John Morrell & Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 6, 1937

4 N.L.R.B. 436 (N.L.R.B. 1937)

In the Matter of JOHN MORRELL & Co. and UNITED PACKING HOUSE
WORKERS, LOCAL INDUSTRIAL UNION No. 32
Case No. R-283.-Decided December 6, 1937
Meat Packing Industry-Investigation of Representatives: controversy con-
cerning representation of employees: rival organizations; refusal by employer
to recognize union as exclusive representative-Unit Appropriate for Collective
Bargaining : eligibility for membership in both rival organizations ; production
and maintenance employees ; stipulation, no controversy as to-Election Ordered-
Certiftcation of Representatives.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
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STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On June 28, 1937, United' Packing House Workers, Local Indus-
trial Union No. 32, herein called the United, filed , with the Regional
Director for the Thirteenth Region (Chicago, Illinois) a petition
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning
the representation of employees at the Ottumwa, Iowa, plant of
John Morrell & Co., Ottumwa, Iowa, herein called the Company,
and requesting 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 August 19, 1937, 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 1, as amended,
ordered an -investigation and authorized the Regional Director to
conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due
notice.
On September 8, 1937, the Acting Regional Director issued a notice
of hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the
United, and the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen
of North America, Local Union No. 236, herein called the Amalga-
mated, a labor organization purporting to represent employees
directly affected by the investigation. Pursuant to the notice, a
hearing was held at Ottumwa, Iowa, on September 16 and 17, 1937,
before William P. Webb, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the
Board. The Board and the Company were represented by counsel,
436
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 437
the United by the Regional Director of the Committee for Industrial
Organization, and the Amalgamated by a general organizer and
special representative. All participated in the hearing.
During the first day of the hearing, Employees Association of
John Morrell & Company, of Ottumwa, Iowa, herein called the Asso-
ciation, appeared by counsel and moved to intervene in the proceed-
ing. Over objection, the Trial Examiner granted the motion and
thereafter the Association, represented by counsel, participated in the
hearing. Attached to the motion to intervene was a Petition of
Intervention, in which the Association made two motions upon which
the Trial Examiner reserved ruling: first, that the petition for an
election be dismissed; second, that the members of the Association be
given an opportunity by ballot to express their disapproval of hav-
ing any group or organization represent them for the purposes of
collective bargaining with the Company. The first motion is hereby
denied. The second motion will be granted to the extent discussed
hereinafter in Section VI.
At the conclusion of the hearing the Amalgamated made a notion
that the Petition of Intervention be dismissed. The Trial Examiner
reserved ruling on the motion. The motion is hereby denied.
Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine wit-
nesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded
to all parties. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial
Examiner on the motions and objections to the introduction of evi-
dence made during the hearing and finds that no prejudicial errors
were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
After examining the record in the case, the Board concluded that
a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa-
tion of employees at the Ottnmwa plant of the Company. On the
basis of such conclusion and pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act, and
Article III, Section 8, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and
Regulations-Series 1, as amended, the Board issued a Direction of
Election,' subsequently amended on October 21, 1937,2 in which it
found that the production and maintenance employees at the plant
who were employed by the Company as of June 12, 1937,3 excluding
all clerical help, superintendents, foremen and sub-foremen, and all
others in a supervisory capacity, machinist clerks, watchmen, firemen,
policemen, truck and tractor operators, timekeepers, storeroom
clerks, and stockyard workers, and excluding also those employees
who had since quit or been discharged for cause, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. In order to
13N.L R B.815.
'3 N L R B 816.
'The date of June 12, 1937, was incorrectly given as July 12, 1937, in the Direction
of Election issued on October 14 , 1937. The Amended Direction of Election specifically
superseded the Direction of Election previously issued.
438 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
expedite the conduct of the election and thus to insure to such produc-
tion and maintenance employees of the Company the full benefit of
their right to collective bargaining at as early a date as possible, the
Board directed the election without 'issuing at the same time a deci-
sion embodying complete findings of fact and conclusions of law.
The election directed was to determine whether the employees in the
unit found appropriate desired to be represented by the United, the
Amalgamated, or by neither, the Association having stated at the
hearing that it did not wish to have its name appear upon the ballot.
Pursuant to the Board's Amended Direction of Election, an elec-
tion by secret ballot was conducted on October 28, 1937, by the Acting
Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region among the employees
of the Company within the bargaining unit found appropriate by
the Board. Full opportunity was afforded to all parties to this
investigation to participate in the conduct of this secret ballot and to
make challenges. On November 3, 1937, the Acting Regional Di-
rector, issued and duly served upon the parties to this proceeding his
Intermediate Report on the secret ballot. No exceptions to the Inter-
mediate Report have been filed by any of the parties.
As to the results of the secret ballot, the Acting Regional Director
reported the following : '
Total number, eligible to vote---------------------------------- 1764
Total number of ballots cast---------------------------------- 1558
Total number of ballots cast for United Packing House Workers,
Local Industrial Union No. 32------------------------------- 991
Total number of ballots cast for Amalgamated Meat Cutters and
Butcher Workmen of North America, Local No. 236----------- 241
Total number of ballots cast rejecting both of the above organiza-
tions------------------------------------------------------- 315
Total number of blank ballots--------------------------------- 8
Total number of void ballots---------------------------------- 2
Total number of challenged ballots---------------------------- 1
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY 4
John Morrell & Co. is a Maine corporation having its principal
offices and place of business in Ottumwa, Iowa. The business of the
Company is meat packing, including the slaughter of cattle, calves,
hogs, and sheep, and the processing, manufacture, and canning of
various beef, pork, and mutton products and by-products.
The Company is qualified to do business in 31 states, controls two
'The facts concerning the business of the Company are taken from Board Exhibits
Nos. 3 and 4 and a stipulation between the Board and the Company , which was intro-
duced into evidence as Board Exhibit No. 2.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 439
American subsidiaries, and owns four subsidiary companies in Eng-
land. Its three principal processing plants in the United States are
located at Ottumwa, Iowa, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Topeka,
Kansas. It maintains 14 branches in the United States, nine of
which are managed from the Ottumwa office.
In volume of business the Company ranks among the 20 largest
meat packing companies. Net sales of the Company and its sub-
sidiaries during the most recent fiscal year were in excess of
$82,000,000.00.
The total number of employees of the Company and its subsidi-
aries is approximately 5,500. At Ottumwa there are employed
approximately 2,300 office and plant employees.
For the fiscal year ending October 1, 1936, the Company slaugh-
tered and processed at its Ottumwa plant 126,463 cattle, approxi-
mately 85 to 90 per cent of which were purchased in Iowa; 23,505
calves; 733,981 hogs, approximately 90 per cent of which were pur-
chased in Iowa; and 178,403, sheep, approximately 45 per cent of
which were purchased in Iowa. The remainder of the livestock was
in part purchased in other states from producers, buyers, and
truckers, in part at public markets in Kansas City and St. Joseph,
Missouri, and in. part at various other places in states other than
Iowa.
Not less than 95 per cent of the products of the Ottumwa plant are
sold to purchasers outside the State of Iowa and in foreign countries.
The Company has several registered trade-marks and advertises in
several periodicals with a nation-wide circulation.
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Packing House Workers, Local Industrial Union No. 32, is
a labor organization, affiliated with the Committee for Industrial
Organization. It admits to membership, with certain exceptions, the
Company's production and maintenance employees at the Ottumwa
plant.
Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North
America, Local Union No. 236, is a labor organization, affiliated with
the American Federation of Labor. It admits to membership sub-
stantially the same classifications of the Company's production and
maintenance employees as does the United.
Employees Association of John Morrell & Company' is a labor
organization, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On June 11, 1937, a committee from the United met with the man-
agement of the Company and asked that the United be recognized as
67573-38-vol. iv-29
440 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
exclusive bargaining representative of the Company's production
an maintenance employees at the Ottumwa plant. The Company
stated that it could not recognize the United as such representative
until the United had been so designated by a majority. This atti-
tude on the part of the management appears in part to have been due
to the membership of some production and maintenance employees
in the Amalgamated.
We find that a question has arisen concerning representation of
employees of the Company at the Ottumwa plant.
IV. THE EFFECT OF 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
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 com-,
merce and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
At the hearing the United, the Amalgamated, and the Company
stipulated that the pay roll of June 12, 1937, introduced as Board
Exhibit No. 6, in evidence, which listed the production and main-
tenance employees at the Ottumwa plant, excluding all clerical help;
superintendents, foremen and sub-foremen, and all others in a su-
pervisory capacity, machinist clerks, watchmen, firemen, policemen;
truck and tractor operators, timekeepers, storeroom clerks, and stock-
yard workers, constituted a list of the employees eligible to vote
in an election, if one were ordered.
We find that the production and maintenance employees of the
Ottumwa plant of the Company, as listed in Board Exhibit No. 6,
excluding all clerical help, superintendents, foremen and sub-fore-
men, and all others in a supervisory capacity, machinist clerks,
watchmen, firemen, policemen, truck and tractor, operators, time-
keepers, storeroom clerks, and stockyard workers, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining and that said
unit will insure to employees of the Company the full benefit of their
right to self-organization' and collective bargaining, and otherwise
effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
At the hearing the United, the Amalgamated, and the Association
failed to prove that any one of them had been designated by the Com-
pany's production and maintenance employees at the Ottumwa plant
DECISIONS AND ORDERS' 441
as their exclusive bargaining representative. We find, therefore,
that the question of representation can only be resolved by means
of an election by secret ballot.
In determining the date of eligibility we are governed in this
matter by the stipulation referred to previously. We find that June
12, 1937, constitutes an appropriate date • for determining the pro-
duction and maintenance employees of the Company at the Ottumwa
plant eligible to vote in the election.
In accordance with previous decisions we have permitted-the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit to vote upon the selection of the
United, or the Amalgamated, or to express their preference for
neither.-3 The motion of the Association that the members of the
Association be given an opportunity by ballot to express their dis-
approval of having any group or organization represent them for
the purposes of collective bargaining is granted to this extent only.
The election by secret ballot, which was held in conformity with
the above findings and pursuant to the amended Direction of the
Board, resulted in a vote for the United by a majority of the
employees in the appropriate unit.
We find that the United has been, designated and selected by a
majority of the employees in the appropriate unit as their represent-
ative for the purposes of collective bargaining. It is, therefore, the
exclusive representative of all the- employees in such unit for the
purposes of collective bargaining.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
Upon the'basis of the foregoing findings of fact, and upon the
entire record in the proceeding, the Board makes the following
conclusions of law :
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of John Morrell & Co.,' Ottumwa, Iowa,
within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The production and maintenance employees of the Company at
its Ottumwa, Iowa, plant, excluding all clerical help, superintendents,
foremen and sub-foremen, and all others in a supervisory capacity,
machinist clerks, watchmen, firemen, policemen, truck and tractor
operators, timekeepers, storeroom clerks, and stockyard workers, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining,
5 Matter of American France Line et al and International Seamen's Union of
America, 3 N L R B 64 ; Matter of Penmsylzania Greyhound Lines at at and The
Brotherhood of Railrord Trainmen, 3 N L R B 622; Matter of Ohio Foundry Company
and International Molders Union of North America, Local No. 218, Amalgamated Asso-
ciation of Iron, Stcel, & Tin Workers of North America, Local No . 1596, and Indus-
trial Workers of the World, Metal & Machinery Workers ' Industrial Union, No. 4,10,
3 N. L. R. B 701.
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442 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations
Act.
3. United Packing House Workers, Local Industrial Union No. 32,
is the exclusive representative of all the employees in such unit for
the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section
9 (a) 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,
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that United Packing House Workers, Local
Industrial Union No. 32, has been designated and selected by a
majority of the production and maintenance employees, excluding
all clerical help, superintendents, foremen and sub-foremen, and all
others in a supervisory capacity, machinist clerks, watchmen, fire-
men, policemen, truck and tractor operators, timekeepers, storeroom
,,clerks, and stockyard workers, of John Morrell & Co., at its
Ottumwa, Iowa, plant as their representative for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining and that, pursuant to Section 9 (a) of the
National Labor Relations Act, United Packing House Workers,
Local Industrial Union No. 32, is the exclusive representative of all
such employees of John Morrell & Co. for the purposes of collective
bargaining in regard to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment,
and other conditions of employment.
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