National Labor Relations Board, Petitioner, v. Hudson Farms, Inc., Respondent, 681 F.2d 1105 (8th Cir. 1982)

This case is before the Court on the application of the National Labor Relations Board, pursuant to Section 10(e) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 151 et seq., for enforcement of its order issued on September 30, 1981, against Hudson Farms, Inc., 258 NLRB No. 49 (1981). The Board found that Hudson Farms violated Sections 8(a) (5) and (1) of the Act by refusing to bargain with the General Drivers and Helpers Union, Local 823, which had been certified as the bargaining representative for the company's truck drivers and yard workers. It ordered Hudson Farms to cease and desist from refusing to bargain with the Union, or otherwise violating the employees' Section 7 rights, and directed the company to bargain with the Union upon request.

Hudson Farms, an integrated poultry producer, employs truck drivers and yard workers to transport its poultry between independent contract growers, which raise the chickens to market weight, and the company's processing plant. Hudson Farms contends that these employees are "agricultural laborers" who are exempt from the Act's coverage under the meaning of Section 2(3). Accordingly, the company argues that the Board's bargaining order should be denied enforcement because the Union includes these truck drivers and yard workers who are exempt from the Act's coverage.

The sole question presented here is whether Hudson Farms' truck drivers and yard workers are "employees" or "agricultural laborer(s)" within the meaning of Section 2(3) of the Act. This issue is controlled by Valmac Industries v. NLRB, 599 F.2d 246, 248-249 (8th Cir. 1979). In Valmac Industries v. NLRB, supra, 599 F.2d at 249, this Court, relying on Bayside Enterprises, Inc. v. NLRB, 429 U.S. 298, 97 S. Ct. 576, 50 L. Ed. 2d 494 (1977), held that employees who transported live poultry from an independent grower's farm to their employers' processing plant were "employees" not "agricultural laborer(s)" under the Act.

Accordingly, on the basis of Bayside Enterprises, Inc. v. NLRB, supra, and Valmac Industries, Inc. v. NLRB, supra, and the evidence as a whole, we hold that the Board's determination that Hudson Farms' truck drivers and yard workers are "employees," rather than "agricultural laborer(s)," under Section 2(3) of the Act is warranted by the record and has a reasonable basis in law. The Board, therefore, properly determined that Hudson Farms violated Section 8(a) (5) and (1) of the Act, and its order is enforced.