Armour & Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 23, 1945

64 N.L.R.B. 413 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of ARMoUR & COMPANY and UNITED PACKINGHOUSE
WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 54, CIO
Case No. 16-R-1441.-Decided October 23, 1945
Mr. J. C. Moore, of Chicago, Ill., and Mr. David Barron, of Fort
Worth, Tex., for the Company.
Messrs. L. R. Hoover and TV. L. McMahon, of Fort Worth, Tex.,
for the Union.
Mrs. Augusta Spaulding, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by United Packinghouse Workers of
America, Local 54, CIO, herein called the Union, alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Armour & Company, Fort Worth, Texas, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided
for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before William J. Scott,
Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Fort Worth, Texas, on
September 7, 1945. The Company and the Union appeared, par-
ticipated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine
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
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Armour & Company is an Illinois corporation, engaged in meat
processing. Its packing plant at Fort Worth, Texas, is the only
plant involved in this proceeding. During 6 months of 1943 the Com-
pany received at its Fort Worth plant approximately 48,592 tons
of raw materials and supplies, of which tonnage approximately 19
64 N. L. R. B., No. 75.
413
414 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
percent originated in States other than Texas. During the same
period the Company made shipments approximating 69,316 tons of
meats and other animal products, of which tonnage approximately
48 percent was shipped to points outside the State of Texas.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Packinghouse Workers of America, Local 54, is a labor or-
ganization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On July 25, 1945, the Union asked the Company to recognize it as
the exclusive bargaining representative of the Company's employees
within an alleged appropriate unit. The Company refuses to accord
the Union such recognition unless and until the Union is certified by
the Board.
A statement of a Field Examiner for the Board, introduced into
evidence at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substan-
tial number of employees in its proposed unit.'
We find that questions affecting commerce have arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNITS
The Union contends that all city truck drivers, garage employees,
city and country truck maintenance employees, and wholesale market
employees at the Company's Fort Worth plant, excluding market of-
fice clerical employees, salesmen, truck drivers in the country trucking
division, and all supervisory employees, constitute an appropriate
bargaining unit, and requests that, if it be selected as a bargaining
representative by these employees, it be permitted to bargain for them
as part of a larger group of production and maintenance employees of
the Company, for whom it is the recognized bargaining representa-
tive? The Company contends that country truck maintenance em-
ployees should not be included in the same bargaining unit with city
truck drivers, garage employees, city truck maintenance employees,
and wholesale market employees; and that wholesale market employ-
' The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 15 membership cards, of which
8 are dated in July 1945 , and 7 are undated . There are approximately 27 employees in
the unit proposed by the Union.
2 The Union is the recognized bargaining representative of production and maintenance
workers at several of the Company 's meat processing plants and customarily negotiates
with the Company a master contract covering all such employees.
ARMOUR & COMPANY 415
ees should not be included in the same bargaining group with produc-
tion and maintenance employees of meat processing plants.
The Company 's meat packing operations at the Fort Worth plant
include three principal operations , ( 1) the purchase of raw materials,
(2) the processing of raw materials , and (3 ) the sale of finished prod-
ucts. These activities are in charge of department supervisors under
the general over -all supervision of the general plant manager at Fort
Worth. All employees in the unit proposed by the Union fall within
these groups except country truck maintenance employees . Country
truck maintenance employees and country truck drivers are subject
to the immediate direction and control of the traffic manager in charge
of transportation at Fort Worth and , through him , to the control of
the Company's Chicago office. The traffic manager, and not the gen-
eral plant manger , hires and discharges employees in the country truck-
ing division . Country truck maintenance employees work in a garage
apart from city truck maintenance employees , and they have store-
rooms, tools , and other equipment restricted to their use . Employees
in the country trucking division are subject to the regulations of the
Interstate Commerce Commission . Other employees in the-proposed
unit are not so subject.
In an earlier representation proceeding involving employees of the
Company, we found that production and maintenance employees at
the Company's Fort Worth plant, excluding, inter alia, truck drivers
and wholesale market employees , constituted an appropriate bargain-
ing unit,' and, on March 20, 1943 , we certified the Union as their
bargaining representative. Subsequently , International Brotherhood
of Teamsters , Chauffeurs , Warehousemen and Helpers of America,
Local 47, herein called the Teamsters , filed a petition for investigation
and certification of representatives , alleging that truck drivers in the
Company's country trucking division at Fort Worth constituted a
separate appropriate bargaining unit. In our decision rendered pur-
suant to this petition , we excluded from the unit of truck drivers in
the country trucking division both city truck drivers, who are under
the management of the wholesale market delivery and the general
plant manager , and not subject to the regulations of the Interstate
Commerce Commission , and country truck maintenance workers, who
were under the same supervision as the country truck drivers and sub-
ject to the regulations of the Interstate Commerce Commission but who
did not come under the craft jurisdiction of the Teamsters and conse-
quently had not been organized by that labor organization . The Union
herein seeks to represent country truck maintenance employees on
the basis of its industrial jurisdiction and organization . Since coun-
Matter of Armour & Company, 47 N. L. R. B. 1236.
Matter of Armour & Company , 53 N. L. R. B. 519.
416 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
try truck maintenance employees are, like the drivers of the trucks
they service , subject to the regulations of the Interstate Commerce
Commission and constitute part of a special division of the Company's
operations at Fort Worth, and are thus distinguished by their work
and supervision from other employees in the proposed unit, and since
bargaining units among the Company 's employees have been defined
by plant, craft, or department lines , we believe that country truck
maintenance employees constitute a separate appropriate unit for
bargaining purposes.
As noted above, the Union requests that if it be designated as bar-
gaining representative by a majority of employees in its proposed
unit, these employees should constitute part of a large bargaining
group which includes plant production and maintenance employees
of the Company represented by the Union and for which the Union
negotiates one master contract . Since country truck maintenance
employees belong to a separate administrative division of the Com-
pany's operations , and since wholesale marketing employees are not
customarily included in the same bargaining unit with production
and maintenance employees working in processing plants, we will not
grant the Union's request with respect to the inclusion of these em-
ployees in its bargaining group of production and maintenance em-
ployees. We will find, as appropriate, separate bargaining units for
the employees covered by the petition and leave to the convenience
of the parties their contract negotiations covering these employees.
We find that all city truck drivers, garage employees, city truck
maintenance employees, and wholesale market employees at the Com-
pany's Fort Worth plant, excluding market office clerical employees,
salesmen, country truck drivers , and country truck maintenance em-
ployees in the country trucking division , and all supervisory employees
with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise
effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend
such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
We further find that all country truck maintenance employees, ex-
cluding country truck drivers, clerical employees, and all supervisory
employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees , or effectively rec-
ommend such action, 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 questions concerning representation which
have arisen be resolved by separate elections by secret ballot among
the employees in the respective appropriate units who were employed
0
ARMOUR & COMPANY 417
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the
Direction of Elections herein, subject to the limitations and additions.
set forth in the Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
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 9, of National Labor
Relations 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 & Com-
pany, Fort Worth , Texas , elections 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 supervision of the Regional
Director for the Sixteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for
the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sec-
tions 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations , among employees in
the units respectively 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 on vacation or tempo-
rarily 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 elections, to
determine whether or not they desire to be represented by United
Packinghouse Workers of Ameuica, Local 54, CIO , for the purposes of
collective bargaining.
MR. GERARD D. RFri,LY took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Elections.
670417-46-vol 64-28