Charles H. Bacon Company

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 19, 1939

13 N.L.R.B. 732 (N.L.R.B. 1939)

In the Matter of CHARLES H. BACON COMPANY and AMERICAN
FEDERATION OF HOSIERY WORKERS
Case No. C-685.-Decided July 19,19-39
Hosiery Manufacturing Industry-Settlement,: stipulation providing for com-
pliance with the Act-Protest: denial to aggrieved employee of hearing on Board
order approving stipulation where settlement negotiated by union which filed
charges in his behalf, by employer, and by counsel for Board-Order: entered
on stipulation-Complaint: dismissed as to 14 employees allegedly discrimina-
torily discharged, with whom settlements had been made, and as to 3 against
whom Trial Examiner reported adversely.
Mr. Louis Lib bin and Mr. Maurice J. Nicoson, for the Board.
Mr. R. R. Kramer and Mr. T. G. McConnell, of Knoxville, Tenn.,
for the respondent.
Mr. Herbert G. B. King, of Chattanooga, Tenn., for the Union.
Miss Fannie M. Boyls, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon charges and amended charges duly filed by American Fed-
eration of Hosiery Workers, herein called the Union, the National
Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, by. Charles N.
Feidelson, Regional Director for the Tenth Region (Atlanta, Geor-
gia), issued. its complaint dated November 16, 1937, against Charles
H. Bacon Company,' Loudon, Tennessee, herein called the respondent,
alleging that the respondent had engaged in and was engaging in
unfair labor practices affecting commerce within the meaning of
Section 8 (1) and '(3) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National
Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act.
The Regional Director duly served upon the respondent and the
Union copies of the complaint and a notice of hearing to be held
on November 29, 1937. Pursuant to a motion for continuance filed
I The complaint, which designated the respondent as C. H. Bacon Company, was
amended at the hearing to correctly designate it as Charles H. Bacon Company.
13 N. L. R. B., No. 82.
732
CHARLES H. BACON COMPANY 733
by the respondent on November 20, 1937, and granted by the Re-
gional Director, the hearing was postponed to January 10, 1938.
On December 2, 1937, the respondent filed an answer in which it
admitted that it receives a substantial portion of its raw materials
from points outside the State of Tennessee and that it sells and
transports a major portion of its manufactured products to points
outside the State of Tennessee, denied that it had engaged in or was
engaging in the alleged unfair labor practices, and moved that the
complaint be dismissed for want of jurisdiction of the Board over
employees engaged in manufacturing.
Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held from January 10 to and
including January 21, 1938, at Knoxville, Tennessee, before D. Lacy
McBryde, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The
Board, the respondent, and the Union were represented by counsel
and participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to
examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bear-
ing upon the issues was afforded all parties. The respondent did
not urge its motion to dismiss at the hearing and the Trial Examiner
did not act upon it. The motion is hereby denied. At the com-
mencement of the hearing, counsel for the Board moved to amend
the complaint to include the names of James Rupe and Clyde Bivens
among others alleged to have been discriminatorily discharged by
the respondent. The respondent interposed no objection to the
amendment and the motion was granted. Thereafter the respondent
filed an amended answer in which it denied that it had discrimina-
torily discharged the two employees. At the conclusion of the
Board's case, counsel for the Board moved that the names of nine
employees who had failed to appear and testify at the hearing be
striken from the complaint without prejudice to their cases. This
motion was granted over the objection of counsel for the respondent.
Counsel for the Board also moved to amend the complaint to con-
form to the proof in order to correct discrepancies in dates. This
motion was granted without objection. The Trial Examiner made
various rulings on other motions and on objections to the admission
of evidence. The Board has reviewed all rulings of the Trial Ex-
aminer and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The
rulings are hereby affirmed.
On May 23, 1938, the Trial Examiner filed his Intermediate Re-
port, in which he found that the respondent had engaged in and
was engaging in unfair labor practices within the meaning of Sec-
tion 8 (1) and (3) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, recom-
mended that the respondent cease and desist from engaging in such
unfair labor practices, and that it reinstate, with back pay, 14 of
its employees found to have been discriminatorily discharged. He
734 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
further recommended that the complaint be dismissed as to three
other employees whom he found had not been discriminatorily dis-
charged. On June 13, 1938, the respondent filed exceptions to the
Intermediate Report and requested leave to file a brief and orally to
argue its exceptions before the Board. This resquest was granted.
Thereafter, oral argument was twice postponed pending negotiations
between the parties for a settlement of the case.
On November 16, 1938, the respondent filed with the Board a peti-
tion alleging that it had negotiated settlements with 13 of the 14
employees found by the Trial Examiner to have been discrimina-
torily discharged; that such settlements were satisfactory in all re-
spects to such employees and to the respondent; that it had offered
to the remaining employee, James Rupe, a sum which it believed to
be a fair and adequate compromise settlement and that such offer
of settlement had been approved by counsel for the Union, but that
James Rupe had, nevertheless, refused to accept such sum in settle-
ment of his claim; and requested the Board to approve the settlement
and tendered settlement set forth in its petition and to dismiss the
complaint and amended complaint.
Thereafter the respondent, the Union, and counsel for the Board
entered into a stipulation in settlement of the case. This stipula-
tion provides as follows :
It is hereby stipulated by and between the Charles H. Bacon
Company, a corporation, the respondent herein; the American
Federation of Hosiery Workers, a party herein, and Warren
Woods, attorney for the National Labor Relations Board, that :
1. Upon charges duly filed by the American Federation of
Hosiery Workers, the National Labor Relations Board by its
Regional Director for the Tenth Region, acting pursuant to
authority granted in Section 10 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act (49 Stat. 449) and its Rules and Regulations,
Series 1, as amended, issued its complaint and notice of hearing
in the above entitled matter on November 16, 1937, and its amend-
ment to the complaint on January 14, 1938. Pursuant to said
notice of hearing, a hearing was commenced on January 10, 1938,
at Knoxville, Tennessee.
2. Respondent, Charles H. Bacon Company, is a corporation
organized under and existing by virtue of the laws of the State
of Delaware, and has been domesticated in the State of Tennessee
since the year 1934. Its principal place of business is at Loudon,
Tennessee. The company is engaged in the manufacture, sale,
and distribution of hosiery and yarns and has manufacturing
plants located at Lenoir City and Loudon, Tennessee. At its
CHARLES H. BACON COMPANY 735
plant at Loudon, Tennessee, respondent is engaged in the manu-
facture of hosiery. Approximately 60 per cent of raw materials
used by the respondent in the manufacture of its hosiery is
received and transported to its Loudon plant from states of the
United States other than the State of Tennessee, and approxi-
mately 90 per cent of its finished hosiery manufactured at its
Loudon, Tennessee, plant is sold and distributed and transported
from its Loudon plant into and through states of the United
States other than the State of Tennessee.
3. Upon the facts above set forth in paragraph 2, and by
agreement of the parties hereto, the National Labor Relations
Board has jurisdiction within Section 10 (a) and Section 2 (6)
and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act to prevent the re-
spondent from engaging in unfair labor practices.
4. The American Federation of Hosiery Workers is a labor
organization affiliated with the Congress for Industrial Organi-
zations and admitting to its membership employees of the
respondent.
5. Upon the basis of the facts stipulated in paragraph 2 above,
the pleadings heretofore filed, this stipulation, and by agreement
of the parties, the National Labor Relations Board may enter its
order in the following form in the above entitled case :
ORDER
On the basis of this stipulation and pursuant to Section 10 (c)
of the National Labor Relations Act, the National Labor Rela-
tions Board hereby orders that Charles H. Bacon Company, its
officers, agents, successors, and assigns shall:
1. Cease and desist :
(a) From in any manner interfering with, restraining or
coercing its employees in the exercise of the right to self-organi-
zation, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain col-
lectively through representatives of their own choosing and to
engage in concerted activities for their mutual aid or protection
as guaranteed in Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act;
(b) From discouraging membership in the American Federa-
tion of Hosiery Workers, a labor organization affiliated with the
Congress for Industrial Organizations, by discharging or in any
other manner discriminating against its employees in regard to
the hire or torture of employment or any condition of employ-
ment for the reason that they, or any of them, joined or assisted
American Federation of Hosiery Workers or any other labor
organization of its employees.
736 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
2. Take the following affirmative action in order to effectuate
the purpose and the policies of the National Labor Relations
Act :
(a) Post immediately notices to its employees in conspicuous
places throughout its plant at Loudon, Tennessee, and maintain
such notices for a period of at least thirty (30) consecutive days
from the date of posting, stating that the respondent will cease
and desist in the manner set forth in paragraph 1 above;
(b) Inform the Regional Director for the Tenth Region in
writing within ten (10) days from the date of the approval of
this order what steps the -respondent has taken to comply
herewith.
6. The parties hereto, having agreed to a settlement concern-
ing the reinstatement with back pay of the individuals listed
below whose names appear in the complaint and amendment to
the complaint herein, the complaint and amendment to the com-
plaint shall be dismissed as to them :
Jim Arp Lillie Largen
Joe Arp Roy Law
Clyde Bivens Oren Peterson
Walter Chaney Annie Randolph
Kenneth Galyon Frank Randolph
Harry Griffitts Ed Turnbill
Charlie Hall James Rupe
7. It further appearing to the Board that as to all of the other
employees of the Charles H. Bacon Company named in the com-
plaint and amendment to the complaint, to wit :
Bertha Porter,
Raymond Arp,
Clifford Key,
the Trial Examiner has reported adversely and no protest has
been filed as to them, it is further ordered that the complaint
and amendment to the complaint be and they are hereby dis-
missed.
8. The respondent, Charles H. Bacon Company, hereby con-
sents to the entry by the United States Circuit Court of Appeals
for the appropriate circuit, upon application by the Board, of a
consent decree enforcing an order of the Board in the form
hereinabove set forth, and hereby waives further notice of the
application for such decree.
9. It is understood and agreed that this stipulation is sub-
ject to the approval of the National Labor Relations Board and
CHARLES H. BACON COMPANY 737
shall become effective immediately upon the granting of such
approval.
On March 29, 1939, the Board issued its order approving the
above stipulation and making it a part of the record in the proceed-
ings. Thereafter, on June 11, 1939, James Rupe protested the set-
tlement which had been offered him and requested that the Board
set aside its order of March 29, 1939, and grant him a further hear-
ing. The Board has considered the protest and request for further
hearing and finds that the settlement which has been negotiated
and agreed upon by the Union which filed the charges in this case,
the respondent, and counsel for the Board, adequately effectuates
the purposes of the Act. The request of James Rupe is hereby denied.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE RESPONDENT
The respondent, Charles H. Bacon Company, is a corporation or-
ganized under the laws of the State of Delaware and doing business
in the State of Tennessee since 1934. It is engaged in the manufac-
ture, sale, and distribution of hosiery and yarns and has manufac-
turing plants located in Lenoir City and Loudon, Tennessee. At
its Loudon plant, the one involved in this proceeding, the respondent
is engaged in the manufacture of hosiery. Approximately 60 per
cent of the raw materials used at that plant come from States other
than Tennessee, and approximately 90 per cent of the hosiery manu-
factured there is sold and transported into States other than
Tennessee.
We find that the above-described operations constitute a continu-
ous flow of trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact, stipulation, and the
entire record in the case, and pursuant to Section 10 (c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, the National Labor Relations Board
hereby orders that Charles H. Bacon Company, Loudon, Tennessee,
and its officers, agents, successors, and assigns shall:
1. Cease and desist :
(a) From in any manner interfering with, restraining or coercing
its employees in the exercise of the right to self-organization, to form,
join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through
representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in concerted
activities for their mutual aid or protection as guaranteed in Section
7 of the National Labor Relations Act;
738 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
(b) From discouraging membership in the American Federation
of Hosiery Workers, a labor organization affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, by discharging or in any other manner
discriminating against its employees in regard to the hire or tenure
of employment or any condition of employment for the reason that
they, or any of them, joined or assisted American Federation of
Hosiery Workers or any other labor organization of its employees.
2. Take the following affirmative action in order to effectuate the
purpose and the policies of the National Labor Relations Act :
(a) Post immediately notices to its employees in conspicuous places
throughout its plant at Loudon, Tennessee, and maintain such notices
for a period of at least thirty (30) consecutive days from the date
of posting, stating that the respondent will cease and desist in the
manner set forth in paragraph 1 above;
(b) Inform the Regional Director for the Tenth Region in writing
within ten (10) days from the date of the approval of this Order
what steps the respondent has taken to comply herewith.
AND IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the allegations of the complaint
and amended complaint with respect to Jim Arp, Joe Arp, Clyde
Bivens, Walter Chaney, Kenneth Galyon, Harry Griffitts, Charlie
Hall, Lillie Largen, Roy Law, Oren Peterson, Annie Randolph,
Frank Randolph, Ed Turnbill, James Rupe, Bertha Porter, Ray-
mond Arp, and Clifford Key be, and the same hereby are, dismissed.