Armour and Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 26, 1945

61 N.L.R.B. 758 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of ARMOI7R AND COMPANY and UNITED PACKINGHOUSE
WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL UNION No. 58, C. I. O.
Case No. 17-R-1097.-Decided April 26, 1945
Mr. C. M. Stewart, of South St. Joseph, Mo., for the Company.
Mr. Oscar Wilson, of South St. Joseph, Mo., for the Union.
Mr. Louis Cokin, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF TILE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by United Packinghouse Workers of
America, Local Union No. 58, C. I. 0., herein called the Union, alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Armour and Company, South St. Joseph,
Missouri, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations
Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before
Elmer L. Hunt, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at St. Joseph,
Missouri, on April 10, 1945. The Company and the Union appeared,
participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to ex-
amine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing
on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were
afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
i
Armour and Company is an Illinois corporation operating a plant
at South St. Joseph, Missouri, where it is engaged in the slaughtering
and processing of livestock. The Company ships products from its
South St. Joseph plant valued in excess of $1,000,000, annually, ap-
proximately 90 percent of which is shipped to points outside the State
of Missouri.
61 N. L. R. B., No. 120.
758
ARMOUR AND COMPANY 759
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Packinghouse Workers of America, Local Union No. 58, is a
labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organi-
zations, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company refuses to recognize the Union as exclusive collective
bargaining representative of certain of its employees until such time
as the Union is certified by the Board.
A statement of a Field Examiner of the Board, introduced into
evidence at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a sub-
stantial number of the employees claimed by it.'
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT; THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Company recognizes the Union, by contract, as the exclusive
collective bargaining representative for all production and main-
tenance employees at the South St. Joseph plant, excluding street-
cleaning department employees and other enumerated classifications
of employees. The Union now seeks to enlarge the scope of its present
bargaining unit by adding thereto all street-cleaning department em-
ployees. The Company stated that it had no objection to the con-
tention of the Union. The record indicates that the street-cleaning
-department employees may properly form a part of the large unit
presently represented by the Union.
We shall, accordingly, direct an election only among the street-
cleaning department employees so that they may indicate their desire
as to whether or not they should be added to the established bargain-
ing unit presently represented by the Union 2
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees of the Company in the following voting group who were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
2 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted five authorization cards. There
are seven employees in the group claimed by the Union.
2 See Matter of Armour and Company , 40 N L R B 1333.
760 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of the Direction of Election herein, subject to the limitations and
additions set forth in the Direction :
All street-cleaning department employees at the South St. Joseph
plant of the Company, excluding all supervisory employees with au-
thority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect
changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such
action.
In the event a majority of the employees select the Union as their
bargaining representative, they will have thereby indicated their
desire to be merged with the employees of the Company now repre-
sented by the Union.
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 Relations Act.
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, 'as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Armour and Com-
pany, South St. Joseph, Missouri, an election by secret ballot shall
be conducted as eau-!y as possible but not later than thirty (30) days
from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision
of the Regional Director for the Seventeenth Region, acting in this
matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject
to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations,
among the employees in the voting group described in Section IV,
above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
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 person at the polls,
but excluding any who have since quit or been discharged for cause
and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the elec-
tion, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by
United Packinghouse Workers of America, Local Union No. 58,
C. 1. 0., for the purposes of collective bargaining.