The Cudahy Packing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 19, 1941

29 N.L.R.B. 830 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of THE CUDAHY PACKING COMPANY and LOCAL 55, UNITED
PACKINGHOUSE WORKERS OF AMERICA, OF PACKINGHOUSE WORKERS
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE , C. I. O.
Case No. R-&67.-Decided February 19, 1941 -
Jurisdiction : meat packing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: Com-
pany did not reply to union's request for a collective bargaining conference;
employees who have been or may be called into active service with the National
Guard or conscripted for military training prior to date of election held eligible
to vote ; elections necessary.
Units Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : single or separate units compris-
ing: (1) engineers, firemen, and helpers; and (2) production and maintenance
employees with specified inclusions and exclusions ; determination of, depend-
ent upon elections. -
Mr. John J. Brownlee, of Chicago, Ill., and Mr. Ray Ptacek, of St.
Paul, Minn., for the United.
Mr. Frank T. Starkey, and Mr. A. J. Alberg, of St. Paul, Minn., for
the Engineers.
Mr. Louis Cokin, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On November 8, 1940, Local 55, United Packinghouse Workers of
America, of Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee, C. I. 0.,
herein called the United, filed with the Regional Director for the"
Eighteenth Region (Minneapolis, Minnesota) a petition alleging that
a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of The Cudahy Packing Company, Newport, Minnesota,
herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation and certifi-
cation of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On January
13, 1941, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board,
acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3,
of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2,
29 N. L. 'R. B., No. 132.
830
-THE CUDAHY PACKING COMPANY .831
as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional
Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon
due notice.
On January 14, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear-
ing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the United,
International Union of Operating Engineers, Local No. 36, herein
called,the Engineers, a labor organization claiming to represent em-
ployees directly affected by the investigation, and Workers Independ-
ent Union of Newport. On January 22, 1941, the Engineers filed
a motion with the Regional Director to intervene in this proceeding.
Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on January 24, 1941, at St.
Paul, Minnesota, before Lee Loevinger, the Trial Examiner duly
designated by the Board. The United and the Engineers were repre-
sented at the hearing and participated therein. The Company and
Workers Independent Union of Newport did not appear at the hear-
ing. At the commencement of the hearing, the Engineers filed a
motion to intervene. The motion was granted. Full opportunity
to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce
evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties. During the
course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings on
other motions and on objections to the admission of evidence. The
Board has reviewed all,the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds
that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Company refused to answer subpenas issued by the Board for
the purpose of ascertaining facts relating to the Company's business,
and as stated above, the Company did not appear at the hearing. The
Regional Director testified that on December 26, 1940, he inquired of
the superintendent of the Newport plant of the Company whether
its operations had materially changed since the last Board Decision
involving the Newport plant,' and that the superintendent replied
that they had not.
In that Decision we found, and we now find, as follows :
The Cudahy Packing Company, a Maine corporation having its
principal executive offices at Chicago, Illinois, is chiefly engaged in
- 1Matter of The Cudahy ' Packing Company and Local No . 55, United Packinghouse
Workers of America of Packinghouse Workere Organizing Committee , affiliated with the
C. I. O., 27 N. L. R. B. 494
832 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the purchase and slaughter of livestock and the processing and the'
marketing of the products therefrom. In addition, the Company is
engaged in the following lines of business : refining vegetable oils and
the production and sale of shortening, cooking, and salad oils; manu-
facturing and marketing of soaps and cleansing powders; pulling,'
scouring, and combing wool, and the marketing of wool and tanned
sheep skins; purchasing, packing, and selling eggs, poultry, and cheese;
purchasing cream and butter and manufacturing and selling butter,
margarine, and ice cream; mining rock salt, operating brine wells,
and producing, refining, packing, and selling all kinds of salt; and
owning, maintaining, and operating refrigerator and tank cars for
the transportation of its' products. The salt-mining operations and
the wool-pulling business of the Company are performed by its sub-
sidiary companies, American Salt, Company and Olneyville Wool
Combing Company.
. The Company's plants are located in various States of the United
States and in Ontario, Canada. Of its gross annual sales amounting
to approximately $200,000,000, $25,000,000 to $30,000,000 are attribut-
able to its slaughtering and meat-packing plant located in Newport,
Minnesota, the plant involved in this proceeding. A substantial por-
tion of the livestock slaughtered at the Newport plant originates out-
side the State of Minnesota, and is shipped from States other than
the State of Minnesota by rail ' and direct to the Newport plant in
the State of Minnesota. Approximately 75 per cent of the products
'of the Newport plant are shipped by the Company from the State
of Minnesota to points outside the State of Minnesota.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Local 55, United Packinghouse Workers of America, of Packing-
house Workers Organizing Committee, is a labor organization affili-
ated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations. It admits to
membership employees at the Newport plant of the Company.
International Union of Operating Engineers, Local Union No. 36,
is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor. It admits to membership engineers, firemen, and helpers at
the Newport plant of the Company.
III. THE-QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On October 21, 1940, the United,' claiming to represent a,majority
of the employees at the Newport plant of the Company, wrote to-the
Company asking for, a collective bargaining conference.' 'The Com-
pany did not reply to this request. A statement :of ,the Regional
Director introduced in evidence at the hearing shows that the United
THE CUDAHY PACKING COMPANY 833
and the Engineers each represent a substantial number of employees
in the unit alleged by each to be appropriate.'-
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of
employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and
'tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The United contends that all production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Newport plant of the Company, including those em-
ployees receiving a salary, the sanitation gang, engineers, firemen,
and helpers, but excluding executives, foremen, assistant foremen,
strawbosses, those employees having the authority to hire or dis-
charge, office and clerical employees, salary plant clerks, draftsmen,
watchmen, cafeteria employees, and persons employed on special
construction jobs, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining. The Engineers urges that a separate unit of
all engineers, firemen, and helpers at the Newport plant of the Com-
pany is appropriate.
In August 1939 an election was conducted at the Newport plant
of the Company pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Election of
the Board 3 among the employees in the unit alleged by the United
to be appropriate in this case. The ballot in that election allowed the
employees to express a choice for or against the United. No collec-
tive bargaining representative was selected as a result of this election.
The Engineers did not participate in the prior' proceeding involving
the Newport plant of the Company.
The firemen and engineers at the Newport plant are skilled em-
ployees and are required to be licensed. -These employees work in the
2 The Regional Director's statement shows that 653 employees have signed membership
'application cards in the United. All of these cards were signed between January-1, 1940,
and January 22, 1941. There are approximately 800 employees in the unit alleged to he
appropriate by the United. The Regional Director further reported that the Engineers
presented authorization cards signed by 13 employees in- the Unit alleged' by it to be
appropriate. All of these cards were signed in October 1940. The Regional Director stated
that no comparison of the cards submitted by the United,and the-Engineers has been made
with a pay-roll list of the Company because of the Company's refusal to furnish copies of
its pay roll.
814 N. L. R. B. 244.
834 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
power plant which operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in contrast
to the production department which operates 5 days a week. On the
other hand, evidence was introduced to show the highly integrated
"ark of the plant and the appropriateness of an industrial unit in-
cluding the employees claimed by the Engineers. There has been no
history of bargaining either by the craft or industrial union. These
employees could thus function either as a separate unit or as part of a
single industrial unit.
An election will be held among all engineers, firemen, and helpers
at the Newport plant of the Company to determine whether they
wish to be represented by the United, by, the Engineers, or by
neither. On the'results of this election will depend the appropriate
unit. If these employees select a bargaining representative other
than the representative selected by the employees in the plant-wide
industrial unit, they will constitute a separate and distinct appropri-
ate unit. If they choose the same representative as the employees in
the plant-wide industrial unit, they will be merged into a single unit
with such employees.4
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the
Newport plant of the Company, including those employees receiving
a salary, and the sanitation gang, but excluding executives, foremen,
assistant foremen, strawbosses, those employees having the authority
to hire or discharge, office and clerical employees, salary plant clerks,
draftsmen, watchmen, cafeteria employees, and persons employed on
special construction projects, may properly constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining which would insure
to the employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to
self-organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate
the policies of the Act. As indicated above, engineers, firemen,
and helpers may or may not be included within such unit, depending
on the results of an election which we shall order. We shall, there-
fore, make no final determination of the appropriate unit or units
pending the election to be conducted among the engineers, firemen,
and helpers.
VT. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We have heretofore decided that a separate election will be held
to determine the collective bargaining representative for the engi-
neers, firemen, and helpers. We find that the question concerning
representation of the employees in the industrial unit can best be
resolved by means of an election by secret ballot.
4 See Matter of Dain Manufacturing Company and Lodge No. 4165, International Associa-
tion of Machinists-A. F. of L, 29 N . L. R B 526.
THE CUDAHY PACKING COMPANY 835
- The United requested that provision be made to include among
those eligible to vote any employees who have been or may be called
into active service with the National Guard or conscripted for military
training prior to the date of the election. Under the circumstances,
and since such employees will be entitled to reinstatement on their
return to civilian life,5 we believe that they are entitled to participate
in the choice of representatives. In accordance with our usual prac-
tice, we shall direct that the employees eligible to vote are those
within the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
herein, subject to such limitations and additions as are set forth in
the Direction.
The United stated that it desired to appear on the ballot as "Local
55, United Packinghouse Workers of America, of Packinghouse
Workers Organizing Committee, C. I. 0." The request is hereby
granted.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSION OF LAW
A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of The Cudahy Packing Company; Newport,
Minnesota, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6)
and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
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 8, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby
'DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purpose of collective bargaining
with The Cudahy Packing Company, Newport, Minnesota, elections
by secret ballot shall be conducted as soon as possible, but not later
than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction, under the di-
rection and supervision of the Regional Director for the Eighteenth
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and
Regulations :
1.-Among all engineers, firemen, and helpers of the Company who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
G See Selective Training and Service Act 1940 and Public Resolution No. 96, 76th
Congress.
413602-42-vol 29-54
836 DECISIONS , OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
date of this Direction, including employees who did not work during
such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or tempo-
rarily laid off, and employees who had then or have since been called
into active service pursuant to the Selective Training and Service Act
of 1940 and to Public Resolution No. 96, 76th Congress, but excluding
employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to deter-
mine whether or not they desire to be represented by International
Union of Operating Engineers, Local Union No. 36, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, or by Local 55, United Packinghouse
Workers of America, of Packinghouse Workers Organizing Com-
mittee, C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by
neither; and
2. Among all production and maintenance employees at the New-
port plant of the Company who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding, the date 'of this Direction, including
those employees receiving salaries, the sanitation gang, employees who
did not work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or
on vacation or temporarily laid off, and employees who had then or
have since been called into active service pursuant to the Selective
Training and Service Act of 1940 or to Public Resolution No. 96, 76th
Congress, but excluding executives, foremen, assistant foremen, straw-
bosses, those employees having the authority to hire or discharge,
office and clerical employees, salary plant clerks, draftsmen, watch-
men, cafeteria employees, persons employed on special construction
projects, and employees who have since quit or been discharged for
cause, to determine whether or not they,desire to be represented by
Local 55, United Packinghouse Workers of America, of Packinghouse
Workers Organizing Committee, C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective
bargaining. -
MR. EDWIN S. SMITH dissenting :
I see no justification for granting employees in the unit urged
by the Engineers the privilege of splitting themselves off from the
industrial unit in this case. They constitute employees in one of
many departments in an integrated plant and there is a complete -
absence of any bargaining history between the Engineers and the
Company on behalf of these employees. I think the reasons expressed
in my dissenting opinion in the Allis-Ch,abiners s and subsequent cases
are here applicable, and under these circumstances I consider that the'
unit urged by the United is appropriate and would so hold.
'Matter of Allis-Chalmeis Manufacturing Company and International Union, United
Automobile Workers of America. Local 248, 4 N L. R. B. 159, 175.