The Suffolk Peanut Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 30, 1947

73 N.L.R.B. 734 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of TILE SUFFOLK PEANUT COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
FOOD, TOBACCO , AGRICULTURAL & ALLIED WORKERS UNION OF AMER-
ICA, CIO , PETITIONER
Case No. 5-8-840.Decided April 30, 1947
Mr. Charles B. Godwin, Jr., of Suffolk, Va., for the Employer.
Mr. Armando Ramirez, of Philadelphia, Pa., for the Petitioner.
Mr. Edmund J. Flynn, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
Upon a petition duly filed, the National Labor Relations Board on
January 29, 1947, conducted a prehearing election among employees
of the Employer in the alleged appropriate unit, to determine whether
or not they desired to be represented by the Petitioner for purposes of
collective bargaining.
At the close of the election, a Tally of Ballots was furnished the
parties. The Tally shows that there were approximately 222 eligible
voters and that 178 of these cast ballots, of which 157 were for the
Petitioner, 17 were against the Petitioner, and 4 were challenged.
Thereafter, a hearing was held at Suffolk, Virginia, on March 6,
1947, before Joseph L'epie, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rul-
ings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
The Suffolk Peanut Company is a corporation engaged in cleaning,
shelling, and milling peanuts at Suffolk, Virginia. During the year
1946, the Employer purchased raw materials valued in excess of
$1,000,000, of which approximately 50 percent was shipped from points
outside the State of Virginia. During the same period, the products
sold by the Employer exceeded $1,000,000 in value, of which more than
50 percent was shipped outside the State.
73 N. L. R. B, No. 140.
734
THE SUFFOLK PEANUT COMPANY 735
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
In accordance with an agreement of the parties, we find that all
production and maintenance employees at the Employer's plant in
Suffolk, Virginia, including electricians, watchmen, millwrights, and
firemen, but excluding shipping and receiving clerks, office clericals,
buyers, foremen, and all other supervisory employees with authority to
hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the
status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Employer moved to have the prehearing election set aside
on the grounds that the Notice of Election stated that January 25,
1947, would be the eligibility date, whereas January 22, 1947, was the
date used, as agreed upon. There was no showing of prejudice or
that the employees eligible to vote were misled by this deviation.
Accordingly, we deny the motion.'
Inasmuch as the Petitioner has received a majority of the valid votes
cast in the prehearing election, we shall certify it as the exclusive
bargaining representative of all the employees in the appropriate unit.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Food, Tobacco, Agricultural & Allied
Workers Union of America, CIO, has been designated and selected by
1 See Matter of Lamar Cotton Oil Company, 67 N. L. R. B. 1386, 1389.
739926-47-vol. 73-48
736 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
a majority of the employees in the unit described in Section IV, above,
as their representative for the purposes of collective bargaining and
that, pursuant to Section 9 (a) of the Act, the said organization is the
exclusive representative of all such employees for the purposes of
collective bargaining with respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of
employment, and other conditions of employment.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Certification of Representatives.