Goodall Worsted Co.

In the Matter of GOODALL WORSTED COMPANY and FEDERATION OF WOOLEN AND WORSTED WORKERS OF AMERICA, AFFILIATED TO U. T. W. A. (A. F. OF L.) Case No. R-2789.-Decided September 10, 1941 Jurisdiction : textile manufacturing industry. Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re- fusal of Company to accord union recognition until certified by the Board ; election necessary. Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all production and maintenance employees at the Sanford, Maine and Springvale, Maine, plants, excluding supervisory, office, and administrative employees, foremen, assistant foremen, employees having the right to hire and discharge, timekeepers, and students temporarily hired for the summer months ; agreement as to. Mr. Benjamin Spinoza and Mr. George Cantor, of Boston, Mass., for the Company. Mr. Henry M. Katz, of New York City, for the Union. Mr. William H. Bartley, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND ' DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE On May 21, 1941, Federation of Woolen and Worsted Workers of America, affiliated to U. T. W. A. (A. F. of L.), herein called the Union, filed with the Regional Director for the First Region (Boston, Massachusetts) a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Goodall Worsted Company, Sanford, Maine, herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of representatives pur- suant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On July 9, 1941, 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 Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. 35 N. L. R. B., No. 64. 318 GOODALL WORSTED COMPANY 319 On July 15 and 16, 1941, respectively, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing and a notice of postponement of hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and the Union. Pur- suant to notice, a hearing was held at Sanford, Maine, on July 24, 1941, before William S. Gordon, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Company and the Union were represented by counsel and participated in the hearing. Full oppor- tunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all par- ties. At the conclusion of the hearing the Company moved that the petition be dismissed for failure of the Union to establish that it represented a sufficient number of employees to warrant the holding of an election. The Union moved that the Board direct an election. The Trial Examiner reserved ruling for the Board on both motions. The Company's motion is hereby denied and the Union's motion granted for the reasons set forth in Section III below. During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings on other 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. Subsequent to the hearing, the parties stipulated that cer- tain designated corrections should be made in the transcript of the hearing. The stipulation is hereby approved and made part of the record in the case. On August 7, 1941, the Company filed a "Motion to correct the Transcript," in other respects. The alleged "motion" of the Company is in 'no sense a motion to correct 1 but is, on the contrary, a motion to alter the transcript. The motion is hereby denied. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Goodall Worsted Company is a Maine corporation with its prin- cipal office and plant located in Sanford, Maine, hereinafter called the Sanford plant. It operates a weaving department at Springvale, Maine, hereinafter called the Springvale plant. The Company has subsidiary corporations operating in other points in the United States, but only the Sanford and Springvale plants are involved herein. In connection with its business of manufacturing, selling,. and distributing cotton worsted cloth at the Sanford and Springvale plants the Company uses annually cotton and wool yarns valued at I See footnote 2, infra. 320 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD more than $500,000, substantially all of which are purchased and shipped from points outside the State of Maine. The Company an- nually manufactures finished products valued at more than $1,000,000, substantially all of which are sold and shipped to points outside the State of Maine. The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED Federation of Woolen and Worsted Workers of America, chartered by United Textile Workers of America, is a labor organization affili- ated with the American Federation of Labor, admitting to member- ship employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Union claims to represent a substantial number of employees of the Company and alleges that the Company refuses to recognize the Union until it has been certified by the Board.' Statements of the Regional Director and the Trial Examiner introduced in evidence show that the Union represents a sub- stantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter 'found to be appropriate.3 We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Company. 9 At the hearing the Company and the Union stipulated that a question concerning representation exists. The motion of the Company, filed August 7, 1941, requested that the stipulation be altered in such manner as to withdraw this agreement by the Company. While we have denied the motion, we do not rest our finding that a question concerning representation exists upon this stipulation. a The statement of the Regional Director shows that 312 application cards were sub- mitted to him,-113 of which were dated between August 1 and December 30, 1940, and the remainder of which were dated in 1941, except for 36 cards which were undated. All the cards appear to bear genuine signatures . Of the cards, 226 bore the names of persons on the pay roll of July 12, 1941, and 63 bore the names of persons who the Company and the Union agreed were employees although such persons were not listed on the July 12 pay roll. In addition, the Trial Examiner stated at the hearing that 22 additional cards, dated in May and June 1941, had been submitted to him, 21 of which were signed by persons on the July 12 pay roll. None of these cards bore duplicate signatures of those examined by the Regional Director. There are approximately 950 employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate. The Union also introduced testimony at the hearing to the effect that 167 additional cards, none of which were duplicates of cards submitted to the Regional Director, had been lost by an executive of the Union. The Trial Examiner admitted the evidence over objection by counsel for the Company. While it is clear that the testimony was admissable it is unnecessary to determine the tiseight to be given it sinceI the number of cards submitted to the Regional Director and to the Trial Examiner indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of employees within the appro- priate unit. See: Matter of Italian Food Products Company, Inc and Newport Beach Cannery Workers, Local 9, International Fishermen and Allied lVorkemi of Amei ica affiliated with the C 1 O., 29 N L R. B 284 GOODALL WORSTED COMPANY 321 IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON COMMERCE 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, acid commerce among the several States and tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing com- merce and the free flow of commerce. V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Company and the Union agree, and we find, that all produc- tion and maintenance employees at the Sanford and Springvale plants, excluding supervisory, office, and administrative employees, foremen, assistant foremen, employees having the.right to hire and discharge, timekeepers, and students temporarily employed for the summer months, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. We further find that such unit will insure to 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 The Company and the Union requested that the pay roll for the week ending August 16, 1941, be used to determine eligibility to vote in the election. The Company's business is seasonal in char- acter, and the parties agreed that the August 16 pay roll would contain a greater, number of employees than a pay roll for any other period. The parties also stipulated that any employee who had worked 25 or more days during 1941 should be eligible to vote even though his name does not appear on the pay roll of August 16. Under the circumstances, we shall direct that those eligible to vote in the election shall be the employees in the appropriate unit who were employed by the Company during the week ending August 16, 1941, and any other employees who were employed 25 or more days during 1941, subject to such limitations and additions as are set forth in the Direction of Election herein. 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 Goodall Worsted Company, Sanford, 322 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Maine, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of, the National Labor Relations Act. 2. All production and maintenance employees at the Sanford, Maine, and Springvale, Maine, plants of the Company, excluding supervisory, office, and administrative employees, foremen, assistant foremen, employees having the right to hire and discharge, time- keepers, and students temporarily employed for the summer months, 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 Relations Act and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby DIEECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Goodall Worsted Company, Sanford, Maine, 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 First 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 all production and maintenance em- ployees at the Sanford and Springvale plants of the Company whose names appear on the pay roll for the week ending August 16, 1941, or who have worked 25 or more days during 1941 , including em- ployees who did not work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation, or in the active military service or training of the United States , or temporarily laid off, but excluding super- visory, office, and administrative employees, foremen, assistant fore- men, employees having the right to hire and discharge , timekeepers, and students temporarily employed for the summer months, and em- ployees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to de- termine whether or not they desire to be represented by Federation of Woolen and Worsted Workers of America , affiliated to U. T. W. A. (A. F. of L.), for the purposes of collective bargaining.