Mon-Clair Grain and Supply Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 8, 1961

131 N.L.R.B. 1096 (N.L.R.B. 1961)

1096 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
to technical employees in certain departments of the manufacturing
division, or to the manufacturing division physical location alone,
would clearly be inappropriate since the only appropriate unit for a
group of technical employees must include all such technicians sim-
ilarly employed.' As the Petitioner is seeking only a segment of such
employees, we find that neither of the first two units requested by the
Petitioner is appropriate. However, as the Petitioner has indicated
its willingness to accept an election in any unit found appropriate by
the Board and as we find a plantwide unit of technical employees
appropriate, we shall direct an election in a unit of technical em-
ployees coextensive with the Employer's operations at this plant.
4. The following employees of the Employer constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9(c) (1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act:
All technical employees at the Employer's Downey, California,
missile plant, including technical employees in departments 1052 and
1062, but excluding all other employees, guards, professional em-
ployees, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
3 Solar Aircraft Company, 116 NLRB 200, 202
Mon-Clair Grain and Supply Co.' and International Union of
United Brewery , Flour, Cereal , Soft Drink and Distillery
Workers of America , AFL-CIO , and its Local Union 21 of
Belleville , Illinois, Joint Petitioners . Case No. 1/f-RC-3938.
June 8, 1961
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before John W. Noble, 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 [Chairman McCulloch and Members Rodgers and Fanning],
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
1 The name of the Employer appears as corrected at the hearing
131 NLRB No. 134.
MON-CLAIR GRAIN AND SUPPLY CO. 1097
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of certain employees of the Employer within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9(c) (1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit:
The Employer is a farmers' cooperative association with its home
office in Waterloo, Illinois. Its operations are located in Waterloo,
Belleville, Summerfield, Columbia, Valmeyer, Fults, and at the Maeys
Station railroad siding, all of which are within a 25-mile radius of
Waterloo. The Employer is engaged in the buying, selling, and ware-
housing of grain ; the custom grinding and selling of feed; the sale and
servicing of farm machinery; and the sale of lumber and other farm
supplies. The parties agree generally that a unit of the Employer's
production and maintenance employees and drivers at its several loca-
tions is appropriate, but they disagree concerning the unit placement
of the following categories of employees:
Farm implement employees: The Petitioners would exclude the
farm implement employees on the ground that their interests are di-
verse from those of the other employees in the requested unit. The
Employer maintains they are part of the overall production and main-
tenance unit and should be included. The record discloses that, in
addition to operating grain elevators and feed mills at Belleville and
Columbia, the Employer also maintains a farm implement division at
these installations. The farm implement employees repair and service
farm machinery, and are physically housed in separate buildings at
each of these locations. They are supervised by assistant managers,
who report directly to the Employer's general manager, whereas all
the remainder of the Employer's employees are under the supervision
of their respective area branch managers, who in turn report directly
to the general manager. The implement employees are on occasion re-
quired to perform certain maintenance work in the grain elevators,
and they will frequently make pickups and deliveries for the grain ele-
vators. During the slack season, the elevators' employees and trucks
are put at the disposal of the implement division. There is a common
labor relations policy in effect for all employees, and all employees
share the same wage scale and other employee benefits. On the basis
of the foregoing, and the entire record, we find that the duties and
interests of the implement employees and the grain elevator employees
(who are concededly in the unit) are sufficiently related so as to war-
rant the inclusion of the implement employees in the unit.'
Clerical employees: The Petitioners contend that all the Employer's
clericals perform office clerical duties and should be excluded from the
unit. The Employer maintains they are essentially plant clericals, and
2 Poultry Producers Association , 114 NLRB 1186; Marvin Lumber and Cedar Company,
117 NLRB 363
1098 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
would include them. The Employer maintains a central office at its
Waterloo grain elevator, where it carries on the clerical work for its
overall operations. In' addition, there is a single clerical employed at
each of the Employer's Belleville, Summerfield, Columbia, and Val-
meyer locations. At Waterloo, four of these clericals work in a sepa-
rate office where they perform work relating to the Employer's overall
operations. Thus, Marcella Weinoff and Anna Mae DeBorge operate
complicated bookkeeping machines; Loretta Corte summarizes records
and financial statements; and Willis Henke keeps payroll records and
calculates feed prices in addition to summarizing records and financial
statements. The two remaining clericals at Waterloo, Gladys Hoefft
and Jeannette Johanning, perform clerical duties connected primarily
with the Waterloo grain elevator and feed mill operations. They work
in the front office handling cash receipts, preparing bank deposit slips,
and writing up sales tickets on merchandise sold to customers. They
are-frequently required to go into the grain elevator proper, and, in the
course of their duties, are in constant daily contact with the elevator
employees. During the harvest season, which is four times a year, they
spend the entire day weighing grain, a function also performed by the
production employees. There is apparently no interchange between
Iloefft and Johanning and the other clericals at Waterloo. The cleri-
cals located at the Belleville, Summerfield, Columbia, and Valmeyer
establishments perform duties almost identical with those of Hoefft and
Johanning at Waterloo. On the basis of the foregoing, and the entire
record, we find that Marcella Weinoil', Anna Mae DeBorge, Loretta
Corte, and Willis Henke perform duties which are essentially office
clerical in nature, and we shall exclude them from the unit as office
clericals.' However, as it appears that Gladys Hoefft and Jeannette
Johanning at Waterloo, and those clericals employed at the Employer's
Belleville, Summerfield, Columbia, and Valmeyer locations perform
duties which are plant clerical in nature, we find them to be plant cleri-
cals and shall include them in the unit.4
Supervisors : The Employer would include and the Petitioner
exclude Francis DeBorge, Pearl Berberich, and Edna Brown. De-
Borge is employed as an elevator employee at Waterloo. The record
shows that when the general manager and assistant general manager
are away, which occurs once or twice a month, DeBorge is usually
left in charge. The general manager stated that DeBorge is usually
selected on such occasions because he is the oldest employee in terms
of seniority, but that in some instances another employee, who the
8 Threads -Incorporated , 121 NLRB 1507, 1511.
4 Labatt Wholesale Grocery Company , 130 NLRB 228 ; Victory Grocery Company, a Divi-
sion of E. J. Keefe Company, 129 NLRB 1415.
MON-CLAIR GRAIN AND SUPPLY CO. 1099
parties agree should be included, is left in charge. DeBorge is paid
slightly less than some of the employees in the unit. Pearl Berberich
and Edna Brown are plant clerical employees at Summerfield and
Valmeyer, respectively. They are in charge when their respective
area branch managers are on vacation or otherwise absent, which
occurs infrequently. DeBorge, Berberich, and Brown do not possess
any of the indicia of supervisory authority, except on those occasions
when they are called upon to replace higher authority. As any super-
visory authority exercised by these individuals is sporadic in nature,
we find they are not supervisors within the meaning of the Act, and
include them in the units
Part-time employees : The Employer would include and the Peti-
tioner exclude Vernon Tomlinson, Hulda Gummerscheimer, and Ethel
Stumpf. Tomlinson is a high school teacher who has worked as a
grain elevator employee during the summer for the past 4 or 5 years.
The Employer anticipates that he will be employed again this summer
as in the past. Tomlinson does not receive any of the fringe benefits
received by other production and maintenance employees. We find
that Vernon Tomlinson does not have a sufficient community of interest
with the employees in the unit to warrant his inclusion and we shall
exclude him.6 Gummerscheimer and Stumpf were formerly full-time
clerical employees. They are now working on a part-time basis pri-
marily at the Waterloo office. When so employed they spend their
time principally performing the same clerical duties as those per-
formed by the office clericals at Waterloo whom we have excluded.
For this reason, we shall exclude them.
Accordingly, we find that a unit of the following employees is appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the Act :
All production and maintenance employees and drivers employed
at the Employer's Waterloo, Columbia, Valmeyer, Fults, Maeys Sta-
tion, Belleville, and Summerfield, Illinois, establishments, including
plant clericals (Gladys Hoefft, Jeanette Johanning, Pearl Berberich,
Edna Brown, Flora Meadows, and Ruth Metter), the farm implement
employees, and Francis DeBorge, but excluding office clericals (Mar-
cella Weinoff, Anna Mae DeBorge, Loretta Corte, Willis Henke,
Hulda Gummerscheimer, and Ethel Stumpf), Vernon Tomlinson, pro-
fessional employees, outside sales personnel, guards, and all .super-
visors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
5 Fanny Farmer Candy Shops , Inc, 112 NLRB 299, 301.
G Brown-Forman Distillers Corporation , 118 NLRB 454; Home Brewing Company,
Incorporated, 124 NLRB 930, 932.