Sperry and Barnes Co.

In the Matter of SWIFT & COMPANY, D/B/A SPERRY AND BARNES COM- PANY, EMPLOYER and AMALGAMATED MEAT CUTTERS AND BUTCHER WORKMEN OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER In the Matter of SWIFT & COMPANY, D/B/A SPERRY AND BARNES COM- PANY, EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL UNION No. 443, AFL, PETITIONER Cases Nos. l -EC-547 and 1-RC-575, respectively.Decided April 5,1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS Upon separate petitions duly filed, a consolidated hearing was held in these cases at New Haven, Connecticut, on November 5, 1948, before Robert E. Greene, 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 National Labor Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-man panel.* - Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The Petitioner in Case No. 1-RC-574, herein called the Amal- gamated, and the Petitioner in Case No. 1-RC-575, herein called the Teamsters, are labor organizations affiliated with the American Fed- eration of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer. The United Packinghouse Workers of America, herein called the Intervenor, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa- tion of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. *Cbairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Gray. 82 N. L. R. B., No. 88. 748 SWIFT & COMPANY 749 4. The appropriate unit : The Teamsters seeks to represent a unit composed of all truck drivers and truck drivers' helpers at the Employer's New Haven, Connecticut, packinghouse, excluding all supervisory personnel. The Amalga- mated agrees that the unit sought by the Teamsters is appropriate, and seeks itself to represent all production and maintenance employees of the Employer, other than those petitioned for by the Teamsters. The Intervenor asserts that the appropriate unit comprises all pro- duction and maintenance employees including the truck drivers and helpers. The Employer takes no position as to the unit. The Employer employs 17 truck drivers at its New Haven plant, the majority of whom operate throughout the New Haven area. Some, however, are engaged in operating a tractor and trailer outfit in "over-the-road" operations between the New Haven plant and points in New York and Massachusetts. These 17 drivers report at irregular hours and are paid on the whole a higher hourly rate than the remain- der of the Employer's employees. The record discloses that on occa- sion they may be assigned to loading operations, but this is a tempo- rary expedient and does not result in a change in their working hours.' The Intervenor contends that, in the event the unit sought by the Teamsters should be allowed, severance should be on a departmental basis and also include 3 dock workers. As the record discloses, how- ever, that the dock workers have different hours, are paid at a different rate and perform work of a different nature from that of the truck drivers, we shall exclude them from the unit. As we have frequently held that truck drivers are a well-defined group with distinct functions and interests, we find that they may constitute a separate appropriate unit.' They may equally well, how- ever, continue as part of the plant-wide production and maintenance unit in which they have been represented for several years.3 We shall make no final unit determination at this time, but shall first ascertain the desires of the employees themselves as expressed in the elections hereinafter directed. We shall direct that an election be held in each of the following voting groups, excluding from each group all guards, office and cleri- cal employees, professional employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act : 1 Overtime is paid by the Employer after an 8-hour workday to all of its employees , except for the 17 truck drivers . Their overtime does not commence until the completion of 10 hours of work. 2 Matter of Iowa Packing Company, 74 N. L. R. B. 434; Matter of Kallaher and Mee, Inc., 75 N. L. R. B. 802. 1 In accordance with the stipulation of the parties , we find that the history of collective bargaining at the Employer's plant has been on an individual plant basis. Matter of Swift d Company, d/b/a H. L. Handy Company, 81 N. L. R. B. 425. 750 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 1. All truck drivers and truck drivers' helpers employed at the Em- ployer's New Haven plant, excluding the loading dock employees. 2. All production and maintenance employees, including the loading dock employees, but excluding the employees included in Voting Group No. 1. DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, separate elections by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the First Region, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the employees in the voting groups described in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Elections, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or tem- porarily laid off, 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 elections, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether : (1) the employees in Voting Group No. 1 desire to be represented by International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, Local Union No. 443, AFL, or by United Packinghouse Workers of America, CIO, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither; and (2) the employees in Voting Group No. 2 desire to be represented by United Packinghouse Workers of Amer- ica, CIO, or by Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, AFL, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.