Knoxville Glove Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 21, 1938

5 N.L.R.B. 559 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter of KNOXVILLE GLOVE COMPANY and TEXTILE WORKERS
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Case No. C-271.-Decided February 21, 1938
Glove Manufacturing Industry-Interference , Restraint , or Coercion : expressed
opposition to labor organizations ; discrediting union and union leaders ; per-
suading employees to refrain from joining or to withdraw from union ; with-
drawal forms printed by respondent and distributed among employees;
surveillance of union meetings by supervisory employees-Discrimination: dis-
charge and lay-offs for union activity-Reinstatement Ordered-Back Pay:
awarded.
Mr. Walter G. Cooper, for the Board.
Mr. Forrest Andrews, of Knoxville, Tenn., for the respondent.
Mr. Herbert G. B. King, of Chattanooga, Tenn., for the T. W. O. C.
Miss Fannie M. Boyls, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon charges and amended charges duly filed by Textile Workers
Organizing Committee, herein called the T. W. O. C., the National
Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, by Charles N. Feid-
elson, Regional Director for the Tenth Region (Atlanta, Georgia),
issued its complaint dated July 16, 1937, and its amended complaint
dated July 23, 1937, against Knoxville Glove Company, Knoxville,
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.
A copy of the complaint and notice of a hearing to be held at
Knoxville, Tennessee, on July 29, 1937, were duly served upon the
respondent and the T. W. O. C. Prior to the commencement of the
hearing, the respondent filed answers to the complaint and amended
complaint, respectively, in which it admitted the allegations relative
to the nature of its business and the effect of its business upon com-
559
560 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
merce, but denied that it had engaged in any of the unfair labor
practices with which it was charged.'
Pursuant to the notice served upon the respondent and the T. W.
O. C., a hearing was held on July 29, 30, and 31, 1937, at Knoxville,
Tennessee, before Charles E. Persons, the Trial Examiner duly des-
ignated by the Board. At the hearing, the Board, the respondent,
and the T. W. O. C. were represented by counsel. Full opportunity
to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce
evidence bearing upon the issues was afforded all parties. During the
course of the hearing, objections to the admissibility of evidence were
made by the parties and ruled upon by the Trial Examiner. The
Board has considered the rulings and finds that no prejudicial errors
were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
On October 27, 1937, the Trial Examiner filed with the Regional
Director his Intermediate Report, copies of which were duly served
upon the respondent and the T. W. O. C. He found that the re-
spondent had engaged in the unfair labor practices with which it was
charged in the complaint and recommended that the respondent
cease and desist from engaging in such unfair labor practices,
that it be required to reinstate two employees alleged in
the complaint to have been discriminatorily discharged, and
further, that it be required to make whole those two employees and
a third employee, who was found to have been discriminatorily laid
off, for any loss of pay which they may have suffered by reason of
the respondent's unfair' labor practices. Thereafter, on November 4,
1937, the respondent filed its exceptions to the Intermediate Report,
and on November 11, 1937, the T. W. O. C. filed an answer to the
exceptions of the respondent. The Board has considered these
exceptions and finds that they are without merit.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE RESPONDENT
Knoxville Glove Company is a corporation organized in 1918 and
has its principal office and its place of business in Knoxville, Ten-
nessee. It is engaged in the manufacture of workingmen's gloves
and employs approximately 280 persons.
In the production of its gloves, it uses the following raw materials :
Flannels, leather, split leather, tubing, jersey cloth, linings, and
thread. About 80 per cent of these materials are purchased in States
1 At the hearing an amendment to the complaint for the purpose of correcting a date
erroneously stated in the complaint was allowed and ordered filed by the Trial Examiner.
The order also permitted the respondent 's answers to relate to all allegations of the
complaint as so amended.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 561
other than Tennessee, principally in North Carolina, Georgia, South
Carolina, Michigan, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and Illinois.
The gloves are manufactured on orders for future delivery. Most
of these orders are received during the spring of the year for delivery
during the fall. However, production is usually continuous and em-
ployees of the plant are not generally subject to seasonal lay-offs.
About 90 per cent of the finished products are sold in States other
than Tennessee. They are distributed throughout practically all
States east of the Mississippi River, except the New England States.
A few gloves, however, are sold west of the Mississippi River, in
Texas. Sales are effected through traveling salesmen and agents em-
ployed by the respondent and also by the respondent's president.
II. THE UNION
Textile Workers Organizing Committee. is a labor organization
affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organization, herein
called the C. I. 0.
III. THE UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES
A. Acts of interference, restraint, intimidation, and coercion
Prior to April 1937, no labor organization had ever attempted to
organize the employees of the respondent. During that month, or-
ganizers for the T. W. O. C. commenced soliciting memberships
among such employees. This organizational movement was immedi-
ately met with opposition by the respondent. During the latter part
of April, the employees of the plant, during working hours, were
called together and addressed by Albert Peet, the respondent's busi-
ness manager. He told them that the plant was at that time such a
happy family and he hoped it would remain that way. About one
week later, he again called the employees together and stated that
he had heard "that there was a bunch of Jews and Communists and
Reds and foreigners coming in . . . and getting people to go out
and sign others up into the Union and . . . that they couldn't do
the job themselves, that they had to get some of the people down here
(at the plant) to go out and do the job for them." He also told the
employees that the organizers were attempting to collect dues and
initiation fees and. that if the employees had enough money for such
purposes, they should put their money "in their socks." In spite
of these talks by the respondent's business manager, the employees
continued joining the T. W. O. C. Groups of them were organized
into committees and these committees visited employees during the
evenings, after working hours, for the purpose of enlisting new
members.
562 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
On May 14, after leaflets were distributed in front of the plant
announcing a meeting of the T. W. O. C. members for the following
evening at the W. O. W. Hall in Knoxville, the employees were again
called together, during working hours, and addressed by Peet and also
by Arch Kyle, president of the respondent. Peet again referred to
the T. W. O. C. organizers as Communists and stated that they were
only attempting to collect money from the employees and then leave
them "in the lurch." He told the employees that at another plant in
Knoxville a special assessment of five dollars had been levied against
each employee who had joined the T. W. O. C. or C. I. O. Kyle told
the employees that he knew everyone made mistakes at times, that
joining the union was a mistake which had been made by some of the
employees at his plant, but that they could rectify their mistake by
withdrawing from the union, and that their jobs would then be secure.
He advised them that if they were desirous of joining the T. W. O. C.,
they should first let the larger mills organize so that they, the respond-
ent's employees, would not be compelled to finance the organizing of
such larger mills. He also stated that he had heard that some of his
employees were desirous of withdrawing, but had been informed that
they could not do so; that he had consulted the respondent's attorney,
Forrest Andrews, and upon the advice of such attorney had caused
withdrawal forms to be printed for the benefit of such employees as
might wish to withdraw. After the meeting these forms were dis-
tributed by Peet and Kyle among the foremen and foreladies, who
gave them to all employees who asked for them and who offered the
forms to other employees who they knew had joined the T. W. O. C.
Nellie Robertson, one of the T. W. O. C. members, testified that when
she was offered a withdrawal form by her forelady, Rena Travis, she,
was told that "it was now or never."
On the following evening at the hour scheduled for the first meet-
ing of Knoxville Glove Company employees who had joined the T. W.
O. C., or who were interested in joining, Elmer Plaster and Bill Craw-
ley, two of the foremen at the respondent's plant, and Russell Parrish,
bookkeeper and assistant to Peet, stationed themselves on the sidewalk
in front of the entrance to the W. O. W. Hall. They were requested by
a T. W. O. C. organizer to leave for the reason that their presence at
such a place might intimidate employees interested in attending the
meeting. They refused to leave and were then permitted by the organ-
izer to enter the meeting room. After they had. listened to a talk made
by one of the organizers concerning the purposes of the T. W. O. C.,
they were again requested to leave and at that time complied with
such request. Plaster, who had previously informed Kyle, the respond-
ent's president, of his intention to attend the meeting, met Kyle after
the meeting and informed him that only eight or nine employees had
attended the meeting.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 563
After this meeting was held, Kyle commenced calling into his office
several of the employees who, he had heard, were members of the
T. W. O. C., for the purpose of discouraging them in their union
activities and persuading them to withdraw from the union. On or
about May 17 he sent for Elese Pope, one of the most active T. W. O. C.
members. He kept her in his office for more than an hour discussing
with her the inadvisability of joining the T. W. O. C. and questioning
her about what she could gain by joining. He did not insist that she
at that time sign a withdrawal form, but told her that he would give
her until the following day to think the matter over. On the following
day, she and another employee, Margie Thornberg, who was also an
active member of the T. W. O. C., were summoned to Kyle's office.
He kept them there for an extended time in an attempt to prejudice
them against the T. W. O. C. and cause them to withdraw their mem=
bership, therein. He asked them whether they were going to make
gloves or work for the C. I. O. and told them that if they could not
work at the plant peaceably, they ought to quit. Before leaving his
office on that date, they both signed withdrawals. Kyle then shook
hands with them and asked them to talk to the other girls about with-
drawing. Miss Thornberg testified that they signed the withdrawals
because "we had been in there so long we wanted to go home." That
each of them was coerced into withdrawing her membership in the
T. W. O. C. is evidenced by the fact that each continued to serve on
membership committees and to solicit memberships among the em-
ployees of the respondent.
Nellie Robertson, another active member of the T. W. O. C., who
was subpenaed by the Board as a witness, testified that she was
called into Kyle's office and questioned concerning why she had
joined the T. W. O. C., whether she was serving on the membership
committees, and whether she intended to continue doing so. He ad-
vised her against such activity and attempted to persuade her to
withdraw from the T. W. O. C.
On May 20, a second meeting of Knoxville Glove Company em-
ployees who had joined the T. W. O. C. was called. This meeting
was scheduled to occur in the T. W. O. C. office. When no one ap-
peared at the appointed hour, one of the T. W. O. C. organizers
looked out the window of the office and saw two of the respondent's
foremen stationed across the street in a position where they could
see and be seen by anyone attempting to attend the meeting. This
gathering of the foremen was dispersed after Eugene Curtis, an
investigator for the Board, was notified and talked to them. Later
that evening, however, one of the organizers saw Elmer Plaster
standing on the corner near the T. W. O. C. office, apparently watch-
ing the entrance to the office.
564 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
In spite of the failure of any employees to attend the meeting,
they continued to join the T. W. O. C. On June 4, Kyle called his
employees together for another talk concerning union activities. On
this occasion a speech was made by the respondent's attorney, For-
rest Andrews. He attempted to explain the provisions of the Wagner
Act. He told the employees that they could join the T. W. O. C.
if they desired, but that he did not believe it advisable for them to
do so; that the respondent "was a hand-to-mouth concern and . . .
not able to have a union." He also told them that while they might
solicit memberships for the T. W. O. C., they should not use any
threats in obtaining members and should not visit in the homes of
employees for the purpose of soliciting memberships. Kyle spoke
to the employees about reports he had heard concerning threats made
by the T. W. O. C. members and about their visits to the homes of
other employees in an attempt to obtain new members. He stated
that if they continued to do so he would discharge them.
The respondent by its activities above-related has interfered with,
restrained, coerced, and intimidated its employees in the exercise of
the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organiza-
tions, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own
choosing, and to engage in concerted activities for the purpose of col-
lective bargaining and other mutual aid and protection.
B. The discharges
1. Clarence Puckett
Clarence Puckett had been employed by the respondent intermit-
tently for approximately ten years prior to the date of the hearing.
During this time he had on several occasions voluntarily quit, or laid
off ; however, he had never been discharged by the respondent. The
last time he quit his employment was in February 1937. He applied
for reinstatement a week or two later. There was no job immediately
available for him, but after approximately a week following his appli-
cation for reinstatement he was put to work as a turner.z The turn-
ing machine at which he was placed had been operated by John Cop-
pick, a regular turner who was expected to be absent from the\plant
five or six weeks because of an appendectomy.
On Saturday, May 8, as Puckett started to leave the plant he was
called back by Plaster and told that he would be laid off for about
two weeks until the printing machine was fixed. Puckett had for six
or eight weeks prior to the time he quit in February operated the
printing machine. Before that time he had been a turner. On Mon-
9 Gloves are made wrong side out. An employee who turns the finished glove right side
out is called a turner.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 565
day following the lay-off of Puckett, Coppick returned to his work as
a turner.
Puckett was the first employee of the respondent to join the
T. W. O. C. when it commenced its organizational activities at the
plant. He joined on April 22, 1937, and was very active in soliciting
other members for the T. W. O. C. Only one other man employed
by, the respondent was as active as Puckett. This employee, Dee
Buckner, shortly after Puckett was laid off, informed Puckett that
the company officials were watching the employees closely at their
meetings; that he, Buckner, had a wife and family to support and
could not risk losing his job by further participating in the T. W. O. C.
activities. He further stated that "Mr. Kyle told him he would not
fire him then but he would get rid of him." Dee Buckner conse-
quently took no • further part in union activities. Clarence Puckett,
however, continued to be active in union affairs. He was one of the
eight or nine employees present at the first meeting of the T. W. O. C.
on May 15. Before Puckett was laid off, Plaster had evinced an in-
terest in Puckett's union activities, asked him whether he was plan-
ning to work with the C. I. 0., and informed him that he "was fixing
to ruin the company." Plaster knew that Puckett had attended the
union meeting of May 15.
Before the expiration of two weeks after Puckett was laid off, he
came back to the plant as he had in the past customarily done while
waiting for employment. Upon that occasion he was accosted by
John McGhee, a subforeman under Plaster, who told Puckett, "Get
out there with your friends, you have no business in here, you don't
work here any more." The "friends" referred to were T. W. O. C.
organizers, who happened to be standing on the sidewalk outside the
plant at that time.
When the 2-week period after his lay-off had expired, Puckett
interviewed Plaster concerning the printing machine job which he
had been promised and was told by Plaster that he would be called
in a few days. Thereafter, upon a number of occasions, Puckett
again interviewed Plaster and was continuously put off with first one
excuse and then another. Within less than a month after Puckett's
lay-off, Gaston Yarborough, a boy who had been working as a
turner, was put to work on the printing machine and a new employee
was hired to work as a turner. Puckett then requested an explana-
tion from Plaster and was told that he would be sent for later. He
had not been sent for at the date of the hearing. Kyle, president of
the respondent, claimed at the hearing that Puckett was no longer
an employee of the respondent after May 8 and that the respondent
was therefore under no obligation to reemploy him.
We are impelled to find that the respondent, when it laid Puckett
off on May 8, had intended to put him-to work at the printing ma-
566 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
chine as soon as it was ready for operation and that the respondent
did not do so because of his union activities.
Puckett, when he operated the printing machine, earned approxi-
mately $15 a week. While working as a turner he earned an average
of about $11 a week. He remained an employee of the respondent
after his lay-off on May 8 and has obtained no other regular and
substantially equivalent employment' since that date. At the date of
the hearing he had earned the sum of $15 at sundry jobs.
2. The lay-offs of June 5
On Saturday, June 5, Elese Pope, Lillian Blair, Audrey Carpen-
ter, and Nellie Womack, four of the most active members of the
T. W. O. C. at the respondent's plant, were called into Kyle's office
and told that they had been out threatening other employees and
would consequently be suspended for a week or two until they
"could get their minds set" as to what they were going to do. Ap-
proximately one week later all of these employees, except Elese Pope,
were reinstated.
Kyle testified that at the time he laid these four girls off he had in
his possession an affidavit 3 of Juanita Wayman, one of his employees,
to the effect that the four employees who were laid off had called
upon her at her home in an attempt to force her to join the
T. W. O. C. and that when she refused to join, they had threatened
to beat her up and had used abusive and obscene language in making
such threat. The four employees were never informed of this affi-
davit nor of any accusation made by Juanita Wayman against them.
They were given no opportunity to deny the charge made against
them by Kyle or to offer any explanation. Juanita Wayman was not
placed upon the witness-stand to testify concerning the matters stated
in her affidavit and no evidence was introduced to substantiate such
charge. All four of the employees denied, when testifying at the
hearing, that they had ever threatened anyone in an attempt to
obtain new members for the T. W. O. C., or that all of them had ever
at any time together visited an employee.
Lillian Blair, who testified under subpena,4 stated that when she
and Audrey Carpenter applied for reinstatement on or about June
3 This affidavit, Respondent's Exhibit No 2, was Introduced, not as evidence of the
truth of the matters therein stated, but only as evidence of the reason asserted by the
respondent for laying the girls off. Part of this affidavit was admittedly written in
Kyle's handwriting
4 Bernard Borah, a T. W. 0. C. organizer, testified that while waiting in the witness
room with Lillian Blair before she was called to the witness stand, he "noticed she was
nervous and asked her what the matter was ; she said she was afraid to testify, because
she was afraid she would lose her job" He "told her to go ahead and tell the truth,
that she was protected by the law. She said Mr Kyle would not pay any attention to
that." Upon being recalled to the witness stand, Miss Blair admitted that a conversation
substantially as related by Mr . Borah had taken place.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 567
10, Kyle "told me we could come back, because he said we were just
talking and causing disturbance up at the mill ." Kyle further told
them, however, that if they came back to work , they "ought not to
have anything to do" with a complaint which they had requested the
T. W. O. C. to make for them before the Board . On that date they
mailed a postal card to the T. W. O. C., requesting that their com-
plaint against the respondent be withdrawn .' After being reinstated,
Lillian Blair took no further part in T. W. O. C. activities. She
testified :
Well , if I went back to work I didn't think I ought to haven
anything else to do with the C. I. 0.; if I was going to stay with
the C. I. O. I didn't think I ought to stay in the mill, so I just
quit; that is the way I felt about it.
Audrey Carpenter, upon applying for reinstatement , signed a form
given to her by the respondent , withdrawing her membership in the
T. W. 0., C. She testified that she signed the withdrawal form
because she felt that her "job would be more secure" if she signed.
Nellie Womack was one of the employees who signed a with-
drawal form, but continued to be active in soliciting memberships
for the T. W. O. C . thereafter . Her forelady , Teeler Sims , called
for her T. W. O. C. membership card and informed her that she,
Miss Sims, was going to "put a red mark on the card and send it
back to the C. I. O. office." Miss Womack, however , still considered
herself a member of the T. W. O. C. at the date of the hearing.
She testified that she had never at any time visited the home of
Juanita Waxman.
Elese Pope prior to June 5,, 1937, had been employed by the
respondent for approximately 18 years and during that time had
never been discharged , and had never been laid off except when
the factory was closed down. She was one of the first of the respond-
ent's employees to join the T. W. O. C. She worked on membership
committees and was very active in visiting the homes of employees.
after working hours and in attempting to persuade them to join
the T . W. O. C. When Kyle, president of the respondent , learned
that she was one of the active T. W. O. C. workers, he called her
into his office and talked to her at length about her union activities.
On the following day, May 18, he again summoned her to his office
and there accused her and another employee , Margie Thornberg, of
using threats to obtain members for the T. W. O. C. These inter-
views have been more fully described in subdivision A of this sec-
tion. At the second interview she signed a form, withdrawing her
membership in the T. W. O. C ., but testified that she would not
have signed it "if they hadn't pounded me so much about it." --Later,
5 Board Exhibit No. 20.
80535-38-37
568 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
at Plaster's request, she surrendered her membership card to him.
During the latter part of May, she was told by Plaster that she
"was going to fool around and be out of a job and be out in the
cold with nothing to eat" if she continued her T. W. 0. C. activities.
The respondent claimed at the hearing that it had failed.to rein-
state Elese Pope because it discovered that she had upon several
occasions appeared at work with the odor of intoxicating liquor
upon her breath. Kyle testified that on the morning when he laid
the four girls off he noticed that Elese Pope slumped in her chair
*and appeared to have been drinking, that he thereupon caused an
investigation to be made concerning her drinking habits and was
informed by her forelady, Vester Clavinger, by Elmer Plaster, and
by two employees who worked near her, that they had noticed the
odor of an intoxicating liquor upon her breath on the morning of
the lay-offs. Plaster testified that upon one or two occasions prior
to that time he had reprimanded Elese Pope and, another employee,
Kate Moore, for drinking. This testimony was substantiated by
Kate Moore. However, the last time they had been reprimanded
was during the winter preceding the advent of the T. W. O. C. at
the respondent's plant.
Vester Clavinger testified that she had noticed the odor of liquor
upon Kate Moore's breath during the summer of '1937 and, had re-
ported such fact to Plaster. Kate Moore was never laid off or dis-
charged ; in fact, she remained upon friendly terms with the re-
spondent's officials. Kyle had upon a number of occasions loaned-
her money to assist her in paying debts, and shortly prior to the
date of the hearing, he loaned her the sum of $61 with which to
institute voluntary bankruptcy proceedings. Kate Moore had, until
about a month prior to June 5, been an intimate friend of Elese
Pope for several years. Shortly before June 5 she complained to
Plaster that Elese Pope and another employee, Margaret Gaddis,
were annoying her with their T. W. 0. C. activities. She thereafter
executed an affidavit, dated June 7, 1937, in which she charged Elese
Pope and Margaret Gaddis with poking fun at her while she worked
and in which she charged Elese Pope with visiting her on the night
of June 6 in a drunken condition.6
Miss Pope denied that she had imbibed any alcoholic liquor or
that the odor of such liquor was upon her breath on the morning
she was laid off. Two other employees, Margie Thornberg and
Margaret Gaddis, who worked with her that morning, substantiated
this testimony. Miss Pope admitted that she and Kate, Moore, as
well as Elmer Plaster, had upon several occasions drunk a glass of
beer when they were away from the plant for an hour or more be-
9 Respondent 's Exhibit No. 1.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 569
cause of a scarcity of work to be done ; she testified, however, that
she had never drunk anything stronger than beer. Elmer Plaster
did not deny that he had himself drunk beer upon such occasions.
He stated that he was not concerned with the manner in which em-
ployees conducted themselves away from the plant. He reported
to Kyle on the Monday following the lay-offs that all four of the
girls were good workers and that he would be willing to take them
back. Vester Clavinger testified that it was a week or two, after
the lay-offs before she discussed with anyone the charge that Elese
Pope came to work on June 5 with the odor of alcohol upon her
breath. She further testified that during the 16 or 17 years that
she had been employed by the respondent she had never known of
anyone being laid off or discharged for drinking, and that she had
not recommended that Elese Pope be laid off.
We find that Elese Pope was wrongfully and discriminatorily laid
off by the respondent on June 5 because of her membership in and
activities in behalf of the T. W. O. C. and for the purpose of dis-
couraging membership in the T. W. O. C. We further find that the
respondent has failed and refused to reinstate Elese Pope because of
her continued activities in behalf of the T. W. O. C. Since we do
not have before us charges that Lillian Blair, Audrey Carpenter,,
a.nd Nellie Womack were discriminatorily laid off, we make no
finding in regard to their lay-offs.
Elese Pope, prior to her lay-off, had been sewing cuffs and earn-
ing an average of about $14 a week. She -has not obtained any other
regular and substantially equivalent employment since June 5.
- 1 3. Margaret Gaddis
Marg6wet Gaddis had worked for the respondent approximately
a year and one-half prior to June 5, 1937. She worked at the same
table with Elese Pope and she too was one of the most active of
the T. W. O. C. members. She accompanied Elese Pope on member-
ship committee visits to the homes of various employees of the re-
spondent. Elmer Plaster had nicknamed her "C. I. 0." On June
5, he told her that she "was C.., I. O.ing" herself to death and that
he would have to lay her off. She was not laid off, however, until
the following Monday, June 7. He at that time gave her no reason
for the lay-off. He testified at the hearing that "the main reason
for letting her go was to change the attitude of the table and get
out some work." The immediate cause of her lay-off was stated by
the respondent to be the affidavit made by Kate Moore in which the
latter accused her and Elese Pope of molesting her at her work.
The relation of Kate Moore to the respondent we have already
discussed.
570 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Margaret Gaddis was not reinstated until July 24. During the
period of her lay-off she had no other regular and substantially
equivalent employment. While working she earned an average of
about $11 a week. We find that the respondent laid her off because
of her membership in and activities in behalf of the T. W. O. C.
and for the purpose of discouraging membership in that labor
organization.
To fully appreciate the effect of the discharges and lay-offs above
discussed upon union activities within the respondent's plant, there
must be considered the hostile attitude of the respondent toward the
T. W. O. C. and the measures taken by it to intimidate and coerce
its employees into following its will and thereby crushing the organi-
zational activities of the T. W. O. C. As a result of the speeches
made by Peet, Kyle, and Andrews, the withdrawals which were forced
from members of the T. W. O. C., the personal interviews of Kyle
with individual active T. W. O. C. members, the threats made by
foremen to such members, such organizational activities were greatly
hampered. However, it was not until after the occurrence of the
discharges and lay-offs which we have related that T. W. O. C. activ-
ities at the plant were completely crushed. Of approximately 100
employees who had joined the T. W. O. C., 59 had signed withdraw-
als prior to the date of the hearing. After June 5, when Elese Pope,
Lillian Blair, Audrey Carpenter, and Nellie Womack were laid off,
not a single new member of the T. W. O. C. was obtained at the
plant, although T. W. O. C. organizers continued to be as active as
before. We find that the respondent by its acts set forth in subdivi
sion B of this section has not only discriminated in regard to hire and
tenure of employment in order to discourage membership of its em-
ployees in the T. W. O. C., but that it has interfered with, restrained,
and coerced its employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in
Section 7 of the Act.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES UPON COMMERCE
The activities of the respondent set forth in Section III above, oc-
curring in connection with the operations of the respondent de-
scribed in Section I above, have a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States, and
tend to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow thereof.
THE REMEDY
The respondent, in order to effectuate the policies of the Act, must
offer to Clarence Puckett reinstatement to the position promised him
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 571
on the printing machine, or to such other position as, may be substan-
tially equivalent. It must also grant him back pay from the date
when the printing machine was ready for operation and another
employee.was placed thereon in Puckett's place to the date when
Puckett is offered reinstatement to such position, or its equivalent,
less any sum of money which he may have earned between such
dates.
The respondent must also offer to reinstate Elese Pope to her for-
mer position and must reimburse her for the amount of money which
she would normally have earned between June 5, 1937, and the date
when she is offered reinstatement, less any sum of money which she
may have earned during the interim.
Margaret Gaddis has already been reinstated and we will order
that the respondent pay her the sum which she would normally have
earned between June 7, 1937, and July 24, 1937, less any sum of money
which she may have earned between those dates.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and upon the en-
tire record in this proceeding, the Board makes the following conclu-
sions of law :
1. Textile Workers Organizing Committee is a labor organization
within the meaning of Section 2 (5) of the Act.
2. By interfering with, restraining, and coercing its employees in
the exercise of their right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist a
labor organization, to bargain collectively through representatives of
their own choosing, and to engage in concerted activities for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining and other mutual aid and protection, as
guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act, the respondent has engaged in and
is engaging in unfair labor practices, within the meaning of Section
8 (1) of the Act.
3. The respondent by discriminating in regard to the hire and tenure
of employment of Clarence Puckett, Elese Pope, and Margaret Gaddis,
and thereby discouraging membership in a labor organization, has
engaged in and is engaging in unf air labor practices, within the mean-
ing of Section 8 (3) of the Act.
4. The aforesaid unfair labor practices are unfair labor practices
affecting commerce, within the meaning of Section 2 (6) and (7) of
the Act.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and conclusions
of law, and pursuant to Section 10 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that
572
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the respondent, Knoxville Glove Company, 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 their 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 the purposes of collective bargaining or other mutual aid
or protection ;
(b) From in any manner discriminating in regard to the hire or
tenure of employment of any of Sits employees in order to discourage
membership in the Textile Workers Organizing Committee or any
other labor organization of its employees.
2. Take the following affirmative action which the Board finds will
effectuate the policies of the Act :
(a) Offer to Clarence Puckett reinstatement to the position prom-
ised him on the printing machine or to a substantially equivalent posi-
tion, and offer to Elese Pope reinstatement to the position held by her
on June 5, 1937, without prejudice to seniority rights and other rights
and privileges of either of them;
(b) Make whole Clarence Puckett, Elese Pope, and Margaret Cad-
dis for any losses of pay which they have suffered by reason of their
discharges, or lay-offs, by the payment to each of them of the sum of
money which each would normally have earned as wages between the
date of such discharge, or lay-off, and the date each was offered rein-
statement, or is offered reinstatement, by the respondent, less the
amounts, if any, which each has earned during that period;
(c) Post notices in conspicuous places throughout its plant in Knox-
ville, Tennessee, stating that it will cease and desist in the manner
aforesaid, and keep such notices posted for a period of at least thirty
(30) consecutive days from the date of posting;
(d) Notify the Regional Director for the Tenth Region, in writing,
within ten (10) days from the date of this order, what steps it has
taken to comply herewith.