Sioux City Brewing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 19, 1945

63 N.L.R.B. 964 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter Of SIOUX CITY BREWING COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND
HELPERS OF AMERICA, GENERAL DRIVERS UNION, LOCAL No. 383,
A.^ F. OF L.
Case No. 18-R-1301.-Decided September 19,19415
Messrs. Herman Galinsky and Joseph E. Miller, of Sioux City, Iowa,
for the Company.
Messrs. Padway and Goldberg, of Milwaukee, Wis., and Messrs.
Glenn W. Beman and Frank Santi, of Sioux City, Iowa, for the Team-
sters.
Mr. Otto Wagner, of Minneapolis, Minn., and Mr. Floyd N. Searl, of
Sioux City, Iowa, for the Brewery Workers.
Mr. Philip Licari, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF TIIE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by International Brotherhood of Team-
sters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, General
Drivers Union, Local No. 383, A. F. of L., herein called the Teamsters,
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the
representation of employees of the Sioux City Brewing Company,
Sioux City, Iowa, herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Stephen M. Reynolds, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held
at Sioux City, Iowa, on June 9, 1945. The Company, the Teamsters,
and International Union of United Brewery, Flour, Cereal, and Soft
Drink Workers of America, Brewery and Soft Drink Local Union 178,
herein called the, Brewery Workers, appeared and participated. 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. The Brewery
Workers' request for oral argument is hereby denied.
63 N L. R. B. No. 153.
964
SIOUX CITY BREWING COMPANY 965
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. TIIE BUSINESS OF TILE COMPANY
Sioux City Brewing Company, an Iowa corporation, is engaged at
Sioux City, Iowa, in the manufacture and sale of beer. During the
first 4 months of 1945 the Company purchased raw materials valued
at approximately $79,487, of which 70.4 percent was shipped from
points outside the State of Iowa. During the same period the Coln-
pany-sold beer valued at approximately $512,000, of which 13.6 percent
was delivered to points outside the State of Iowa.
The Company admits, and we find, that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehouse-
men and Helpers of America, General Drivers Union, Local No. 383,
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, is a labor organiza-
tion admitting to membership employees of the Company.
International Union of United Brewery, Flour, Cereal, and Soft
Drink Workers of America, Brewery and Soft Drink Local Union
178, unaffiliated, is a labor organization admitting to membership em-
ployees of the Company.
III. TILE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On March 28, 1945, the Teamsters asked the Company for recogni-
tion as the sole bargaining representative of certain of its employees.
The Company refused to accord such recognition.'
A statement of a Field Examiner for the Board, introduced into
evidence at the hearing, indicates that the Teamsters represents a sub-
stantial number of employees in the unit it alleges to be appropriate.2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of the employees of the Company within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
1 In its brief , the Brewery Workers contends for the first time that an oral agreement
made prior to the Teamsters ' notice of claim to representation extended an expired con-
tract with the Company and constitutes a bar to a present determination of representatives
We find this contention to be without merit See Matter of Eicor , Inc., 46 N L R. B 1035
2 The Field Examiner reported that the Teamsters submitted seven application cards of
employees whose names appeared on the Company ' s pay roll of May 17, 1945. The cards
were dated between March and April 1945. He further reported that there were approxi-
mately seven employees in the unit alleged to be appropriate by the Teamsters
The Brewery Workers relies on its contractual relationship with the Company as evidence
of its interest in this proceeding.
966 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
IV. THE APPROPRIATE ]UNIT
The Teamsters seeks a unit of all the Company's city and country
drivers, excluding extra drivers 3 and all supervisory employees. The
Company takes no position with respect to the appropriateness of any
unit, but the Brewery Workers opposes the establishment of the unit
sought on the ground that past collective bargaining has been suc-
cessfully conducted with the Company on the basis of a plant-wide
unit including city and country drivers.
The Company employs approximately seven drivers whose func-
tions are to drive trucks for the-Company and sell and deliver beer to
customers residing in and about Sioux City, Iowa. Since 1911, these
employees have been bargained for by the Brewery Workers in a plant-
wide unit. It appears, however, that at a meeting held sometime in
1944, the rank and file of the Brewery Workers voted to relinquish
jurisdiction over the city and country drivers,4 and these drivers subse-
quently designated the Teamsters as their collective bargaining rep-
resentative.' It further appears that the driver's possess special skills
Which distinguish them from the 'Company's other employees. Under
all the circumstances, we are of the opinion that the craft unit sought
is appropriate for collective bargaining purposes.
We find that all the Company's city and country drivers, excluding
extra drivers 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 Elec-
tion 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
8 These drivers are no regarded as regular employees of the Company.
4 Subsequently, the Brewery Workers' International disavowed this action.
5 See footnote 2, supra.
SIOUX CITY BREWING COMPANY 967
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Sioux City Brew-
ing Company, Sioux City, Iowa, 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 Eighteenth Region, acting in this
matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, ana 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 the said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vaca-
tion 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 dis-
charged 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 International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehouse-
men and Helpers of America, General Drivers Union, Local No. 383,
A. F. of L., or by International Union of United Brewery, Flour,
Cereal, and Soft Drink Workers of America, Brewery and Soft Drink
Local Union 178, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by
neither.