Reliance Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 31, 1944

55 N.L.R.B. 981 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of RELIANCE MANUFACTURING COMPANY and AMAL-
GAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA (C. I. 0.)
Case No. 18-R-937.-Decided March 31, 1944
Mr. F. D. Schultheis, of Muscatine, Iowa, for the Union.
Mr. Thomas B. Sweeney, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America (C. I. 0.), herein called the Union, alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Reliance Manufacturing Company, Anamosa, Iowa, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for
an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Stephen M. Reynolds,
Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Anamosa, Iowa, on Feb-
ruary 23, 1944. Prior to the hearing the Company, which made no
appearance at the hearing, moved for a continuance. The Trial Ex-
aminer denied the motion. The ruling is hereby affirmed.' The
Union appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full
opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and
to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an opportunity to file
briefs with the Board.
I From the record, it appears that the Company received ample Notice of Hearing and
that it could have been competently and adequately represented at the hearing had it so
desired. we also note that since the date of the hearing, the Company has offered no
further objection to the holding of the hearing in the absence of its representative.
55 N. L. R. B., No. 176.
981
982 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THEi BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Reliance Manufacturing Company, an Illinois corporation, operates
several plants throughout the United States, including the plant at
Anamosa, Iowa, which is the plant involved herein. This plant is
engaged in manufacturing shirts from cotton piece goods, all of which
are transported to the plant from points outside the State of Iowa.
Its principal customers are the United States Navy and J. C. Penney
Company, the former presently receiving approximately one-third
of the plant's total production. Its daily shipments to the United
States Navy at Oakland, California, average 2,000 shirts, and on Fri-
day, February 18, 1944, such shipments totaled 13,000 shirts. We find
that the Company is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, affiliated with the
Congress of Industrial Organizations , is a labor organization admit-
ting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On January 27, 1944, the Union requested the Company to recog-
nize it as the exclusive representative of the employees within an
alleged appropriate unit. The Company refused to do so.
A statement of the Trial Examiner and evidence adduced at the
hearing indicate that the Union represents a substantial number
of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit composed of all employees at the plant
excluding only supervisory and clerical employees. No position to
the contrary has been taken by the Company.
The Tiial Examiner repotted that the Union submitted 125 application cards, all of
which bole apparently genuine original signatures of employees in the appropriate unit,
and that 115 of the cards wee dated in December 1943 and January 1944, and 10 were
undated The evidence discloses that the appropriate unit consists of approximately 180
employees.
RELIANCE MANUFACTURING COMPANY 983
We find that all employees at the Company's Anamosa plant ex-
cluding clerical employees and all supervisory employees with
authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect
changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such
action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the
employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of
Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth
in the Direction.
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, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Reliance Manu-
facturing Company, Anamosa, Iowa, 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 super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Eighteenth Region, acting
in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and
subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regula-
tions, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section
IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immedi-
ately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who
did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or
on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the
armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person
at the polls, but excluding those employees who have since quit or
been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated
prior to the date of the election, to determine whether or not they
desire to be represented by Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
for the purposes of collective bargaining.