Armour & Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 29, 1938

8 N.L.R.B. 973 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter of ARMOUR & COMPANY and UNITED MEAT WORKERS
INDUSTRIAL UNION, LOCAL No. 214, AFFILIATED WITH THE COMMITTEE
FOR INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION
Case No. R-937.-Decided August 29, 1933
Meat Packing Industry-Investigation of Rcptesentatvves: controversy con-
cerning representation of employees : employer's refusal to recognize union as
exclusive representative-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bat gaining: produc-
tion, maintenance , and distribution employees at two plants, excluding super-
visory employees, clerical employees, and salesmen-Representatives: proof of
choice : membership in union ; comparison of employee list with stipulation
relative to membership-Certification of Representatives: upon proof of majority
representation.
Mr. Frank A. M1owritsen, for the Board.
Gibson, Dunn cfi Crutcher, by Mr. J. Stuart Neary and Mr. Henry
B. Ely, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the Company.
Mr. Rutherford W. Luke, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the United.
Entenza cf Cramer, by .31r. A. P. Entenza, of Los Angeles, Calif.,
and Mr. G. W. Roach, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the Amalgamated.
Mr. Guy Farmer, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
. STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On February 14, 1938, Packinghouse Workers Organizing Com-
mittee, Local No. 214, herein called the United,'- filed with the Re-
gional Director for the Twenty-first Region (Los Angeles, Cali-
fornia) a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had
arisen concerning the representation of employees of Armour &
Company, Los Angeles, California, herein called the Company, and
requesting an investigation and certification of representatives pur-
suant to Section 9-(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat.
449, herein called the Act. On June 21, 1938, the United filed all
amended petition for the purpose of clarifying and correcting the
'At the heating, upon motion of the United , the pleadings were amended to designate
the petitioning union as United Meat Workers Industrial Union, Local No. 214.
8 N. L. R. B., No. 119.
973
974 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
original petition . On June 6, 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, ordered an
investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it
and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On June 21 , 1938, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company and upon the
United. Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held on June 27
and 30, 1938, at Los Angeles, California, before V. P. Lucas, the
Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. At the beginning of
the hearing Amalgamated Meat Packers and Butcher Workmen of
North America, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor,
herein called the Amalgamated, appeared and moved for leave to
intervene , alleging that it represented employees directly affected
by the investigation. The motion was granted by the Trial
Examiner.
The Board , the Company , the United , and the Amalgamated were
represented by counsel but only counsel for the Board and for the
Company actively 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 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
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Armour & Company , an Illinois corporation , is engaged in purchas-
ing and slaughtering of livestock , and processing and distributing
meat products and byproducts . It also processes and sells poultry,
eggs, dairy products , and other allied products , and manufactures
and distributes soap, toilet articles, fertilizer , margarin, vegetable oils,
wool, and leather . The Company is one of the four largest meat
packing houses in the United States, operating 31 packing plants in
24 States , and approximately 300 branch houses throughout the
United States. Some of these operations are conducted by the Com-
pany directly, and others through subsidiaries . Its gross sales for
the fiscal year ending October 30, 1937, were $788,279,704.97.
The plants here in question are located at Los Angeles, California,
one within a few blocks of the other. Of these, the Hauser plant
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 975
operated by Armour & Company of Delaware, a subsidiary of the
Company, is engaged in meat packing and distributing, while the
Morris Butterine Company plant, herein called the Morris plant, is
engaged exclusively in the manufacture of margarin. The plants
together maintain approximately 290 production, maintenance, and
distribution employees, exclusive of supervisory employees, clerical
employees, and salesmen. The Hauser plant distributes, in addition
to its own products, most of the products of the Morris plant.
In the fiscal year ending October 30, 1937, the Hauser plant pur-
chased and slaughtered more than 152,000 animals, valued at approxi-
mately $3,900,000, of which 66 per cent originated within California,
the remainder coming from other States: Purchases of raw material
and supplies, other than livestock, for the two plants for the same
period totaled $1,080,000, 40 per cent of which were made outside
California. The approximate total value of the combined products
of both plants for the same fiscal year was $8,800,000. Ninety-seven
per cent of the output was sold within the State; the remaining three
per cent in other States.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Meat Workers Industrial Union, Local No. 214, is a labor
organization affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organiza-
tion through Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee. It ad-
mits to membership production, maintenance, and distribution em-
ployees of the Company in the Hauser and Morris plants, excluding
supervisory employees, clerical employees, and salesmen.
Amalgamated Meat Packers and Butcher Workmen of North
America is a labor organization-affiliated with the American Federa-
tion of Labor. Although claiming to represent employees directly
affected by the investigation, the Amalgamated presented no evidence
with respect to its membership or jurisdiction and took no active part
in the proceedings.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On March 18, 1938, A. J. Shippey, representative of the Packing-
house Workers Organizing Committee, acting for the United, con-
ferred with E. G. Hinton,- general manager of the Hauser plant.
Shippey, claiming that the United represented a majority of the pro-
duction, maintenance, and distribution workers in the plants in-
volved, requested recognition of the United as sole collective bargain-
ing agency for the workers specified. In reply, Hinton requested and
was granted a week in which to communicate with the Company
before giving a final answer. At the second conference, one week
later, Shippey repeated his request for recognition, and stated that
-976 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
he was ready and willing to offer proof of a- majority . Hinton,
however, did not accept the offer of proof and refused to grant the
requested recognition.
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of
employees of the Company in its Hauser and Morris plants.
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 commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The United claimed that the production, maintenance, and distribu-
tion employees in the Hauser and Morris plants , excluding clerical
employees, supervisory employees, and salesmen, constitute an appro-
priate unit for collective bargaining. The Company did not object
directly to this unit although it submitted evidence that drivers, in
addition to their regular delivery duties, take orders and make collec-
tions. These facts, however, afford no proper reason for excluding
drivels from the appropriate unit. Moreover, the record establishes
that of the 39 drivers employed at the plants, 33 are members of the
United, the president of the United, himself, being a driver. Such
clear evidence of the drivers' own desires as to the appropriate unit
cannot be ignored in the absence of any convincing evidence for their
exclusion.
We find that the production , maintenance , and distribution employ-
ees of the two plants of the Company, excluding supervisory employees,
clerical employees , and salesmen , constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining, and that said unit will insure to
employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to self-
organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the
policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
At the hearing, a list of the employees within the appropriate unit
on May 27, 1938, was authenticated by Hinton and introduced in evi-
dence. A company witness testified that five persons, whose names
were on the list, had silice left the Company's employ. The corrected
DECJSTONS AND ORDERS 977
list contains 289 names. In the course of the hearing a recess as
taken during which the Company was permitted to check the signa-
tures on the United's membership cards and to examine its dues book.
It was then stipulated by the Company and the United that of the
289 employees within the appropriate unit, 156 had signed membership
cards or petitions designating the United as their representative, and,
according to the dues book, were paid up members in good standing.
It was also stipulated that an additional 27 employees had signed
application cards. Of these, 13 were paid-up members in good stand-.
ing according to the dues book and the uncontroverted testimony of the-
financial secretary. In addition to the above stipulations, the United
claimed and the Company disputed the membership of a number of
other employees. Since clear evidence indicates that a majority have
designated the United as its bargaining agent, it is not necessary to
determine the true status of the disputed membership.
We find that the United has been designated and selected by a ma-
jority of the employees in the appropriate unit as their representative
for the purposes of collective bargaining. It is, therefore, the exclu-
sive representative of all the employees in 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 :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW -
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Armour & Company, in its Hauser and
Morris Butterine Company plants, within the meaning of Section 9
(c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The production, maintenance, and distribution employees of the
Company in its Hauser and Morris Butterine Company plants, ex-
cluding clerical, employees, supervisory employees, and salesmen,
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
3. United Meat Workers Industrial Union, Local No. 214, 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 Re-
lations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended,
978 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
IT Is HEREBY CERTIFIED that United Meat Workers Industrial Union,
Local No. 214, has been designated and selected by a majority of
the production, maintenance, and distribution employees of Armour
& Company, in its Hauser and Morris Butterine Company plants,
Los Angeles, California, excluding clerical employees, supervisory
employees, and salesmen, as their representative for the purposes of
collective bargaining and that, pursuant to the provisions of Section
9 (a) of the Act, United Meat Workers Industrial Union, Local No.
214, is the exclusive representative of all such employees for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours
of employment, and other conditions of employment.
Mr. EDWIN S. SMITH took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Certification of Representatives.