John P. Squire Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 30, 1944

57 N.L.R.B. 1740 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of SWIFT c'' COMPANY D/B/A JOHN P. SQUIRE COMPANY
and UNITED PACKINGHOUSE WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 49-A
(C. I. O.)
Case No. 1-R-1936.Decided August 30, 1944
1ir. Putnam B. Smith,, of Boston, Mass., for the Company.
Mr. John Mitchell, of Boston, Mass., for the Union.
Mr. Paid Bisgyer, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon the petition duly filed by United- Packinghouse Workers of
America, Local 49-A• (C. I. 0.),1 herein called the-Union, alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Swift & Company doing business as John P.
Squire Company,2 Cambridge, Massachusetts, herein called the Com-
pany, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appro-
priate hearing upon clue notice before Louis Cokin, Trial Examiner.
Said hearing was held at Boston, Massachusetts, on July 26, 1944.
The Company and the Union appeared and participated.8 All parties
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
an 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
Swift R Company is an Illinois corporation with its principal office
at Chicago, Illinois. It is engaged in the business of meat packing
1 Name as amended at the hearing.
Name as amended at the hearing.
$ Although duly served with Notice of Hearing , the American Federation of Labor did not
appear.
57 N.L. R. B., No. 291.
1740
SWIFT & COMPANY 1741
at one of its plants at Cambridge, Massachusetts, which it operates
under the name of John P. Squire Company, and with which we are
concerned in this proceeding. During 1943, it purchased raw materials
valued in excess of $27,000,000, of which approximately 80 percent
was shipped from outside the State of Massachusetts. During the
same period, the.Company sold finished products exceeding $30,000,000
in value, of which about 60 percent was shipped to points outside the
State of Massachusetts.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaningof the National Labor Relations-Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Packinghouse Workers of America, Local 49-A, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations , is a labor organization
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The, parties stipulated that the Company has refused the Union's
request to be recognized as the exclusive bargaining representative
of the employees involved herein until the Union has been certified
by the Board in an appropriate unit.
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 unlit hereinafter found appropriate .4
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. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit of all plant department clerks, including
the yard clerk and shipping office receiving clerk, but excluding the
plant receiving clerk and all other employees of the Coinpany. As
its sole opposition to the unit sought, the Company argues that the
plant department clerks-are so much an integral part of supervision
and management that it would not effectuate the purposes of the Act
to include them in a bargaining unit. It stresses the fact that their
duties give them access to secret formulae and confidential data which
admittedly do not relate to labor relations. The work of all the plant
department clerks is practically the same. They are assigned to dif-
4 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 10 membership cards bearing
the names of persons listed on the Company's pay roll for the week ending May 28, 1944,
which contained the names of 34 employees in the appropriate unit.
1742 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ferent departments located in the various buildings constituting the
plant and come under the supervision of the foreman of the depart-
ment to which they are assigned. They keep records of supplies, sup-
ply inventories, and orders, write requisitions for supplies and raw
i materials, and maintain time books. A small number of them might,
in isolated instances, take the place of their departmental foreman
or assistant foreman in the latter's absence. We fail tb see any merit
in the Company's contentions. The record discloses that the work
of the plant department clerks is essentially clerical. Although they
possess important rind confidential information, the fact that the infor-
mation does not directly pertain to labor relations, warrants their
inclusion in the unit.'
We find'that all plant department clerks of Swift & Company at
its John P. Squire Company plant, Cambridge, Massachusetts, includ-
ing the yard clerk and shipping office receiving clerk, but excluding
the plant receiving clerk, all other employees of the Company, and
all supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge,
discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, ors
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-
ployes in the appropriate unit who Were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
-herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction. , IN
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 Swift & Company
doing business as John P. Squire Company , Cambridge , Massachu-
setts, 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 Director for the
See Matter of Swift & Company , 56 N L R. B 147
SWIFT & COMPANY 1743
First Regio$, 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 appro-
priate 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 the 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 them-
seleves 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 United Packinghouse Workers of
America, Local 49-A (C . I. 0.), for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
CHAIRMAN MILLIS took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.
I