Houston Packing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 20, 1946

71 N.L.R.B. 1232 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of HOUSTON PACKING COMPANY, EMPLOYER and UNITED
PACKINGHOUSE WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 16-R-1901.-Decided December 00, 1946
Mr. G. L. Childress, of Houston, Tex., for the Employer.
Mr. A. J. Pittman, of Fort Worth, Tex., for the Petitioner.
Mr. David Dolnick, of Chicago, Ill., for the Intervenor.
Mr. A. Sumner Lawrence, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Houston,
Texas, on September 6, 1945, before Elmer Davis, hearing officer.
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju-
dicial error and are hereby affirmed. The Intervenor's motion to dis-
miss is denied for reasons hereinafter stated.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THt BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Houston Packing Company, a Texas corporation, with office and
place of business at Houston, Texas, is engaged in the manufacture
and distribution of meat products. The Employer produces annually
at its plant products valued in excess of $200,000, of which 43 percent
is sold and delivered to points outside the State of Texas.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
Local 103, Amalgamated Meatcutters and Butchers Workmen of
North America, herein called the Intervenor , is a labor organization
71 N. L. R. B., No. 195.
1232
HOUSTON PACKING COMPANY 1233
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, claiming to repre-
sent employees of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
representative of employees of the Employer because of its existing
bargaining agreement with the Intervenor. At the hearing, the Inter-
venor moved that the petition be dismissed upon the ground that
its contract with the Employer is a bar to the present proceeding 1
With respect to the Intervenor's contention that its present agree-
ment is a bar, the record discloses that on August 31, 1945, the Inter-
venor and the Employer entered into a closed-shop agreement for
a period of 1 year subject to a provision for automatic renewal in
the absence of 30 days' notice of an intention to change or modify
the agreement, and also subject to a provision gii7ing either party
the right upon 30 days' notice to reopen the agreement once during
the term thereof with respect to the subject of revising wage rates,
therein. Thereafter, pursuant to the reopening provision, the In-
tervenor negotiated a wage increase which was incorporated into a
supplemental agreement effective March 5, 1946. As part of the
latter agreement, the parties agreed that the original contract of
August 31, 1945, should be extended for 1 year to February 28, 1947.
On July 27, 1946, the Petitioner filed its petition herein.
The Intervenor contends that, since the extension of its agreement
with the Employer was effected before the filing of the petition and was
accomplished for the purpose of obtaining benefits expected to result
from negotiations between the Intervenor and certain other concerns
comprising the leaders in the packing industry, the contract is there-
fore a bar to the present proceeding. We do not agree. The 1946
supplemental contract, as indicated above, was executed before the
operative date of the automatic renewal clause, or "Mill B" date ,2
of the 1945 contract, and extended the expiration date of the 1945
contract from August 30, 1946, to February 27, 1947. We have held
that a contract which prematurely extends an old contract is in-
effectual as a bar if a rival union's claim to representation is made
known to the employer before the Mill B date of the old contract.3
Although it appears that the reopening of this contract for the revision
I As an alternative ground for its motion to dismiss, the Intervenor contends that the Peti-
tioner 's showing of interest is inadequate to support the present proceeding The adequacy
of the showing of interest on the part of a petitioning labor organization is a matter
Wihin the administrative discretion of the Boai d and is not subject to examination or
contradiction by any pasty to the proceeding See Matter of 0. D. Jennings t Company,
68 N. L. R B. 516, Matter of Embassy Manufacturing Company, 71 N L It. B. 430.
2 See Matter of Mill B, Inc, 40 N. L R B 346
3 See Matter of Northwestern Publishing Company (WDAN), a corporation, 71 N. L R. B.
161, Matter of Greenville Finishing Company, Inc, 71 N L. R B. 436.
1234 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of wage rates in accordance with the reopening provision therein
would not in itself detract from the effectiveness of the contract as
a bar ,4 the fact that the Petitioner filed its petition with the Board
before the operative date of the automatic renewal clause of the latter
agreement does not bar a present determination of representatives.'
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
All parties agree, and we find, that all production and maintenance
employees of the Employer, excluding office clerical employees (in-
cluding office stenographic employees), watchmen, timekeepers, of-
fice janitors, salesmen (including beef salesmen in wholesale market),
market cashiers, market bill clerks, market beef margin clerks, store-
room stock clerk and assistant purchasing agent, stock clerk and as-
sistant foremen sweet pickle and dry salt cellars, assistant foremen
lard and oil refinery, and all or any 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 meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with Houston Packing Company, Hous-
ton, Texas, 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 Di-
rector for the Sixteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the
National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections 203.55 and
203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
Series 4, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Sec-
tion IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period im-
mediately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees
who did not work during 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 per-
4 See Matte, of Greenville Finishing Company, Inc ., supra.
5 Sec Matter of Dryden Rubber Company, 71 N L. R B 572 ; Matter of Embassy Manu-
facturing Company. Case No 14-R-1497, Supplemental Decision and Order denying Motion,
issued November 23, 1946 The mere fact that the purpose of the extension may have no
relation to an attempt by the Intervenor to anticipate a rival claim on the part of the
Petitioner , does not affect the application of the principle herein. See Matter of Worth
hardware Co , Inc, 71 N L. It B 684.
HOUSTON PACKING COMPANY 1235
son at the polls, but excluding those employees 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 they desire
to be represented by United Packinghouse Workers of America, CIO,
or by Local 103, Amalgamated Meatcutters and Butcher Workmen of
North America, AFL, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by
neither.
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