
ployees, and others who have indicated their availability for em-
ployment. When nonregular employees are needed, the Employer first
seeks to recruit such employees from these lists. If it .cannot fill its
requirements from the lists, the Employer secures the balance,of its
needed complement from other sources. The record reflects ,that
of a total of 57 nonregular employees who worked at the pickery
during the current season, 8 had worked during the preceding season,
and 7 of the 8 had worked during the 2 preceding, seasons .8 It appears
that most of those who worked during the-current and previous sea-
sons have worked more than 60 days during the current season.
The Employer contends that none of the nonregular employees
is eligible to vote, or in the alternative that only those are eligible.to
vote who worked during the current season and the two,precedi ng;sea-
sons . The Petitioner contends that nonregular employees who worked
during the current season and one or more of the preceding seasons are
eligible to vote. Under the circumstances of this case, we -find ,that
nonregular employees who have worked for the Employer for more
than 1 year have a reasonable expectation of substantial yearly em-
ployment by the Employer, and therefore have a substantial interest in
employment conditions at the Employer's operations. We find, ac-
9 Asr Metals, Inc., 83 NLRB 945, 946.
The Welch Grape Juice Company, 96 NLRB 214. The separate issue of their .voting
eligibility will be discussed, infra.
S The record does not contain similar information with respect to employment at the
warehouse.
CALIFORNIA CEDAR PRODUCTS COMPANY 341
cordingly, that nonregular employees who were, first employed by the
Employer more than 1 year prior to the eligibility date established
hereinafter are eligible to vote in the election .9
As the Employer's pickery operations are seasonal, and as it ap-
pears that the current season is now over, we shall, in accord with
usual Board practice, and in order to make the franchise available
to the largest number of eligible voters, direct that the election be
held during the Employer's next season, when a representative comple-
ment of nonregular employees is employed, on a date to be determined
by the Regional Director, among the employees in the appropriate
unit who are employed during the payroll period immediately preced-
ing the date of the issuance by the Regional Director of the notice of
election.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
See The Welch Grape Juice Company, supra.
CALIFORNIA CEDAR PRODUCTS COMPANY and WAREHOUSE UNION LOCAL
6, INTERNATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN 'S AND WAREHOUSEMEN 'S UNION,
PETITIONER . Case No. 20O--RC-1669. May 2'7,195f
Supplemental Decision and Certification of Representatives
On March 14, 1952, pursuant to the Board's Decision and Direction
of Election herein, dated February 26, 1952,1 an election by secret
ballot was conducted under the direction and supervision of the
Regional Director for the Twentieth Region, among the employees
of the Employer in the unit found appropriate in the Decision. Upon
completion of the election, a tally of ballots was duly furnished the
parties. The tally showed that of 140 votes cast, 35 were for the
Petitioner, 95 were for the Intervenor,2 4 were against participating
labor organizations, and 6 were challenged.
On March 18, 1952, the Petitioner filed objections to conduct affect-
ing the results of the election. In accordance with the Rules and
Regulations of the Board, the Regional Director conducted an investi-
gation of the objections, and on April 18, 1952, issued and served upon
the parties his report on objections. In his report, the Regional Di-
rector found that the objections did not raise substantial and material
issues with respect to the election and recommended that they be over-
ruled. Thereafter, the Petitioner timely filed exceptions to the
Regional Director's report.
Not reported in printed volumes of Board decisions.
2 Pencil Material Workers' Union No. 20298, AFL.
99 NLRB No. 56.
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