Tower Hosiery Mills, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 7, 1945

64 N.L.R.B. 1245 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of TOWER HOSIERY MILLS , INC. and AMERICAN FEnFatA-
TION OF HOSIERY WORKERS, C. I. O.
Case No. 5-R-2008.-Decided December 7, 1945
ltr. Thomas D. Cooper, of Burlington, N. C., and Mr. L. P. Mc-
Lendon, of Greensboro, N. C., for the Company.
Mr. H. G. B. Kings, of Chattanooga, Tenn., Mr. Raymond Adams, of
Burlington, N. C., and Mr. Myles Cunningham, of Greensboro, N. C.,
for the Union.
Mr. Nathan Saks, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STA'I P'_3IENT OF TILE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by American Federation of Hosiery
Workers, C. I. 0., herein called the Union, alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Tower Hosiery Mills. Inc., Burlington, North Carolina,
herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board pro-
vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before George L.
Weasler, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Burlington, North
Carolina, on September 17, 1945. The Company and the Union
appeared and participated' All parties were afforded full oppor-
tunity 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.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. TIIE BUSINESS OF TIIE COMPANY
'lower Hosiery Mills, Inc., is a North Carolina corporation engaged
in the manufacture and sale of full-fashioned hosiery at its sole plant
' The Union filed a waiver of any right to protest an election held in this proceeding on
any ground set forth in its pending unfair labor practice charges against the Company in
Case No. 5-C-1847.
64 N. L. R. B., No. 208.
1245
1246 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
in Burlington, North Carolina. During the first 6 months of 1945,
the Company purchased raw materials, consisting of rayon and cotton,
valued at approximately $250,000, of which approximately 80 percent
was shipped to the plant from points outside the State of North
Carolina. During the same period, the Company manufactured and
sold full-fashioned hosiery valued at approximately $450,000, of which
approximately 99 percent represented shipments to points outside the
State.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. TIIE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
American Federation of Hosiery Workers, affiliated with the Con-
gress of Industrial 'Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to recognize the Union as the exclusive
bargaining representative of certain 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 hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees 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 of all production and maintenance employees
of the Company, including watchmen-firemen, the shipping clerk,
the utility man and the utility woman, but excluding fixers, foremen-
fixers, and the forelady. The only controversy with respect to the
unit concerns the fixers, whom the Union would exclude, and the
Company would include.
The fixers are skilled mechanics engaged primarily in keeping the
knitting machinery in proper operating condition. In addition to
their repair duties, the 'fixers furnish the knitters with some of their
needed supplies, such as scissors, and also give them a substantial part
of their operational instructioi>fs, primarily those relating to the ad-
2 Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 95 membership cards ; that the
names of 90 persons appearing on these cards were listed on the Company's pay roll con-
taining the names of 148 employees in the appropriate unit ; and that the cards were dated
between November 1944 and July 1945.
TOWER HOSIERY MILLS, INC. 1247
justment of machinery. The fixers are paid approximately $5 to $15
a week more than the regular production employees.
The Union contends that fixers are supervisors; that they are ineli-
gible for membership in the Union; that no attempt has been made' to
organize them; and that they are customarily excluded from all bar-
gaining units in the full-fashioned hosiery industry. In the latter
connection, it points to the fact that the impartial chairman under the
collective bargaining contract between the Union and the Full-
]Fash-ioned Hosiery Manufacturers of America, Inc., a trade association
comprising about 33 firms in the industry, has ruled that fixers have
managerial duties, and hence are excluded from the coverage of the
aforesaid contract.
The Company's position is that its fixers do not have supervisory
authority, and should, therefore, be included in the unit.
In a recent decision,3 we had occasion to consider the status of fixers
in the full-fashioned hosiery industry who have substantially the same
duties and functions as those involved here. We there found it un-
necessary to determine whether fixers are supervisory within the mean-
ing of the Board definition, and held that, in view of the well-
estab-lished pattern in the full-fashioned hosiery industry whereby fixers
are excluded from units of production and maintenance employees, we
would exclude them from the unit.' Accordingly, in view of the ab-
sence of any bargaining history in this plant,5 the Union's unwilling-
ness to represent the fixers, and the custom which prevails in the full-
fashioned hosiery industry, we shall exclude the fixers from the units
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the Com-
pany, including watclimen-firemen, the shipping clerk, the utility man
and the utility woman, but excluding fixers, foremen-fixers, the fore-
lady and all other supervisory employees with authority to hire, pro-
mote, 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 mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
3 Matter of Mock, Judson, Voehringer Company of North Carolina , Inc., 63 N. L R. B. 96.
4 Matter of Tower Hosiery Mills , Inc., 58 NA. R. B 1053, an earlier case involving the
same employees of the Company , was overruled to the extent that it was inconsistent with
the above holding.
5 Pursuant to a consent election agreement between the Company and' the Union, an
election was held on October 15, 1940, among the employees here involved. Although the
Union won the election , no collective bargaining agreement was ever entered into between
the Company and the Union as a result thereof . Pursuant to the Board' s Decision and
Direction of Election, dated October 16, 1944, in Matter of Tower Hosiery Mills, Inc , supra,
an election was held on November 9, 1944, among the same employees, but the Union, which
was the only labor organization on the ballot, lost the election
6 See also Matter of Adams -Millis Corporation, Plant Number 7, 63 N. L It. B. 362.
1248 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
, V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPIIESENTATIVES
The Union urges that, because the Company is hiring an unusual
number of employees, the Board use the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of the filing of the petition in determining eligibility
to vote. The Company is in accord with the Board's usual policy.
The record does not support the Union's position, and we perceive no
convincing reason for departing from our regular practice in fixing
the eligibility date. 11'e, shall direct that the question concerning rep-
resentation which has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot
among the employees in the appropriate unit who were employed dur-
ing the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direc-
tion of Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set
forth in the Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuantt, 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 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 Tower Hosiery
Mills, Inc., Burlington, North Carolina, an election by secret ballot
shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than sixty (60) 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 Ar-
ticle III, Sections 10 and 11. of said Rules and Regulations, among the
employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who
were employed (luring the pay-roll period immediately 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 tempo-
rarily laid off, and including employees in the awned forces of the
United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but exclud-
ing any who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not
been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to deter-
mine whether or not they desire to be represented by American Fed-
eration of Hosiet Workers. C. I. 0., for the pin poses of collective bar-
gaining.
Mu..ToiiN Al. HonsroN took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.