Liberty Hosiery Mills, Inc.

In the Matter of LIBERTY HOSIERY MILLS, INC ., EMPLOYER and AMERI- CAN FEDERATION OF HOSIERY WORKERS , CIO, PETITIONER Case No. 5-R-9567.-Decided November 28, 1947 Hudgins and Adams, by Mr. D. E. Hudgins, of Greensboro, N. C., for the Employer. Mr. Sonnie Davis, of Burlington, N. C., and Mr. H. G. B. King, of Chattanooga, Tenn., for the Petitioner. DECISION AND ORDER Upon an amended petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Greensboro, North Carolina, on October 25, 1946, and further hearing on May 27, 1947,1 before Harold M. Weston, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearings are free from prej- udicial error and are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. TIIE BUSINESS OF TILE EMPLOYER Liberty Hosiery Mills, Inc., a North Carolina corporation, has its principal office and only plant at Liberty, North Carolina, where it is engaged in the manufacture of ladies' full fashioned and seamless hosiery. During the year ending October 1, 1946, the Employer pur- chased raw materials, consisting principally of rayon and nylon, valued at over $250,000, of which more than 75 percent was shipped to the plant from points outside North Carolina. During the same period the Employer's sales exceeded $500,000 in value, of which more than 75 percent was shipped to points outside North Carolina. The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. I On April 2, 1947, the Board remanded the case to the Regional Director for further hearing iespecting alleged changes in circumstances at the plant occurring since the hear- ing of October 25, 1946. 75 N. L. R. B., No. 42. 340 LIBERTY HOSIERY MILLS, INC. II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED 341 The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the Employer. III. THE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT ; THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of employees engaged in griege operations, or, in the alternative, a unit composed of full-fashioned knitters at the Employer's plant. The Employer alleges that the integration of its plant operations precludes the appropriateness of either a griege operation unit or a unit of full-fashioned knitters, and contends that all production and maintenance employees at the plant constitute a single appropriate unit. The Employer's operations are conducted in one plant, consisting of two rectangular wings separated by corridors, the boilerroom, and the other service departments. In one wing, hereinafter called the griege wing, employees are engaged in producing full-fashioned and seam- less raw hosiery from rayon and nylon yarn. These manufacturing operations include the process of knitting, looping, seaming, fixing, back wincing, inspecting and mending. The knitting machines in the griege wing consist of two types, machines producing seamless stockings, operated by employees comparable in skill to employees engaged in looping, seaming and other skilled operations ancillary to knitting, and machines producing 45-gauge full-fashioned stockings, operated by more highly skilled employees. The raw stockngs pro- duced in the griege wing go to the other wing for finishing processes. The other wing, hereinafter called the finishing wing, houses the finishing operations which include preboarding, dyeing, inspecting, mending, final boarding, and various sorting and ticketing operations. The Employer's office and clerical employees are located in the f nish- ing wing. In addition, a large storeroom in the finishing wing was prepared during the year 1946 for the reception of fourteen 51-gauge full-fashioned knitting machines. In March 1947, two of these ma- chines were installed, and five more are on order with delivery expected in 1947. Menders who have been located in the griege wing and who have been working on raw hosiery have recently been transferred to the finishing wing, where they will work side by side with menders who work-on finished hosiery. Employees in each production employee classification are under the supervision of one foreman, and all foremen are directly under the 766972-48-vol 75-23 342 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD supervision of one plant superintendent. Maintenance employees are assigned to work in both wings. There are no time clocks, and em- ployees report to work to their respective foremen. Most operators are paid on a piece-work basis, and except for knitters, whose earnings are considerably higher, the pay is about the same for all. There appears to be little difference between the 6 months' training required by the full-fashioned knitters involved in these proceedings and the 4 to 6 months' training necessary to perform other skilled operations such as looping, seaming, and seamless knitting. There is, however, little interchange between griege and finishing work, and no transfer of knitters to other operations. Full-fashioned knitters are recruited both from outside the plant and from the more experienced workers in skilled griege operations. It is evident that the Employer's plant processe's constitute, to a con- siderable degree, a single continuing operation, and, although there is a certain natural division between griege and finishing operations, the Employer's plant organization tends to obliterate it. For example, the work of mending, which is the same whether performed on raw hosiery, wherein it is a griege operation, or on the finished product, wherein it is a finishing operation, is supervised by a single mending foreman. All menders are now physically located in one place. On the other hand, the 51-gauge full-fashioned knitters, whose work differs little from that of 45-gauge full-fashioned knitters, and who accordingly share with them the supervision of the same knitting foreman, are located far from them and the other griege operations in the finishing wing. In view of the foregoing, it appears that a unit composed of em- ployees engaged in griege operations would be neither homogeneous nor readily delineable and hence is inappropriate for collective bar- gaining purposes 2 We are also of the opinion that, inasmuch as the full-fashioned knitters concerned herein do not constitute a craft,', or comprise a separate department' or even a homogeneous group of workers distinguished by special and peculiar work interests, they do not constitute an appropriate unit for collective bargaining purposes a Since, as we have held, neither of the bargaining units sought by the Petitioner is appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, we find that no question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the, Employer within the meaning of 2 Matter of United States Cold Storage Company , 73 N. L. it. B. 687. 8 See Matter of Garden State Hosiery Company, 74 N. L. it. B. 318. 4 Cf. Matter of Forest City Knitting Company, 69 N. L. R. B . 89 ; Matter of Garden State Hosiery Company, supra. 5 Matter of Triangle Publication, Incorporated, 40 N. L. R. B. 1330. LIBERTY HOSIERY MILLS, INC. 343 Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act. We shall, therefore, dismiss the petition. ORDER Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, and upon the en- tire record in these proceedings, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the petition for investigation and certification of representatives of employees of Liberty Hosiery Mills, Inc., Liberty,. North Carolina, filed herein by American Federation of Hosiery Work- ers, CIO, be, and it hereby is, dismissed. MEMBERS Muxnoos and GRAY took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Order.