Armour & Company

In the Matter of ARMorm & COMPANY and UNITED PACKING HOUSE WORKERS, LOCAL INDUSTRIAL UNION No. 893, THROUGH PACKING HOUSE WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, AFFILIATED WITH THE C. I. O. Case No. B-1194.-Decided April 3, 1939 Meat Packing Industry-Investigation of Representatives : controversy con- cerning representation of employees ; refusal by employer to recognize petition- ing Union as exclusive representative-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargain- ing: hourly paid production workers and yardmen, excluding all supervisory and clerical employees, temporary workers, plant cleaners , police and watchmen, chemists, plant and storeroom clerks, messengers , and truck drivers ; no contro- versy as to-Representatives : proof of choice : union membership cards-Certify cation of Representatives : upon proof of majority representation. Mr. Lee Loevinger, for the Board. Mr. John J. Brownlee, of Chicago, Ill., for the United. Mr. Howard G Fuller, of Fargo, N. Dak., for the Company. Mr. William P. Wy8ong, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES STATEMENT OF THE CASE On November 8 and December 28, 1938, United Packing House Workers, Local Industrial Union No. 893, herein called the United, through Packing House Workers Organizing Committee, affiliated with the C. I. 0., filed with the Regional Director for the Eighteenth Region (Minneapolis, Minnesota) a petition and an amended petition respectively alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Armour & Company, herein called the Company, at its West Fargo, North Dakota, plant, and requesting an investigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On December 27, 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 amended, or- 12 N. L. R. B., No. 6. 49 50 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD dered an investigation and directed the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. On January 13, 1939, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear- ing, a copy of which was duly served upon the Company and upon the United. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on January 19, 1939, at Fargo, North Dakota, before Herbert Wenzel, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board, the Company, and the United were represented by counsel. All parties participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross- examine witnesses, and'to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties. During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings on motions and on objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby, affirmed. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Armour & Company is engaged in the meat packing and distribut- ing industry. The total amount of business done by the Company in 1938 was $723,537,907. The West Fargo, North Dakota, plant, which consists of six buildings and feeding yards, is the only plant of the Company involved in this proceeding. During 1938 over 250,000 cattle, hogs, sheep, and calves were slaughtered and processed at the West Fargo plant. All the livestock for this plant is purchased in stockyards in North Dakota, but ap- proximately 24 per cent of this livestock originates outside the State. Of the total amount of fresh products sold by the plant, 94 per cent is sent outside North Dakota. - II. THE ORGAN [ZATION INVOLVED United Packing House Workers, Industrial Union No. 893, is a labor organization affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Or- ganization, admitting to membership hourly paid production em- ployees of the Company and of the Union Stock Yards, excluding supervisory and clerical employees, temporary workers, and salaried employees. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION On April 8, 1938, the Board certified the Amalgamated Meat Cut- ters and Butcher Workmen of North America, Local Union No. 413, ARMOUR, & COMPANY affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, herein called the Amalgamated, as the exclusive representative of the employees in the same unit as is claimed to be appropriate herein.' A meeting of the Amalgamated was held in September 1938 attended by between 275 and 300 members. At this meeting the members attending voted unanimously to surrender their Amalgamated charter and to apply to the Committee for Industrial Organization for a charter. A charter was granted to the United on September 22, 1938, and thereafter the Amalgamated's charter was returned to the parent body. The veri- fied amended petition alleges that on September 22, 1938, the United requested the Company to grant it recognition as the exclusive bar- gaining agency in an appropriate unit and that thereafter the Com- pany refused to grant such recognition unless the United was certi- fied as such exclusive representative by the Board. The record con- tains nothing either in support of or refutation of these statements in the petition.2 We find that a question has arisen concerning representation of employees of the Company. IV. THE EFFECT OF TIES 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 commerce and the free flow of commerce. V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The United claimed that the appropriate unit should consist of all hourly paid production workers and yardmen of the Company at its West Fargo, North Dakota, plant, excluding all supervisory and clerical employees, temporary workers, plant cleaners, police and watchmen, chemists, plant and storeroom clerks, messengers, and truck drivers. The Company raised no objection to this proposed unit which is the same one as we found in the previous case," and we see no reason to alter it. We find that all hourly paid production workers and yardmen of the Company at its West Fargo, North Dakota, plant, excluding 'Matter of Armour tt Company and Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher lVoibmen of North America, 6 N. L. R. B 530 2Matter of Tidewater Associated Oil Company and American Radio Teleiraphists' Association, 5 N. L. R. B. 954. 2 See footnote 1, snlpi a 169134-39-vol 12-5 52 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD all supervisory and clerical employees, temporary workers, plant cleaners, police and watchmen, chemists, plant and storeroom clerks, messengers, and truck drivers constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining and that the said unit will insure to the employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to self- organization and collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act. VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES The Company introduced in evidence a pay roll for the week end- ing January 14, 1939 , containing the names of 462 employees. It was agreed that 419 of these employees were in the unit claimed by the United. The United submitted in evidence 337 membership cards. The Company admits the authenticity of the signatures on the mem- bership cards and further admits that 337 of the 419 employees in the appropriate unit have signed authorizations designating the United as their representative for the purposes of collective bar- gaining. We find that United Packing House Workers, Local Industrial Union No. 893, has been designated by a majority of the employees in the appropriate unit as their representative for the purposes of collective bargaining. It is, therefore, the exclusive representative of all the employees in each such unit for the purposes of collective bargaining, and we will so certify. Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : CONOLusIONS OF LAW 1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre- sentation of employees of Armour & Company, at its West Fargo, North Dakota, plant, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Sec- tion 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. All the hourly paid production workers and yardmen of the Company at its West Fargo, North Dakota, plant, excluding all supervisory and clerical employees, temporary workers, plant clean- ers, police and watchmen, chemists, plant and storeroom clerks, mes- sengers, and truck drivers constitute a unit appropriate for the pur- poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act. 3. United Packing House Workers, Local Industrial Union No. 893, is the exclusive representative of all the employees in such unit for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act. ARMOUR & COMPANY CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES 53 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, IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that United Packing House Workers, Local Industrial Union No. 893, has been designated and selected by a majority of all the hourly paid production workers and yardmen of the Company at its West Fargo, North Dakota, plant, excluding all supervisory and clerical employees, temporary workers, plant clean- ers, police and watchmen, chemists, plant and storeroom clerks, mes- sengers, and truck drivers as their representative for the purposes of collective bargaining, and that, pursuant to the provisions of Section 9 (a) of the Act, United Packing House Workers, Local Industrial Union No. 893, is the exclusive representative of all such employees for the purposes of collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of employment.