Swift & Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 22, 1946

71 N.L.R.B. 727 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of SWIFT & COMPANY, EMPLOYER and NATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF PACKINGHOUSE WORKERS, LOCAL
♦
INTO. 11, C. U. A.,
PETITIONER
Case No. 18-R-1599.-Decided November 20, 1946
Messrs. Arthur B. Cwrtis and J. B. Coleman, of Chicago, Ill., for
the Employer.
Mr. Don Mahon, of Des Moines, Iowa, and Mr. 117. A. Lindusky, of
St. Paul , Minn., for the Petitioner.
Messrs. Milton Siegel and Joe 0llman, of South St. Paul, Minn., for
the Intervenor.
M,' - . Melvin J. Welles, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a pefition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Minne-
apolis, Minnesota, on August 23, 1946, before Stephen M. Reynolds,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Swift & Company is an Illinois corporation operating many plants
and branch plants throughout the United States. Only the Em-
ployer's South St. Paul, Minnesota, plant is involved in the present
proceeding. The South St. Paul plant is engaged in the purchase
and slaughter of cattle, sheep, and hogs, the processing of meat, and
the handling of butter and. eggs. During the fiscal period ending
October 27, 1945, the Employer purchased for this plant raw mate-
rials valued in excess of $60,000,000, of which approximately 15 per-
cent was bought outside the State of Minnesota. During the same
period, the sales of the South St. Paul plant were valued in excess of
$60,000,000, of which approximately 85 percent was shipped to points
outside the State of Minnesota.
71 N. L. R. B, No 121.
727
728 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Employer does not deny, and we find, that it is engaged in com-
merce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
11. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Confed-
erated Unions of America, claiming to represent employees-of the Em-
ployer.
United Packinghouse Workers of America, Local 167, herein called
the Intervenor, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the Em-
ployer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer; because of
the Employer's contract with the Intervenor.
On June 1, 1945, a master agreement between the Employer and the
Intervenor was made, which embraced the South St. Paul plant,
among others. The contract was to be effective until August 11, 1946,
and from year to year thereafter unless terminated by notice at least
30 days before August 11 of any year. Both the Employer and the In-
tervenor gave notice of termination under the contract in timely f ash-
ion. Subsequently, and before August 11, 1946, the contracting parties
agreed to extend the terms of the master agreement from August 11,
1946, until such time as a new contract was executed or negotiations
for such a new contract unsuccessfully concluded. The Petitioner
advanced its claim to representation on June 24, 1946, and filed its
petition on July 9, 1946.
None of the parties has asserted that there is a bar to a current deter-
mination of representatives, although the Employer declined to recog-
nize the Petitioner on the ground that it had an existing contract with
the Intervenor. And it is clear that no bar actually exists because the
automatic renewal of the master agreement was effectively forestalled
by timely notice of termination given by the contracting parties.
That this contract was continued thereafter does not raise it to the
stature of a bar, because it was transformed by the extension agree-
ment into a contract of indefinite duration.'
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
'Matter of Ball Brothers Company, 54 N. L. R. B. 1512 ; Matter of Gene, al Electric
Company , 48 N. L. It. B. 1044.
SWIFT & COMPANY
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
729
All parties agree, and we find, that all production and maintenance
employees at the South St. Paul, Minnesota, plant of the Employer, in-
cluding gang leaders, hourly paid plant clerks, and hourly paid scalers,
but excluding the chef, plant-protection employees (uniformed police,
watchmen, box pullers, and firemen), standards department em-
ployees, time office employees, salaried plant clerks, salaried scalers,
chemists, general office employees, superintendent's office employees,
credit union employees, office cafeteria employees, livestock buyers,
livestock buyers' department employees, bricklayers, plant truck
drivers, branch house truck drivers, tallow truck drivers, the super-
intendent, the assistant superintendent, division superintendents,
general foremen, foremen, assistant foremen, and all other super-
visory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, disci-
pline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effec-
tively 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 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.
The Petitioner requests that those employees in the appropriate
unit who are now in the armed forces of the United States be allowed
to participate in the election by mail ballots, if necessary. The Inter-
venor and the Employer, on the other hand, object to mail ballots.
We believe that the conditions under which mail balloting is ordinarily
allowed, as set forth in Matter of South West Pennsylvania Pipe Lines ,2
have not here been met. Of 2600 employees of the Employer's South
St. Paul plant who left to enter the armed forces, about 566 had not
yet returned at the time of the hearing. The Employer has some
records concerning 247 of these 566 employees, but is doubtful as to
the correctness of the addresses listed in these records. Moreover, the
Employer has no knowledge of the whereabouts of the remaining 319
employees; mail sent to them is returned undelivered. Under these
circumstances, we shall allow only those employees in the armed forces
of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls
to vote.'
264 N. L. R. B. 1384. `
, Matter of Tennessee Coal, Iron & Rarolroad Company , 65 N. L. It B. 1416; Matter of
Joseph Bancroft & Sons Co., 67 N. L. R. B. 678.
730 LECISIONS OF N ATIO\ AL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with Swift &- Company, South St. Paul,
Minnesota, 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 Direc-
tor for the Eighteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the
National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections 203.55 and
203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
Series 4, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Sec-
tion IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period imme-
diately 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 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 repre-
sented by National Brotherhood of Packinghouse Workers, Local No.
11, C. U. A., or by United Packinghouse Workers of America, Local
167, C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.