Seattle Wholesale Florists Association

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 8, 1951

92 N.L.R.B. 1186 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

In the Matter of SEATTLE WHOLESALE FLORISTS ASSOCIATION, EMPLOYER
and WAREHOUSEMEN'S LOCAL UNION No. 117, AFFILIATED WITH IN-
TERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS , CHAUFFEURS , WAREHOUSE-
MEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 19-RC-615.Decided January 8, 1951
DECISION, ORDER, AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Howard A. McIntyre, Jr.,
hearing 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-member
.panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Petitioner seeks an association-wide unit, including employees
of the following Employers : George Huserik Wholesale Florist;
Seattle Flower Growers, Lie.; David L. Jones Wholesale Florist, Inc. ;
Northwest Wholesale Florists, and Beall Greenhouse Company, Inc.2
For the reasons stated in paragraph numbered 4, infra, we find that
only single-employer units are appropriate. We shall therefore dis-
cuss the jurisdictional facts relating to each of these Employers
separately.
George Huserik Wholesale Florist is an individually owned pro-
prietorship engaged in the wholesale florist commission and sales busi-
ness in Seattle, Washington. During the year 1949, the Employer's
volume of business amounted to approximately $300,000. During the
same period the Employer made purchases of flowers and plants valued
at approximately $60,000 from points outside the State of Washing-
ton, and sold flowers, plants, and florists' supplies, valued in excess
of $40,000, to customers outside the State of Washington. _
Seattle Flower Growers, Inc., is a Washington corporation engaged
in the wholesale florist business in Seattle, Washington. During the
I The petition and other formal papers were amended at the hearing to show the correct
name of the Employer.
2 Beall Greenhouse Company, Inc ., is not, and never has been, a member of the Seattle
Wholesale Florists Association.
92 NLRB No. 176.
1186
SEATTLE WHOLESALE FLORISTS ASSOCIATION 1187
year 1949, the Employer's approximate gross dollar volume of busi-
ness was in excess of $500,000. During the same period the Employer
purchased flowers, plants, and supplies valued in excess of $50,000
from points outside the State of Washington, and made sales in ex-
cess of $50,000 to customers outside the State of Washington.
David L. Jones Wholesale Florists, Inc., is a Washington corpora-
tion engaged in the wholesale florist business in Seattle, Washington.
.During the year 1949 the Employer's gross volume of business was in
excess of $500,000. During this same period the Employer made
purchases valued in excess of. $100,000 from points outside the State
.of Washington, and made sales, amounting to approximately $100,000
to customers. outside the State of Washington.
Beall Greenhouse Company, Inc., is a Washington corporation en-
gaged in the operation of greenhouses and the growing and raising of
flowers and plants. During the year 1949 the Employer made pur-
chases of flowers, plants, and supplies valued at approximately
$135,000 from points outside the State of Washington. During the
same period the Employer made sales amounting to approximately
.$50,000 to customers outside the State of Washington.
We find that the four Employers discussed above are engaged in
commerce within the meaning of the Act. We further find, in ac-
cordance with our recently announced policy, that, as the out-of-State
sales of each Employer exceeds $25,000 per year, it will effectuate
the policies of the Act for the Board to assert jurisdiction over these
Employers.3
Northwest Wholesale Florists is a partnership doing business in
Seattle, Washington. During the year 1949 the Employer's volume
of business amounted to approximately $200,000. During the same
period the Employer purchased flowers, plants, and florists' supplies
valued at approximately $65,000 from points outside the State of
Washington, and made sales of flowers valued in excess of $1,000 to
customers outside the State of Washington.
While we find that the operations of the Employer affect commerce,
we believe that, as neither the Employer's, inflow nor its outflow,
alone or in combination, meet the minimum requirements established
by the Board for the assertion of jurisdiction, it would not effectuate
the policies of the Act to assert jurisdiction over this Employer .4
Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petition insofar as it relates to this
Employer.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
1 Stanislaus Implement and Hardware Company, Limited, 91 NLRB 618.
4 Stanislaus Implement and Hardware Company, Limited, 91 NLRB 618 ; Federal Dairy
Co., Inc., 91 NLRB 638 ; The Rutledge Paper Products , Inc., 91 NLRB 625.
1188 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
3. The Employers contend that their current contracts, with Florists
and Gardeners Union of Seattle and Vicinity, Local 20975, AFL,
herein called the Intervenor, are bars to this proceeding. The con-
tracts contain the following union-security provisions :
SECTION 3. The Employer agrees, in the event that this Union
is unable to supply sufficient competent help, that when hiring
non-members of the Union, said employee or employees shall
secure a work permit from the Union after three (3) days con-
secutive employment. Upon renewal of work permit, they shall
make application for membership in the Union within thirty (30)
days.
No election has even been conducted by the Board, under Section
9 (c) of the Act, authorizing the Intervenor to execute union-security
agreements with the Employers. Moreover, the above provision goes
beyond the limited union-security provisions permitted by Section 8
(a) (3) of the Act, and is thus. illegal whether or not union-authoriza,
tion elections have been held.5 Accordingly, we find that these con-
tracts cannot operate as a bar to this proceeding.
4. All parties to this proceeding are in agreement as to the com-
position of the unit, namely : All of the Employer's employees, ex-
cluding office, clerical, and professional employees, and supervisors.
The unit issue raised in this case relates to the scope of the unit. The
Petitioner seeks a single multiemployer unit of these employees. As
an alternative position, if the Board should find the multiemployer
unit inappropriate, the Petitioner requests that separate elections be
conducted among the employees of each of the Employers. The Em-
ployers and the Intervenor maintain that separate units should be
established for the employees of each of the Employers.
The Seattle Wholesale Florists Association was chartered approxi-
mately 4 months ago, for the sole purpose of facilitating deliveries by
the Employers to their customers.6 There has been no history of joint
bargaining by the Employers either through the Association or in
any other manner. The Association does not act, and never has acted,
for the Employers in negotiating contracts with any labor organiza-
tion. The collective bargaining history for these Employers has been
on a single Employer basis. Accordingly, there are no facts which
would justify the establishment of a multiemployer bargaining uiiit.7
s Shepherd Manufacturing Company, Inc., 90 NLRB 2196; National Lock Washer
Company, 90 NLRB No. 228; Wheelco Instrument Company, 90 NLRB 436; J. C. Pitman
& Sons, Inc., 88 NLRB 913. .
e The Association has no authority to establish business policies for its members.
7 Rainbo Bread Co., 92 NLRB 181; Pacific Metals Company, Ltd., et at., 91 NLRB
696; Pariseau's, Incorporated, et at, 90 NLRB 1458; Fehr Baking Company, 89 NLRB
1401; Association of Motion Picture Producers, Inc., 88 NLRB 521 ; General Optical
Company, 88 NLRB 416.
SEATTLE WHOLESALE FLORISTS ASSOCIATION 1159
There remains for consideration the status of the employees of
Beall Greenhouse Company, Inc. who contends that its employees are
agricultural laborers and therefore not covered by the Act.
Those employees are engaged in the planting, cultivating, and har-
vesting of flowers at the Employer's greenhouses on Vashon Island.
Six hours of each day are spent in this work, and 2 hours are spent
on cutting the flowers and preparing them for market.
The Board has previously held that such employees are "agricul-
tural laborers" within the meaning of Section 2 (3) of the Act.8 We
shall therefore dismiss the petition insofar as it pertains to the em-
ployees of Beall Greenhouse Company, Inc.
We find that all employees of George Huserik Wholesale Florist,
Seattle Flowers Growers, Inc., and David L. Jones Wholesale Florists,
Inc., excluding office, clerical, and professional employees and super-
visors, constitute separate units appropriate for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the instant petition, insofar as it relates
to Northwest Wholesale Florists and Beall Greenhouse Company,
Inc., be, and it hereby is dismissed.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
8 William H. Elliott t Sons Company , 78 NLRB 1078 ; Michigan Mushroom Company,
90 NLRB 774.