Great Northern Icing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 26, 1946

70 N.L.R.B. 682 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

-In the Matter of GRE IT NORTHERN ICING COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
UNITED PACKINGHOUSE WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL UNION No. 321,
CIO, PETITIONER
In the Matter of A. T. MILLER AND ESTATE OF ADDISON MILLER, D/B/A
ADDISON MILLER COMPANY, EMPLOYER and UNITED PACKINGHOUSE
WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL UNION No. 321, C%IO, PETITIONER
,Cases Nos. 19-R-1681 and 19-R-18.55, respectively.Decided August
26,1946
Mr. M. J. Schiffer, of St. Paul, Minn., for the Employers.
Mr. R. E. Engelking, of Spokane, Wash., for the Petitioner.
Mr. A. Sundin, of Spokane, Wash., for the Intervenor.
Mr. Bernard Dunau, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon separate petitions duly filed, a consolidated hearing in this
case was held at Spokane, Washington, on June 11, 1946, before Daniel
R. Dimick, Trial Examiner. The Trial Examiner'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 EMPLOYERS
Great Northern Icing Company, a Minnesota corporation with prin-
cipal offices in St. Paul, Minnesota, licensed to do business in the State
of Washington, owns and operates an ice manufacturing plant at
Hillyard, Washington. Pursuant to a contract with Western Fruit
.Express Company, it ices and re-ices refrigerator cars ( reefers) en
route on the tracks of the Great Northern Railway Company and
spotted at its Hillyard platform for servicing. The refrigerator cars
carry fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and other perishable commodities,
and a portion of the cars are engaged in interstate journeys, During
70 N. L. R. B., No. 51.
682
GREAT NORTHERN ICING COMPANY 683
the year 1945, the Great Northern Icing Company purchased oil,
ammonia , and tools, valued at about $1,000, some of which presumably
originated at points outside the State of Washington. During the
same period of time, it received about $70,000 from the Western Fruit
Express Company in payment for its services.
Addison Miller Company, a partnership with principal offices ins
St. Paul, Minnesota, is engaged in a general contracting business which
consists in operating boarding camps for railroads and industrial,
enterprises in the State of Washington and in building small bridges
and structures. Among its activities is the operation of an ice manu-
facturing plant at Yardley, Washington, pursuant to a contract with
the Northern Pacific Railway Company, the owner of the plant and
property. The Addison Miller Company is,solely responsible for the•
labor, materials , insurance, and similar items needed in the operation,
of the Yardley plant where it manufactures ice used by it to ice and re-
ice refrigerator cars carrying such perishable commodities as fresh
fruit, vegetables, and meat. Refrigerator cars en route on the tracks
of the Northern Pacific Railway Company are spotted by the Railway
Company at the Yardley plant platform for servicing. A portion of
these cars are engaged in interstate journeys. During the year 1945,
the Addison Miller Company purchased oil, ammonia and tools, valued-
at about $1,000, from local outlets, some of which presumably had extra
State origin. During the same period of time, it received from the
Northern Pacific Railway Company about $90,000 in payment for its-
services.
We find that the Employers are engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
International Union of Operating Engineers, Local Union 83, herein
called the Intervenor, is a labor organization affiliated with the Amer-
ican Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Em-
ployer.
III. THE .QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employers refuse to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employers 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.
1684 -DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
IV. THIE APPROPRIATE UNIT ; THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Petitioner seeks a single unit comprised of all the production
and maintenance employees at the Hillyard plant of the Great
Northern Icing Company and at the Yardley plant of the Addison
Miller Company, with the exception of the chief engineer (plant
superintendent), the day foreman, and the office and clerical employees.
The Intervenor desires a single unit composed solely of the assistant
engineers at both the Yardley and Hillyard plants. The Employers
urge separate units at the Yardley and Hillyard plants, consisting in
,each instance of the production and maintenance employees, with the
exception of the chief engineer (plant superintendent), all foremen,
and office and clerical employees. They also assert that the assistant
engineers constitute appropriate units separate from the production
.and maintenance units.
The stock of the Great Northern Icing Company is held by A. T.
Miller Estate of Addison Miller, and Estate of George Faltico. The
partners of the Addison Miller Company are A. T. Miller and the
Estate of Addison Miller. The same individual serves as secretary
and vice president of the corporation and as general manager of the
partnership, and the same individual serves both Employers in the
dual capacity of general superintendent and chief engineer. Both
-Employers occupy the same physical space in their principal offices
at St. Paul, Minnesota, and use the same clerical staff in their common
administrative office in Spokane, Washington. The accounting and
management functions of the two Employers are combined and cen-
tralized. The operations performed at the Yardley and Hillyard
plants are strikingly similar. They are separated by a distance of
about 5 to 6 miles. There is some interchangeability of employees
between the two plants. The labor-relations policy pertaining to the
employees at both plants is formulated by the same individuals,
and a division of the bargaining unit to conform to the separate legal
entities would result in a duplication of effort in the negotiation` and
administration of a collective agreement. It has been frequently
-decided that legal separateness of employees does not compel a cor-
responding separation in the appropriate unit where other facts
indicate that for collective bargaining purposes a more inclusive unit
is desirable., Contrary to the contention of the Employers, we find,
that the partnership and the corporation constitute a single employer
within the meaning of Section 2 (2) of the Act, and that the Yardley
and Hillyard plants comprise a single appropriate unit.
' See Matter of Arnolt Motor Company , 68 N. L. R. B. 868 ; Matter of Standard Slag Com-
pany, 63 N. L. R. B.'313; Matter of Salmon Cowan, Site, et al., 59 N. L. R. B. 312; Matter
of (iettyabu)g Furnsture Co et at, 25 N. L. R B. 1109
GREAT NORTHERN ICING COMPANY 685
A description of the activities at one plant is equally applicable to
the operations of the other. The work at the plants may be divided
into two parts, that which pertains to the manufacture and storage of
ice, and that which pertains to the delivery of the ice to the refrigerator
cars. Water is-placed in cans, immersed in brine, and frozen. After
freezing, the ice is pulled or harvested, and stored. The ice is then
withdrawn from storage as required, and is run to the icing dock or
platform by chains and elevators. The icing dock is at a slightly
higher elevation than the roofs of the refrigerator cars which are
spotted at the platform for servicing. The ice is broken at the dock,
and placed in the bunkers of the cars. Most of the cars require re-
icing, having been initially iced at other points in their journey.
The plants operate 7 days per week throughout the year in 3 shifts
per clay. The day shift begins at 7 a. In. and ends at 4 p. in.'; the swing
shift begins at 1 p. in. and ends at 10 p. In.; and the night shift begins
at 10 p. in. and ends at 7 a. in. There is thus a 3-hour overlap of the
day and swing shifts. The work at the plants is seasonal. For 5 to
6 months during the winter, the plants produce no ice. During this
period a skeleton crew of 3 men is maintained, 1 foreman and 2
engineers, of whom 1 is assigned to each shift. Three months may go
by without the need of icing a car. The icing machines are run
periodically to prevent deterioration. Normal operations are resumed
about April 1 in order to store ice for the peak season beginning about
July 1. During this period, about 12 to 14 men are employed at each
plant. A single shift complement comprises a foreman, an assistant
engineer, an ice puller, and a car icer who acts also as a storage man.
During the peak season beginning July 1 and ending about September
15, the Yardley plant employs about 50 to 60 people, exclusive of the
operating crew, and the Hillyard plant employs about 30 people exclu-
sive of the operating crew.
The manufacture of the ice is handled by an operating crew com-
posed of the assistant engineer and tine ice puller or harvester. The
assistant engineer is primarily concerned with setting the valves of
the ammonia system and with the general maintenance of the refrig-
eration unit. The ice puller performs the manual work of placing
the water in the cans and removing the cans after freezing. The speed
with which he does his work is regulated by the assistant engineer
with a view towards obtaining maximum production which is depend-
ent in part on the efficiency with which ice is pulled. The ice puller
also stores ice, and he is frequently assisted by the engineer in this job.
The employees who ice the refrigerator cars are also engaged in
storing ice, and are designated as storage men and car icers. All em-
ployees work under the general direction of the foreman assigned to
their shift. There is evidently a considerable amount of overlapping
686 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR - RELATIONS BOARD
in the jobs done by the various classifications of employees, as well
as a good deal of transfer between jobs.
The Intervenor had a collective agreement covering the assistant
engineers of the Great Northern Icing Company entered into on April
1, 1942, for a period of-1 year and extended by letter for an additional
year. During the war the Intervenor was unable to provide the Em-
ployer with assistant engineers, although before the war the Inter-
venor was the Employer's source of engineers at the Hillyard plant.
There has been no collective agreement covering any employees at the,
Yardley plant, and the Employer has not procured engineers for
work at that plant through the Intervenor. Inasmuch as the work
of the assistant engineers is an integral part of the production process,
and their interests are closely related to those of the remainder of the
production force, they may appropriately be included in the produc-
tion and maintenance unit. However, since they are an identifiable
group, and the history of separate representation indicates the feasi-
bility of a unit of assistant engineers, they may also comprise a sep-
arate appropriate unit," and we shall conduct a self-determination
election among them to ascertain their desires. We shall also conduct
an election among the production and maintenance employees. We
shall defer a finding of the appropriate unit or units, pending the out-
come of the elections.
There remains for consideration the supervisory status of the fore-
men. The Employer contends that each foreman has sufficient su-
pervisory authority to warrant exclusion from the rank and file unit.
The Petitioner, on the other hand, would exclude-only the day fore-
man, and would include the swing shift and night shift foremen (also,
known as dock foremen). The foremen at all times work hand in
hand with the car icers and the storage men in the performance of
the manual labor incident to their jobs, and at the same time coordi-
nate and direct their work. So far as it is realistic to segregate their
productive work from their supervisory functions, the foremen dur-
ing the peak season spend 30 percent of their time in production and
70 percent in supervision, and during the period of normal operations,
their time is equally divided between production and supervision. -
During the winter months, working alone, the foreman is simply a
production worker. The day foreman is the person through whom
the plant superintendent transmits his instructions to the remaining
foremen and to the employees. The plant superintendent, never-
Our earlier cases in which we found inappropriate units of operating engineers in re-
frigeration plants are distinguished from this case in part by differences in duties,
responsibilities, and mode of operation, but particularly by the history of separate repre-
sentation yvhich the present record discloses. Cf. Matter of Paragon Packing Company,
64 N L. R. B. 12, 52 N. L. R. B. 538; platter of Columbia River Packers Association, Inc.,
64 N. L R. B. 9, 52 N L R. B. 535; Matter of New England Fish Company of Oregon,
52 N. L. R. B 552; Matter of Union Fisherman's Co-op Packing Co, 52 N. L. R. B. 541.
GREAT NORTHERN ICING COMPANY 687
theless, frequently gives his orders directly to the dock foremen or
to the assistant engineers. During the time that the day shift and
the swing shift overlap, presumably the day foreman is in charge.
There is no difference m the wages paid to the day foremen and to the
dock foremen. The Petitioner admits to membership as rank and file
,employees all '`working foremen," whom it defines as those who spend
.30 percent or more of their time in production in conformity with its
understanding of the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act
pertaining to executive employees. However, the uncontradicted tes-
timony of the plant superintendent (chief engineer) and a night-shift
foremen attributed to each of the foremen the authority to hire and
-discharge. We find, in reliance on that testmony, that all the fore-
anen, including the dock foremen, are vested with supervisory author-
ity, and we shall exclude them from the unit of production alid main-
tenance employees.
We shall direct that separate elections be conducted among the
employees in the voting groups described below, who were employed
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the
Direction of Elections herein, subject to the limitations and additions
set forth in the Direction. As previously stated, we shall defer a find-
ing of appropriate unit or units pending the outcome of the elections:
1. All production and maintenance employees at the Hillyard plant
of the Great Northern Icing Company and at the Yardley plant of
the Addison Miller Company, excluding chief engineer (plant super-
intendent), assistant engineers, all foremen, and office and clerical em-
ployees, and all or any other supervisory employees with authority
to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in
the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action; and
2. All assistant engineers at the Hillyard plant of the Great North-
ern Icing Company and at the Yardley plant of the Addison Miller
Company.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Great Northern Icing Com-
pany, Hillyard, Washington, and the Addison Miller Company, Yard-
ley, Washington, separate elections 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 supervision of the Regional
Director for the Nineteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent
for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III,
Sections 10 and 11, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and
Regulations-Series 3, as amended, among the employees in the two
voting groups described in Section IV, above, who were employed
688 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this
Direction, including employees who chcl not work during said pay-roll
period because they were ill or,on vacation or temporarily laid off,
and including employees in the armed forces of the United States who
present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding those em-
ployees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not
been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to determine
whether or not the employees nn voting group 1 desire to be represented
by United Packinghouse Workers of America, Local Union No. 321,
CIO, for the purposes of collective bargaining, and to determine
whether employees in voting group 2 desire to be represented by
United Packinghouse Workers of America, Local Union No. 321, CIO,
or by International Union of Operating Engineers , Local Union 83,
AFL, for the purposes of collective bargaining , or by neither.
CIIAIR31AN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Elections.