Sykes Brothers Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 20, 1941

35 N.L.R.B. 595 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter Of SYKES BROTHERS INC. and INDEPENDENT CARPET
YARN ASSOCIATION
In the Matter of SYKES BROTHERS INC. and PHILADELPHIA TEXTILE
WORKERS JOINT BOARD
Cases Nos. R-2918 and R-2919.-Decided September 20, 1941
Jurisdiction : woolen carpet yarn manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : re-
fusal of Company to accord recognition to either of rival unions until cer-
tified by the Board ; pay roll preceding strike at one of two plants and
pay roll preceding shut-down of second plant caused by strike at first plant
used to determine eligibility ; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : single unit comprising production
and maintenance employees in two plants of the Company, excluding non-
working foremen, supervisors , office and clerical employees, engineers,
firemen, and truck drivers.
Messrs. Russell Conwell Cooney and Lewis H. Van Dusen, Jr.,
of Philadelphia, Pa., for the Company.
Mr. Gilbert J. Kraus, of Philadelphia, Pa., for the C. I. O.
Mr.,Harold Silverstein, of Philadelphia,'Pa., for the Independent.
Miss Melvern R. Krelow, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On July 3, 1941, Independent Carpet Yarn Association, herein
called the Independent, filed with the Regional Director for the
Fourth Region (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) a petition alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees at the Main Street and Shurs Lane plant,
herein called the Manayunk plant, of Sykes Brothers, Inc., Phila-
delphia, Pennsylvania, herein called the Company, and requesting
an investigation and certification of representatives pursuant to
Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449,
herein called the Act. On July 14, 1941, Philadelphia Textile
35 N. L. R. B., No. 134.
595
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596 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Workers Joint Board, C. I. 0., herein called the C. I. 0., filed a
similar petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had
arisen concerning the representation of employees at the Hancock
and Huntingdon Streets plant, herein called the Kensington plant,
of the Company., On August 12, 1941, the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section
9 (c) of the Act, and Article III, Section 3 and Section 10 (c) 2, of
the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series..
2, as amended, ordered an investigation in each case, authorized the
Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate
hearing upon due notice, and ordered that the cases be consolidated.
On August 14, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear-
ing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the Inde-
pendent, and the C. I. O. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on
August 25, 1941, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before Jerome I.
Macht, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial Ex-
aminer. The Company, the Independent, and the C. I. O. appeared
by counsel and participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evi-
dence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties. During the
course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings on
motions and on objections to the admission of evidence. The Board
has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no pre-
judicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
On September 5, 1941, the Company filed It brief which the Board
has duly considered.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Sykes Brothers Inc. is a Pennsylvania corporation operating two
plants at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where it is engaged in the manu-
facture of woolen carpet yarns. The Company uses raw materials
valued in excess of $500,000 annually, all of which are shipped to
it from points outside the United States. The Company manufac-
tures products valued in excess of $500,000 annually, approximately 16
per cent of which are shipped by it to points outside the State of
Pennsylvania. The Company admits for the purposes of this pro-
ceeding that it is engaged in interstate commerce within the meaning
of the Act.
1 At the bearing, on August 25, 1941, the Independent amended its petition to include
the employees of the Kensington plant in the unit which it claimed to be appropriate.
SYKEIS , BROTHE 'RS INC.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
597
Independent Carpet Yarn Association is an unaffiliated labor organ-
ization admitting to membership employees of the Company.
Philadelphia Textile Workers Joint Board is a labor organization
affiliated with the Committee of Industrial Organizations admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On or about May 15 and June 3, 1941, the C. I. O. and the Inde-
pendent, respectively, requested the Company•to enter into collective
bargaining negotiations. The Company denied these requests until
such time as either labor organization should be certified by the Board
as the authorized collective bargaining agency.
From the statements of the Regional Director introduced in evi-
dence at the hearing, it appears that the C. I. O. and, the Independent
each represents a substantial number of the employees in the unit here-
inafter found to be appropriate 2
We find that a question has arisen concerning the 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 a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and
with foreign countries and tends to lead to labor disputes burdening
and obstructing commerce and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The parties agree and we find that all production and maintenance
employees with the exception of non-working foremen, supervisors,
office" and clerical employees, engineers, firemen, and truck drivers
belong within the appropriate unit or units.
2 The Regional Director reported that the C . I. O. presented 150 membership cards, 134
of which bear the apparently genuine signatures of persons on the pay roll submitted by
the Company . The Regional Director further reported that the Independent presented a
petition bearing the apparently genuine signatures of 83 persons on the pay roll submitted
by the Company . A further petition presented by the Independent to the Trial Examiner
at the hearing contains 2 apparently genuine signatures of persons on the Company's pay
roll. There are 268 employees in the appropriate unit.
598 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Independent and the Company contend that the employees at
the Kensington and Manayunk plants of the Company constitute a
single appropriate unit. The C. I. O. contends that the above-men-
tioned employees at the Kensington plant constitute an appropriate
unit.
The Company has no collective bargaining contract with any union.
Although it appears from the record that the Company had a contract
with an unnamed labor organization many years ago for the Kensing-
ton plant before it acquired the Manayunk plant, it has not bargained
collectively with any labor organization since 1922.
The C. I. O. and the Independent have each sought to organize and
have each gained members at both the Kensington and Manayunk
plants.
On May 28, 1941, the C. I. O. called a strike at the Kensington
plant, and the plant thereupon closed. The Manayunk plant closed
a week later. Franklin B. J. Sykes, the Company's maintenance
head and assistant in production at the Kensington plant, testified
in this connection, as follows : "They (Manayunk plant) ran a
week later than we did (Kensington plant) and were forced to
close because we were not able to get material in and out, and
about half a dozen, who were interested in the C. I. O. as members,
did not report to work, particularly in the picker house, (of the
Manayunk plant) and that shut the (Manayunk) plant down".
The two. plants are only 5 miles apart, and are operated as a
single, integrated enterprise. Both plants are under a single head
foreman and have a common personnel office, and a common main-
tenance department. The supervisory officials divide their time be-
tween the Kensington and Manayunk plants. All purchases of raw
materials for both plants are handled at the Kensington plant and
allocations of orders to both are made at Kensington. There is a
considerable amount of interchange of semi-fabricated materials be-
tween the two plants and one cannot function without the other.
The work performed in these plants is basically the same. Both
plants utilize the same classification of workers. There is some
interchange of employees between the two plants and wages, hours,
and working conditions are identical. Sykes characterized the
Manayunk plant as a "branch" of the Kensington plant.
Under all the circumstances, we conclude that the employees at
the Kensington and Manayunk plants of the Company constitute
a single appropriate unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the
Kensington and Manayunk plants of the Company, excluding
nonworking foremen, supervisors, office and clerical employees, en-
SYKEIS BR'0mEIERS1,INiC. 599
gineers, firemen, and truck drivers, constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining and that such unit will
insure to employees of the Company the full benefit of their right
to self-organization and to collective bargaining, and otherwise
effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation can best be
resolved by an election by secret ballot.
As above indicated, the Kensington and Manayunk plants have
been closed, respectively, since May 28 and about June 4, 1941.
We shall direct accordingly, that an election by secret ballot be
held among all employees within the appropriate unit who were
employed at Kensington during the pay-roll period last preceding
May 28, 1941, and at Manayunk during the pay-roll period last pre-
ceding its shut-down about June 4, 1941, subject to such limitations
and additions as are set forth in the Direction of Election herein.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLusIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the rep-
resentation of employees of Sykes Brothers Inc., Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6)
and (7) of the Act.
2. All the production and maintenance employees in the Kensing-
ton and Manayunk plants of the Company, excluding non-working
foremen, supervisors, office and clerical employees, engineers, fire-
men, and truck drivers, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the 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
Relations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, 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 Sykes Brothers Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 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
600 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Fourth
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and
Regulations, among all production and maintenance employees of
the Company who were employed at the Kensington plant during
the pay-roll period last preceding May 28, 1941, and at the Manayunk
plant during the pay-roll period last preceding its shut-down about
June 4, 1941, including employees who did not work during such
pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or in the active
military service or training of the United States, or temporarily
laid off, but excluding non-working foremen, supervisors, office and
clerical employees, engineers, firemen, and truck drivers, and those
employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to
determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Inde-
pendent Carpet Yarn Association or Philadelphia Textile Workers
Joint Board, C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective bargaining, or
by neither.