Monument Mills

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 7, 1938

10 N.L.R.B. 347 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter Of MONUMENT MILLS and TEXTILE WORKERS
BROTHERHOOD
Case No. R-1055.-Decided December 7, 1938
Textile Industry-Investigation of Representatives : controversy concerning
representation of employees : rival organizations ; contract with intervening
union in effect until it is determined under Act that it is no longer entitled
to act as bargaining agent-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: pro-
duction and maintenance employees at single plant, excluding executives, man-
agers, submanagers , foremen, assistant foremen, timekeepers , salesmen, and
mill and office clerical employees ; stipulation as to-Election Ordered
Mr. Bernard J. Donoghue, for the Board.
Mr. John I. Donna, of Pittsfield, Mass., for the Company.
Mr. Frank J. Brothers, of Great Barrington, Mass., for the
Brotherhood.
Mr. Samuel Angoff, of Boston, Mass., and Mr. Horace Riviere,
of Holyoke, Mass., for the T. W. O. C.
Mr. Albert J; Hoban, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On July 21, 1938, Textile Workers Brotherhood, herein called the
Brotherhood, filed with the Regional Director for the First Region
(Boston, Massachusetts) a petition alleging that a question affect-
ing commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees
of Monument Mills of Housatonic, Massachusetts, herein called the
Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of repre-
sentatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations
Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. The petition was amended
on July 26, 1938. On September 16, 1938, the National Labor Rela-
tions 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 1, as amended, or-
dered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to
conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due
notice.
On October 1, 1938, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, upon
10 N. L. R. B., No. 23.
347
348 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the Brotherhood, and upon • Textile Workers Organizing Commit-
tee, herein called the T. W. O. C., a labor organization claiming to
represent employees directly, affected by the investigation.
Pursuant to an amended notice, copies of which were duly served
upon all parties, a hearing' was held on October 13 and 14, 1938,
at Great Barrington, Massachusetts, before Alvin J. Rockwell, the
Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board, the
Company, the Brotherhood, and the T. W. O. C.1 were represented
by counsel and 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 Trial Examiner made several rulings oii^
motions and 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.
At the hearing the T. W. O. C. moved that the petition be dismissed
and on November 5, 1938, it filed a brief in support of the motion.
This motion, which was referred to the Board by the Trial Exam-
iner, is hereby denied. On November 8, 1938, the Brotherhood filed
a brief with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Monument Mills is a Massachusetts corporation engaged in the
manufacture of cotton yarns and bedspreads . The plant of the
Company is located at Housatonic , Massachusetts . Approximately,
85 per cent of the raw cotton, comber and card strips , rayon yarn,
dyestuffs , chemicals , and other raw materials used by the Company
in the manufacture of its finished products are transported to the
plant- from points outside the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
During the 12 months immediately preceding the hearing the gross
value of raw -material purchases was approximately $216,000. For
the same period the gross volume of'the Company 's sales amounted
to $650,000 in value. Approximately 86 per cent of the products
so manufactured were sold and shipped ' to customers located in
States other than the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
There are over 300 production employees at the Housatonic plant.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Textile Workers Brotherhood is a labor organization unaffiliated
with any national organization. It admits to membership the pro-
I The record shows that the T. W. O. C. Intervened on behalf of its Local 114.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 349
duction and maintenance employees of the Company, excluding
office and supervisory employees.
Local 114, Textile Workers Organizing Committee, is a labor
,organization affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organiza-
tion, admitting to its membership the production and maintenance
employees of the Company, excluding office and supervisory
employees.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On May 4, 1937, during a strike of the Company's employees, an
agreement for a consent election was entered into by the Company
and the T. W. O. C. No other organization then claimed to repre-
sent the employees. At the election which was conducted on May 6,
1937, under the supervision of the Regional Attorney for the First
Region, of the 437 employees voting, 402 designated the T. W. O. C.
as their representative. Following the election, the T. W. O. C. and
the Company entered into negotiations which culminated on May
25, 1937, in a collective bargaining agreement recognizing the
T. W. O. C. as the exclusive representative of the Company's em-
ployees. In May 1938 the T. W. O. C. and the Company began
negotiations which, on June 14, 1938, terminated in a new agreement
to be effective until June 15, 1939, "or until such earlier date as it
be determined under the Wagner Act that the Textile Workers Or-
ganizing Committee is no longer entitled to act as bargaining agent."
No new proof of authority to represent the employees was requested
by the Company during the 1938 negotiations with the T. W. O. C.
Meanwhile, in April 1938, several employees of the Company
formed Independent Local Union of Housatonic. On June 28, 1938,
the employees who were active in Independent Local Union of
Housatonic organized the Brotherhood which, on July 21, 1938,
,claiming to represent a majority of the Company's employees, filed
its petition for certification with the Regional Director.
In view of the above-quoted provision, the contract cannot be con-
sidered a bar to the claim of the Brotherhood.2
We find that a question has arisen concerning 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 it close, intimate, and substantial
2 Matter of Farr Alpaca Company, Inc. and Federal Local Union No. 21644 of the Ameri-
,an Federation of Labor, 9 N. L R. B 1208.
350 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
relation to trade, traffic , and commerce among the several States and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
At the hearing all the parties stipulated that the appropriate unit
consists of all production and maintenance employees of the Com-
pany, excluding executives , managers , submanagers , foremen, assist-
ant foremen , timekeepers , salesmen, and mill and office clerical em-
ployees. These employees are eligible to membership in both unions
and are covered by the agreement between the Company and the-
T.W.O.C.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Company , excluding executives , managers , submanagers , foremen,
assistant foremen, timekeepers , salesmen, and mill and office clerical
employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining and that said unit will insure to employees of the Com-
pany the full benefit of their right to self-organization and collective
bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
At the hearing the Company introduced in evidence a list of 309,
employees in the appropriate unit who worked between the week
ending July 23, 1938, and the week ending October 8, 1938. The°
Brotherhood , which claimed to represent a majority of the employees
within the appropriate unit, introduced in evidence 203 membership
cards, signed within the week immediately preceding the hearing.
More than 130 names which were on the cards appeared upon the list
of names furnished by the Company.
The T. W. O. C., in support of its motion to dismiss , introduced a
copy of the certification of the results of the consent election of May
6, 1937, and copies of the subsequent agreements with the Company.
Under these circumstances we find that an election by secret ballot
is necessary to resolve the question concerning representation . All the
parties agreed that those eligible to vote in the event that the Board
directed an election should, with one exception , be the employees of
the Company who worked between the week ending July 23, 1938, and
the week ending October 8 , 1938, and whose names appear on the list
of names of employees submitted by the Company at the hearing.
The T. W. O. C. contended that Joseph LaBonne, whose name ap-
peared on the list, was a supervisory employee. The record shows that
LaBonne is a section hand whose duties consist of setting up and re-
pairing machinery . There is no evidence that he has ever acted in
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 351
a supervisory capacity. We are of the opinion that he is eligible to
vote in the election. Accordingly, those eligible to vote shall be those
employees who worked between the week ending July 23, 1938, and
the week ending October 8, 1938.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the proceeding, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Monument Mills, Housatonic, Massachu-
setts, 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 of the Company,
exclusive of executives, managers, submanagers, foremen, assistant
foremen, timekeepers, salesmen, and mill and office clerical employees,
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing, 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 Rela-
tions Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as
amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Monument Mills, Housatonic, Massachusetts, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted within fifteen (15) days from the date of this
Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Direc-
tor 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 of the Company who worked between the week ending July
23, 1938, and the week ending October 8, 1938, exclusive of executives,
managers, submanagers, foremen, assistant foremen, timekeepers,
salesmen, and mill and office clerical employees, and those employees
who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether
they desire to be represented by Textile Workers Brotherhood or by
Textile Workers Organizing Committee affiliated with the Committee
for Industrial Organization for the purposes of collective bargaining,
or by neither.
352,
[SAME TITLE
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 11, 1939
On December 7, 1938, the National Labor Relations Board, herein
called the Board, issued a Decision and Direction of Election in
the above-entitled case. The Direction of Election provided that an
election by secret ballot be conducted within fifteen (15) days from
the date of the Direction among all production and maintenance
employees of Monument Mills, Housatonic, Massachusetts, who
worked between the week ending July 23, 1938, and the week end-
ing October 8, 1938, exclusive of executives, managers, submanagers,
foremen, assistant foremen, timekeepers, salesmen, and mill and office
clerical employees, and those employees who had since quit or been
discharged for cause, to determine whether they desired to be rep-
resented, for the purposes of collective bargaining, by the Textile
Workers Brotherhood or by the Textile Workers Organizing Com-
mittee, affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organization,
or by neither.
Pursuant to the Direction of Election, an election by secret ballot
was conducted under the direction and supervision of the Regional
Director for the First Region (Boston, Massachusetts), on December
22, 1938. Full opportunity was accorded to all the parties to this
investigation to participate in the conduct of the secret ballot and
to make challenges. On December 23, 1938, the Regional Director,
acting pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, issued
and duly served upon the parties an Intermediate Report on the
election. No objections or exceptions to the Intermediate Report
have been filed by any of the parties.
As to the balloting and its results, the Regional Director reported
as follows :
Total number eligible to vote-------------------------------- 310
Total number of ballots cast-------------------- ------------ 290
Total number of ballots cast for Textile Workers Brotherhood- 152
Total number of ballots cast for Textile Workers Organizing
Committee, affiliated with the Committee for Industrial
Organization---------------------------------------------- 120
Total number of ballots cast for neither-------------------- 13
Total number of blank ballots------------------------------ 0
Total number of void ballots --------------------------------- 2
Total number of challenged ballots-- ------------------------ 3
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 353
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Sections 8 and 9,
of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1,
as amended,
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that the Textile Workers Brotherhood has
been selected by a majority of the production and maintenance em-
ployees of Monument Mills, Housatonic, Massachusetts, exclusive of
executives, managers, submanagers, foremen, assistant foremen,'time-
keepers, salesmen, and mill and office clerical employees, as their
representative for the purposes of collective bargaining, and that,
pursuant to Section 9 (a) of the Act, Textile Workers Brotherhood
is the exclusive representative of all such employees for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours
of employment, and other conditions of employment.
10 N. L. R. B., No. 23a. -