Armour and Co. of Delaware

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 3, 1943

47 N.L.R.B. 1285 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Dlattel' of ARMOUR AND COMPANY OF DELAWARE and UNITED'
PROTECTIVE. ASSOCIATION OF ARMOUR SOAP WORKS EMPLOYEES, AFFILI-
ATEI) WITH THE PACKINGHOUSE WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE,
C. I. O.
Case No. R-4919.Decided -March 3, 1943
Jurisdiction : soap and related products manufacturing industry. -
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: rec-
ognition refused : contract no bar when it was of indefinite duration; was in
"effect tor more than one year. company did not contend the contract to consti-
- tutu a'bair, `and' petitioner was a party to-the-contract; election, necessary..
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all production and maintenance
employees at company's North Bergen plant, with specified exclusions, notwith-
standing that maintenance employees were excluded from a production unit
in a prior determination because they were ineligible to membership in the
petitioner in that case and were under the jurisdiction of various 'craft
unions, when unions lost the election, the craft unions' ,had never attempted
.to organize the maintenance employees and subsequent to that election company
and present petitioner entered into -a contract covering both production and
maintenance employees -
Mr. Peter F. Curran ,,of New York City, for the Company.
Mr. Meyer, Stern, of New York City, for the Union.
Miss.Murvel J: Lever, of counsel. to the Board.
9
DECISION
AND - --
DIRECTION •OF ELECTION
STA1E1'.NT OF THE CASE, -
Upon petition duly filed by United Protective Association of Armour
Soap Works Employees, affiliated with the Packinghouse Workers
Organizing Committee, C. 1. O., herein called the Union, alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Armour and Company of Delaware, North.
Bergen, New" Jersey, herein called the Company, the. National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Daniel Baker, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at
New York City, on February 16, 1943. The Company and the Union
appeared, participated, and were • afforded full opportunity. to be
47 N. L.- R B No . 161. - -
1285 , -
1286 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS, BOARD
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, ' and to introduce
ei:idence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's' rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Armour and Company of Delaware is a Delaware corporation with
its principal office at Chicago, Illinois. The Company is a subsidiary
of Armour and Company , an Illinois corporation . The Company
operates a plant at North Bergen, New Jersey , where it is engaged in
the manufacture , sale, and distribution of soaps, glycerin and related
products . The North Bergen plant is alone concerned in this pro-
ceeding. During the fiscal year ending October 31, 1942, the Com-
pany purchased for its North Bergen plant approximately 70 mil-
lion pounds of raw materials , more than 50 percent of which was
shipped from points outside the State of New Jersey. During the
same period the Company 's sales of products manufactured at its
North Bergen plant amounted to approximately 90 million pounds, of
which about 90 percent was shipped to points outside the State of
New Jersey.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
United Protective Association of Armour Soap Works Employees,
affiliated with the Packinghouse Workers'Organizing Committee, is
a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Or-
ganizations, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
0
In July 1941 , United Protective Association of Armour Soap Works'
Employees , Inc., herein called the Association ,' then an unaffiliated
organization , entered into an exclusive bargaining contract with the
Company, covering production and maintenance employees at the
Company's North Bergen plant ., This contract was to extend for an,
indefinite period. After some employees of the Company designated
the Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee as their bargain-
ing agency , its representative sent a telegram to the Company some
time in December 1942 , requesting a conference for the purposes of
collective bargaining . The Company did not reply to the request.
Thereafter the Association unanimously voted to affiliate with Pack-
inghouse Workers Organizing Committee of the Congress of Indus-
trial Organizations . Following the affiliation , the Union requested
recognition . The Company refused recognition unless and until the
Union is certified as the bargaining agency by the Board.
ARMOUR AND COMPANY OF DELAWARE 1287
Since the afore-mentioned contract was, by its terms, for an indefi-
nite duration with a provision for thirty (30) days' notice to make
changes, and has been in effect for more than' 1 year, it does not pre-
. elude an investigation of representatives.' Moreover, the Company
does 'not contend that the contract constitutes a bar, and the other
party to the contract is the petitioner herein.
A statement of the, Regional Director, introduced in'evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of the employees of the Company within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union urges an appropriate bargaining unit consisting-of pro-
duction and maintenance employees of the Company's North Bergen
plant with certain exclusions hereinafter described.- The Company
takes no position on the unit question.
In a previous case involving this same plant,' the Board found a
unit otherwise the same as the one claimed to be appropriate by the
Union in 'this proceeding, but excluding maintenance workers, to be
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. The petitioner
in that case, Federal Local Union No. 21088, had urged the exclusion
of the maintenance workers since they were not eligible for member-
ship in that organization because they were under the'jurisdiction
of various craft unions. The Association, which was a party to that
proceeding, requested a unit composed of production and maintenance
workers.
In the election held pursuant to the Board's direction in the earlier
proceeding, neither labor organization obtained a majority of the
ballots cast, and the Board dismissed the petition.' Sometime after this
dismissal the Company executed a contract, hereinbefore described,
with the Association, covering both production and maintenance
workers. There has been no attempt on the part of craft unions to
organize the maintenance workers. '
The maintenance workers, whom the Union desires to include, do
the work usually associated with that designation. There are sta-
IMatter of American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corporation and, United Electrical,
Radio & Machine Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organiza,-
tions , 35 N L. R. B 172.
2 The Regional Director reported that the ' Union submitted 322 designations , 319 dated
December 1942 and January 1943, the rest undated, of which 312 bear apparently genuine
signatures No check of these designations against the pay roll was made because the
Company did not furnish one. The Company employs approximately 400 production and
maintenance employees at its North Bergen plant.
Matter of Armour and Company of-Delaware and Federal Local Union No. 21088 of the
American Federation of Labor, 26 N L R. B. 1046.
1288 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIOI S BOARD
tionary engineers, who operate the machinery which supplies the
power for the production processes,, firemen, who fire the boilers which
provide heat and hot water , oilers, who oil the machinery , and mis-
cellaneous maintenance employees including machinists , carpenters,
steam fitters, painters , and millwrights. These maintenance workers
are paid by the hour and work the same number of hours as the
production wofkers.
In view of this, bargaining history , the fact that craft unions have
not organized the maintenance workers , the close 'functional relations
between production , and maintenance employees , and in accordance
with the Board's usual policy, we shall include the maintenance workers
in the unit together with the production workers.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the Com-
pany at its North Bergen plant , excluding all supervisory and clerical
workers both in the plant and in the office, truck drivers, watchmen,
special guards, laboratory employees , time -study men and , timekeepers,
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
v: THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall `direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be 'resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of our Direction of Election,
-subject to'the.limitations and additions set forth in the Direction.',
DIRECTION O'F 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 2, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertaiii representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Armour and Com-
pany of Delaware, North Bergen, New Jersey, 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 of Election , under the direc-
tion and supervision of the Regional Director for the Second Region,
acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board,
and subject to Article III, Section 10, of said Rules and Regulations;
among all employees of the Company in the unit found appropriate
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
ARMOUR AND CO1IPANY OF DELAWARE • 1289
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, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented
by United Protective Association of Armour Soap Works Employees,
affiliated with the Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee, affil-
iated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, for the purposes
of collective bargaining.