Armour & Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 6, 1938

7 N.L.R.B. 710 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter of ARMOUR & COMPANY and UNITED PACKING HOUSE
WORKERS INDUSTRIAL LOCAL UNION No. 389 AFFILIATED WITH CIO
Case No. R-658.-Decided June 6, 1938
Meat Packing Industry-Investigation of Representatives: controversy con-
cerning representation of employees : refusal by employer to recognize petition-
ing union as exclusive representative-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bar-
gaining: all hourly paid and piece-work production and maintenance employees,
excluding foremen, assistant foremen, superintendents, executives, office force,
clerical workers, watchmen, truck drivers, waitresses and cooks, and general
office janitors ; no controversy as to-Representatives: proof of choice : com-
parison of pay roll with union membership cards-Certification of Representa-
tives: upon proof of majority representation.
Mr. Stephen M. Reynolds, for the Board.
Mv. John J. Brownlee, of Chicago, Ill., for the United.
Mr. Harry F. Selekinan, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On February 25, 1938, United Packing House Workers Local
Industrial Union No. 389, through Packing House Workers Organiz-
ing Committee,' herein called the United, filed with the Regional.
Director for the Thirteenth Region (Chicago, Illinois) a petition
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning
the representation of employees of Armour & Company, Sioux City,
Iowa, herein called the Company, and requesting 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 March 28, 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.
' The original petition was signed by United Packing House Workers Local No. 389,
and the amended petition was signed by the United Packing House Workers Industrial
Local Union No. 389, affiliated with the C . I. 0. At the hearing the name of the peti-
tioning union was amended without objection to United Packing House Workers Local
Industrial Union No. 389 , through Packing House Workers Organizing Committee.
710
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 711
On March 31, 1938, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear,
ing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and upon
the United. Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held on April
7, 1938, at Sioux City, Iowa, before Peter F. Ward, the Trial Exam-
iner duly designated by the Board. The Board and the United were
represented by counsel and participated in the hearing. Full oppor-
tunity 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 sev-
eral rulings on motions and on objections to the admission of evi-
dence. 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 follow-
ing:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY 2
Armour & Company, an Illinois corporation, operates a plant at
Sioux City, Iowa, where it is engaged in the slaughtering of live-
stock and the processing of various products. Approximately 58
per cent of the livestock purchased by the Company originates in
States outside Iowa. It ships approximately 89 per cent of its fin-
ished products outside Iowa. During the fiscal year ending October
30, 1937, it purchased and slaughtered over 545,000 animals, amount-
ing to a total value of about $14,000,000. During the same period,
the plant shipped out of the State 142,300,000 pounds of products,
with a total value of $19,886,000.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Packing House Workers Local Industrial Union No. 389
is a labor organization affiliated with the Committee for Industrial
Organization, admitting to its membership all hourly paid and piece-
work production and maintenance employees, excluding foremen, as-
sistant foremen, superintendents, executives, office force, clerical
workers, watchinen, truck drivers, waitresses and cooks, and gen-
eral office janitors. '
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On February 7, 1938, officials of the United claimed that it repre-
sented a majority of the production and maintenance employees of
the Company and demanded recognition as the exclusive bargain-
'The facts set forth in this section are taken from Board Exhibit No 2, a stipulation
entered into by the Company and the Board.
106791-38-vol vii-46
712 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ing representative for such employees. Upon the refusal of the
Company to grant such recognition, the United requested that the
Company consent to an election. However, the Company refused
to negotiate with the United unless the Board certified the United
as the bargaining representative.
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 Company and the United agreed at the hearing that the ap-
propriate unit should consist of all hourly paid and piece-work
production and maintenance employees, excluding foremen, as-
sistant foremen, superintendents, executives, office force, clerical
workers, watchmen, truck drivers, waitresses and cooks, and general
office janitors.
We find that all hourly paid and piece-work production and main-
tenance employees of the Company, excluding foremen, assistant
foremen, superintendents, executives, office force, clerical workers,
watchmen, truck drivers, waitresses and cooks, and general office
janitors, constitute a unit appropriate for the purpose of collective
bargaining and that said unit will insure to employees of the Com-
pany the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to col-
lective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Company submitted in evidence a pay roll as of the week end-
ing April 2,1938,3 containing the names of 589 production and mainte-
nance employees. The United introduced in evidence 455 application
cards signed by employees of the Company. No question was raised
as to the genuineness of the signatures on these cards. A comparison
of these cards and the pay roll of April 2, 1938, reveals that the names
of 358 employees appear both on the cards and on the pay roll. We
find that the United has been designated and selected by a majority
of the employees in the appropriate unit as their representative for
8 Board Exhibit No. 3, the pay roll next preceding the date of the hearing.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 713
the purposes of collective bargaining. It is, therefore, the exclusive
representative of all the employees- in such unit, for the purpose, 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, Sioux City, Iowa,
within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7), of the
National Labor Relations Act.
2. The hourly paid and piece-work production and maintenance
employees of the Company, excluding .foremen, assistant foremen,
superintendents, executives, office force, clerical workers, watchmen,
truck drivers, waitresses and cooks, and general office janitors, consti-
tute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations
Act.
3. United Packing House Workers Local Industrial Union No.
389, through Packing House Workers Organizing Committee, is the
exclusive representative of all the employees in such unit for the pur-
poses 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 Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended,
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that United Packing House Workers Local
Industrial Union No. 389, through Packing House Workers Organ-
izing Committee, has been designated and selected by a majority of
the hourly paid and piece-work production and maintenance employees
of Armour & Company, Sioux City, Iowa, excluding foremen, assist-
ant foremen, superintendents, executives, office force, clerical workers,
watchmen, truck drivers, waitresses and cooks, and general office
janitors, as their representative for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing and that, pursuant to the provisions of Section 9 (a) of, the Act,
United Packing House Workers Local Industrial Union No. 389,
through Packing House Workers Organizing Committee, is the exclu-
sive representative of all such employees for the purposes of collective
bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment,
and other conditions of employment.