Armour and Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 28, 1945

63 N.L.R.B. 582 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of ARMOUR AND COMPANY and UNITED PACKINGHOUSE
WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O.
Case No. 17-R-1151.-Decided August 28,1945
Mr. J. C. Moore, of Chicago, Ill., and Mr. C. M. Stewart, of South St.
Joseph, Mo., for the Company.
Mr. Willard Murphy, of Kansas City, Mo., for the Union.
Miss Ruth E. Bliefdeld, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Packinghouse Workers of
America, C. I. 0., herein called the Union, alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees 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 Margaret L. Fassig,
Trial Examiner. Said, hearing was held at St. Joseph, Missouri, on
July 5, 1945. The Company and the Union appeared and partici-
pated. All parties 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
Armour and Company, an Illinois corporation, is engaged in the
slaughtering of livestock and the processing of meat products in plants
established throughout the United States . We are here concerned
solely with its South 'St. Joseph , Missouri , plant. At this plant the
Company 's annual production exceeds $1,000,000 in value; it ships 50
percent of its products outside the State of Missouri.
63 N L . R. B., No. 92.
582
ARMOUR AND COMPANY 583
The Company admits, and we find, that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Packinghouse Workers of America, affiliated with the Con-
gress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting
to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of its restaurant employees in the
South St. Joseph plant until the Union has been certified by the Board
in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union i epresents a substantial number of
eniployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
We find that a question affecting colmerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Sect ion 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT ; TIIE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Union and the Company agree that the restaurant employees in
the Company 's South . St. Joseph , Missouri , plant, exclusive of the
cook and assistant cook, may properly be included in the production
and maintenance unit in which the Union is the recognized exclusive
collective bargaining representative.
In a prior proceeding the Board found that a production and main-
tenance unit is appropriate at this plant.2 The Board subsequently
included other groups withi n that unit. ' At present the Company and
the Union are parties to a contract covering production and mainte-
nance employees.
The Company operates a restaurant at the South St. Joseph plant
for the benefit of its employees . There are approximately eight em-
ployees in the restaurant . The cook and assistant cook, whom the
parties agree to exclude as supervisory employees, are i'n charge of the
restaurant . We are of the opinion that the restaurant employees,
excluding the cook and assistant cook, may properly be included in the
The Trial Examiner reported that the Union submitted four membership cards all of
which bore apparently genuine original signatures, that the names of all persons appearing
on the cards were listed on the Company's pay roll of July 2, 1945, which contained the
names of six employees in the appropriate unit, and that the cards were dated May 1, 1945.
2 Matter of Armour d Company, 9 N L R. B. 1239.
' Matter of Armour d Company, 40 N. L R. B 1333; Matter of Armour & Company, 55
N L R B. 972; Matter of Armour d Company/, 60 N. L it. B. 341, Matter of Armour &
Company/, 61 N L R B 758
584 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
existing production and maintenance unit, if the employees so desire.4
We shall, therefore, direct an election only among the restaurant
employees to determine whether or not they desire to be represented
by the Union. In the event that a majority of these employees select
the Union as their bargaining representative, they will thereby have
indicated their desire to be part of the unit presently represented by
the Union, and will be part of such unit.
We shall, accordingly, direct that the question concerning repre-
sentation which has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot
among all restaurant employees at the South St. Joseph, Missouri,
plant of the Company, excluding the cook and assistant cook and any
other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, dis-
charge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em
ployees, or effectively recommend such action.
We shall further direct that those eligible to vote shall be the em-
ployees in the voting group who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Di-
rection.
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 Rela-
tions 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
Company, South St. Joseph, Missouri, 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 super-
vision 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 Regula-
tions, 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 the said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vaca-
tion 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
election, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented
by United Packinghouse Workers of America, C. I. 0., for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining.
4 See Matter of Armour and Company, 60 N. L. R. B. 740.