Plankinton Packing Co.

In the Matter Of PLANKINTON PACKING COMPANY and UNITED PACK- INGHOUSE WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O. Case No. 13-I^-^i5^.Decidcl Novepnber 3,-1944 Messrs. James Wesley Blades and Edward L. Crain, of Chicago, Ill., for the Company. Mr. Joseph Kinch, of Chicago, Ill., for the Union. Mr. Julius Kirle, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon a petition ' duly filed by United Packinghouse Workers of America, C. I. 0., herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em- ployees of Plankinton Packing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board pro- vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Robert T. Drake, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Milwaukee, Wis- consin, on October 3, 1944. The Company and the Union appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evi- dence bearing on the issues? At the hearing, the Company moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that the unit claimed by the Union is inappropriate. Ruling on the motion was reserved for. the Board. For reasons hereinafter stated, the motion is hereby denied. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing -are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Plankinton Packing Company, a Wisconsin corporation having its principal office and place of business at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is en- 'Although notified, the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, A F. of L., did not appear. 59 N. L. R. B., No. 12. 35 36 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD gaged in the meat packing business: During the fiscal year 1943, the Company used raw-materials valued in excess of $30,000,000, of which more than 10.percent was purchased from sources outside the State of Wisconsin. During the same period, the Company's sales were in excess of $37,000,000, of which more than 60 percent was made to sources outside that State. The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED United Packinghouse Workers of America, affiliated with the Con- gress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization within the meaning of the Act. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the exclusive bargaining representative of certain of the Company's em- ployees until the Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit. A statement of a Board agent introduced into evidence at the hear- ing indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found 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 The Union seeks a unit of all plant-protection employees, including policemen, box pullers, and fire-protection employees, but excluding the chief of the plant-protection force, the assistant chief of police and chief of the fire-protection force, 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. The Company contends that such a unit is inappropriate on the ground that plant-protection employees perform managerial and supervisory functions, and because they have been excluded from the presently existing production and maintenance unit. We cannot agree with these contentions. All of the employees in the plant-pro- tection force are hired and paid by the Company. Their principal duties are to protect the property and premises and to report viola- 2 Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 13 cards, all dated July 1944 ; and that there are 18 persons in the claimed appropriate unit. PLANKINTON PACKING COMPANY 37 tions of the Company's rules and regulations. They have no authority to hire, and their recommendations for discharge are not accepted by the Company without investigation. Their principal function, custody, and protection of company property, including its concom- itant authority, is of a monitory, and not a supervisory, character. These considerations impel us to adhere to our frequently expressed policy that plant-protection employees hired and paid by employers are employees within the meaning of the Act, although they are mem- bers of the auxiliary military police.3 Nor does the specific exclusion of plant-protection employees from the bargaining unit in the pres- ently existing contract covering production and maintenance em- ployees preclude the contracting union from representing plant- protection employees as a separate unit.' The Union would include two shift supervisors; the Company would exclude them.-5 The two shift supervisors are policemen who have charge of shifts, supervise four 'to six policemen'and box pullers, assign stations and other work to the policemen and box pullers, and have the power and duty to make recommendations concerning the hiring, firing, promotion, discipline, or other changes affecting the status of employees. We shall exclude the two shift supervisors. We find that all plant-protection employees at the Company's Mil- waukee plant, including policemen, box pullers, and fire-protection employees, but excluding the chief of plant protection, the assistant chief of police and chief of the fire-protection group, the two shift supervisors, 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 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. 8 See Matter of Westinghouse Airbrake Company, 42 N. L R. B. 525; Matter of Chrysler Corporation, Highland Park Plant, 44 N. L. R. B. 881 ; Matter of, Dravo Corporation, 52 N. L. R. B. 323; Matter of Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of California, 50 N. L. It. B. 679. See Matter of Rockbestos Products Corporation, 47 N. L R B. 1312; Matter of Com- bustion Engineering Company, Inc., 40 N. L. R. B. 937 ; Matter of Intercontinent Aircraft Corporation, 52 N. L. It. B. 99, 103. 5 W. Brasch , E. Prauss. 38 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 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 3, as amended, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa- tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Plankinton Pack- ing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 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 supervision of the Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Ar- ticle III, Sections 10 and 11, 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 employees who did not work dur- ing the 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 those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by the United Packinghouse Workers of America, C. I. 0., for the pur- poses of collective bargaining.