C. B. Atkin Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 23, 1941

35 N.L.R.B. 697 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of C. B. ATKIN COMPANY and UNITED FURNITURE
WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO
Case No. R4929.-Decided September 23, 1941
Jurisdiction : furniture manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question:
stipulated ; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : system unit: hourly paid pro-
duction and maintenance employees at two plants of the Company, in-
cluding,truck drivers, watchmen, and janitors, but excluding assistant fore-
men and higher supervisory employees, lumber inspectors, salesmen. clerical
employees, and all employees having the right to hire and discharge ; stipulation
as to.
Mr. H. A. Tapp, Mr. R. M. McConnell, and Mr. H. M. Harton, Jr.,
of Knoxville, Tenn., for the Company.
Mr. Paul R. Christopher, of Knoxville, Tenn., for the Union.
Mr. Armin Uhler, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On June 13, 1941, United Furniture Workers of America, CIO,
herein called the Union, filed with the Regional Director for the
Tenth Region (Atlanta, Georgia) a petition alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of C. B. Atkin Company, Knoxville, Tennessee, 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 August 2,
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.
On August 11 and 14, 1941, respectively, the Regional Director
issued a notice and amended notice of hearing, copies of which were
35 N. L R. B., No. 151. ,
697
698 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
duly served upon the Company and the -Union. Pursuant to the
amended notice, a hearing was held on August 27, 1941, at Knoxville,
Tennessee, before Earle K: Shawe, the Trial Examiner duly desig-
nated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Company was represented
by counsel, the Union by an official representative; both participated
in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-
examine witnesses and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues
was afforded all parties. During the course of the hearing, the
Union moved to amend its petition to conform the description of
the unit originally alleged to be appropriate to a stipulation entered
into by the parties' The Trial Examiner granted the motion. No
objections to the rulings of the Trial Examiner were made by any
of the parties. 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
I. THE BUSINESS OF TIIE COMPANY
C. B. Atkin Company is a Tennessee corporation with its principal
office at Knoxville, Tennessee, and a manufacturing establishment in
that city consisting of what the Company designates as Plants Nos. 1
and 2. The Company is engaged in the manufacture of furniture,
consisting principally of bedroom, dining,room, and dinette furniture
and kneehole desks for home use.
The principal raw materials used in the Company's business are
lumber, glue, screws, nails, finishing and packing materials, plywood,
mirrors, upholstering material, and metal furniture trimming. The
Company's annual purchases of such materials are valued at approxi-
mately $500,000, approximately 80 per cent of which are shipped to
its Knoxville plants from outside the State of Tennessee. The fin-
ished products have an approximate value of $1,000,000 per year,
80 per cent of which are sold and delivered to customers outside the
State of Tennessee. The Company employs approximately 380
employees of various classifications at its plants.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Furniture Workers of America is a labor organization
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting
to membership employees of the Company.
I See Section V, 4nfra.
C. B. ATKIN COMPANY
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
699
At the hearing the parties stipulated that some time during the
month of June 1941 the Union requested recognition from the Com-
pany as the exclusive bargaining agent of employees at what is known
as the Company's Plant No. 1, which the Union at that time alleged
constituted an appropriate unit. The Company declined to accord
the Union recognition on the ground that such a unit would not be
appropriate. Thereupon, the Union filed its petition herein. A.
statement prepared by the Regional Director, included in the record,
and a statement made by the Trial Examiner at the hearing indi-
cate that the Union represents a substantial number of employees in
the unit hereinafter found to be appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining.2
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
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 com-
merce and the free flow of commerce. '
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The parties stipulated, and we find, that all hourly paid produc-
tion and maintenance employees at Plants Nos. 1 and 2 of the Com-
pany, including truck drivers, watchmen, and j anitors,3 but excluding
assistant foremen and higher supervisory employees, lumber in-
spectors,' salesmen, clerical employees, and all employees having the
right to hire and discharge, constitute a unit appropriate for the
' The evidence submitted to the Regional Director and the Trial Examiner consists
of (a) a certified membership list containing 147 names of employees who had joined the
Union between March and July 1941 , ( b) 54 membership cards bearing original signatures
of employees of the Company , these cards being dated between March 18, 1941, and
August 26, 1941 , except 4 which are undated . One hundred sixty-seven of the names
appearing on the above-mentioned membership list and cards correspond to names on the
Company's pay roll for June 7, 1941 , showing 350 employees in the unit hereinafter
found to be appropriate.
3 The record shows that the Company has one employee within this classification who
is in charge of the Company ' s general office and of the departmental offices at Plants Nos.
1 and 2
4 The record shows that the Company has one employee who is classified as lumber
inspector or lumber -yard manager.
700 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
purposes of collective bargaining.5 We further find that said unit
will insure to employees of the Company the full benefit of their
right to self-organization and to collective bargaining and will other-
wise effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question which has arisen concerning representa-
tion of employees of the Company can best be resolved by an election
by secret ballot. At the hearing the parties agreed that the Com-
pany's pay roll for the week ending August 23, 1941, should be used
for determining eligibility to vote. We shall accordingly direct that,
all employees in the appropriate unit who were employed by the
Company during the pay-roll period ending August 23, 1941, shall
be eligible to vote, subject to such-limitations and additions as are
hereinafter set forth in our Direction.
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 rep-
resentation of employees of C. B. Atkin Company, Knoxville, Ten-
nessee, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and
(7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All hourly paid production and maintenance employees of the
Company, at Plants Nos. 1 and 2, including truck drivers, watchmen,
and janitors, but excluding assistant foremen and higher supervisory
employees, lumber inspectors, salesmen, clerical employees, and all
employees having the right to hire and discharge, 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, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
6 In the petition , as originally filed by the Union, the unit allegedly appropriate was
sought to be confined to production and maintenance employees at the Company' s Plant
No. 1. However, the Union agreed to the larger unit proposed by the Company, including
all production and maintenance employees at the Company' s plants, after it was explained
to the satisfaction of the Union that the manufacturing operations of the Company at
Plants Nos . 1 and 2 are identical and that the two plants constitute a single manufacturing
unit.
C. B. ATKIN COMPANY 701
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the
Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective
bargaining with C. B. Atkin Company, Knoxville, Tennessee, 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 Tenth 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 hourly paid production and main-
tenance employees of C. B. Atkin Company, Knoxville, Tennessee,
at Plants Nos. 1 and 2, who were employed during the pay-roll period
ending August 23, 1941, including truck drivers, watchmen, and
janitors, and employees 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 assistant foremen and higher supervisory employees,
lumber inspectors, salesmen, clerical employees; and all employees
having the right to hire and discharge, and employees who have
since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or
not they desire to be represented by United Furniture Workers of
America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
for the purposes of collective bargaining.