Tomlinson of High Point, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 28, 1946

66 N.L.R.B. 1347 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of TOMLINSON OF HIGH POINT, INC. and UNITED
BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS AND JOINERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL UNION
No. 3023, A. F. of L.
Case No. 5-R-2127.-Decided March 28, 19/.6
Mr. W. S. Blakeney, of Charlotte, N. C., for the Company.
'Mr. Lewis J. Hutton, of High Point , N. C., and Mr. W. Reid
Stewart , of Winston -Salem , N. C., for the Union.
Mr. Donald B. Brady, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Brotherhood of Carpenters
and Joiners of America, Local Union, No. 3023, A. F. of L., herein
called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had
arisen concerning the representation of employees of Tomlinson of
High Point, Inc., High Point, North Carolina, herein called the
Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice before George L. Weasler, Trial
Examiner. The hearing was held at High Point, North Carolina,
on November 13, 1945. The Company and 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 reserved for
the Board a motion by the Company to dismiss the present proceeding
on the ground that the unit was inappropriate. For reasons stated
in Section IV, infra, the motion is denied. The Trial Examiner's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs
with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
1 United Furniture Workers of America, C. I. 0., was served with notice of hearing,
and appeared at the hearing solely to advise that it did not desire to participate in the
proceeding.
66 N. L . R. B., No. 162.
1347
1348 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOAIII)
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. TUE BUSYNESS OF TITE COMPANY
Tomlinson of High Point, Inc., a North Carolina corporation, has
its principal office and place of business in High Point, North
Carolina, where it is engaged in the manufacture, sale, and shipment
of living room, dining room, bedroom, and occasional furniture. We
are here concerned with Plant No. 10. During the year 1944, the
Company purchased for use at its High Point plants lumber, textiles,
and other raw materials valued at in excess of $1,000,000, of which
approximately 50 percent was obtained from points outside the
State of North Carolina. During the same period the Company
manufactured at its High Point plants finished products valued at
approximately $2,000,000, of which more than 50 percent was sold
and shipped to points outside the State of North Carolina.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
It. TIIE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Local
No. 3023, is a labor organization, affiliated with the American Federa-
tion of Labor, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
111. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as
the exclusive bargaining representative of its employees until the
Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates 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.
1V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union contends that all production and maintenance employees
in Plant 10 of the Company, including inspectors, watchmen, firemen,
and assistant foremen, but excluding clerical and supervisory em-
ployees, constitute an appropriate bargaining unit. The Company
2 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 132 cards ; there are approxi-
mately 300 employees in the alleged appropriate unit
TOM1ILINCON OF HIGH POIN'r, IN(,,. 1349
does not dispute the specific composition of the foregoing unit, but
contends that a unit less than Company-wide is inappropriate.
The Company's furniture manufacturing operations are carried
on in nine buildings. Six of these comprise Plant 10 and are located
in a single city block; the other three buildings, which house Plants
1 and 2, respectively," are located four blocks from Plant 10. Plants
1 and 2 are primarily woodworking and assembly plants. Plant 10
manufactures living room, dining room, bedroom, and occasional
furniture; it also performs upholstering, finishing, and shipping
operations.
In a prior proceeding, the Board found that the operations of the
Company were not so integrated as to preclude a finding that the
employees in Plant 2 could function as a separate appropriate unit.4
The various factors upon which the Board there predicated its find-
ing with regard to Plant 2 are substantially the same as those
revealed by the record in the instant case regarding Plant 10. The
physical and functional separation of Plant 10, coupled with the
extent of organization among the Company's employees, supports
our opinion that the employees of Plant 10 likewise may constitute
a separate appropriate unit at this time.
We find that all production and maintenance employees at Plant
10 of the Company, including inspectors, watchmen, firemen, and
assistant foremen," but excluding all clerical employees, foremen,
and all other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote,
discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
ployees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DE'T'ERMIN ATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among 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 Re-
3 Plant 1 is located in two buildings.
4 Matter of Tomlancon of High Point, Inc. .,5 N. L. R B 1287 As a result of the
election held therein, the Board certified the Union as the representative of the em-
ployees in Plant 2
5 The record reveals that assistant foi omen do not possess supei yzsory authority within
the Board 's customary definition thereof,
1350 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
lations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it
is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Tomlinson of
High Point, Inc.,'High Point, North Carolina, 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 supervision of the Regional Director for the Fifth 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
Regulations, among employees in the unit found appropriate in
Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including em-
ployees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they
were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including em-
ployees in the armed forces of the United States who present them-
selves 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 United Brotherhood of Carpenters
and Joiners of America, Local Union No. 3023, A. F. of L., for the
purposes of collective bargaining.