Archer Mills, Inc.

'674 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 2. By discriminating in regard to the hire or tenure of employment of Irene Gladys Witter and Frank Felker, the Respondent has engaged in and is engaging in unfair labor practices within the meaning of Section 8 (a) (3) of the Act. 3. By such discrimination , and by interrogating its employees concerning their membership in and activities on behalf of the Union, and by interfering with, re- straining, and coercing its employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed by 'Section 7 of the Act, the Respondent has engaged in and is engaging in unfair labor practices within the meaning of Section 8 (a) (1) of the Act. 4. The aforesaid unfair labor practices are unfair labor practices within the mean- ing of Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. [Recommendations omitted from publication.] Archer Mills, Inc. and American Federation of •Hosiery Workers; AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case No. 10-RC-3286. February 29, 1956 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Edwin R. Hancock, hearing .officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.' Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within-the-meaning-of the Act. 2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em- ployees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa- tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The Petitioner seeks a unit of the Employer's production and maintenance employees. Contrary to the Employer, the Petitioner would exclude full-fashioned knitting machine fixers, watchmen, the mechanic in the boarding department, the plant clerical in the knitting department, the head cleaner, the assistant foreman of the shipping department, the needle instructor, the salesclerk in the "Archer Shop," and the dye clerk in the dyehouse. 1 At the hearing, the Employer made 'a motion to dismiss the petition which the hearing officer-referred to the Board for a ruling. The motion is essentially based on the follow- ing,ounds : .;(1.) That Petittoiier- failed to obtain a suflieient showing , of--interest ; (2) that Petitioner failed to make a formal request of recognition of the Employer before filing its petition ; and (3 ) that the unit sought is inappropriate. As to ground ( 1), it is well established that the sufficient showing of interest is a mat- ter for administrative determination and therefore may not be questioned at the hearing. 'aohs-Lawlor Company, 112 NLRB 507. Furthermore, we are administratively satisfied that the Petitioner has sufficient showing of interest, With respect to ground (2), it is also well settled that a formal request for recognition is not a prerequisite for the filing of a petition. Therefore, and because the Employer refused to recognize the Petitioner at the hearing, we find no merit in this ground. Gen- ,eral Shoe Corporation, 109 NLRB 618, 619. For reasons stated in paragraph numbered 4, infra, we find no merit in the Employer's contention concerning the appropriateness of the unit. Accordingly, the motion is denied. 115 NLRB No. 98. ARCHER MILLS, INC. 675 The full-fashioned knitting machine fixers.: The Petitioner would exclude the five fixers as supervisors. The Board has generally found fixers in the full-fashioned hosiery industry to be supervisors 2 Fur- thermore, apart from supervisory status the Board has excluded fixers of this industry from units of knitters or plantwide units because of the established pattern in the industry.' The present record shows that the fixers are skilled mechanics, whose primary responsibilities consist of keeping knitting machinery in proper operating condition and in advising the knitters in the proper operation of such machines. They may also caution knitters against infractions of company rules. Un- likethe knitters, the fixers are paid on a salary basis and do not punch time clocks. As it appears that the primary responsibilities of the full- fashioned fixers, here involved, are substantially the same as those of other full-fashioned hosiery fixers in the industry, we shall exclude them from the unit. Watchmen: The armed watchmen, among other duties,' make regu- lar hourly plant rounds for protection of the plant against intruders. Contrary to the Employer, we find that because the watchmen are regularly employed as guards at least part time, they are guards within the meaning of the Act. - Accordingly, we shall exclude the watchmen, from the unit.' The mechanic in the boarding department: The Petitioner would exclude this mechanic as a supervisor. The record shows that the mechanic, who is under the immediate supervision of the boarding department foreman, repairs boarding machines and changes the forms on such machines. Although the evidence shows that about 21/2 years ago the mechanic acted in the capacity of a supervisor, there is no, evidence that the mechanic presently, exercises supervisory.. author- ity or-that he will in the foreseeable future exercise such authority. We shall therefore include the boarding department mechanic in the unit. The plant clerical: This employee, who is classified as a plant cleri- cal, performs her work in the knitting department under the super- vision of the department foreman. Her duties consist of keeping rec- ords of production, number of "hours down" from broken machines, and the- nntnber of imperfect stockings. She also keeps an attendance record of they employees of the knitting department. . She does not interchange with the office clerical employees who concededly are ex- 2 See Mock, Judson, Voehringer Company of North Carolina, Ine, 110 NLRB 437, and cases cited therein 9 Mock-.Judson-Voehringer Company of North Carolina, Incorporated, 63 NLRB 96, 98, 99; Hudson Hosiery Company, 64 NLRB 1520, 1524, 1525; Hudson Hosiery Company, 95 NLRB 250, at footnote 5 'They also make periodic checks of the boilers and the•air-conditioning system In addition, one watchman spends about 23 percent of his time oiling and cleaning knitting machinery s Walterboro Manufacturing Corporation, 106 NLRB 1383. 676 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD eluded from the unit. Because it is clear that this employee is a plant clerical within the Board's meaning of that term, we shall, in accord with well-established Board policy, include the plant clerical employee in the unit .6 The head cleaner: The Petitioner would exclude the head cleaner as a supervisor. There are 5 employees in the cleaning and oiling crew of whom 1 is the head cleaner. The head cleaner works alongside the other cleaners and suggests to them methods of cleaning. The entire crew is under the immediate supervision of the knitting depart- ment foreman. It is clear that the head cleaner has no authority to hire, discharge, discipline, or otherwise change the status of employees or effectively recommend such action. As the direction exercised by the head cleaner over the other cleaners is merely routine in char- acter, we find that he is not a supervisor and shall include him in the unit. The assistant foreman of the shipping department: The Peti- tioner would exclude the assistant foreman as a supervisor. In the absence of the foreman, he is in charge of the shipping department and exercises the authority of the foreman at these times. In addition to the foreman's annual 2-week vacation, these absences amount regu- larly to about 10 percent of the working time each week. Because the assistant foreman exercises supervisory authority for regular and substantial periods of time, we find that he is also a supervisor within- the meaning of the Act, and we shall exclude him from the unit.' The needle instructor: The Petitioner would exclude the needle in- structor as a supervisor. The needle instructor, who works under the immediate supervision of first shift foreman, instructs knitters in straightening and pliering needles. In addition, he maintains the yarnroom and the partsroom. He has no authority to hire, discharge. discipline, or effectively recommend such action. We are of the opin- ion that the needle instructor is not a supervisor; accordingly; we shall therefore include him in the unit." The salesclerk in the "Archer Shop": In this shop, which is located about 35 feet from the plant ,proper, the salesclerk sells stockings ex- clusively to the employees. In addition to this duty, she physically receives goods returned by the Employer's customers but does not handle complaints or otherwise deal with such customers. This em- ployee has the same benefits as the plant employees. We think that from the nature of her work that her interests lie with the'plant em- ployees. Under these circumstances, we shall, contrary to the Peti tioner, include the salesclerk of the "Archer Shop" in the unit. 6 National Cash Register company, 95 NLRB 27, 29 s See Sears Roebuck eE Company. 112 NLRB 559 sSee Mock-Judson-Voehiinger Company of Torah Carolina. Incaiporated, 53 NLRB 96,98 TENNESSEE COACH COMPANY 677 The dye clerk in the dyehouse : The Petitioner would exclude the dye clerk as a professional employee. This employee is the only em- ployee in the plant who has a degree in chemical engineering and he is the only employee who performs work in the laboratory of the dye- house. His primary duties are to determine dye formulae from his experiments and to dye samples from these formulae. In addition, he weighs dyes for dye runs and samples the dye runs. Although the dye foreman decides which colors are to be used, it is conceded that the dye clerk exercises some independent judgment in his work. We think it clear that the dye clerk is at least a technical employee of the type which, in absence of an agreement by parties to permit his inclusion, the Board excludes from production and maintenance units. Without deciding whether or not the dye clerk is a professional em- ployee, we shall, under the circumstances, exclude him as a technical employee." In view of the foregoing, we find that all production and mainte- nance employees of the Employer at its Columbus, Georgia, plant, in- cluding the mechanic in the boarding department, the plant clerical in the knitting department, the head cleaner, the needle instructor, and the salesclerk in the "Archer Shop," but excluding office clericals, the dye clerk in the dyehouse, watchmen, guards, full-fashioned knit- ting machine fixers, the assistant foreman of the shipping department, and all other supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit ap- propriate for purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] MEMBER RODGERS took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election. °Mooresvtille Mills, 90 NLRB No. 48 (not reported in printed volumes of Board Deci- sions and Orders) ; Detroit Harvester Company, 79 NLRB 1316, 1319; also General Foods Corporattion, Northland Dairy Division, 115 NLRB 263. Tennessee Coach Company and Division 1490, Amalgamated As- sociation of Street, Electric Railway and Motor Coach Em- ployees of America, AFL-CIO.' Case No. 10-CA-1918. March 2, 1956 AMENDED DECISION AND ORDER On September 2, 1954, Trial Examiner Sidney Feiler issued his In- termediate Report in the above-entitled proceeding, finding that the Respondent had engaged in and was engaging in certain unfair labor 1 As the AFL and CIO have merged, we are taking notice thereof and are amending the Union's designation accordingly 115 NLRB No. 97.