The Rath Packing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 23, 1952

101 N.L.R.B. 96 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

96 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
(2) All unlicensed personnel on board all vessels owned and/or
operated by Employer Inland, excluding licensed officers , stewards,
boatswains, guards, professional employees, and supervisors as de-
fined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
THE RATH PACKING COMPANY and UNITED PACKINGHOUSE WORKERS
OF AMERICA, LOCAL No. 46, CIO, PETITIONER. Cases Nos. 18-RC-
1556, 18-RC-1557, and 18-RC-1593. October 03, 1952
Decision, Order, and Direction of Elections
Upon petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before Harry Irwig,
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 this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. For the reasons set forth in paragraph numbered 4, below, ques-
tions affecting commerce exist concerning the representation of em-
ployees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and
Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, in Cases Nos. 18-RC-1556 and
18-RC-1557, but none exists in Case No. 18-RC-1593.
4. At its Waterloo, Iowa, plant, the Employer is engaged in the
slaughtering of livestock and the processing of meat products. The
Petitioner, which has represented the production and maintenance
employees at this plant since 1948, now seeks an election in three
groups currently excluded from the production and maintenance unit.
' National Brotherhood of Packinghouse Workers, Confederated Unions of America, was
granted leave to intervene in Cases Nos. 18-RC- 1556 and 18-RC-1557 on the basis of
contracts then in force but now expired. Its request to intervene in Case No . 18-RC-1593
was denied for lack of a sufficient showing of interest.
At the hearing the Intervenor sought to introduce evidence to show that certain persons
alleged to be or to have been officers and policy makers of the Petitioner were in fact
Communists. The hearing officer properly rejected the evidence. We are administra-
tively satisfied that non-Communist affidavits have been filed by the officers of the
Petitioner, as required by Section 9 (h) of the Act . Congress has made the truth or
falsity of those affidavits a concern of the Department of Justice , not of this Board. The
fact of compliance by a labor organization which is required to comply is not litigable by
the parties to Board proceedings . Sunbeam Corporation, 94 NLRB 844 , 93 NLRB 1205,
and 89 NLRB 469.
101 NLRB No. 25.
THE RATH PACKING COMPANY 97
The Cooperage Department-Case No. 18-RC-1556
Early in 1950 the cooperage department employees severed from the
production and maintenance unit and designated the Intervenor as
their bargaining representative, pursuant to an election directed by
the Board.2 The parties agree that this cooperage unit is still appro-
priate. Accordingly, we reaffirm our earlier finding that all employees
in the cooperage department at the Employer's Waterloo plant, ex-
cluding the foreman and other supervisors as defined in the Act, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
The Plant Cafeteria-Case No. 18-RC-1557
Since at least 1948 the employees at the Waterloo plant cafeteria
have been represented by the Intervenor in a separate unit. In 1950,
when an election was held in this unit, cashiers and checkers were ex-
cluded by the Board pursuant to agreement of the parties.3 The Inter-
venor now desires the inclusion of these employees, whereas the Em-
ployer wishes their continued exclusion. The Petitioner apparently
takes no position on this issue.
There are five checkers and four cashiers. The checker computes
the total price of the food selected by each customer and indicates that
total on his ticket. The cashier then collects the ticket and the cus-
tomer 's money or signature. Checkers and cashiers share the work
of totaling the charge tickets and preparing summaries. At times
when meals are not being served, the checkers assist the other cafe-
teria employees in their work; moreover, in emergencies they serve as
countergirls. Checkers and cashiers receive the same pay, which is
about the same as that of the other cafeteria employees; and they
punch the same time clock.' Like the others, they are supervised by
the cafeteria manager.
On the basis of these facts, and because the checkers and cashiers
work in such close association with the other cafeteria employees, we
find that their interests are similar and we shall include them in the
cafeteria unit.5 It is true that, unlike the other cafeteria employees,
they are clericals; but it is generally the practice of the Board to in-
clude in a plant unit those clerical employees whose work brings them
87 NLRB 664.
Case No. 18-RC-556, March 27 , 1950, not reported in printed volumes of Board
decisions
4 Their vacation benefits are somewhat greater : 2 weeks after only 2 years ' service
instead of after 5 years , as is the case with the other cafeteria employees . Their insurance
benefits are also slightly different.
5 Walworth Company, 51 NLRB 1206 . See also Dr . Pepper Bottling Co., 78 NLRB 1261.
98 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
into constant association with the plant employees 6 We see no rea-
son to depart from this practice in the case of clerical employees as-
signed to a cafeteria 7 Accordingly, we find that all employees in the
Employer's Waterloo plant cafeteria, including the checkers, the cash-
iers, the storeroom girl," and the candy counter girl,9 but excluding
the chef, the breakfast cook, the late cook,SO and all other supervisors
as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
The Mechanical Storeroom Clerks-Case No. 18-RC-1593
The Petitioner seeks a separate election for 11 employees in the
mechanical storeroom, which adjoins the maintenance shop. It de-
sires to add these employees to its production and maintenance unit.
Six of the men sought, who are designated "window clerks," issue tools
and supplies to the maintenance employees, who present requisition
slips at the storeroom windows. Four of the remaining five employees
sought are designated "helpers." Two of these are learning to wait
on the windows; one helps handle the paper work involved in ordering,
receiving, and returning the supplies; the duties of the fourth helper
are not indicated. The last employee works in the yard outside the
storeroom and cares for scrap material.
6 Goodman Manufacturing Co., 58 NLRB 531 (production and maintenance unit) ;
National Cash Register Company, 95 NLRB 27, 29 (production and maintenance unit) ;
Hanna Motor Company, 94 NLRB 105, 108 (service unit) ; Bemis Brothers Bag Co., 95
NLRB 44, 46 (operating unit).
I Walworth Company, supra. A contrary rule was enunciated in four early cases ;
S. & W. Cafeteria of Washington, 20 NLRB 259, and 30 NLRB 1236; Welfare Association
of the U S Department of Agriculture, 45 NLRB 285; and Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard,
53 NLRB 1428. However, the decisions in at least the first three of these cases seem to
have rested primarily upon extent of union organization, a factor to which the Board may
no longer accord controlling weight. See Section 9 (c) (5) of the Act. Moreover, all
of these cases were decided before Proximity Manufacturing Co., 56 NLRB 264, and
Goodman Manufacturing Co., 58 NLRB 531, which first authorized the placement of plant
clericals with units of physical employees.
Although the S & W cases were relied on as precedent even after the issuance of
Proximity Manufacturing Co. (see Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corp., 58 NLRB 205;
General Motors Corporation (Eastern Aircraft Division), 60 NLRB 81; Shoreham Drug
Company, 61 NLRB 1437; Air Terminal Services, Inc., 67 NLRB 702), it does not appear
that the Board was asked to or did consider whether the new rule regarding plant clericals
might be applied to cafeteria clericals as well. Nor was any such possibility raised in
Fairchild Cafeteria, 87 NLRB 667, where an employee who did some cashier duty was
excluded from a cafeteria unit on the authority of a case which excluded an office clerical
from a unit of plant employees. We therefore do not regard these cases as determinative
of the present issue.
"The parties were in agreement that this employee, who works 2 hours a day as a
countereirl and the rest of her time as a storeroom attendant, should be included in the
unit, and we so find.
O This employee operates a candy and cigarette counter in the east dining area of the
front dining room. In addition to her counter tending, cashiering, and relatively minor
ordering duties, she spends a substantial portion of each day helping clean the cafeteria
areas; and at times she cuts butter. We find that her interests are similar to those of
the other cafeteria employees and we therefore include her.
3o The parties agreed that the breakfast cook and the late cook, like the chef, possess
supervisory authority ; and we adopt their agreement.
STOKELY FOODS, INC. 99
Also in the mechanical storeroom, though not sought by the Peti-
tioner, is an inventory clerk. Working in other plant areas, moreover,
are various other plant clerical employees who are presently excluded
from the production and maintenance unit." None of these others are
now sought by the Petitioner. The employees sought are thus only a
segment of a larger group whose status and interests are similar. To
permit the Petitioner to round out its production and maintenance
unit by adding the excluded plant employees piecemeal as now pro-
posed would not only be administratively burdensome, but would also
transgress the requirement of Section 9 (c) (5) of the Act, which bars
the Board, in making unit determinations, from giving controlling
weight to extent of organization. We will therefore dismiss the peti-
tion in Case No. 18-RC-159312
Order
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition filed in Case No. 18-RC-1593
be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
MEMBER PETERSON took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision, Order, and Direction of Elections.
11 Most of the employees in the Employer 's other storeroom , the one which serves the
production employees , are excluded from the production and maintenance unit. So are
the 6 scalers , who weigh animal carcasses in plant areas, and the 2 hide graders, who
inspect and rate the quality of the hides stored in the Employer 's hide cellars in the plant.
Also excluded are about 100 employees who handle various kinds of paper work at desk
locations in plant areas.
12 Kennecott Copper Corp., 96 NLRB 1423 ; Southern California Gas Co ., 74 NLRB 48,
STOKELY FOODS, INC. and AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR, PETITIONER.
Case No. 17-RC-1308. October 23,1952
Supplemental Decision and Certification of Results of Election
Pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Election issued herein on
duly 16, 1952,1 an election by secret ballot was conducted on August 13,
1952, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director
for the Seventeenth Region, among the employees in the voting group
established by the Board. Following the election, a tally of ballots
was furnished the parties. The tally shows that of approximately 97
eligible voters, 78 cast valid ballots, of which 31 were for, and 47 were
against, the Petitioner.2 There were 6 challenged ballots.
n Not reported in printed volumes of Board Decisions.
No other union appeared on the ballot.
101 NLRB No. 20.
242305-53-8