O. E. Kearns & Son, Inc., et al.

In the Matter of O. E. KEARNS & SON, INC., ET AL.,1 EMPLOYERS and AMERICAN FEDERATION OF HOSIERY WORKERS, C. I. 0., PETITIONER Cases Nos. 5-R-2413 through 5-R-0417, 5-R-0442, 5-R-2490, 5-R- 0492, 5-R-2506, 5-R-2529, and 5-R-2,531.-Decided January 16, 1917 Brooks, McLendon, Brim cC Holderness, by Messrs. Kenneth M. Brim and Thornton H. Brooks, of Greensboro, N. C., for all of the Employers except Jackson Hosiery Mills, Inc. Dr. W. L. Jackson, of High Point, N. C., for Jackson Hosiery Mills, Inc. Mr. H. G. B. King, of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Mr. John M. McCoy, of Greensboro, N. C., for the Petitioner. Mr. Grady Hill Morton, of High Point, N. C., for the Textile Workers. Mr. Lewis H. Ulman, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND ORDER Upon separate petitions duly filed, a consolidated hearing in this case was held at High Point, North Carolina, on August 28, 1946, before Earle K. Shawe, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. The request for oral argument made by all of the Em- ployers except Jackson Hosiery Mills, Inc., is denied inasmuch as the record, in our opinion, adequately presents the issues and the positions of the parties. Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations Board makes the following: FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYERS Each of the Employers herein is a North Carolina corporation and has its principal office and place of business at High Point, North Caro- 'In addition to O. E Kearns & Son, Inc , there are 10 other Employers involved in this pioceedmg Melrose Hosiery Mills, Inc, Thomas Mills , Inc., Crown Hosiery Mills, Inc, Plymouth Hosiery Mills , Inc, Amos Hosiery Mills, Inc, Silver Knit Hosiery Mills, Inc, Glenn Hosiery Company, Triangle Hosiery Company, Shiner Hosiery Mills, Inc , and Jackson Hosiery Mills, Inc The cases herein were consolidated by an Order of the Board dated August 13, 1946. 72 N. L. R. B., No 24. 153 154 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD lina, where it is engaged in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of seamless hosiery. With the exception of the Melrose Hosiery Mills, Inc., which manufactures seamless hosiery at its English Street mill., and full-fashioned hosiery at its Kivet Drive mill, the remaining Em- ployers each operate a single mill at High Point. Of the two mills operated by the Melrose Hosiery Mills, Inc., only the English Street mill is involved in this proceeding. During a 12-month period, each Employer purchases raw materials valued at more than $50,000, of which from 10 to 75 percent, varying with each Employer, represents shipments from points outside the State of North Carolina. During a similar period, the sales of each Employer exceeded $100,000 in value. From 50 to 90 percent of the products sold, varying with each Employer, represents shipments to points outside the State. The Employers admit and we find that they are engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the Employer. The United Textile Workers of America, Intervenor, herein called the Textile Workers, is a labor organization affiliated with the Ameri- can Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Emhloyer. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION Each of the Employers refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the ex- cllsive bargaining representative of its employees until the Peti- tioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit. We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT The Petitioner seeks separate units consisting of all knitting machine fixers at each of the mills of the Employers here involved, excluding clerical employees, foremen, and all supervisory employees. The Em- ployers and the Intervenor contend that the appropriate units are ones which include all production and maintenance employees at each mill, including the fixers and boarders.2 2 A boarder is a production worker who applies the desired shape to hosiery after it is knitted by placing it over a heated form where it remains until dry . The Intervener pres- ently represents the boarders in the mills of 8 of the 11 Employers , but is willing to merge the boarders with the other production and maintenance workers in plant -wide units. 0. E. KEARNS & SON, INC. 155 The first step in the knitting of seamless hosiery takes place in the knitting room where the knitters operate machines which knit various types of yarn into hosiery which is open at the toe. The knitting machine fixers, who work in close coordination with the knitters, keep the machines in running order, change needles, adjust spring tensions, and make necessary pattern changes.3 From the knitters, the hosiery goes to the looping machines, which are similar in many respects to the knitting machine, and there the loopers close the toes. The loop- ing machine fixers perform the salve general duties for the loopers as the knitting machine fixers perform for the knitters; however, as the looping operation is less complicated and requires little change in pattern, there are only a few looping machine fixers in each mill. From the loopers the hosiery goes to the clippers who remove loose threads, ,und then inspectors examine the products for faulty work- manship before it is dyed and shaped. While there are mmor dif- ferences in operation among the 11 inills, generally all of the opera- tions prior to dyeing are carried on in the knitting department under the supervision of 1 foreman. Usually the loopers and knitters work gn separate rooms, but all of the functions of the knitting departments are carried on as a single integrated operation. The Petitioner, in advocating the creation of a unit confined to knitting machine fixers, points to the fact that 4 to 6 years of train- ing is necessary to achieve the skill of a first shift knitting machine fixer. The record also reveals, however, that the fixers of the looping machines, whom the Petitioner would exclude, have skills comparable to those of a first shift fixer on the knitting machines and are under the same supervision. The Board has often found smaller than plant-wide units to be appropriate when they are confined to non-craft groups and organi- zation has not extended beyond such groups. However, in each in- stance, the unit established constituted a department or other func- tionally coherent and distinct divlslou of the Employer's operations.' Here, the unit sought is confined to only a portion of the employees in one department; it is a unit without separate supervision, and it does not follow any administrative division of the Employers' opera- tions In addition, the record reveals that union organization gener- ally throughout the seamless hosiery industry has been on a plant-wide production and maintenance basis. Accordingly, we are of the opm- 9 Each of the 11 plants operates on a 3-shift basis, the flu st shift fixei being the most proficient He operates with one knitter only and is responsible for major repasts anci changes of design on the 30 machines operated by his knitter On the second and third shift, a fixer operates ixith 2 knitters and while lie is thus responsible for 60 machines, his duties are limited , and in the case of a majoi breakdown , the broken machine is left for the return of the first shift fixer 4 See Mat ter- of Forest City Knitting Company, 69 N L. It 13 S9, Matter of Textile Ma- chine TVouks, Inc, 65 N. L. R B 1030, and cases cited theimn 156 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD ion that units confined to knitting machine fixers in each mill, as proposed by the Petitioner, are inappropriate. We shall, therefore, dismiss the petition herein.5 ORDER IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petitions for investigation and certi- fication, of representatives of the employees of O. E. Kearns & Son, Inc., et al., all of High Point, North Carolina, filed herein by the American Federation of Hosiery Workers, C. I. 0., be, and they hereby are, dismissed. 5 See Matter of Freeport Sulphur Company , 65 N. L R B. 21 ; Matter of Saks & Com- pany, 68 N. L. R B. 413, and cases cited therein.