Armour Leather Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 3, 1945

60 N.L.R.B. 393 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of ARMOUR AND COMPANY, DOING BUSINESS AS ARMOUR:
LEATHER COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL FUR & LEATHER WORKERS-
UNION, LOCAL No. 207, CIO
Case No. 6-R-1057.-Decided February 3, 1945
Mr. James H. Herbert, of New York City, and Messrs. Paul H.
Ritter and Charles H. Miller, of Williamsport, Pa., for the Company.-
Mr. George 0. Pershing, of Williamsport, Pa., for the Union.
Mr. Samuel G. Hamilton, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon an amended petition duly filed by International Fur &_
Leather Workers Union, Local No. 207, CIO, herein called the Union,
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the-
representation of employees of Armour and Company, doing business
as Armour Leather Company, Westover, Pennsylvania, herein called
the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice before Allen Sinsheimer, Jr.,
Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Williamsport, Penn-
sylvania, on January 3, 1945. The Company and the Union appeared
and participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evi-
dence bearing on the issues.' At the hearing the Company moved to
dismiss the petition. Ruling on the motion was reserved for the
Board. For the reasons stated in Section III, infra, the motion is
hereby denied. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing
are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties
were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
0
' Although duly served with Notice of Hearing, Westover Leather Workers Association
did not appear or participate.
60 N. L. R. B,., No. 77.
393
394 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS -BOARD
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Armour and Company, doing business as Armour Leather Company,
operates numerous plants in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and
the State of West Virginia, as well as in other States of the United
States. At,its Westover, Pennsylvania, plant, solely involved herein,
the-Company is engaged in the tanning of sole leather. During the
past year it purchased for use at the Westover plant raw materials,
consisting mainly of hides and tanning chemicals, of a value in excess
of $100,000, of which approximately 90 percent originated from points
outside the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Sole leather of a value
in excess of $250,000 was tanned at the Westover plant during the
same period, of which approximately 10 percent was sold and shipped
directly to points outside the State. Approximately all of the remain-
ing tanned sole leather was shipped to another plant of the Company,
located at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, for further processing. At
the Williamsport plant this leather was commingled with leather from
various other plants of the Company, and approximately 60 percent
of these combined products was subsequently sold and shipped to
out-of-State customers.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED c
International Fur & Leather Workers Union, Local No. 207, affil-
iated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organ-
ization admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company refuses to recognize the Union as the exclusive collec-
tive bargaining representative of certain of its employees until such
time as the Union is certified by the Board.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
2 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 53 authorization cards and that
the cards were dated : 19 in January 1944 , 1 in April 1944 , 3 in July 1944 , 21 in Septem-
ber 1944, and 9 in October 1944 He further reported that there were 84 employees in
the alleged appropriate unit The Company contends that there has been no proper show-
ing of the Union 's representation among its employees , that testimony concerning this
matter should have been taken at the healing , and that , in any event , the Union 's show-
ing, as evidenced by the Field Examiner 's report, is insufficient , for the reason that the
ARMOUR LEATHER COMPANY 395
We find that a question affecting commerce has 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. TIIE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit consisting of all production and mainte-
nance employees of the Company's Westover plant, including power-
house employees, watchmen, and the charwoman, but excluding clerical
and supervisory employees. The Company agrees with the position
of the Union, except that it would exclude watchmen and the
charwoman.
Watchmen: The Company employs two unmilitarized watchmen.
Their primary duties apparently are to keep under surveillance the
Company's plant when it is not in operation. Although they are
•deputized by the Court of Common Pleas of Clearfield County, Penn-
sylvania, and are authorized to bear arms, they do not actually carry
arms, do not wear uniforms .or-badges, and apparently perform no
monitorial functions with respect to the other employees in the plant.
Since they merely perform the usual duties of watchmen, we shall
include them in the unit.3
The charwvomtam: In a prior proceeding before the Board involving
the same plant of the Company, the charwoman was included in the
appropriate unit.' For the reasons stated in our prior decision, we
shall include her. -
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Company at its Westover, Pennsylvania, plant, including powerhouse
employees, watchmen, and the charwoman, but excluding clerical
employees, 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.'
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 the Direction of
cards submitted aie not of recent date . As to the latter contention , since 30 of the 53
authorization cards are dated in September and October of 1944, sufficient evidence of
present representation is shown. With respect to the Company 's remaining contentions,
we rejected similar arguments made by it in a prior proceeding involving its Sylva, North
Carolina , plant. See Matter of Armour Leather Company , 57 N. L. R. B. 705.
3 Mutter of Charlottesville Woolen Mills, 59 N L R B 1160.
' See Matter of Armour and Company of Delaware , 48 N L R B. 1144.
396 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in
the Direction.
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 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 and
Company, doing business as Armour Leather Company , Westover,
Pennsylvania , 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 supervision of the Regional Direc-
tor for the Sixth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the*
National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sections
10 and 11 , of said Rules and Regulations , among the employees 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 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 those
employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have
not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to
determine whether or not they desire to be represented by International
Fur & Leather Workers Union , Local No. 207, CIO , for the purposes
of collective bargaining. -