Sayles Finishing Plants, Inc.

In the Matter of SAYLES FINISHING PLANTS, INC. and FEDERATION OF DYERS, FINISHERS, PRINTERS AND BLEACHERS OF AMERICA Case No. B-5148.-Decided May 6, 193 Messrs. ,George E. Sinkenson and George Herr, of Saylesville, R. I., and Edwards & Angell, by Mr. Kirk Smith, of Providence, R. I., for the Company. Messrs. Frank J. Benti and Ferdinand Sylvia, of Providence, R. I., for the C: I. O. Mr. Charles F. Risk, of Pawtucket, R. I. for the Independent. Mr. A. Swmner Lawrence, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon petition duly filed by Federation of Dyers, Finishers, Print- ers and Bleachers of America, affiliated' with the Congress of Indus- trial Organizations, herein called the Federation, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Sayles Finishing Plants, Inc., Providence, Rhode Island, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Robert E. Greene, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Provi- dence, Rhode Island, on April 8, 1943. The Company, the Feder- ation, and Sayles Independent Union, herein called the Independent, appeared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evi- dence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's ruling made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. The Company filed a brief. which the Board has considered. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : 49 N. L. R B, No. 74; 532 SAYLES FINISHING PLANTS, INC. FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF' THE COMPANY 533 Sayles Finishing Plants, Inc., a Rhode Island corporation, has its - principal place of business in the State of Rhode Island where it has two plants engaged in the business of finishing and dyeing textiles known as "gray goods" for its customers from whom it receives more than $1,000,000, annually. Of the plants referred to, only plant A located at Saylesville, Rhode Island, is involved in these proceed- ings. During a normal calendar year, the Company processes in, excess of 10,000,000 yards of "gray goods," more than 80 percent of which is received from points outside the State of Rhode Island.. Of the finished product, approximately 90 percent is shipped' to^ points outside the State of Rhode Island to customers of the Com- pany or to their order. Raw materials currently used by the Com- pany include starch, dyes, and various chemicals, more than 5a percent of which is received from points outside the State of Rhode Island. The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED Federation of Dyers, Finishers, Printers and Bleachers of America is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the Com- pany. Sayles Independent Union is an unaffiliated labor organization, admitting to membership employees of, the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATIONI About June 1942, the Federation requested that the Company recognize it as exclusive bargaining representative for the employees of the Company. In reply, the latter informed the Federation that it could not grant the request because of an outstanding contract between the Company and the Independent. The contract is an exclusive recognition agreement dated April 10, 1942, with a duration- period of 1 year subject to automatic renewal in the event that neither party gives notice of a desire to terminate or modify the agreement 30 days prior to the expiration date thereof. Neither the Company nor the Independent contends that the contract is a bar to the present proceeding. Since the petition of the Fed- eration was filed prior to the effective date for automatic renewal 534 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD of the contract, we find that the contract does not constitute a bar to an investigation and determination of representatives.' A statement of the- Regional Director, together with other evi- dence introduced at the hearing, indicates that the Federation rep- resents 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 National Labor Relations Act. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Federation contends that the appropriate unit should ' consist of all employees of the Company at plant A, excluding executives, supervisors, maintenance employees (including yard. gang), time- study employees (time clerks), all -clerical and office employees (in-' eluding plant clerical employees), laboratory workers, watchmen and guards, truck drivers and box shop employees. The Independent, with whose contentions the Company is in accord, - urges the unit covered by the recent contract between the Company and the Independent, cdmprising all production and maintenance employees of the Company at plant A, excluding executives, super- visory employees, clerical employees in the main office and planning office, laboratory employees and watchmen. Q A comparison of the above positions shows a conflict only with respect to the inclusion or exclusion of mantenance employees (in- cluding yard gang) truck drivers, box shop employees and plant clerical employees. Maintenance employees: There are 82 such employees who consist of members of various crafts such as electricians, pipers, pipers' help- ers, millwrights, machinists, machinists' helpers, stationary engineers and pattern makers. The group generally receives higher wages than those of the production workers and is under the supervision of a I See Matter of Service Wood Heel Company, Inc, doing business under style and trade. name of Russell Heel Company and United Shoe Workers of America, Wood Heel Turners Local 12 A, (C. 1. 0.), 41 N. L. R. B. 45 - 7 The Regional Director reported that the Federation had submitted 553 signed member- ship cards dated between February 1941 and March 1943, of which 257 appeared to bear apparently genuine original signatures of persons whose names are on the Company's pay roll for the week ending March 6, 1943, -containing a total of 1161 names, of which 1002 were in the alleged appropriate unit. - The Independent did not produce any evidence of membership but relied upon its contract as evidence of its interest in the proceeding. ' While the showing of, the Federation is only approximately 25.6 percent of, the claimed appropriate -unit, we find that this showing is substantial in view of the provision in the contract requiring maintenance of membership In the Independent. Cf. Matter of Oregon Plywood Company and Plywood Box Shook and Door Council #9, International Wood Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 33 N. L. R. B. 1234; Matter of Certain-Teed Products Corporation and International Longshoremen's h Warehousemen's Union, Local 1-6, 28 N. L. R. B. 915. SAYLES FINISHIl'G PLANTS, INC. 535 separate superintendent. On the other hand, both maintenance and production workers are hourly paid employees who observe the same shift hours. Moreover, though maintenance employees are assigned to their work by their own craft foremen, they are likewise directed by the foremen of the production departments to which they are called to make repairs. Of the entire group of 82 maintenance em- ployees, 63 spend all their time working in the plant repairing ma- chines-and doing general maintenance work. Of the remaining main- tenance group other than the janitor, 3 divide their time between the machine shop and the operating departments, 8 work on machine shop repair work, 7 do work in the machine shop but also may do some work outside. On occasion, men are borrowed from the machine shop for repair of trucks in the company garage. Of the 64 inen who work in the plant, about 15 are known as departmental maintenance employees and are regularly assigned to various production depart- ments where they work more or less under the direction of the depart- mental foremen. The remainder of this group constitute a general maintenance pool and are subject to the orders of the mechanical superintendent only. All types of maintenance employees have been included together-with-production employees in collective bargaining agreements between the Company and the Independent since 1939. A witness for the Independent testified that maintenance employees have been among those for whom grievances have been handled by the grievance committee in the administration of the collective bar- gaining agreements. The record does not disclose that any craft unions are presently contending for representation of the various craft members in the group of maintenance employees whom the Federation would exclude from the appropriate unit. We are of the opinion and find that the maintenance employees have substantial interests in common with the production employees of the Company. For this reason, and since they have been included in the contractual unit, we shall include the maintenance employees within the appropriate unit. Yard-gang: The record reveals that the yard gang is composed of 27 employees of whom 3 are masons and the rest laborers. The wages of the group are in the low brackets of the wage scale of production employees. While the yard gang is a separate department from that of the maintenance employees, it is, however, subject to the super- vision of the same superintendent as the maintenance employees. Like the latter, the yard gang has been included under collective bar- gaining agreements between the Company and the Independent, pro- viding for an industrial unit of production and maintenance em- ployees. We find that the yard gang has substantial interests in common with the production and maintenance employees. We shall include the yard gang within the appropriate unit. 536 DE0SiIONS OF, NAPLONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Truck drivers: The truck drivers as a group are under the same general supervision as the maintenance employees and are responsible to the same intermediate foreman as the yard gang. The wages of the truck drivers are about mid-way on the scale of the- plant em- ployees. Like the maintenance and yard gang employees, the truck drivers have been included under the industrial unit established by the contracts between the Company and the Independent. We find that the truck drivers have substantial interests in common with the employees properly found to be within the appropriate unit. We shall, accordingly, include the truck drivers in such unit for purposes of collective bargaining. - Box shop employees: There are 8 or 9 employees in this group who work in a separate building called the box shop which is about 50 yards distant from the rest of the plant, all of which is enclosed by a fence. The box shop employees operate machines that make boxes. While the box shop employees have nothing to do with the produc- tion of cloth and have also no occasion to meet with the production employees during working hours, they receive about the same wages as the production employees. ' Moreover, though their immediate supervision is different from that of the production workers, the box shop employees are under the direction of the same superintendent as a number of other departments including the bleaching, dyeing, finishing and drying rooms. Like maintenance employees, yard gang and truck drivers, box shop employees have been included under the collective bargaining agreements of the Independent. We find that the box shop employees have interests similar to-those of the produc- tion and maintenance groups. We shall include them within the appropriate unit. There remains of the disputed categories for consideration, the question of the inclusion or exclusion of the plant clerical employees. These consist of application or production clerks, expediters and time clerks. Application or production clerks sit at desks and copy from slips to manufacturing orders, the yardages and assortments that are com- ing through and being invoiced •to customers. While the production clerks receive wages which are in the lower brackets of the wage scale and have also been included under the industrial unit covered by the agreements between the Company and the Independent, the production clerks do work of a primarily clerical nature. Moreover, though in one instance they sit at desks in one of the large depart= ments; -in two other cases they work in closed .offices one of which is confined to those- production clerks while' the other is shared with the superintendent and chief expediter. Since 'it appears that they have insufficient interests in -common .with the production and main- SAYLES FINISHING PLANTS, INC. 537 tenal ce employees, the application or production clerks will, be ex- ,eluded from the appropriate unit. Expediters, sometimes called lot chasers, follow through lots of cloth to completion and look up parts of lots that are missing. While expediters are paid on an hourly basis and have been included in the industrial unit represented by the Independent in its relations with the Company, expediters not only work closely with the foremen, but -do not directly participate in production or maintenance work. We are of the, opinion and find that expediters have few interests in common with-the production and maintenance employees. We shall, accordingly, exclude them from the appropriate unit.3 Time clerics, with the exception of one indivdual, are hourly rated ,employees whose wages are in the lower brackets of the wage scale of the production workers with whom they are in daily contact and over whom they have no supervision. Time clerks have moreover, been included 'in the industrial unit represented by the Independent. On the other hand, time clerks figure the wages due on the time cards which are thereafter sent to the pay-roll department. Other duties of time clerks include the work of piece checkers. Time clerks work in offices either with other clerks or in an office used for foreman's meetings. Like application clerks and expediters, time clerks are responsible to the chief expediter in the particular department con- cerned. The Company's vice president and general manager testi- fied that time clerks are supposed to refrain from divulging time card information to their fellow employees. We find that time clerks are clerical employees whose interests are dissimilar to those of the pro- duction and maintenance employees.4 We shall, accordingly, ex- ,elude time clerks from the appropriate unit. The only other matter yet to be considered concerns the request of the Federation that assistant foremen or gang bosses be excluded from the appropriate unit as supervisory employees. Assistant foremen or gang bosses as they are called at the Company's plant, occupy the same position as "second hands" in most textile mills. ' The Company and the Independent take no position with respect to the request for the exclusion of assistant foremen. Since these employees exer- cise supervisory authority and appear to be of the same type as the "second hands" whom we have customarily excluded from textile units, we shall exclude them from the appropriate unit.5 We find that all production and maintenance' employees of the 'Company employed at Plant A, Saylesville, Rhode Island, including 3 See Matter of The Yale if Towne Manufacturing Company and International Associa- tion of Machinists, Lodge 539, A. F. L., 44 N L. R. B. 1259. See footnote 3, supra. 6 See Matter of Monarch Mills, Ottaray Plant and United Textile Workers of America, A F. L., 41 N. L. R B. 1248. / 538 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD yardgang, truck drivers and box shop employees, but excluding ex- ecutives, supervisors, assistant foremen, all plant clerical and office employees, laboratory workers, watchmen and guards, 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. - 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 Re- lations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National-, Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa- tives'for the purposes of collective bargaining with Sayles Finishing Plants, Inc., Saylesville, Rhole Island, 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 super- vision of the Regional Director for the First Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Section 10, 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 temporar- ily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but ex- cluding employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether they desire to be represented by Federation of Dyers, Finishers, Printers and Bleachers of America, affiliated twith the Congress of Industrial Organizations, or by Sayles Independent Union, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.