Cudahy Brothers Packing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 27, 1938

4 N.L.R.B. 1171 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter of CIIDAHY BROTHERS PACKING CO., A CORPORATION and
PACKINGHOUSE WORKERS INDUSTRIAL UNION
Case No. R-475.Decided January 27, 1938
Meat Packing Industry-Investigation of Representatives : controversy con-
cerning representation of employees : rival organizations ; refusal by employer
to recognize either as exclusive representative-Unit Appropriate for Collective
Bargaining : production and maintenance employees , stipulation, no controversy
as to-Election Ordered
Mr. Robert R. Rissman and Mr. Morris L. Forer, for the Board.
Mr. James D. Shaw, of Milwaukee, Wis., for the Company.
Mr. Paul Smith, of Milwaukee, Wis., for the Amalgamated.
Mr. W. 0. Sonnemann, of Milwaukee, Wis., for the United.
Mr. Walter T. Nolte, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On June 2, 1937, Packinghouse Workers Industrial Union filed
with the Regional Director for the Twelfth Region (Milwaukee, Wis-
consin) a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had
arisen concerning the representation of employees of Cudahy Broth-
ers Company,' Cudahy, Wisconsin, 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 November 24, 1937, the National La-
bor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to
Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National La-
bor 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 clue
notice.
On November 27, 1937, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, upon
counsel for the Company, upon the United Packinghouse Workers
The order directing investigation and hearing erroneously referred to the Company a-
"Cudahy Brothers Packing Co"
1171
1172 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of America, Local 491, herein called the United,2 and upon the
Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North Amer-
ica, Local 222, herein called the Amalgamated, a labor organization
claiming to represent employees directly affected by the investiga-
tion. Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held on December 6,
1937, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, before Herbert Wenzel, the Trial
Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board, the Company,
and the United were represented by counsel and the Amalgamated
by its representative and all participated in the hearing. Full op-
portunity to be heard, to examine and to 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
Cudahy Brothers Company, a Wisconsin corporation, has its prin-
cipal office and its only packing plant at Cudahy, Wisconsin, a suburb
of Milwaukee. The Company has wholly owned subsidiaries incor-
porated in Michigan, Illinois, and Tennessee, which it utilizes in
connection with the sale and distribution of its products. Branch
warehouses are maintained by the Company and its subsidiaries at
Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Racine, Wisconsin; New York, New York;
Detroit, Michigan; and Chicago, Illinois. Although maintained
chiefly in connection with the sale of the Company's products, some
of the warehouses do a limited amount of processing. The Company
and its subsidiaries employ 52 salesmen, only 20 per cent of whom
operate in Wisconsin, and have sales agencies and brokers in most of
the • principal cities in the eastern half of the United States and
commission agents in England, Germany, Holland, and South
America.
The Company's business consists of slaughtering cattle, calves,
sheep, lambs, and hogs ; processing some of the products of such
slaughtering; and selling fresh meats, processed items, and various
2 On July 30, 1937, Packinghouse Workers Industrial Union, then an unaffiliated organi-
zation , voted to affiliate with the Committee for Industrial Organization . A charter was
issued to it on August 19, 1937, under the name United Packinghouse workers of America,
Local 491. At the hearing, the Trial Examiner granted a motion to amend the original
petition by changing the name of the petitioning union to United Packinghouse Workers
of America, Local 491.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 1173
byproducts. Approximately one-half of the livestock used at the
packing plant is obtained from points in Wisconsin. The other half
is purchased in Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Nebraska, South Dakota,
and Missouri. During the fiscal year ending October 31, 1937, the
Company purchased approximately 10 or 11 million dollars worth
of livestock outside of the State of Wisconsin. In connection with
its purchase of livestock, the Company operates its own private stock-
yard and also concentration yards at Tama, Iowa; Belleplaine, Iowa;
and Adams, Wisconsin. Purchases are also made at public stock-
yards in Chicago, Illinois; Omaha, Nebraska; Sioux City, Iowa;
Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and South St. Paul, Minnesota.
Annual sales of the Company's products amount to 25 or 30 mil-
lion dollars a year. Eighty per cent of such sales are made outside
the State of Wisconsin, either directly by the Company or through
its subsidiaries.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Packinghouse Workers of America, Local 491, is a labor
organization affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organiza-
tion, admitting to its membership all production and maintenance
employees of the Company, excluding clerks and supervisors.
Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North
America, Local 222, is a labor organization affiliated with the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor. It admits to its membership all production
and maintenance employees of the Company, excluding office work-
ers and supervisory employees.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
In the spring of 1937, Packinghouse Workers Industrial Union s
asked the Company for recognition as an exclusive bargaining repre-
sentative. The Company refused to grant the request, but agreed to
deal with it for its own, members.
The Company has been bargaining with the Amalgamated through
exchanges of correspondence since June of 1934. While terms rela-
tive to working conditions, agreed upon in the course of the correspond-
ence, have been and are now observed by the Company, no formal
agreement was ever executed and no exclusive recognition was ever
given to the Amalgamated. By a letter dated April 27, 1937, the
Amalgamated asked the Company for recognition as an exclusive
collective bargaining agent. In a letter dated May 5, 1937, the Com-
pany replied that the members of another labor organization also
claimed the right to act as the sole bargaining agency for the em-
ployees on the basis of majority representation and that, in the absence
a See footnote No 2
1174 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of some authoritative determination, the Company would deal with
the Amalgamated only as to its own members.
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 commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The United and the Amalgamated stipulated that all production
and maintenance employees, excluding clerical workers, office workers,
supervisory employees, and part time and temporary employees, at
the Company's plant in Cudahy, Wisconsin, constitute an appropriate
unit for the purposes of collective bargaining. Although the Com-
pany did not join in the stipulation, it raised no objections thereto.
We find that the production and maintenance employees of the
Company, at its Cudahy, Wisconsin, plant, excluding clerical work-
ers, office workers, supervisory employees, and part time and tem-
porary employees, 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
Although both the United and the Amalgamated claim to repre-
sent a majority of the employees of the Company within the ap-
propriate unit, no evidence substantiating such claims was submitted.
The Company states that it does not know whether either of the
organizations represent a majority of such employees. We find
that the question which has arisen concerning the representation
of employees can best be resolved by the holding of an election by
secret ballot.
The United and the Amalgamated stipulated that the Company's
pay roll of October 16, 1937, should be used in determining the list
of eligible voters. We find such pay roll to be satisfactory.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following:
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 1175
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the rep-
resentation of employees of Cudahy Brothers Company at its Cudahy,
Wisconsin, plant,. within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section
2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The production and maintenance employees of Cudahy Brothers
Company at its Cudahy, Wisconsin, plant, excluding clerical workers,
office workers, supervisory employees, and part time and temporary
employees, constitute 'a unit appropriate for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National
Labor Relations Act.
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 Re-
lations Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as
amended,
IT IS HEREBY DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized
by the Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining with Cudahy Brothers Company, Cudahy, Wis-
consin, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted within fifteen
(15) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Twelfth Region, acting
in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and
subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations,
among the production and maintenance employees, employed by the
Company at its Cudahy, Wisconsin, plant on October 16, 1937, ex-
cluding clerical workers, office workers, supervisory employees, and
part time and temporary employees, and excluding also those em-
ployees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to deter-
mine whether they desire to be represented, for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining, by United Packinghouse Workers, Local 491, affil-
iated with the Committee for Industrial Organization, or by Amal-
gamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America,
Local 222, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, or by
neither.
m 573-38-vol. iv-75