Armour and Co. of Delaware

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 25, 1941

33 N.L.R.B. 784 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

,In the Matter of ARMOUR AND COMPANY OF DELAWARE and UNITED.
PACKINGHOUSE WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 49 A, C. I. O.
Case No. R-2708.-Decided July 2b, 1941
Jurisdiction : food products industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re-
fusal to accord union recognition until it is certified by the Board ; election
necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: all office employees at one of the
Company's branch houses , including the assistant manager , but excluding the
office manager.
Mr. Peter F. Curran, of New York City, for the Company.
Mr. Meyer Stern, and Mr. James J. Stanton, of New York City, for
the Union.
Mr. Bonnell Phillips, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On May 8, 1941, United Packinghouse Workers of America, Local
49 A, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, herein
called the Union, filed with the Regional Director for the Second
Region (New York City) a petition alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees in
the office of Armour and Company of Delaware,' herein called the
Company, at its office at 635 Brook Avenue, New York City, and re-
questing 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 June 27, 1941 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 2, as amended, ordered an investigation
and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide
for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
3 Incorrectly designated in the petition as Armour and Company.
33 N. L. R. B., No. 140. .
784
ARMOUR AND COMPANY OF DELAWARE' 785
On June 30, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company and the Union.
Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on July 7, 1941, at New York
City, before Richard J. Hickey, the Trial Examiner duly designated by
the Chief Trial Examiner. The Company was represented by counsel,
and the Union by its representative; both participated in the hearing.
Full opportunity 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 a motion by the Union to amend its
petition to reflect the correct corporate name of the Company was
granted without objection.2
At the close of the hearing the Company moved that the petition be
dismissed "on the ground that it failed to show a majority of the bar-
gaining unit claimed by the Union." The Trial Examiner referred
ruling on this motion to the Board. The motion is hereby denied. Dur-
ing the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings
on motions and on objections to the admission of evidence. 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 following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Armour and Company of Delaware is a Delaware corporation, main-
taining its principal office at Chicago, Illinois, and branch offices
throughout the United States., It is controlled through common stock
ownership by Armour and Company, an Illinois corporation, of which
it is the principal subsidiary. The latter corporation is engaged, di-
rectly and through subsidiaries, in the manufacture, preparation, and
sale of soaps and other toilet articles, fertilizers, margarines, vegetable
oils, W004 'and leather. It operates, directly and through subsidiaries,
approximately 30 meat-packing plants located in 33 States, and ap-
proximately 300 wholesale meat-distributing houses, known as branch
houses, throughout the, United States.
Armour and Company of Delaware operates a branch house at 635
Brook Avenue, Bronx, New York City, where it is engaged in the sale
and distribution of meats, soaps, canned milk, butter, eggs, cheese, and
related products.
During the period from January 1, 1941, to June 30, 1941, the Com-
pany received approximately 14,510,571 pounds of products at its
Brook Avenue branch house, the Company's branch here concerned, 90
2 See footnote 1, supra.
786 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
per cent of which were shipped from various meat-packing plants of
Armour and Company located outside the State of New York.
During the period from January 1, 1941, to June 30, 1941, the Com-
pany sold and shipped from its Brook Avenue branch house, approxi-
mately 14,162,275 pounds of its products, all of which were shipped to
points within the State of New York. The Company concedes that it
is'engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act.3
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The United Packinghouse Workers of America, Local 49 A, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization
admitting to membership office employees at the Company's,Brook
Avenue branch house. '
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
At the hearing in these proceedings a representative of the Company
stated that the Company was unwilling to recognize the Union as sole
bargaining agent for its employees until the Union was certified by
the Board. A statement of the Regional Director introduced in evi-
dence shows that a substantial number of employees in the unit
hereinafter found to be appropriate designated the Union as their
representative for the purposes of collective bargaining.'
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of
employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT 010 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 de-
scribed in Section I, above, has a close, intimate, and substantial rela-
tion 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 Union contends that the appropriate unit consists of all office
employees at the Company's branch house at 635 Brook Avenue,
Bronx, New York City, exclusive of the manager. The Company
For another description of the Company ' s operations at its branch houses see Matter
of Armour & Company and Local 261, Meat Cutters ' Union, et al , 15 N L. R. B. 268, 271.
4 The Regional Director reported that the Union submitted 4 membership cards and 3
authorization cards, 1 of which was dated in October 1940, the other 6 in March and April
1941. It appears further from a list of employees introduced in evidence that at the time
of the hearing there were 15 employees in the unit hereinafter round to be appropriate.
ARMOUR AND COMPANY OF DELAWARE 787
stipulated at the hearing that such unit was in general appropriate,
but contended that the assistant office manager should also be excluded
from the unit. The Union seeks to include the assistant office manager
in the unit, and asserts that the employee occupying this position is
eligible to membership within the Union. Although the assistant
office manager takes the place of the office manager during the latter's
absence from the branch house, and while in this position exercises the
full duties of office manager, it was admitted by the Company that most
of his time is spent in clerical work. The salary range which includes
the position of assistant office manager is not substantially different
from that of ordinary clerical employees.- We find that the assistant
office manager is in the unit.
We find that the Company's office employees at 635 Brook Avenue,
Bronx, New York City, including the assistant office manager, but
excluding the office manager, constitute ' a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining, and that said unit will insure to
the employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to self-
organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate
the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen can best be resolved by, and we shall accordingly direct, an
election by secret ballot. The Union asserts that a pay roll of May 28,
1941; comprising the list of employees introduced in evidence at the
hearing, or a pay roll of July 7, 1941, the date of the hearing, should
be used to determine eligibility. The Company contends that a pay
roll of the date closest to the election should be used to determine
,eligibility. No special reason appears for departing from our usual
practice, and accordingly we shall direct that the employees of the
Company eligible to vote in the election shall be those in the ap-
propriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period im-
mediately preceding this Direction of Election, subject to such
limitations and additions as are set forth in the Direction.
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 and Company of Delaware, at its
office at 635 Brook Avenue, Bronx, New York City, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
450122-42-vol 33-51
788 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
2. All office employees of the Company at its branch house at 635
Brook Avenue, Bronx, New York City, including the assistant office
manager, but excluding the office manager, constitute a unit appropri-
ate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
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 8, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as a part of the investigation ordered by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Armour and Company of Delaware, at its branch house at 635
Brook Avenue, Bronx, New York City, 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 Second Region, acting in this
matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject
to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among all
office employees of Armour and Company of Delaware, at its office
at 635 Brook Avenue, Bronx, New York City, who were employed by
the Company during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
date of this Direction of Election, including the assistant office man-
ager, and employees who did not work during such pay-roll period
because they were ill or on vacation or in the active military service
or training of the United States, or temporarily laid off, but excluding
the office manager and employees who have since quit or been dis-
charged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be
represented for the purposes of collective bargaining by United Pack-
inghouse Workers of America, Local 49 A, affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations.
I