Colonie Fibre Co., Inc.

In the Matter Of COLONIE FIBRE COMPANY , INC.' and COHOES KNIT GOODS WORKERS UNION No. 21514, A. F. OF L. Case No. B-1018.-Decided November 5, 1938 Qarnettmg Industry-Investigation of Representatives : controversy concern- ing representation of employees : rival organizations-Contract : closed-shop, no bar to determination of representatives where notice of claim of majority is given to company by rival union prior to renewal date-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : production employees , exclusive of millwrights, super- visory and clerical employees-Election Ordered Mr. Will Maslow, for the Board. Medwin & Weiss, by Mr. N. 111. Medwin, of Albany, N. Y., for the Company. Mr. John Van Vaerenewyck, and Mr. James P. Corbett, of Cohoes, N. Y., for C. K. G. W. Mr. Alfred Udoff, of New York City, and Mr. John J. Walsh, of vCohoes, N. Y., for T. W. O. C. . Mr. Henry J. Fox, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF TIDE CASE On June 15, 1938, the Cohoes Knit Goods Workers Union No. 21514, American Federation of Labor, herein called C. K. G. W., filed with the Regional Director for the Second Region (New York 'City) a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Colonie Fibre Company, Inc., of Colonie, New York, herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of representatives -pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On July 18, 1938, the National :Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National 'The Company was incorrectly designated in all the pleadings by the omission of Inc. from its corporate title This was coirected upon motion of counsel for the Board during ,the course of the heaung 9 N. L. R. B., No. 60. 658 DECISIONS AND ORDERS 659 Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. On August 20, 1938, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear- ing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, upon C. K. G. W., and upon Textile Workers Organizing Committee, herein called T. W. O. C., a labor organization claiming to represent employees directly affected by the investigation. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on September 13, 1938, at NeW York City, before Edward G. Smith, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board, the Company, C. K. G. W., and T. W. O. C. were repre- sented by counsel or official representatives and participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues, was af- forded all parties. During the course of the hearing the Trial Ex- aminer made several rulings on motions and on objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. 1HE BUSLNESS OF THE COMPANY 2 Colonie Fibre Company , Inc., a New York corporation with its principal office at Troy, New York, and its factory and warehouse at Colonie, New York, is engaged in the business of garnetting silk, cotton, wool and rayon clips and rags . The Company processes ap- proximately 10,000 pounds of rags daily . The bales of finished shoddy which are sent to the customers are produced from the spe- cific raw thaterials sent to the Company by its respective customers, all of whom are situated outside of the State . The Company cus- tomarily employs approximately 45 people at its factory and ware- house. II. TIM ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED Cohoes Knit Goods Workers Union No. 21514, is a labor` organiza- tion affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. It admits- to its membership employees of the Company. Textile Workers Organizing Committee is a' labor organization affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organization: It ad- mits to its membership all production employees of` tile' Company, excluding office employees , foremen, managers, and executives: 9 Most of the facts pertaining to the business of the Company are derived from a stipu- lation dated August 12 , 1918, signed by all the pai ties concerned in these pioceedings. 134068-39-vol rx--43 660 NATIONAL LABO1 RELATIONS BOARD III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION On April 20, 1937, the Company and T. W. O. C. entered into a written closed-shop agreement with provision for a check-off cover- ing all production employees of the Company, excluding office em- ployees, foremen, managers, and executives. The terms of the agree- ment provided that it should be effective until May 1, 1938, and that it should be self-renewing thereafter from year to year unless written notice of a change or abrogation of the contract was served by either party at least thirty (30) days prior to the annual expiration date. In February 1938, James J. Corbett, formerly an official in T. W. O. C., severed his connection with that organization and commenced to organize the C. K. G. W. The latter organization was chartered by the American Federation of Labor on March 3, 1938. In February 1938, the Company's employees petitioned it to dis- continue the check-off. With the acquiescence of officials of T. W. O. C. the Company discontinued the check-off. On March 1, 1938, George W. Cox, an organizer for the American Federation of Labor, wrote the Company informing it that the Company's em- ployees had withdrawn from T. W. O. C. and had joined the C. K. G. W. which desired to negotiate the next contract. The letter further stated that the writer would call upon Caplan within 2 weeks with a proposed contract. Some time thereafter, Cox and Corbett called upon Caplan to discuss negotiations for a new con- tract. At this conference Caplan informed them that he already had a contract with T. W. O. C. and that he had no proof of the fact that the men involved were affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. He stated that as far as the Company was concerned it was immaterial with which organization it bargained. The Company did not give notice of the abrogation of the con- tract with the T. W. O. C. The latter contends that the contract was therefore renewed until May 1, 1939, and constitutes a bar to an election. This contention is without merit. Written notice of C. K. G. W.'s claim to represent a majority of its employees was given to the Company more than a month before the date for re- newal of the original T. W. O. C. agreement. Furthermore, as .yet forth hereinafter, there is substantial doubt that at the time of the renewal the T. W. O. C. represented a majority in the appropriate unit. We shall not pass upon the question whether or not the agree- ment was automatically renewed. Even if the agreement was re- newed, for the reasons just stated such renewal could not operate to prevent a determination and certification of representatives for col- lective bargaining in this proceeding-8 8 See Matter of American France Line, et at, 7 N L R B 439; Matter of Unit Cast Corporation and Steel Workers Organizing Committee, 7 N. L R B. 129. DECISIONS AND ORDERS 661 We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Company. IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON COMMERCE 4 We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company described in Section I above, has a close , intimate, and substantial relation to trade, traffic , and commerce among the several States, and tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce and the free flow of commerce. V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The contract between T. W. 0. C. and the Company provided that its terms applied to employees of all departments except office employees, foremen, managers, and executives. Caplan, the Com- pany's president, testified that the contract was interpreted to include only production workers, who are classified as fixers, garnett workers, picker tenders, floor men, cutter men, baling press men, and bag repairers and to exclude the millwrights, superintendents, office em- ployees and sorters. The exclusion of the sorters from the rest of the production workers in this otherwise industrial unit seems to us unwarranted. Since the sorters do not have a separate organization to represent them, such exclusion would operate to leave the sorters unrepresented. We find that the production employees, excluding millwrights, supervisory employees, and office employees, constitute a unit appro- priate for the purposes of collective bargaining and that said unit will insure to the employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act. VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES At the hearing the Company pay rolls of May 4 and June 24, 1938, were received in evidence. C. K. G. W. introduced into evidence 37 application cards, dated between March 6 and March 12, 1938, and a petition, dated August 10, 1938, affirming that the subscribers were members of C. K. G. W. The T. W. 0. C. relied on its asserted con- 4 All parties to the proceeding signed a stipulation, dated August 12, 1938, to the effect that the Company was engaged in interstate commerce within the meaning of Section 2 of the Act and subject to the jurisdiction of the Board. 5 At the hearing Caplan testified that the list of employees introduced into evidence as Board Exhibit No. 7 represented his pay roll of June 22 , 1938, but since the checks for this pay roll were dated June 24, 1938 , we are referring to Board Exhibit No. 7 as . the pay roll of the latter date 662 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD tract and did not introduce any evidence of employee membership. It was stated in the record on several occasions that C. K. G. W. was asking for an election and not certification on the basis of its card proof of membership. Under these circumstances we find that the question which has arisen concerning the representation of employees can best be resolved by the holding of an election by secret ballot. The employees in the appropriate unit on the pay roll of June 24, 1938, shall be eligible to vote in such election. Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre- sentation of employees of Colonie Fibre Company, Inc., Colonie, New York, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 2. The production employees, excluding millwrights, supervisory employees and office employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act. 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, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, it is hereby DmECTEn that, as part of the investigation ordered by the Board to ascertain representatives for collective bargaining with the Colonie Fibre Company, Inc., Colonic, New York, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted within fifteen (15) days from the date of this Direction under the direction and supervision of the Regional Di- rector for the Second Region acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among the production employees of the Company listed on the pay roll of June 24, 1938, excluding mill- wrights, supervisory employees, and office employees and those emn- ployees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether they wish to be represented by the Cohoes Knit Goods Workers Union No. 21514, American Federation of Labor, or by Textile Workers Organizing Committee affiliated with the Com- mittee for Industrial Organization, for the purposes . of collective bargaining, or by neither. DECISIONS AND ORDERS 663 [SAME TITLE] AMENDMENT TO DIRECTION OF ELECTION November 15, 1938 On November 5, 1938, the National Labor Relations Board, issued a Decision and Direction of Election in the above-entitled proceed- ing, the election to be held within fifteen (15) days from the date of Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Second Region (New York City). The Board, having been advised by the Regional Director for the Second Region that a longer period within which to hold the election is desirable, hereby amends its Direction of Election by striking therefrom the words "within fifteen (15) days from the date of this Direction" and substituting therefor the words "within thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction." 9 N. L. R. B., No. 60a. [SAME TITLE] SECOND AMENDMENT TO DIRECTION OF ELECTION November 09, 1938 On November 5, 1938, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, issued a Decision and Direction of Election in the above-entitled proceeding. The Direction of Election directed that an election by secret ballot be conducted among the production employees of the Colonie Fibre Company, Inc. listed on the pay roll of June 24, 1938, excluding millwrights, supervisory employees, and office employees, and excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether they wish to be represented by the Cohoes Knit Goods Workers Union No. 21514, American Federation of Labor, or by Textile Workers Organizing Committee, affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organiza- tion, for the purposes of collective bargaining or by neither. On November 15, 1938, the Board issued an Amendment to the Direction of Election. The Direction of Election, as amended, pro- vided that an election should be held within thirty (30) clays from the date of the Direction. The Board, having been advised by the Regional Director for the Second Region that the Textile Workers Organizing Committee has requested the withdrawal of its name from the ballot, hereby amends its Direction of Election, as amended, by striking therefrom all the words which follow "to determine whether" and substituting therefor the words "or not they wish to be represented by the Cohoes Knit Goods Workers Union No. 21514, American Federation of Labor, for the purposes of collective bargaining." 9 N. L R B., No. 60b.