Del Monte Properties Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 9, 1943

46 N.L.R.B. 913 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of DEL MONTE PROPERTIES COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL
UNION OF MINE, MILL AND SMELTER WORKERS, CIO
Case No. R-4696.-Decided January 9, 1943
Jurisdiction : sand industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : refusal
to accord recognition because of doubt as to union's majority status; election
necessary. "
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all production and maintenance
employees, excluding supervisory employees; stipulation as to.
Mr. S. F. B. More and Mr. C. S. Olmsted, of Del Monte, Calif.,
for the Company.
MT. M. E. Travis, of Martinez, Calif., for the Union.
Mr. Louis Colcirt, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF' ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE-CASE
Upon petition duly filed by International Union of Mine, Mill and
Smelter Workers, CIO , herein called the Union , alleging that a ques-
tion affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Del Monte Properties Company, Del Monte, Cali-
fornia, herein called the Company , the National Labor Relations
Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before
LeRoy Marceau, Trial Examiner . Said hearing was held at Del
Monte, . California , on December 23, 1942. The Company, and the
Union appeared and participated in the hearing? All parties were
afforded full opportunity to be heard , to examine and_ cross -examine
witnesses , and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues . 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 Board makes the following:
i International Union of Operating Engineers ,' A. F. of L., was served with notice but
did not appear at the hearing.
46 N. L. R. B., No. 102.
•913
• 504080=43-vol 46-58
914 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSIN ESS OF THE COMPANY
-Del Monte Properties Company is a California corporation with
its principal place of business at Del Monte,' California. We are here-
concerned with its Lake Majella plant located near Pacific Grove,
California, where it is engaged in the operation of a sand plant.
During 1941 the Company sold and distributed sand worth approxi-
mately $264,400, about 4 percent of which was shipped to points out-
side the State of California. The Company admits for the purpose
of this proceeding that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning
of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers is a labor
organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company refuses to recognize the Union as the exclusive repre-
sentative of the Company's employees on the ground that it doubts
the Union's claim to a majority.
A statement of a Field Examiner of the Board, introduced into
evidence at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a `substan-
tial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found to be
appropriate.2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
We find, in accordance with a stipulation of the parties, that all
production and maintenance employees at the Lake Majella plant of
the Company, excluding supervisory employees, constitute a unit ap
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of-the Act.
2 The Field Examiner repoifed„tliat .the Union-'piesented 28 membership application
cards bearing apparently genuine signatures of persons whose-names appear on'the-Com-
pany's pay roll tor the period ending November 30, 1942 Thererare-43-em_ployees in
the appropriate unit
DEL MONTE PROPERTIES COMPANY 915
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations
Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Del Monte Prop-
erties Company, Del Monte, California, an election 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 supervi-
sion of the Regional Director for the Twentieth Region, acting in
this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and
,subject to Article III, Section 10, of said Rules and Regulations, among
the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
date of this Direction, including any such employees who did 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 any who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to
determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Interna-
tional Union- of ,Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers,- affiliated with the
Congress of Industrial Organizations, for the purposes of collective
bargaining. -