Armour and Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 13, 1949

86 N.L.R.B. 539 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of ARMOUR AND COMPANY, EMPLOYER and MEAT AND
PROVISION DRIVERS UNION, LOCAL No. 626, AFL , PETITIONER
In the Matter of ARMOUR AND COMPANY, EMPLOYER and AMALGAMATED
MEAT CUT ERS & BUTCHER WORKMEN OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL,
PETITIONER
Cases Nos. 01-RC-855 and 21-RC-894, respectively.Decided
October 13, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon petitions duly filed, a consolidated hearing was held before
Jerome Smith, hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board.
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju-
dicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
these cases to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Gray].
Upon the entire record in these cases, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the representation
of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1)
and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner in Case No. 21-RC-855 (herein called the Drivers)
seeks a unit of drivers and helpers at the Employer's Los Angeles,
California, plant. The Petitioner in Case No. 21-RC-894 (herein
called the Amalgamated) seeks a unit of production and maintenance
employees at the same plant, excluding drivers, office and clerical
employees, professional employees, guards, watchmen, and super-
visors. The Amalgamated would include, in the alternative, the
drivers in the unit should the Board find that their exclusion is inap-
86 N. L. R. B., No. 74.
539
540 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
propriate. The Employer and United Packing House Workers of
America, CIO (herein called the Intervenor), contend that, in view
of an 11-year bargaining history at the Employer's plant on a plant-
wide basis, a single unit which includes production and maintenance
employees, truck drivers, and helpers is an appropriate unit.
The Intervenor, since its certification by this Board on August 29,
1938, has continuously represented the production and maintenance
employees, including drivers, in a single unit, its latest contract with
the Employer terminable on August 11, 1949, after the date of the
hearing herein.'
Of the 400 employees at the Employer's plant, 33 are truck drivers
and helpers, classified by the Employer as "drivers." 2 The bulk of
their time is devoted to driving. Two days each week they are almost
entirely engaged in making deliveries of the Employer's products;
during the other 3 days they make deliveries, transport livestock to
the Employer's plant from stockyards, and perform "inside" work
at the plant which is the same as that regularly assigned to the pro-
duction employees. This "inside" work, which includes loading,
unloading and cooler work, generally considered to be part of the work
of a truck driver, occupies up to 20 percent of their working time,
under the supervision of the division superintendent, who also super-
vises the production employees.
The Board has established separate units of drivers in the meat
packing industry, notwithstanding the drivers' prior inclusion in a
broader unit or the fact that they spend a portion of their working
time performing the same functions as plant employees.3 Under the
circumstances, and on the basis of the entire record in this proceeding,
we find that the drivers may appropriately be included in a compre-
hensive plant-wide unit or in a separate unit.
Accordingly, we shall make no final unit determination at this
time, but shall direct that separate elections be held in the following
voting groups at the Employer's Los Angeles, California, plant, ex-
cluding office and clerical employees, professional employees, guards,
and supervisors :
(a) All drivers and helpers ;
(b) All production and maintenance employees, excluding drivers
and their helpers.
1 There is no contention that this contract operates as a bar to either of the petitions.
2 Employees classified by the Employer as "drivers" are referred to by the Intervenor
as "chauffeurs."
3 Matter of Swift & Company, d/b/a New En gland Dressed Meat and Wool Company,
81 N. L. R. B. 1197, and cases cited ; Matter of Royal Tallow & Soap Co., Inc., 78
N. L. R. B. 834.
ARMOUR AND COMPANY 541
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, separate elec-
tions by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not
later than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction
and supervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which
these cases were heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the
employees in the voting groups listed in paragraph 4, above, who were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work
during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or
temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether,
for purposes of collective bargaining :
(1) The employees in group (a) desire to be represented by Meat
and Provision Drivers Union, Local No. 626, AFL, or by United Pack-
ing House Workers of America, CIO, or by neither;
(2) The employees in group (b) desire to be represented by Amal-
gamated Meat Cutters &- Butcher Workmen of North America, AFL, or
by United Packing House Workers of America, CIO, or by neither 4
4 Any participant in either election directed herein may , upon its prompt request to, and
approval thereof by, the Regional Director, have its name removed from the ballot.