Swift and Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 10, 1938

4 N.L.R.B. 779 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter of SWIFT AND COMPANY and PACKING HOUSE WORKERS
UNION, LOCAL No. 563
Case No. R-398.-Decided January 10, 1938
Meat Packing Industry-Investigation of Representatives : controversy con-
cerning representation of employees : rival organizations ; controversy as to
appropriate bargaining units-Unit Appropriate for Collectwe Bargaining:
production employees in two separate plants operated by employer ; proposed
consolidation of two plants ; similarity of wage scales and working conditions ;
organization of business ; interchangeability of employees-Order: dismissing
Petition for Investigation and Certification of employees in one plant onl;r.
Mr. David Persinger, for the Board.
Gibson, Dunn c6 Crutch.er, by Mr. J. Stuart Neary, of Los Angeles,
Cal., for the Company.
Mr. F. A. Kosky, of Los Angeles, Cal., for Local No. 563.
Voorhees cfi Voorhees, by Mr. J. P. Voorhees and Grace A. Voor-
hees, of Los Angeles, Cal., for Local No. 1.
Mr. Henry H. Foster, Jr., of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On July 12, 1937, Packing House Workers Union, Local No. 563,
herein called Local No. 563, filed with the Regional Director for the
Twenty-First Region (Los Angeles, California) a petition alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Swift and ' Company, Chicago, Illinois,
herein called the Company, at its Vernon, California, plant, and re-
questing 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 September 29, 1937, the National Labor
Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Sec-
tion 9 ( c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, or-
779
780 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
dered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to con-
duct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On November 11, 1937, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, upon
Local No. 563, and upon the Packing House Workers Union of Los-
Angeles, Local No. 1, herein called Local No. 1, a labor organization
claiming to represent employees directly affected by the investigation.
Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held on November 18, 1937, at
Los Angeles, California, before Clifford D. O'Brien, the Trial Ex-
aminer duly designated by the Board. The Board, and Company, and
Local No. 1 were represented by counsel and participated in the hear-
ing. Local No. 563 appeared by its authorized representative. Full
opportunity 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 Ex-
aminer and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rul-
ings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :-
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Swift and Company is an Illinois corporation with its general,,-
offices at Chicago, Illinois. It maintains approximately 375 branch
houses located throughout the United States. It is engaged in the-
general business of acquiring and slaughtering livestock; processing-
and marketing products produced or derived from livestock; acquir-
ing, processing and marketing poultry, butter, cheese, margarine, ice
cream, milk products, and eggs; tanning, preparing, and marketing-
hides and skins ; acquiring and marketing wool ; manufacturing and
marketing vegetable oils; and operating facilities for storage, re-
frigeration and transportation of some of the above-mentioned prod-
ucts.,
Advertising by the Company is conducted on a national scale
and directed from the general offices in Chicago. The industrial
relation's policy of the Company is fixed on a nation-wide basis
through an industrial relations committee with headquarters in Chi-
cago. Through its branch houses and distributing plants the Com-
pany distributes its products throughout the United States.
In the Los Angeles area the Company operates two plants, called:
the Vernon plant and the First Street plant. At the Vernon plant
cattle are slaughtered, edible meats and other edible and inedible.
1 Board's Exhibit No. 2
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 781
products are processed , hams and bacons are smoked , and sausage
is manufactured . These products , and also eggs , butter, and other
produce, are distributed from the Vernon plant.
The First Street plant is primarily a storage and distributing
plant. Productive processes such as candling of eggs, printing of
butter, manufacturing of sausage , smoking of meats, and the slic-
ing of bacon are , however, also carried on at the First Street plant.
During the Company's fiscal year of 1937, 1,027,601 pounds of
product of the value of $127,890 .24 were shipped from the Vernon
plant to points outside the State of California , out of total ship-
ments from the Vernon plant of 34 ,584,654 pounds of the value of
$4,924,318. The shipments from the Vernon plant to points outside'
of California consisted of glands, casings , pelts, hides , and tallow,,
all inedible byproducts of the killing and packing process.
Apart from inedible products shipped from the Vernon plant, sub-
stantially all the products manufactured , processed or warehoused
at the Vernon and First Street plants are distributed in the southern
part of California.
Ninety per cent of the meat products handled at the First Street
plant come from other plants of the Company in the Middle West
and East, and thirty to forty per cent of the total sales value of
products handled at both plants consist of meats shipped in from
the East. Raw materials handled at both plants originate as fol-
lows : eggs and butter from Idaho and California ; cheese, dairy and
poultry items from Oregon; livestock from Idaho, Oregon, Nebraska.
and California . The record in this case does not disclose what per-
centage of the raw materials are derived from points within Cali-
fornia and what percentage are derived from states other than
California.
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Packing House Workers Union , Local No. 563 , is a labor organi-
zation affiliated with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher
Workmen of North America, an affiliate of the American Federation
of Labor, admitting to its membership all production employees of
the Company at the Vernon plant , including working foremen, but
excluding clerical employees , supervisors , and truck drivers. Other
local affiliates of the Amalgamated admit to membership similar
classifications of employees working at the First Street plant.
Packing House Workers Union of Los Angeles, Local No. 1, is,
an independent labor organization . It admits to its membership all
employees of the Company working at the Vernon and First Street
plants, exclusive of time-study employees and persons having the.
power to hire, fire, or discipline.
782 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
III. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
Local No. 563 claims that the production employees of the Vernon
plant, excluding supervisory and clerical employees, truck drivers,
.and truck drivers' helpers, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining. Local No. 1 contends for a bargain-
ing unit comprised of all employees of both the Vernon and the First
.Street plants, exclusive of supervisory and time-study employees. The
Company also urges a unit composed of employees at both plants.
It was disclosed at the hearing that the Company has completed
plans for the consolidation of the First Street and Vernon plants.
The First Street plant, which is approximately two miles from the
Vernon plant, is to be abandoned and the Vernon plant enlarged to
permit all of the Company's operations to be carried on at one plant.
A Company official testified that the Company anticipated that the
enlargement of the Vernon plant would be completed within a year.
Wages and working conditions are substantially the same at both
-plants, and both plants are wilder the supervision of one superin-
tendent. It also appears that the employees are subject to transfer
from one plant to the other, and that, with the exception of employees
on the killing floor at the Vernon plant, transfers have been made
from one plant to the other.
We are of the opinion on the basis of the record in this case
that a unit composed solely of employees or a group of employees of
-the Vernon plant is not appropriate for the purposes of collective
-bargaining. Since the only petition filed in this proceeding relates
:solely to employees at the Vernon plant of the Company, it is not
necessary to determine what would be the appropriate unit if the
-petition were broader in scope.
IV. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The petition in this case , as pointed out in Section III above,
relates solely to employees of the Company at its Vernon plant.
We have found in Section III that a unit composed solely of em-
ployees or a group of employees of the Vernon plant is not appropri-
ate for the purposes of collective bargaining. We find, therefore,
that no question has arisen concerning representation of employees
, of the Company at its Vernon , California, plant.
We do not at this time determine whether any question concerning
representation or any question affecting commerce would arise if
Local No. 563, Local No. 1, the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and
Butcher Workmen of North America , or Local No. 563 together with
locals affiliated with the Amalgamated , petitioned for an investiga-
tion and certification of representatives of employees both at the
Vernon and the First Street plants.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 783.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSION OF LAW
No question concerning the representation of employees of Swift
and Company, at its Vernon, California, plant, exists within the
meaning of Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act'.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and conclusion,
of law the National Labor Relations Board hereby dismisses the
Petition for Investigation and Certification filed by Packing House
Workers Union, Local No. 563.
MR. DONALD WAKEFIELD SMITH took no part in the considcratioi
of the above Decision and Order.