Iowa Packing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 2, 1947

74 N.L.R.B. 434 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of IOWA PACKING COMPANY, EMPLOYER and NATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF PACKINGHOUSE WORKERS, C. U. A., LOCAL No.
56, PETITIONER
Case No.18-R-1736.Decided July 0, 19/.7
Mr. Arthur R. Curtis, of Chicago, Ill., for the Employer.
Mr. A. Leonard, of Chicago, Ill., and Messrs. Don Milton, Dan
Bomar, Glenn M. Johnson, and Al Davidson, all of Des Moines, Iowa,
for the Petitioner.
Messrs. Harvey Mader, A. Groffredi, and John Davide5ek, all of
Des Moines, Iowa, for the AFL.
Mr. Benj. E. Coole, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Des
Moines, Iowa, on January 7, 1947, before Clarence A. Meter, hearing
officer. The hearing officer°s rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.' The request for
oral arbument made by the Petitioner is denied inasmuch as the
record, in our opinion, adequately presents the issues and the positions
of the parties.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Iowa Packing Company, an Iowa corporation, is wholly owned
by Swift and Company, an Illinois corporation. At its Des Moines,
1 The CIO opposed intervention of the AFL and moved dismissal of the petition on the
grounds that neither the AFL nor the Petitioner had shown a substantial interest in the
units sought. The hearing officer reserved ruling for the Board on this motion The
motion is hereby denied. See platter of 0. D. Jennings & Company, 68 N. L. R B. 516.
The CIO and the Employer contend further that the contract entered into between them
on December 21, 1946, is a bar to the AFL's participation in this proceeding inasmuch as
it made no claim to representation prior thereto. However, inasmuch as the contract is
not urged as, nor could it be, a bar to the petition filed previously, it follows that the
74 N. L R. B., No. 78.
434
IOWA PACKING COMPANY 435
Iowa, plant, the only one involved in this proceeding, the Employer
is engaged in the general business of purchasing, slaughtering, and
processing livestock. The volume of its business during the fiscal
year 1946 exceeded $35,000,000. Most of the Employer's purchases
were made within the State of Iowa, while, approximately 75 percent
of the Employer's total sales went to points outside the State of Iowa.
The Employer did not question the Board's jurisdiction.
We find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with Confederated
Unions of America, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
United Packinghouse Workers of America, herein called the CIO,
is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
Team and Truck Drivers Union, Local No. 90, herein called the
AFL, is a labor organization affiliated with International Brother-
hood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of
America, A. F. of L., claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
III. TZIE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT ; THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Employer, the Petitioner, and the CIO agree generally that all
production and maintenance employees, including gang leaders, stor-
age and part-time employees, but excluding salaried plant scalers,
draftsmen, brick masons, superintendent's office, medical department,
plant-protection (uniformed police, firemen and box pullers), salaried
plant clerical, time and employment, casual, cafeteria, snack, credit
unit, standards department, aind industrial relations department
employees, and all supervisory employees constitute an appropriate
Board is not precluded from proceeding to a determination of all existing representation
claims involving employees encompassed by the petition . Accordingly , we affirm the
ruling of the hearing officer in granting the motion of the AFL to intervene in this
proceeding.
436 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
unit. The only dispute is with respect to the full -time truck drivers
and garage employees ; the Petitioner and the AFL argue that a
separate unit of these employees should be established ,' whereas the
Employer and the CIO would include them in the production and
maintenance unit because of the plant -wide collective bargaining
history.
There are nine truck drivers and three garage mechanics em-
ployed at the Employer 's Des Moines plant. The truck drivers
make deliveries in the city of Des Moines , throughout the State of
Iowa, and in adjoining States . They work under the immediate
supervision of the clock foreman . The Board has found in numer-
ous cases that truck drivers comprise a skilled and well-defined
craft group with distinct functions and interests warranting their
establishment as a separate bargaining unit. Such units have been
,established in the meat -packing industry and there is no indication
that they have not functioned successfully in promoting harmonious
labor relations .- However, garage mechanics, who, in this instance
work under separate supervision , employ substantially different
skills than truck drivers, and we are of the opinion , therefore, that
they are more appropriately excluded from craft units comprising
the latter employees.
The Employer and- the CIO argue that because of the history
of collective bargaining on a plant -wide basis , the Board should
include these truck drivers in the broader production and mainte-
nance unit . While it is apparent that the truck drivers have en-
joyed the benefits of collective bargaining as members of the exist-
ing plant-wide unit since 1941, no labor organization claimed to
represent these employees until 1946. ` Consequently , this group
has at no time been afforded an opportunity in a separate election
to determine whether or not it desires representation apart from
the plant-wide unit represented by the CIO.°
In view of the craft character of the truck drivers sought herein
by the Petitioner , the prevalence of such craft units in the industry,
and the lack of opportunity of these employees to demonstrate
whether or not they desire separate representation, we do not be-
lieve that the bargaining history in this case is sufficient in itself
2 The AFL is not interested in the establishment of a plant -wide unit and it does not wish
to appear on the ballot if such a unit is found appropriate.
3 See Matter of Swift & Company, 68 N. L R. B. 440; Matter of Wilson & Company,
56 N. L R B. 1508; Matter of Armour & Company, 53 N. L, R. B. 519, and Matter of
Swift it Company, 53 N L R B 477 .
4 The existing plant -wide unit was established following a consent election held in July
1941 , and thereafter continued as the result of an election held pursuant to order of the
Board in December 1942 ( 45 N. L . R B. 733).
5 See Matter of American Fork it Hoe Company , 72 N. L. R. B. 10255
IOWA PACKING COMPANY 437
to deny the truck drivers an opportunity to decide at the present
time whether they desire to continue to be represented as part of
the plant-wide unit or whether they desire to bargain as a separate
unit.' In this situation, we shall permit the scope of the bargain-
ing unit or units to be determined in part by the results of separate
elections among the groups represented by the several unions herein
concerned. We shall, therefore, make no final unit determination
at this time but shall in part be guidad' by the desires of the em-
ployees expressed in the elections directed hereinafter.
The Petitioner requests that those employees in the appropriate
unit who are presently absent on military leave be accorded an
opportunity to cast ballots by mail. The Employer and the AFL
take no position, and the CIO contends that ballots should be sent
only to those employees for whom there are correct addresses. The
record discloses that of the 1080 employees who. enlisted in the armed
forces, 404 have not applied for reemployment, and of this latter
number, the Employer has the correct addresses of only 12. We
are of the opinion that the foregoing circumstances fail to meet
the requirements imposed by the Board for use of mail ballots as
set forth in Matter of Southwest Pennsylvania Pipe Lines.7 Conse-
quently, we shall allow only the employees in the armed forces in
the United States, who present themselves at the polls, to vote.8
We shall direct separate elections by secret ballot among the em-
ployees of the Employer in each of the -following voting groups :
(1) All full-time truck drivers, excluding all supervisory employees
with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise
effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend
such action;
(2) All remaining production and maintenance employees, includ-
ing gang leaders, part-time, storage, and garage employees, but exclud-
ing brick masons, draftsmen, salaried plant scalers, plant-protection
(uniformed police, firemen, box pullers), medical department, general
office, salaried plant clerical, superintendent's office, time and employ-
ment, cafeteria, casual, snack, credit unit, standards department, and
industrial relations department employees, master mechanic, foremen,
and all or any other supervisory employees with authority to hire,
promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status
of employees, or effectively recommend such action.
6 See Matter of American Fork & Hoe Company , footnote 6, supra; Matter of Wilson &
Co,Inc,70N L.R B 1.
° 64 N. L R. B 1384
See Matter of Joseph Bancroft and Sons Company , 67 N. L. R B. 678.
438 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS 9
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with Iowa Packing Company, Des
Moines, Iowa, elections by secret ballot shall be conducted as early
as possible, but not later than thirty (3Q) days from the (late of this
Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Direc-
tor for the Eighteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the
National Labor Relations Board and subject to Sections 203.55 and
203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
Series 4, among the employees in the voting groups described 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 elections, (a) to determine whether the employees in group 1, above,
desire to be represented by National Brotherhood of Packinghouse
Workers, C. U. A., Local No. 56, United Packinghouse Workers of
America, CIO, or Team and Truck Drivers Union, Local No. 90, Inter-
national Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and
Helpers of America, A. F. of L., for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining, or by none of these organizations, and (b) to determine
whether the employees in group 2, above, desire to be represented by
National Brotherhood of Packinghouse Workers, C. U. A., Local No.
56, or United Packinghouse Workers of America, CIO, for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining, or'by neither.
a Any participant in the election herein may , upon its prompt request to, and approval
thereof by , the Regional Director , have its name removed from the ballot.