13 N.L.R.B. 101 (N.L.R.B. 1939)

Bercut-Richards Packing Co.; California Processors and Growers, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsJun 5, 1939

13 N.L.R.B. 101 (N.L.R.B. 1939)

In the Matter of BERCUT-RICHARDS PACKING CO. CALIFORNIA PROC- ESSORS AND GROWERS, INC. and UNITED CANNERY, AGRICULTURAL, PACKING AND ALLIED WORKERS OF AMERICA In the Matter of CALIFORNIA PACKING CORPORATION; CALIFORNIA PROC- ESSORS AND GROWERS, INC. and UNITED CANNERY, AGRICULTURAL, PACKING AND ALLIED WORKERS OF AMERICA In the Matter of LIBBY, MCNEILL & LIBBY; CALIFORNIA PROC- ESSORS AND GROWERS, INC. and UNITED CANNERY, AGRICULTURAL, PACKING AND ALLIED WORKERS OF AMERICA In the Matter of MOR-PAK PRESERVING CORPORATION; CALIFORNIA PROC- ESSORS AND GROWERS, INC. and UNITED CANNERY, AGRICULTURAL, PACKING AND ALLIED WORKERS of AMERICA In the Matter of THE PACKWELL CORPORATION; CALIFORNIA PROC- ESSORS AND GROWERS, INC. and UNITED CANNERY, AGRICULTURAL, PACKING AND ALLIED â€¢ WORKERS OF AMERICA In the Matter of RICHMOND-CHASE COMPANY; CALIFORNIA PROC- ESSORS AND GROWERS, INC. and UNITED CANNERY, AGRICULTURAL, PACKING AND ALLIED WORKERS OF AMERICA In the Matter Of STOCKTON FOOD PRODUCTS INC.; CALIFORNIA PROC- ESSORS AND GROWERS,. INC. and UNITED CANNERY, AGRICULTURAL, PACKING AND ALLIED WORKERS OF AMERICA In the Matter of F. M. BALL AND COMPANY; CALIFORNIA PROC- ESSORS AND GROWERS, INC. and UNITED CANNERY, AGRICULTURAL, PACKING AND ALLIED WORKERS OF AMERICA In the Matter of B . H. BODY COMPANY ; CALIFORNIA PROCESSORS AND GROWERS, INC. and UNITED CANNERY, AGRICULTURAL, PACKING AND ALLIED WORKERS OF AMERICA In the Matter Of CALIFORNIA CONSERVING COMPANY; CALIFORNIA PROC- ESSORS AND GROWERS, INC. and UNITED CANNERY, AGRICULTURAL, PACKING AND ALLIED WORKERS OF AMERICA In the Matter of CALIFORNIA PACKING CORPORATION; CALIFORNIA PROC- ESSORS AND GROWERS, INC. and UNITED CANNERY, AGRICULTURAL, PACKING AND ALLIED WORKERS OF AMERICA In the Matter of ELMHURST PACKERS, INC. ; CALIFORNIA PROC- ESSORS AND GROWERS, INC. and UNITED CANNERY, AGRICULTURAL, PACKING AND ALLIED WORKERS 13 N. L. R. B., No. 14. 101 187930-39-vol 13-8 102 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD In the Matter of FILICE AND PERRELLI CANNING COMPANY, INCORPO- RATED; CALIFORNIA PROCESSORS AND GROWERS, INC. and UNITED CANNERY, AGRICULTURAL, PACKING AND ALLIED WORKERS OF AMERICA In the Matter of H. J. HEINZ CORPORATION; CALIFORNIA PROC- ESSORS AND GROWERS, INC. and UNITED CANNERY, AGRICULTURAL, PACKING AND ALLIED WORKERS OF AMERICA In the Matter Of HUNT BROTHERS PACKING COMPANY; CALIFORNIA PROCESSORS AND GROWERS, INC. and UNITED CANNERY, AGRICULTU- RAL, PACKING AND ALLIED WORKERS OF AMERICA in the Matter Of SANTA CRUZ FRUIT PACKING CO.; CALIFORNIA PROC- ESSORS AND GROWERS, INC. and UNITED CANNERY, AGRICULTURAL, PACKING AND ALLIED WORKERS OF AMERICA Cases Nos. C-883 to C-898 inclusive, respectively.-Decided Juone 5, 1939 Evidence: ruling of Trial Examiner preventing introduction of competent, relevant, and material evidence-Order: record set aside except as to charges, complaints, and amendments thereto, and new hearing ordered. Mr. John T. McTernan, Mr. Jonathan H. Rowell, and Mr. Leslie Lubliner, for the Board. Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro, by Mr. Eugene D. Bennett, Mr. E. A. Mathews, and Mr. Leland B. Groezinger, of San Francisco, Calif., and Mr. J. Paul St. Sure, of Oakland, Calif., for the respondents generally. Rea, Free and Jacka, by Mr. W. W. Jacka, of San Jose, Calif., for Richmond-Chase Company, respondent. Mr. Richard S. Goldman, of San Francisco , Calif., for California Conserving Company, respondent. Thorp, Bostwick, Reed cC Armstrong, by Mr. Donald W. Ebberts, of Pittsburgh, Pa., and Snook câ‚¬ Snook cC Chase, by Mr. Charles E. Snook, of Oakland, Calif., for H. J. Heinz Corporation, respondent. Donahue, Richards and Hamlin, by Mr. 0. D. Hamlin, Jr., and Mr. L. S. McElwain, of Oakland, Calif., for the intervenors generally. Mr. James A. Glenn, of Coshocton, Ohio, for the California State Federation of Labor, intervenor. Mr. A. G. Koplow, of counsel to the Board. ORDER Upon amended charges duly filed by United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers of America, the National Labor Rela- tions Board, herein called the Board, by Alice M. Rosseter, Regional Director for the Twentieth Region (San Francisco, California), BERCUT-RICHARDS PACKING COMPANY 103 issued and duly served complaints dated March 11, 1938, against Bercut -Richards Packing Co ., California Packing Corporation, and Libby, McNeill & Libby, of Sacramento , California ; Mor-Pak Pre- serving Corporation , the Packwell Corporation , Richmond-Chase Company, and Stockton Food Products Inc., of Stockton, Cali- fornia; F. M. Ball and Company , B. H. Body Company , Elmhurst Packers, Inc., Santa Cruz Fruit Packing Co., of Oakland, California; California Conserving Company, Inc., and Hunt Brothers Packing Company, of Hayward , California ; California Packing Corporation of San Leandro , Berkeley, and Oakland , California ; Filice and Perrelli Canning Company , Incorporated , of Richmond , California; H. J. Heinz Corporation , of Berkeley , California . In each of the complaints the California Processors and Growers , Inc., of San Francisco , California , was joined as respondent . The parties against whom the complaints were issued will be referred to herein collec- tively as the respondents . The complaints alleged that the respond- ents had engaged in and were engaging in unfair labor practices affecting commerce within the meaning of Section 8 (1) and (3), and Section 2 (6) and ( 7) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On March 15, 1938, the Board , acting pursuant to Article II, Section 37 (b), of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended , ordered that the cases be con- solidated for the purposes of hearing . On March 26 , 1938 , the re- spondents filed their answers to the complaints denying that they had engaged in the unfair labor practices alleged therein , denying that they were engaged in interstate or foreign commerce within the meaning of the Act, and praying that the complaints be dismissed. Pursuant to notice , hearings were held in the following California cities: San Francisco , on April 11 and 12 , 1938; Stockton , from April 13 to April 29, 1938; Oakland from May 3 to May 27, 1938; Sacra- mento, from June 1 to June 10, 1938; and Oakland again on June 13, from June 27 to July 29, and from August 11 to September 8, 1938. The hearings were held before Charles A. Wood, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. At the commencement of the hear- ing, the Trial Examiner , upon motion of their counsel , granted per- mission to intervene to Cannery Workers Union No. 20324; Cannery Workers Union of San Joaquin County , Local No. 20676 ; Cannery Workers Union No. 20905; Cannery Workers Union of Southern Alameda County, Local No . 20843 ; Cannery and Vegetable Workers Union of Contra Costa County , Local 20794 ; and the California State Federation of Labor , herein referred to collectively as the inter- venors. Permission to intervene was limited to the extent necessary to protect the interests of the various intervenors . During the course of the hearing, on motion of counsel for the Board , an amendment to 104 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD each of the complaints was allowed , inserting further allegations that the respondent had engaged in and was engaging in unfair labor practices affecting commerce within the meaning of Section 8 (1) and (3) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. Thereafter the respondents filed their answers to the amendments to the complaints, denying the unfair labor practices alleged therein. On September 17, 1938, the Board issued and duly served its Order Transferring Proceeding to National Labor Relations Board, Di- recting That No Trial Examiner 's Intermediate Report Shall Be Issued, Directing Issuance of Proposed Findings of Fact, Proposed Conclusions of Law, and Proposed Order, and Granting Right to File Exceptions, Request Oral Argument and Permission to File Brief. A review of the record reveals that several witnesses were examined by the Trial Examiner after counsel had concluded their examination. While most of the evidence elicited in this manner consisted of expatiation and clarification of testimony given in direct and cross- examination by counsel, in some cases the evidence dealt with new phases of the testimony not gone into by counsel in the course of their examination. The Trial Examiner denied counsel the right to examine further on these phases of the testimony after he had con- cluded his examination . Seasonable objections were voiced by counsel but were overruled by the Trial Examiner. These rulings prevented the respondents and intervenors from introducing evidence which was competent, relevant, and material to the issues. We shall, accordingly, order that the record, with the exception of the charges, the pleadings, and the amendments thereto, be set aside and that a new hearing be held. In view of the above holding, it is unnecessary to determine whether the respondents and intervenors were preju- diced in their right to a full and fair hearing by certain characteriza- tions of witnesses and counsel, and by certain other rulings, statements, and actions by the Trial Examiner. ORDER Pursuant to Section 10 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act and Article II, Section 38, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, IT Is HEREBY ORDERED that the record in the above cases, with the exception of the charges, the pleadings, and the amendments thereto, be, and it hereby is, set aside; and IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a. new hearing be held. MR. WILLIAM M. LEISERSON took no part in the consideration of the above Order.