Armour & Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 26, 1937

3 N.L.R.B. 895 (N.L.R.B. 1937)

In the Matter of ARMOUR & COMPANY and LOCAL No. 527 , UNITED
PACKING HOUSE WORKERS' INDUSTRIAL UNION, AFFILIATED WITH
THE COMMITTEE FOP INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION
Case No. R-275.Decided October 26, 1937
Meat Packing Industry-Investigation of Representatives : controversy con-
cerning representation of employees : refusal by employer to recognize union as
exclusive representative-unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : produc-
tion and maintenance employees ; no controversy as to ; Representatives: proof
of choice : membership in union ; comparison of pay roll ,with list of union mem-
bers and membership cards signed by union members-Certification of Repre-
sentatives : upon proof of majority representation.
Mr. Christopher W. Hoey and Mr. David C. Shaw for the Board.
Mr. S. Magner Wallace, of St. Louis, Mo., and Mr. Walter C. Kirk,
of Chicago, Ill., for the Company.
Mr. G. L. Grant, of Springfield, Ill., for Local No. 527.
Mr. Warren L. Sharfman, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF TIIE CASE
On June 29, 1937, Local No. 328, United Packing House Workers'
of America, herein called Local No. 328, filed with the Regional
Director for the Fourteenth Region (St. Louis, Missouri), a petition
alleging that a question affecting' commerce had arisen concerning
the representation of production and maintenance employees of
Armour & Company, herein called the Company, employed at the
Company's plant at National City, Illinois, and requesting an in-
vestigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section
9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein
called the Act. On August 21, 1937, the National Labor Relations
Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Article III,
Section 3 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regula-
tions-Series 1, as amended, ordered the Regional Director to con-
duct an investigation and provide for an appropriate hearing. On
August 28, 1937, the Acting Regional Director issued and duly served
upon the parties a notice of hearing to be held at St. Louis, Missouri,
895
896 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
on September 3, 1937. After several postponements, the hearing was
finally set for September 13, 1937. On September 11, 1937, an
"amended" petition, in substance the same as the original petition,
but signed by Local No. 527, United Packing House Workers' Indus-
trial Union, affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organiza-
tion, herein called Local No. 527, was filed with the Acting Regional
Director.
Pursuant to the notice, duly served upon the parties, a hearing was
held in St. Louis, Missouri, on September 13, 1937, before William
P. Webb, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. At the
hearing the Board, the Company, and Local No. 527 were represented
by counsel. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-
examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issue
was afforded to all parties. A motion by Local No. 527, to amend
the pleadings to conform to the "amended" petition was granted with-
out objection. Objections to the introduction of evidence were made
during the course of the hearing by counsel for the parties. The
Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner on motions
and objections and finds no prejudicial errors were committed. The
rulings are hereby affirmed.
At the hearing the Trial Examiner did not rule on the Company's
motion to dismiss the petition, but granted it leave to file a memoran-
dum in support of the motion with the Board. The motion is hereby
denied.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE COMPANY AND ITS BUSINESS
Armour & Company, an Illinois corporation, directly and through
subsidiaries operates 28 meat packing plants in 22 states; approxi-
mately 300 branch houses, throughout the United States; a number
of establishments engaged in the preparation and sale of products
closely allied to the meat packing business, such as fertilizer, soap,
and leather; several creameries; and a number of establishments
where poultry is slaughtered and dressed and eggs are purchased,
packed, and sold. It is. one of the four largest meat packing com-
panies in the United States.
The plant in question at National City, Illinois, is one of the 28
operated by the Company. It covers an area of about 191/2 acres,
ten acres of which are occupied by some 20 buildings, and is situated
at the East St. Louis Railway Junction where it is served by a number
of railroads, including the Baltimore and Ohio, the Pennsylvania
lines, and most of the western railroads. The average number of em-
ployees engaged at this plant is between 1650 and 1700, about 1250 of
f
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 897
whom are engaged in the production of meat products, and the re-
mainder are office employees, supervisory employees, and truck
drivers.
The total production of meat at this plant during the past year was
approximately 260,000,000 pounds. This entailed the slaughter of
approximately 173,000 cattle, 250,000 hogs, 250,000 sheep, and 90,000
calves. Animals for slaughter are purchased both in and outside the
State of Illinois. Approximately 98 per cent of the cattle, 66 per cent
of the hogs, 93 per cent of the sheep, and 79 per cent of the calves were
purchased in Illinois. The remainder are purchased outside Illinois.
The places of origin of well over 50 per cent of the animals slaughtered
at this plant are points outside Illinois.
The operations of the Company's plant are closely coordinated.
The animals are bought and scaled, driven through runways to hold-
ing pens, slaughtered, processed,,, chilled and shipped out. In the
killing and cutting departments the animals are carried along on
chain conveyors. In all departments they are constantly on the move
from one employee to the next. The whole process of manufacture,
from the purchase of the animal to the shipment of fresh meat, is
accomplished without delay. The Company also produces cured and
frozen meats, and recovers grease and tallow as by-products of its
production. Testimony indicates that the Company considers the
plant as a single productive unit, consisting of interdependent opera-
tions or processes, rather than as a series of independent departments.
More than 75 per cent of the amount of meat shipped from the plant
is shipped to points outside Illinois. A large part of the products of
the plant are shipped in refrigerator cars- owned by the Company.
As products of the plants are shipped out of Illinois they are subject
to federal inspection.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Local No. 527, United Packing House Workers' Industrial Union
is a labor organization, membership in which is limited to the em-
ployees in the Company's National City, Illinois plant. On Septem-
ber 3, 1937, it received a charter from the Committee for Industrial
Organization. Prior to the granting of this charter the members
of Local No. 527 belonged to Local No. 328, United Packing House
Workers' of America. Local No. 328 received its charter from the
International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, an affiliate
of the Committee for Industrial Organization, pending the estab-
lishment by that Committee of an international organization for the
meat packing industry. When such action was taken, Local 328
gave up its charter, and its members and officers joined Local No. 527.
898 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
III. THE, QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
From early in June 1937 up until the present time Local No. 328,
and more recently Local No. 527, have claimed to represent a major-
ity of employees in the appropriate unit of the Company's National
City plant. At various times Local No. 328, or Local ^No. 527, has
requested the Company to recognize it as the exclusive bargaining
agent for the employees in the plant, and on at least one, occasion
has offered to submit union membership ' cards as proof of the ma-
jority, but in every case the request was denied, although the Com-
pany continued to negotiate with it as the representative of its own
members. No reason for this refusal was given to the representatives
of Local No. 328 and Local No. 527. At the hearing it was testified
by the General Superintendent of the National City plant that the
refusal was based on the uncertainty as to whether a majority of
the employees were represented by' Local No. 328 and later by Local
No. 527.
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees working at the Company's National City plant.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
As was indicated above, the Company employs between 1650 and
1700 employees. Of this number, approximately 1200 to 1250 are pro-
duction and maintenance employees, exclusive of office employees,
supervisory employees, and truck drivers. Local No. 527 stipulated,
and we find that, in order to insure to the Company's ,employees, the
full benefit of their, right to self-organization and collective bar-
gaining, and otherwise to effectuate the policies of the Act, the pro-
duction and maintenance employees, exclusive of office employees,
supervisory employees, and truck drivers, constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining' in respect to rates
of pay, wages, hours of employment and other conditions of employ-
ment. While the Company did not agree to this stipulation, neither
did it object to it, and it,appears , that it has,' never carried on nego-
tiations with any labor organizations other than Local No. 527, or
its predecessor, Local No. 328.
V. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION OF REPRESENTATION ON COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning ' representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation 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.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS
VI. THE EXCLUSIVE BARGAINING AGENCY
899
At the time of the hearing the Company employed 1200 to 1250
persons in the appropriate bargaining unit, as described in Section
IV above, at its plant at National City.
'At the hearing,' Local No. 527 submitted in evidence a list con-
taining the names of 1184 of its members who were employed by the
Company in the appropriate bargaining unit of its National City
plant. 'At the same time they submitted fors examination 1184 cards
evidencing membership in Local'No. 527, each signed by a member.
The persons who obtained the signed cards and who made the list
from the cards were examined and cross-examined, and no doubts were
cast upon the authenticity of the list, or cards. The cards were all
signed on August 30, and 31, and September 1, 1937. The Company
pay roll for the period ending September 4, 1937, was available for
comparison with the cards and list at the hearing. Each signed card
authorized Local No. 527 to represent the signer for the purposes of
collective bargaining.
We find that Local No. 527 has been designated and selected by a
majority of the employees in the appropriate unit as their representa-
tive for the purposes of collective bargaining. Local No. 527 is,
therefore, by virtue of Section 9 (a) of the Act, the exclusive repre-
sentative of all of the employees in such unit for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of em-
ployment, and other conditions of employment, and we will so certify.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and upon the en-
tire record in the proceedings , the Board makes the following con-
clusions of law :
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of the National City plant of Armour & Com-
pany , within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7)
of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All production and maintenance employees of the National City
plant of Armour & Company , exclusive of office employees , super-
visory employees , and truck drivers , constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended,
900 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Local No. 527, United Packing House
Workers' Industrial Union, has been designated and selected by a
majority of the production and maintenance employees, employed by
Armour & Company in its National City plant, exclusive of office em-
ployees, supervisory employees, and truck drivers, as their represent-
ative for the purposes of collective 'bargaining, and that, pursuant
to the provisions of Section 9 (a) of the Act, Local No. 527, United
Packing House Workers' Industrial Union, is the exclusive represent-
ative of all such employees for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other
conditions of employment.