Armour and Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 7, 1944

59 N.L.R.B. 783 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of ARMOUR AND COMPANY and UNITED PACKINGHOUSE
WORKERS OF AMERICA L. I. U. 15, C. I. 0.1
Case No. 17-R-10.-Decided December 7, 1944
Mr. J. C. Moore, of Chicago, Ill., and Mr. C. L. Campbell, of Kansas
City, Mo., for the Company.
Messrs. Willard Murphy and Ralph Baker of Kansas City, Mo.,
and Mr. W. H. Moore, of Kansas City, Kans., for the Union:
Mr. Samuel G. Hamilton, 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, L. I. U. 15, C. I. 0., herein called the Union, alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Armour and Company, Kansas City, Kansas, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided
for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Margaret L. Fassig,
Trial Examiner . Said hearing was held at Kansas City, Missouri, on
November 19, 1944. The Company and the Union appeared and par-
ticipated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to
examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bear-
ing on the issues. 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
Armour and Company is an Illinois corporation with its principal
place of business at Chicago, Illinois. We are here solely concerned
with its Kansas City, Kansas, plant, at which it is engaged in slaugh-
1 Name as amended at the hearing.
59 N. L. R. B., No. 156.
783
618683-45-vol. 59-51
784 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tering, processing and packing livestock products. During 1943 it
processed products at its Kansas City plant valued in excess of $45,000,-
000, of which more than 75 percent was shipped to points outside the
State of Kansas.
The Company does not deny, and we find, that it is engaged in com-
merce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Packinghouse Workers of America, L. I. U. 15, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as
the exclusive bargaining representative of certain of its employees
until the Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
Statements of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, and of the Trial Examiner, made on the record, indicate that the
Union represents a substantial number of employees in the unit
hereinafter found appropriate.'
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. TIIE APPROPRIATE UNIT
'The Union seeks a unit composed of all plant-protection employees
employed by the Company at its Kansas City, Kansas, plant, exclud-
ing supervisors. However, the Company contends that the unit
sought is inappropriate for the reason that plant-protection employees
are identified with management, and because the Union, now repre-
senting the production and maintenance employees of the Kansas City,
Kansas, plant; improperly seeks to represent the plant-protection em-
ployees as well.
The 32 plant-protection employees are classified as police, box
pullers, and- combination police and box pullers. These employees
perform no more than the normal duties of plant-protection personnel.
Thus, they are charged with protecting the Company's property
against sabotage and theft, maintaining law and order within the
plant,' and enforcing Company rules. In similar factual situations,
2 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 23 membership cards, 911 of
which bore apparently genuine original signatures, that the cards were dated "October
1944."" and that there were approximately 30 employees in the alleged appropriate unit.
The Trial Examiner stated that all 23 of the union membership cards bore names which
appear on the Companv's pay roll for the week ending November 4, 1944, which listed 32
employees within the alleged appropriate unit.
ARMOUR AND COMPANY 785
we have rejected contentions concerning plant-protection employees
identical to those'made by the Company in this proceeding.3
We find, consequently, that all plant-protection employees of the
Company at its - Kansas City, Kansas, plant, including police, box
pullers, and combination police and box pullers, but excluding super-
visors 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 mean-
ing 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 Elec-
tion herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
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 Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations 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 Armour and
Company, Kansas City, Kansas, 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 Seventeenth Region, acting in this
matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject
to Article 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 during 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 any 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 repre-
sented by United Packinghouse Workers of America, L. I. U. 15,
C. I. 0., for ,the purposes of collective bargaining.
See Matter of Chrysler Corporation , Highland Park Plant, 44 N . L R. B. 881.