Liberty Hosiery Mills, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 28, 1947

75 N.L.R.B. 340 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of LIBERTY HOSIERY MILLS, INC ., EMPLOYER and AMERI-
CAN FEDERATION OF HOSIERY WORKERS , CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 5-R-9567.-Decided November 28, 1947
Hudgins and Adams, by Mr. D. E. Hudgins, of Greensboro, N. C.,
for the Employer.
Mr. Sonnie Davis, of Burlington, N. C., and Mr. H. G. B. King, of
Chattanooga, Tenn., for the Petitioner.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon an amended petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held
at Greensboro, North Carolina, on October 25, 1946, and further
hearing on May 27, 1947,1 before Harold M. Weston, hearing officer.
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearings are free from prej-
udicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. TIIE BUSINESS OF TILE EMPLOYER
Liberty Hosiery Mills, Inc., a North Carolina corporation, has its
principal office and only plant at Liberty, North Carolina, where it is
engaged in the manufacture of ladies' full fashioned and seamless
hosiery. During the year ending October 1, 1946, the Employer pur-
chased raw materials, consisting principally of rayon and nylon,
valued at over $250,000, of which more than 75 percent was shipped
to the plant from points outside North Carolina. During the same
period the Employer's sales exceeded $500,000 in value, of which
more than 75 percent was shipped to points outside North Carolina.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
I On April 2, 1947, the Board remanded the case to the Regional Director for further
hearing iespecting alleged changes in circumstances at the plant occurring since the hear-
ing of October 25, 1946.
75 N. L. R. B., No. 42.
340
LIBERTY HOSIERY MILLS, INC.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
341
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
III. THE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT ; THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING
REPRESENTATION
The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of employees engaged in griege
operations, or, in the alternative, a unit composed of full-fashioned
knitters at the Employer's plant. The Employer alleges that the
integration of its plant operations precludes the appropriateness of
either a griege operation unit or a unit of full-fashioned knitters, and
contends that all production and maintenance employees at the plant
constitute a single appropriate unit.
The Employer's operations are conducted in one plant, consisting of
two rectangular wings separated by corridors, the boilerroom, and the
other service departments. In one wing, hereinafter called the griege
wing, employees are engaged in producing full-fashioned and seam-
less raw hosiery from rayon and nylon yarn. These manufacturing
operations include the process of knitting, looping, seaming, fixing,
back wincing, inspecting and mending. The knitting machines in
the griege wing consist of two types, machines producing seamless
stockings, operated by employees comparable in skill to employees
engaged in looping, seaming and other skilled operations ancillary to
knitting, and machines producing 45-gauge full-fashioned stockings,
operated by more highly skilled employees. The raw stockngs pro-
duced in the griege wing go to the other wing for finishing processes.
The other wing, hereinafter called the finishing wing, houses the
finishing operations which include preboarding, dyeing, inspecting,
mending, final boarding, and various sorting and ticketing operations.
The Employer's office and clerical employees are located in the f nish-
ing wing. In addition, a large storeroom in the finishing wing was
prepared during the year 1946 for the reception of fourteen 51-gauge
full-fashioned knitting machines. In March 1947, two of these ma-
chines were installed, and five more are on order with delivery expected
in 1947. Menders who have been located in the griege wing and who
have been working on raw hosiery have recently been transferred to
the finishing wing, where they will work side by side with menders
who work-on finished hosiery.
Employees in each production employee classification are under the
supervision of one foreman, and all foremen are directly under the
766972-48-vol 75-23
342 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
supervision of one plant superintendent. Maintenance employees are
assigned to work in both wings. There are no time clocks, and em-
ployees report to work to their respective foremen. Most operators
are paid on a piece-work basis, and except for knitters, whose earnings
are considerably higher, the pay is about the same for all. There
appears to be little difference between the 6 months' training required
by the full-fashioned knitters involved in these proceedings and the
4 to 6 months' training necessary to perform other skilled operations
such as looping, seaming, and seamless knitting. There is, however,
little interchange between griege and finishing work, and no transfer
of knitters to other operations. Full-fashioned knitters are recruited
both from outside the plant and from the more experienced workers
in skilled griege operations.
It is evident that the Employer's plant processe's constitute, to a con-
siderable degree, a single continuing operation, and, although there
is a certain natural division between griege and finishing operations,
the Employer's plant organization tends to obliterate it. For example,
the work of mending, which is the same whether performed on raw
hosiery, wherein it is a griege operation, or on the finished product,
wherein it is a finishing operation, is supervised by a single mending
foreman. All menders are now physically located in one place. On
the other hand, the 51-gauge full-fashioned knitters, whose work
differs little from that of 45-gauge full-fashioned knitters, and who
accordingly share with them the supervision of the same knitting
foreman, are located far from them and the other griege operations
in the finishing wing.
In view of the foregoing, it appears that a unit composed of em-
ployees engaged in griege operations would be neither homogeneous
nor readily delineable and hence is inappropriate for collective bar-
gaining purposes 2 We are also of the opinion that, inasmuch as the
full-fashioned knitters concerned herein do not constitute a craft,',
or comprise a separate department' or even a homogeneous group of
workers distinguished by special and peculiar work interests, they do
not constitute an appropriate unit for collective bargaining purposes a
Since, as we have held, neither of the bargaining units sought by
the Petitioner is appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining,
we find that no question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the
representation of employees of the, Employer within the meaning of
2 Matter of United States Cold Storage Company , 73 N. L . it. B. 687.
8 See Matter of Garden State Hosiery Company, 74 N. L . it. B. 318.
4 Cf. Matter of Forest City Knitting Company, 69 N. L. R. B . 89 ; Matter of Garden
State Hosiery Company, supra.
5 Matter of Triangle Publication, Incorporated, 40 N. L . R. B. 1330.
LIBERTY HOSIERY MILLS, INC. 343
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor
Relations Act. We shall, therefore, dismiss the petition.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, and upon the en-
tire record in these proceedings, the National Labor Relations Board
hereby orders that the petition for investigation and certification of
representatives of employees of Liberty Hosiery Mills, Inc., Liberty,.
North Carolina, filed herein by American Federation of Hosiery Work-
ers, CIO, be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
MEMBERS Muxnoos and GRAY took no part in the consideration of
the above Decision and Order.