Kingan & Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 17, 1945

61 N.L.R.B. 1222 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of KINGAN & Co., INCORPORATED and AMALGAMATED MEAT
CUTTERS & BUTCHER WORKMEN OF NORTH AMERICA, LOCAL No. 442,
A. F. OF L.
Case No. 10-B-1441.-Decided May 17,1945
Messrs. John M. Royall and F. E. Bailey, of Atlanta, Ga., for the
Company.
Messrs. I. P. Reagan, Clarence Greene, and Wilson W. Rowland, of
Atlanta, Ga., for the Amalgamated.
Messrs. G. R. Hathaway and G. E. Boone, of Atlanta, Ga., for the
'United.
Mr. Louis Cokin, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Amalgamated Meat Cutters & Butcher
Workmen of North America, Local No. 442, A. F. of L., herein called
the Amalgamated, alleging that a question affecting commerce had
arisen concerning the representation of employees of Kingan & Co.,
Incorporated, Atlanta, Georgia, herein called the Company, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice before Mortimer H. Freeman , Trial Examiner. Said
hearing was held at Atlanta, Georgia, on April 12, 1945. At the com-
mencement of the hearing the Trial Examiner granted a motion of
United Packinghouse Workers of America, C. I. 0., herein called the
United, to intervene. The Company, the Amalgamated, and the
United appeared, participated, 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 :
61 N. L. R B, No. 200.
1222
KINGAN & CO., INCORPORATED
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
1223
Kingaii & Co., Incorporated, is a New Jersey corporation operating
a. plant at Atlanta, Georgia, where it is engaged in the processing of
meats, dairy products, and poultry. During 1944 the Company pur-
chased products for use at its Atlanta plant valued at about $3,500,000,
over 95 percent of which was shipped to it from points outside the
State of Georgia. During the same period the Company sold products
valued at about $5,000,000, 3 percent of which was shipped to points
outside the State of Georgia.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Packinghouse Workers of America is a labor organization
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
Amalgamated Meat Cutters &-, Butcher Workmen of North America,
Local No. 442, is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On March 6, 1945, the Amalgamated requested the Company to
recognize it as the exclusive collective bargaining representative of
the employees at the Atlanta plant. The Company refused this re-
quest until such time as the Amalgamated is certified by the Board.
A statement of a Field Examiner of the Board, introduced into
evidence at the hearing, indicates that the Amalgamated represents
a substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found to be
appropriate.)
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 Amalgamated urges that all employees at the Atlanta, Georgia,
plant of the Company, excluding truck drivers, salesmen, clerical and
I The Field Examiner reported that the Amalgamated presented 80 authorization cards
There are approximately 90 employees in the appropriate unit. The United presented 23
authorization cards.
1224 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
office employees, receiving clerk, shipping clerk, and supervisory em-
ployees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining. The only controversy with respect to the unit concerns
truck drivers. The Amalgamated and the Company would exclude
them from the unit while the United would include them.
The truck drivers employed by the Company deliver products, to
customers of the Company located in and around the vicinity of
Atlanta, Georgia. The Amalgamated requests the exclusion of the
truck drivers because it contends that they are within the jurisdiction
of International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen
& Helpers of America. an American Federation of Labor affiliate, as
is the Amalgamated. Since the truck drivers constitute a separate
and distinct group of employees whose interests and conditions of em-
ployment are not altogether the same as those of the other employees,
and since the two unions involved differ as to their inclusion, we shall
exclude the truck drivers from the unit.
We find that all employees at the Atlanta, Georgia, plant of the
Company, excluding salesmen, truck drivers, office and clerical em-
ployees, receiving clerk, shipping clerk, and 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, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses 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 means of an election by secret ballot among
the employees 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.
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 Relations 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 repre-
sentatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Kingan & Co.,
Incorporated, Atlanta, Georgia, 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 Tenth Region, acting in this matter as agent
KINGAN & CO., INCORPORATED 1225
for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III,
Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations , among the em-
ployees 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
any 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 they desire to be represented by United Packinghouse Work-
ers of America, C. I. 0., or by Amalgamated Meat Cutters & Butcher
Workmen of North America, Local No. 442, A. F. of L ., for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining , or by neither.
MR. JOHN M. HOT:STON took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Election.
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