The Cudahy Packing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 19, 1946

65 N.L.R.B. 1193 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

i
In the Matter of THE CUDAHY PACKING COMPANY and LOCAL No. 60,
UNITED PACKINGHOUSE WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O.
Case No. 17-R-1277.-Decided February 19,1946
Messrs. John Crowell and H . G. Reinholz , of Chicago , Ill., for the
Company.
Messrs. Patrick Ratigan, Ole J. Johnson , and Walt Mason, of
Omaha, Nebr., for the C. I. O.
Mr. Nathan Saks , of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Local No. 60, United Packinghouse
Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Or-
ganizations, hereinafter called the Union, alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of The Cudahy Packing Company, Omaha, Nebraska, herein-
after called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board pro-
vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Elmer L.
Hunt, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Omaha, Nebraska,
on November 6, 1945. The Union appeared and participated. The
Company appeared specially, contesting the jurisdiction of the Board.
However, it participated throughout the entire hearing. At the close
of the hearing the Company moved to dismiss the petition. Ruling
on the motion was reserved for the Board. The motion is hereby de-
nied for the reasons stated in Section IV, infra. All parties were af-
forded 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 :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Cudahy Packing Company, a Maine corporation having its
principal place of business at Chicago, Illinois, is engaged in the busi-
65 N. L . R. B., No. 203. 1193
1194 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
lness of slaughtering and processing livestock. It operates, among
others, a plant at Omaha, Nebraska, with which we are solely con-
cerned herein. During the year 1945, the Company's Omaha plant
purchased and transported approximately 50 percent of its livestock
for processing from points outside the State of Nebraska. During the
same period, approximately 80 percent of the Company's finished
products was sold and delivered to points outside the State of
Nebraska.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Local No. 60, United Packinghouse Workers of America, is a labor
organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to recognize the Union as the bargaining
representative of its plant-protection employees.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the Union 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 Union, which currently represents the production and main-
tenance employees at the Company's Omaha plant, seeks to add to its
unit all plant-protection employees at the plant, except for' the chief
and two assistant chiefs. The Company urges dismissal of the peti-
tion, contending in substance that plant-protection employees are not
employees within the meaning of the Act, but rather confidential and
supervisory personnel who are a part of management; that their
inclusion within a unit of production and maintenance employees
would be against the interests of the Company, the Union, and the
public; and that such inclusion would result in conflicts of interest,
divided loyalties, and prevent the plant-protection employees from
properly performing their duties at all times. The Company further
1 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 12 cards heating the names
of employees of the Company. The Company failed to furnish a pay roll prior to the
heating for the purpose of checking the cards There are approximately 19 employees in
the appropriate unit.
THE CUDAHY PACKING COMPANY 1195
contends that the Union is barred and estopped from seeking repre-
sentation of these employees because they are excluded from the
coverage of its contract with the Union covering the production and
maintenance employees.
The record indicates that the Company employs 19 armed, uni-
formed, and deputized plant-protection employees at its Omaha plant,
who are under the supervision of the chief of police and 2 assistant
chiefs. These employees perform the monitorial duties usually associ-
ated with their classification, protecting the company property from
fire and theft, directing traffic, and keeping order. They may take
an employee who has been found violating a company rule pertaining
to fire, theft, or disorder to the chief or assistant chief for appropriate
action. This is the extent to which they are able to affect the status
of a fellow worker. We find that the plant-protection employees,
excluding the chief and assistant chiefs, are neither supervisory, man-
agerial, nor confidential employees.2
As noted above, the Union seeks to add plant-protection employees
to its present bargaining unit, and the objections of the Company made
at the hearing seem also to be directed against this position. To that
extent the Company's objections have merit, for we have determined
in numerous cases that deputized plant-protection employees perform-
ing monitorial duties must be represented in a unit separate from pro-
duction and maintenance employees and have insisted that this
separation be one of fact as well as of form.3 However, insofar as the
Company's objections are directed against the representation of the
plant-protection employees in a separate appropriate unit, they are
not persuasive.'
Our ultimate conclusion is not affected by the assertion of the Com-
pany in its brief that plant-protection employees will be expected to
join production and maintenance employees in the event of a strike
or walk-out. There is nothing in the record to indicate that these
employees as a segregated group for collective bargaining purposes
will be required to strike with the production and maintenance em-
ployees. Nor is there any evidence that the Union will compel plant-
protection employees to violate their oaths as deputies or their legal
obligations. '
2 Matter of Cudahy Packing Company, 65 N. L. R B 10.
3 See Matter of G-ignite Steel Company , 63 N L. R. B . 898, and cases cited therein.
" See Matter of Standard Steel Spring Company, 62 N. L R B . 660 ; Matter of Aluminum
Company of America. 63 N. L R B . 828; Matter of Muskegon Piston Ring Company, 63
N. L R B. 885 , Matter of Granite City Steel Company, supra , and cases cited in each
See also Craig Shipbuilding Company . 65 N. L. it. B 97 , and cases cited therein,
with respect to the Union ' s alleged implicit agreement not to represent the plant guards.
Matter of Briggs Indiana Corporation, 63 N. L. R B. 1270 , does not apply, as the contract
raised as a bar herein contains no express commitment by the Union not to seek to repre-
sent guards in the immediate future.
1196 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Accordingly , we find that all plant -protection employees of the
Company at its Omaha plant , excluding the chief and assistant chiefs,
and all 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 ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing 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.
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 Rela-
tions 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 The Cudahy Pack-
ing Company, Omaha, Nebraska, 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 Seventeenth Region, acting in this
matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and 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 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 discharged for
cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the
election, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by
Local No. 60 , United Packinghouse Workers of America, C . I. 0., for
the purposes of collective bargaining.