Walla Walla Meat & Cold Storage Co.

In the Matter of WALLA WALLA MEAT & COLD STORAGE Co. and AMALGAMATED MEAT CUTTERS AND BUTCHER WORKMEN OF NORTH AMERICA, LOCAL No. 275, AFFILIATED WITH THE A. F. OF L. Case No. R-1053.-Decided November 23, 1938 Meat Packing Industry-Investigation of Representatives : controversy con- cerning representation of employees : refusal of ' employer '- to grant recog- nition of petitioning union because employees, in private election, had se- lected a bargaining representative other than petitioning union, even though private election was held shortly after Board , upon stipulation , ordered Company to bargain with petitioner union-Mat Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: stipulation as to: all employees of the Company other than supervisory per- sonnel, office help, salesmen, and temporary employees-Representatives: proof of choice : union membership cards; application for membership; adequate designation of-Certification of Representatives : upon proof of majority representation. Mr. Thomas B . Graham, Jr., for the Board. Mr. Herbert Ringhoffer , of Walla Walla, Wash., for the Company. Mr. M. O. Williams, of Walla Walla, Wash., for the Amalgamated. Mr. Harry Brownstein, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES` STATEMENT OF THE CASE ' On August 22, 1938, Amalgamated Meat Cutters, and Butcher Workmen of North America, Local No. 275, affiliated with the A. F. of L., herein called the Amalgamated, filed with the -Regional Director for the Nineteenth Region (Seattle, Washington), a peti- tion alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concern- ing the representation of employees of the Walla Walla Meat & Cold Storage Co., Walla Walla, Washington, herein called the Com- pany, and requesting an investigation and certification of represent- atives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On September 26, 1938,,the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act, and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as 9 N. L. R B, No 106. 1183 1184 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Di- rector to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. On September 28, 1938, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and the Amalgamated. Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held on Octo- ber 6, 1938, at Walla Walla, Washington, before Martin Raphael, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board, the Company, and the Amalgamated participated in the hearing, the first two being represented by counsel and the latter by its president and secretary-treasurer. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing upon the issues was afforded all parties. During the course of the hearing, the Trial Examiner made a ruling on an objection to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed this ruling and it is hereby affirmed.' Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following: FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY The Walla Walla Meat & Cold Storage Co. has its principal office and place of business in Walla Walla, Washington, and is engaged in the business of processing and manufacturing meat, meat products and byproducts, in the manufacturing of artificial ice, and in the buying, feeding, and selling of livestock. The total purchases of the Company in 1937 amounted to $755,- 322.24, 7 per cent of which were purchased and shipped from outside the State of Washington. Livestock in the amount of $12,811.39 was purchased and shipped from States other than the State of Washington. The total sales of the Company in 1937 amounted to $995,815.32, 42 per cent thereof representing sales and shipments made to buyers outside the State of Washington. II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED The Amalgamated is a labor organization admitting to member- ship all regular employees of the Company, excluding supervisory personnel, office help, and salesmen. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION On April 1, 1938, the Board, pursuant to a stipulation involving parties to the present proceeding, ordered, inter alia, that the Com- pany bargain with the Amalgamated "as the sole and exclusive bar- gaining agency of all of its employees other than supervisory personnel, office help, and salesmen, and shall continue to bargain with said Local No. 285 (the Amalgamated) either until a majority DECISIONS AND ORDERS 1185 of the employees in said unit shall select a new bargaining repre- sentative or until said organization no longer represents a majority of the employees in the aforesaid unit" 1 [parentheses supplied]. Shortly after the aforesaid order was issued and served, the Amalga- mated requested the Company to bargain with it. The Company, however, stated that the Amalgamated no longer represented a ma- jority of the Company's employees; that several days subsequent to April 1, 1938, a majority of the employees in a "private election" had expressed its desire to have a labor organization other than the Amalgamated represent it for the purpose of collective bargaining. Accordingly, the Company refused to bargain with the Amalgamated. It is not necessary to determine whether the Company's interpre- tation of the order of the Board is a correct one. Since the stipu- lated order was not unequivocal and since the petition has been filed and the investigation directed, we shall proceed under it. We find that a question has arisen • concerning representation of employees,of the Company. IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON COMMERCE We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States, and tends to -lead, to labor disputes burdening and obstructing com- merce and the free flow of commerce. V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Company and the Amalgamated entered into a stipulation that all of the employees of the Company other than supervisory per- sonnel, office help, and salesmen, constitute an appropriate unit for collective bargaining. By further agreement of the parties, em- ployees classified as "temporary employees" on the Company's Octo- ber 1, 1938, pay roll, introduced in evidence, were also excluded from the appropriate unit. We see no reason to depart from the wishes of the parties in these respects. Of the remaining employees of the Company, several require further consideration. Bert Young is a shipping clerk employed by the Company who, together with another employee, operates the Company's telephone switchboard, receiving and writing up telephone orders. Although his work presently is in part clerical, the company representative testified that Young could and, occasionally did perform manual work identical with that of employees within the appropriate unit. 1 Matter of Walla Walla Meath Cold Storage Company, a Corporation and Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, Local No. 275, 6 N. L. R. B. 386. 1186 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD The Amalgamated wished him included in the unit , and the Com- pany did not expressly take a contrary position . Accordingly, Bert Young will be included in the unit appropriate for collective bar- gaining. John Hegert, C. M. Fletcher , Belden Russel , and Harold Banks are working foremen with major supervisory responsibilities over different departments of the Company , giving orders and directions to the employees in their respective departments as to method and kind of work to be done . In addition , John Hegert transfers em- ployees from one division in the plant to another , and is frequently consulted by the superintendent of the Company in regard to the work about the plant. Because of their supervisory duties, they are ineligible for membership in the Amalgamated . John Hegert, C. M. Fletcher, Belden Russel , and Harold Banks will be excluded from the unit appropriate for collective bargaining . All other em- ployees designated as working foremen in the plant have fewer and minor supervisory responsibilities . They are eligible for member- ship in the Amalgamated and are included in the unit. Edwin Noyer and Herbert Dickerson were indicated by the Com- pany to be temporary employees, but the evidence showed that they had been steadily employed by the Company for some time previous to the hearing, and the Company expressed no definite intention of terminating their employment in the near future. They will be in- cluded in the unit appropriate for collective bargaining. We find that all the employees of the Company other than super- visory personnel, office help ,' and salesmen , constitute a unit appro- priate for the purposes of collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of em- ployment, and that said unit will insure to employees of the Com- pany the ' full benefit of the right to self -organization and to col- lective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act. VI. THE DETERMINATION OF 11EPRESENTATIVES On October 1, 1938, there were 58 employees of the Company with- in the unit appropriate for collective bargaining. The Amalgamated introduced a list of 31 members of its organization , and a list of 6 employees who signed applications for membership in the Amalga- mated, all of whom were employees of the Company within the ap- propriate bargaining unit. The Amalgamated 's membership ledger and applications for membership were produced at the hearing. The Company admitted that the signatures thereon were genuine, and admitted the authenticity of other matters pertaining to the member- ship ledger and the applications for membership. The Company, however, objected to the admission in evidence of the list of em- DECISIONS AND ORDERS 1187 ployees who had signed applications for membership, on the ground that the employees in so doing had not expressly designated the Amalgamated as their representative for the purpose of collective bargaining. The Company's objection is not well taken, for we have frequently held that an employee's request for membership in a labor organization indicates a desire to have the organization act as his representative for collective bargaining purposes.2 The Amalga- mated, however, having shown a membership in its organization of 31 of the Company's 58 employees who are within the appropriate bargaining unit, proved that it represented a majority even were we not to consider the 6 employees' applications for membership in the Amalgamated. We find that the Amalgamated has been designated and selected by a majority of the employees in the appropriate unit as their rep- resentative for the purposes of collective bargaining. It is, there- fore, the exclusive representative of all the employees in such unit for the purposes of collective bargaining and we will so certify. Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, and upon the en- tire record in the matter, the Board makes the following: CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre- sentation of employees of the Walla Walla Meat & Cold Storage Co., Walla Walla, Washington, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. All the employees of the Walla Walla Meat & Cold Storage Co., other than supervisory personnel, office help, and salesmen, con- stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Rela- tions Act. 3. Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, Local No. 275, affiliated with the A. F. of L., is the exclusive representative of all the employees in such unit for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (a) of the National Labor Relations Act. CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela- tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, 2 See, for example, Matter of Hood Rubber Company, Inc. (Arrow Battery Pioducts Division ) and International Union, United Automobile IVoikers of America, 5 N. L. R. B 165; Matter of Century Mills, Inc and South Jersey Joint Board, of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, 5 N. L. R. B 807. 134068-39-vol ix-76 1188 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, Local No. 275 , affiliated with the A. F. of L., has been designated and selected by a majority of the employees of the Walla Walla Meat & Cold Storage Co., Walla Walla, Washington, excluding supervisory personnel , office help, and salesmen, as their representative for purposes of collective bargain- ing and that pursuant to the provisions of Section 9 (a) of the Act, Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, Local No. 275, affiliated with the A. F. of L., is the exclusive repre- sentative of all such employees for the purposes of collective bargain- ing in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment , and other conditions of employment.