Swift and Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 1, 1944

58 N.L.R.B. 12 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter Of SWIFT AND COMPANY and AMALGAMATED MEAT CUTTERS
& BUTCHER WORKMEN OF NORTH AMERICA , LOCAL #574, A. F. OF L.
Case No. 18-R-1051.-Decided September 1, 1944
Messrs. ' E. L. Crain and G. B. Cook, of Chicago, Ill., for the
Company.
Messrs. Kenneth Lowers and J. T. McCoy, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa,
for the A. F. L.
Mr. E. R. Fitzpatrick, of Waterloo, Iowa, and Mr. Horace S. Gates,
Jr., of Marshalltown, Iowa, for the C. I. O.
Mr. Don Mahon, of Des Moines, Iowa, for the Independent.
Mr. Philip Licari, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Amalgamated Meat Cutters & Butcher
Workmen of North America, Local #574, A. F. of L., herein called the
A. F. L., alleging that a question affecting-commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of Swift and Company, Mar-
shalltown, Iowa, herein called the Company, the National Labor Rela-
tions Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Clarence A. Meter, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at
Marshalltown, Iowa, on August 1, 1944. The Company, the A. F. L.,
United Packinghouse Workers of America, Local 261, C. I. 0., herein
called the C. I. 0., and Independent Brotherhood of Swift Employees,
Local No. 50, herein called the Independent, 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. At the hearing, the Independent moved to dismiss the petition
on the ground, inter alia, that an existing contract between the Com-
pany and the Independent is a bar to the instant proceeding. The
motion was referred to the Board by the Trial Examiner. For reasons
stated in Section III, infra, the motion is denied. The Trial Examin-
er's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
58 N. L. R. B., No. 3.
12
SWIFT AND COMPANY 13
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 and Company is an Illinois corporation, with its principal
office and place of business at Chicago, Illinois. The Company oper-
ates several meat processing plants in various parts of the United
States. The instant proceeding solely concerns the Company's plant
located at Marshalltown, Iowa. The Company. purchases all its needed
livestock for the Marshalltown plant from stockyards located within
the State of Iowa. During the year 1943, the Company shipped
from this plant to points outside the State of Iowa processed meat
valued in excess of $10,000,000.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
IT. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Amalgamated Meat Cutters & Butcher Workmen of North America,
Local #574, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, is a
labor organization admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
United Packinghouse Workers of America, Local 261, affiliated with
the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization ad-
mitting to membership employees of the Company.
Independent Brotherhood of Swift Employees, Local No. 50, is a
labor organization admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
ITT. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION ,
Sometime in 1942, the Company and the Independent entered into a
collective bargaining agreement which provided, in part, as follows :
This contract shall take effect gas of August 20, 1942.... and shall
remain in effect until August 11, 1943, and from year to year there-
after, subject to reopening by either party on written notice mailed
at least thirty days prior to August 11 of any year.
In 1943 this contract was automatically renewed.
On June 22, 1944, the A. F. L. advised the Company that it repre-
sented a majority of the Company's production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Marshalltown plant, and requested recognition as the
14 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
exclusive bargaining agent of these employees. On June 29, 1944, the
Company replied that because of a current agreement between the
Company and the Independent it could not grant such recognition.
It is urged by the Independent that its existing contract serves to
bar the instant proceeding. Since, however, the A. F. L. apprised the
Company of its claim to representation prior to the operative date
of the automatic renewal clause contained in the contract, it is clear
that the contract does not preclude a present determination of
representatives?
A statement of a.Field Examiner for the Board, introduced into
evidence at the hearing, indicates that the A. F. L. represents a.
substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found
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 A. F. L. and the C. I. O. seek a unit embracing all the produc-
tion and maintenance employees at the Company's Marshalltown plant,
including livestock handlers and watchmen, but excluding office em-
ployees, the superintendent, the general foreman, foremen, assistant
foremen, the chief engineer and master mechanic, livestock buyers,
livestock scalers, timekeepers, the nurse 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. The Company and the Independent do not oppose the
establishment of the unit sought, except that the Independent urges
that the watchmen comprise a separate appropriate unit because they
have not been embraced by the contract between it and the Company,
and the Company contends that watchmen are closely allied with
management and consequently should be excluded from any unit.
The Company employs four watchmen who are neither armed
nor uniformed. Their duties are confined to preforming functions
.usually. associated with their classification. Thus, they patrol the
'i Matter of Erie City Iron Works , 47 N. L. R. B. 381.
2 The Field Examiner reported that the A . F. L. submitted 71 authorization cards, all of
which bore apparently genuine signatures ; that the names of 66 persons appearing on the
cards were listed on the Company ' s pay roll of June 20, 1944, which contained the names
of 160 employees in the alleged appropriate unit; and that the cards were dated between
May and July 1944.
The Field Examiner further reported that the C. I. O. submitted 40 authorization cards,
all of which bore apparently genuine signatures ; that the names of 38 persons appearing
on the cards were listed on the Company's pay roll above mentioned ; and that the cards
were dated between May and July 1944.
The Independent relies on its contract with the Company as evidence of its interest in
this proceeding.
SWIFT AND COMPANY 15
Company's premises, guarding it against theft, sabotage, and fire.
Although they work 40 hours a week at their regular duties, the Com-
pany permits them, at their option, to work 8 additional hours, during
which time they perform work similar to that of the maintenance
employees. The record reveals that, at one time, the watchmen had
been militarized; however, since January 1944, they have not been
militarized. It is clear, moreover, that they are not supervisory or
managerial employees. In view of the foregoing facts, we are of the
opinion that the watchmen should be included in the unit.
We find, in accordance with the agreement of the parties and our
foregoing determination relating to watchmen, that all the Company's
production and maintenance employees at its Marshalltown plant,
including livestock handlers and watchmen, but excluding office em-
ployees, livestock buyers, livestock scalers, timekeepers, the nurse, the
superintendent, the general foreman, foremen, assistant foremen, the
chief engineer and master mechanic, and all other supervisory em-
ployees 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 Election
herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.3
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 representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Swift and Com-
pany, Marshalltown, Iowa, an election by secret ballot shall be con-
ducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from the
date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Re-
gional Director for the Eighteenth Region, acting in this matter as
agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article
a
a The Independent's request to appear on the ballot as "Independent Local No. 50, I. R.
S E ," is hereby granted
16 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 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 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 Amalgamated Meat Cutters
& Butcher Workmen of North America, Local #574, affiliated with
the American Federation of Labor, or by United Packinghouse Work-
ers of . America, Local 261, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations , or by Independent Local No. 50, I. B. S. E ., for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining , or by none of these organizations.
CHAIRMAN Muris took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.