Hannah Pickett Mills Co.

In the Matter Of HANNAH PICKETT MILLS COMPANY and TEXTILE WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA, CIO Case No. 5-R-2304.-Decided July 11, 1946 Mr. W. S. Blackeney, of Charlotte, N. C., for the Company. Messrs. M. W. Lynch, and Julius R. Fry, of Charlotte, N. C., for the Union. Mr. Bernard Dunau, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon a petition duly filed by Textile Workers Union of America, CIO, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting com- merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Han- nah Pickett Mills Company, Rockingham, North Carolina, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Charles Y. Latimer, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Rockingham, North Caro- lina, on June 3, 1946. The Company and the Union appeared and participated. All parties were afforded 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 hear- ing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All par- ties 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 TILE COMPANY Hannah Pickett Mills Company, a North Carolina corporation, is engaged in the business of manufacturing cotton and rayon cloth at its mill located near Rockingham, North Carolina During the year preceding the hearing, it purchased raw materials, consisting chiefly 1 Colonial Mills, Incorporated, a New York corporation, owns a majority of the stock of Hannah Pickett Mills Company 69 N. L. R. B., No. 49. 413 414 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD of cotton, valued in excess of $100,000, of which more than 90 percent was shipped to the mill from points outside the State of North Caro- lina. During the same period of time, it produced finished cloth, valued at more than $100,000, of which more than 90 percent was shipped from the mill to points outside the State. We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the mean- ing of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED Textile Workers Union of America is a labor organization, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to member- ship employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION On or about March 21,1946, the Union wrote a letter to the Company stating that it represented a majority of the Company's employees and requesting exclusive recognition as their bargaining agent. A petition for certification of representatives filed by the Union was docketed on March 22, 1946. On or about April 15, 1946, an effort to arrange a consent election was unsuccessful because of the inability of the parties to agree to the composition of the appropriate unit. 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 Company and the Union agree that a unit composed of the Com- pany's production and maintenance employees, but excluding super- visors, foremen, and office clerical employees, is appropriate. They dis- agree concerning the inclusion in the unit of the following employees: yard crew, cafe workers, shop clerical employees, gate watchmen, and spinning room section hands. The mill is located in a fenced area approximately 400 feet by 130 feet. One half of the mill is a two-story structure. The single story half of the mill is used as a weave shed. The warehouses are located to the rear. A cafe, 30 feet by 40 feet, is situated in the central part of the mill. Across the road from the mill is the company store building. The Company's offices are situated above the store. Adjacent to the mill, and forming part of the mill property, is the village in which there are about 160 houses. Yard crew: The Company employs six individuals, hourly paid, who are designated the yard crew. They haul oil to the mill for the use of the various departments; they haul starch for the use of the slasher HANNAH PICKETT MILLS COMPANY 415 room; they unload car lots of coal, oil, salt, and other commodities; they haul cinders from the boiler room and scatter them over the village road; they haul garbage in the village. They are generally responsible for keeping the mill premises clean. They cut grass in the village, and rake the yard. We find that they are typical maintenance employees, and we shall include them in the unit. Cafe workers: The Company employs two individuals who work exclusively in the cafe serving sandwiches, frankfurters, cold drinks, and coffee to the production and maintenance employees. The cafe is open from 6 a. m. to 10 p. m. which are the hours during which the mill is in operation. The cafe workers are under the supervision of the company store, are listed on the store pay roll, and receive a straight weekly salary in contrast to the hourly or piece rates of the production and maintenance employees. The Company would include, and the Union would exclude, the cafe workers from the unit. Inasmuch as their work is essentially different from that of the mill hands, and the Union does not desire their inclusion, we shall exclude them from the unit.2 Shop clericals: The Company would include, and the Union would exclude, three shop clerical employees who are designated as time- keeper, weave room clerk, and finishing room clerk. The timekeeper works in the office and under the supervision of the plant superin- tendent. He posts time data from the overseers' books to the pay-roll sheets. The actual earnings, however, are computed by the office clerical force. The weave room clerk works in the office of the overseer of that department and under his supervision. Her duties are con- fined to the personnel of the weave room. She keeps a record of presence and absence of employees (ins and outs). She checks the style of the fabric being run. She records the picks (strands of filling yarn carried by the shuttle as it passes through the shed of the warp) registered by a pick clock (a counting device synchronized with the loom to register the number of picks) from which are computed the earnings of the operators on the basis of a given rate per 100,000 picks. She also records the efficiency of an operator by a purely clerical procedure of computing the pick reading against a norm. Her work is therefore essentially that of a timekeeper or counter. The finishing room clerk works under the supervision of the overseer of the cloth room. A weigher packs, weighs, and bales the cloth. He turns over his slips to the finishing room clerk who prepares a daily report re- cording the poundage woven, dyed, and shipped which is then sub- mitted to the business office. She is a typical plant clerical employee. We shall exclude the timekeeper and the weave room clerk from the 2 See Matter of Day and Night Manufacturing Company, 65 N. L. R. B. 916, Matter of Rockford Machine Tool Company, 64 N. L. R. B . 1400; Matter of Mock, Judson, Voehringer Company of North Carolina, Inc., 63 N. L. R. B. 96 416 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD unit, and include the finishing room clerk in the unit, in accordance with our usual practice of excluding timekeepers 3 and including other plant clerical employees .4 Gate watchmen: The Company employs two gate watchmen who control admission to the mill by means of a pass system. They are hourly paid, unarmed, non-uniformed, non-deputized, and without authority to arrest. We find that they are not monitorial, and we shall include them in the unit. Spinning room section hands: The Company employs 6 section hands in the spinning room who are divided into 2 shifts with 3 section hands assigned to each shift. They are hourly paid employees. Two section hands are assigned 28 spinning frames each, and the third is assigned 24 spinning frames. The customary hierarchy in a spinning room is overseer, second hand, section hand. In this mill the second hand is eliminated. The Company admits that ordinarily section hands are included within a unit of production and maintenance employees in a textile mill, but contends that, because of the lack of second hands in this particular mill, the section hands perform the duties of second hands and are supervisory employees. The section hands are responsible for the light maintenance of the frames, a job which consists primarily in changing gears, installing break-backs, aligning spindles, and leveling rolls. They may also assist the over- hauler in the heavy maintenance work of plumbing spindles, inserting rings, removing cylinders, and changing the stroke. The bulk of the section hand's time is devoted to repair and maintenance of the frames. At the beginning of his shift, the section hand will examine the frames to determine the condition in which they were left by the previous shift. He will then assign the operators to their various stations. In the event of absenteeism he will procure a spinner, doffer, oiler and bander, clean-up man, as the case may be, from the surplus labor pool on the spare floor, and place him at work at the required station. During the course of his shift he will scan the operation of his frames to assure continued effective production. In the event of tardy return to work of an operator he may procure substitute labor from the pool. He may reprove an employee for slack work. He may instruct newly hired employees. The plant superintendent and the spinning room overseer state that the section hands may effectively recommend hiring and discharge of employees, but they are unable to recall a single instance in which that has been done. It seems unlikely from the facts disclosed by the record that the section hands have any greater authority pertaining to employees' status than to report the existence of a condition to the overseer who will thereupon 3 See Matter of Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc., 60 N. L. R. B. 876. 4 See Matter of Goodman Manufacturing Company, 58 N. L. R. B. 531. HANNAH PICKETT MILLS COMPANY 417 make an independent investigation and exercise an independent judg- ment. We find that the spinning room section hands exercise no su- pervisory duties since they have no power to effectively recommend hire, discharge, discipline, or other change in status. We shall include them in the unit.,' We find that all production and maintenance employees of the Company, including yard crew, finishing room clerk, gate watchmen, and spinning room section hands, but excluding the timekeeper, weave room clerk, cafe workers, supervisors, foremen, office clerical em- ployees, 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 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 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 Relations 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 Hannah Pickett Mills Company, Rockingham, North Carolina, 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 Fifth 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 Regula- tions, among 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 5 See Matter of Thomaston Cotton Mills, Grtffln Dtictiston, 66 N L R B. 731; Matter of Industrial Rayon Corporation, 56 N. L. R. B. 1679; Matter of Hillsboro Cotton Mills, 56 N. L. R. B 271 ; see also Matter of The Toledo Edison Company, 63 N L. R B 217. 701592-47-vol 69-28 418 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 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 Textile Workers Union of America, CIO, for the purposes of col- lective bargaining.