Central Guanica

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 30, 1952

100 N.L.R.B. 1309 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

SOUTH PORTO RICO SUGAR CO. 1309
Accordingly, we find that all operating engineers at the Employer's
Dallas, Texas, plant, excluding office and clerical employees, all other
employees, the working foreman, and all other 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.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
SOUTH PORTO RICO SUGAR CO., D/B/A CENTRAL GUANICA and SINDICATO
DE TRABAJADORES DE LA INDUSTRIA AZUCARERA DE GUANICA, CGT-
001, PETITIONER and SINDICATO DE TRABAJADORES DE LA •INDUSTRIA
AZUCARERA DE PUERTO RICO, AFFILIATED TO UPWA-CIO and AMAL-
GAMATED TRADE UNIONS COUNCIL, ILA-AFL and CONFEDERACION
GENERAL DE TRABAJADORES DE PUERTO Rico, PRESIDED BY THOMAS
MENDEZ MEJIAS, ALSO KNOWN AS ORGANIZACION OBRERA INSULAR.
Case No.24-RC--71. September 30, 1952
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Robert J. Can-
nella, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hear-
ing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed."
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member 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 National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations named below claim to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. The Petitioner, the presently recognized bargaining representa-
tive of employees of the Employer, seeks to be certified as their repre-
sentative for the year 1953. The Employer and the Confederation
contend that the current contract between the Employer and the
Petitioner constitutes a bar to this proceeding. The other labor or-
ganizations involved herein do not assert that the contract is a bar.
' The hearing officer permtted Confederaciion General de Trabajadores de Puerto Rico,
presided by Thomas Mendez Mejias , also known as Orgamzacion Obrera Insular , herein-
after called the Confederacion , with which the petitioning local union is affiliated, to
intervene in this proceeding Amalgamated Trade Unions Council, ILA-AFL, excepted.
We overrule the exception A representative of the Confederacion , among others , signed
the current contract between the Petitioner and the Employer , on which the Confedera-
tion's intervention was predicated We find such signature sufficient to show the Con-
federacion ' s interest in this proceeding Electric Products Company, 89 NLRB 218.
100 NLRB No. 205.
1310 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
On February 16, 1951, the Regional Director, following a consent
election in Case No. 24-RC-107, certified the Petitioner as the ex-
clusive bargaining representative of production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Employer's Ensenada, Puerto Rico, plants. Thereafter,
the Employer and the Petitioner entered into collective-bargaining
contracts covering these employees. The last such contract is effective
from January 1 to December 31, 1952, and from year to year there-
after in the absence of notice to "amend" given by either party within
30 days before any expiration date.
As noted more fully below, the Employer's production operations
are seasonal and have ceased for this year. It is therefore apparent
that, for seasonal employees who comprise the bulk of those in the unit,
the contract relied upon by the Employer and the Confederacion
has ceased to be effective in practice. It is equally clear that the peti-
tion raises a question concerning the representation of employees for
the next season. Under these circumstances, the current contract be-
tween the Employer and the Petitioner does not constitute a bar to
this proceeding.2
A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation
of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section
9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act'
4. The following employees of the Employer constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act: All production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Employer's sugar plants at Ensenada, Puerto Rico, in-
cluding factory and refinery employees, sugar boiler helpers, electrical
and mechanical shop employees, plant clericals, warehouse employees,
the foundry shop foreman for breaking iron, the filter press
"capataces," the crystallizer foreman, the assistant head fireman, mill,
the bagasse carrier foreman, the sugar bag "capataz," the assistant
to the cane derrick foreman, the lime kiln foreman, and mill attend-
ants, and all railroad and maintenance-of-way employees at the Em-
ployer's installations in and around Ensenada and at Fortuna and
Joyuda Spur, Puerto Rico, but excluding office clerical employees,
executive, administrative, and professional employees, professional
sugar boiler operators, assistant professional sugar boiler operators,
timekeepers, employees of the Employer's club, dormitories, and
hospital, office janitors, administrative officers, watchmen, guards, and
supervisors as defined in the Act.
2 F E Booth & Company et al., 10 NLRB 1491.
9 While the Petitioner is seeking recertification , two of the Intervenors have submitted
sufficient card showings of interest to entitle each to the status of a petitioner in its own
right. See United States Time Corporation , 79 NLRB 1135 , 1136; Boeing Airplane Co.,
86 NLRB 368.
GENERAL DYESTUFF CORPORATION 1311
5. The Employer is engaged at its Ensenada plants in the process-
ing of sugar. Its production or grinding season usually starts in
January of each year with approximately 900 employees, reaches its
employment peak during March, April, and May with approximately
1,000 employees, and ends in June. Thereafter, during "the dead
season," approximately 400 employees are engaged mainly in mainte-
nance duties. Approximately 15 percent of the Employer's employees
leave the Ensenada area. They may go to the United States. They
may .not return until the next December or January. Because the
bulk of the Employer's production employees will be employed in
January 1953, we shall direct that the election be held in that month,
on a date to be determined by the Regional Director, among employees
in the appropriate unit who will be employed during the payroll period
immediately preceding the date of issuance of the notice of election.
Approximately 100 to 150 "occasional" workers constitute a pool
from which the Employer draws year after year to replace regular
employees absent from work because of illness or other emergencies.
They receive the same wage rates and work under the same conditions
as regular employees. During the production season, some work vir-
tually "all the time," others work scarcely at all. As their employ-
ment is casual and sporadic and the number of hours they work in
any period is irregular, we find that they do not have sufficient interest
to entitle them to vote in the election 4
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
* Charlotte Barth Howell and Van Schaaok & Company, 95 NLRB 1028.
GENERAL DYESTUFF CORPORATION and UNITED GAS, COKE AND CHEM-
ICAL WORKERS OF AMERICA , CIO, PETITIONER . Case No. $-RC-4669.
September 30, 1952
Decision and Direction of Elections
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before John J. Fitzsimmons, hear-
ing 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 [Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Petersonl.
100 NLRB No. 218.