Union Buffalo Mills Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 18, 1938

5 N.L.R.B. 398 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter of UNION BUFFALO MILLS COMPANY and TEXTILE,
WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
In the Matter of UNION BUFFALO MILLS COMPANY and TEXTILE
WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Cases Nos. R-562 and B-56.3.-Decided February 18, 1938
Cotton Textile Industry-Investigation of Representatives : controversy con-
cerning representation of employees : majority status disputed by employer ;
refusal by employer to recognize petitioning union as exclusive representative-
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: hourly and piece -rate production
and maintenance employees in each plant ; no controversy as- to-Election
Ordered
Mr. Marion A. Prowell,. forrthe Board.
Mr. William Elliott, of Columbia, S. C., for the Company.
Mr. C. L. Gibson, of Spartanburg, S. C., for the Union.
Miss Ann Land?f, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On October 18, 1937, Textile Workers Organizing Committee, herein
called the Union, filed with the Regional Director for the Tenth
Region (Atlanta, Georgia) two petitions alleging that questions_affect-
ing commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees
of Union Buffalo Mills Company, herein called the Company, at its
Buffalo, South Carolina, mill and at its Fairmont, South Carolina,
mill, respectively. Each petition requested an investigation and cer-
tification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On Novem-
ber 27, 1937,- the National Labor Relations 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, ordered investigations and authorized the Re-
gional Director to conduct them and to provide for an appropriate
hearing upon due notice. On December 7, 1937, the Board acting pur-
suant to Article III, Section 10 (c) (2), of Rules and Regulations,
398
DECISIONS AND ORDERS .399
ordered that the two cases be consolidated for the purpose of hearing.
On December 22, 1937, the Regional Director .issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and
upon the Union. Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held on
January 13, 1938, at Spartanburg, South Carolina, before James M.
Brown, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The
Board and the Company were represented by counsel and the Union
by a representative, and all participated in the hearing. Full oppor-
tunity to be heard, to examine and to cross-examine witnesses, and to
introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF. FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Company is a New York corporation, having its principal
office in Greenville, South Carolina. It owns and operates one textile
mill in Fairmont, South Carolina, and one in Buffalo, South Carolina.
On October 16, 1937, the Fairmont plant employed approximately 213
employees and the Buffalo plant between 1,200 and 1,400 employees.
The principal raw material used by the Company is cotton, approxi-
mately 60 per cent of such material being obtained, in the case of each
mill, from points outside of the State of South Carolina. The Com-
pany also uses at each plant coal, oil, starch and manufactured parts
and a large per cent of these materials are also obtained outside of
South Carolina. The finished products of the Company are cotton
sheeting and print cloth, and 85 per cent of such products manu-
factured at each plant are shipped outside the State of South Carolina.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Textile Workers Organizing Committee is a labor organization
affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organization, admitting
to its membership all hourly and piece-rate production and mainte-
nance employees of the Company, excluding clerical and supervisory
employees.
III. THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Union claims as its members 60 per cent of the employees of
the Buffalo plant and 75 per cent of the employees of the Fairmont
plant. It has written to the Company at both plants asking for a
conference to be arranged for the purpose of drawing up an agree-
ment. The Company has refused the request, denying the Union's
claim that the majority of the Company's employees at both plants
desire to be represented by the Union.
400 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We find that a question has arisen concerning representation of
employees of the Company at its Buffalo mill and at its Fairmont
mill, respectively.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
UPON COMMERCE,
We find that the questions concerning representation which have
arisen, occurring in connection 'with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, have a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States, and
tend to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union claims that the hourly and piece-rate production and
maintenance employees of the Company exclusive of the,supervisory
and clerical forces, constitute in the case of each mill a unit appro-
priate for the purpose of collective bargaining. The Company raised
no objection to the bargaining units which the Union claimed appro-
priate and the testimony of its officials at the hearing showed that the
problems of rates of pay, hours and working conditions of the em-
ployees in 'the' different departments are substantially the same.
Although the evidence presented in the record does not militate
against a single bargaining unit composed of employees of the Com-
pany at the two mills, neither the Company nor the Union contended
for a single unit.
We find that the hourly and piece-rate production and mainte-
nance employees of the Company, excluding clerical and supervisory
employees, constitute, in the case of each mill, a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining and that said units 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
Although the Union claimed to represent a-majority of employees
of the Company in the bargaining at each mill, it did not submit
membership cards or other evidence in support of such claim. We
find, therefore, that the questions of representation which have arisen
can only be resolved by means of an election by secret ballot. It
was stipulated by the parties that if an election is ordered by the
Board, the pay-roll date October 14, 1937, shall be used to determine
eligibility to vote.
. DECISIONS AND ORDERS 401
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. Questions affecting commerce have arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Union Buffalo Mills Company, at its mills
at Buffalo and Fairmont, South Carolina, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
2. The hourly and piece-rate production and maintenance em-
ployees of the Company, exclusive of clerical and supervisory
employees, constitute in the case of each mill a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
By virtue of and pursuant to the, power,vested in. the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Re-
lations 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
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with the Union Buffalo Mills Company, elections by secret ballot
shall be conducted within fifteen (15) days from the date of this Di-
rection, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director
for the Tenth 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 the hourly and piece-rate production
and maintenance employees of the Company who were employed by
the Company at its Buffalo mill and at its Fairmont mill respectively
during the pay-roll period ending October 14, 1937, exclusive of
clerical and supervisory employees and those employees who have
quit or been discharged for cause since October 14, 1937, to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented by the Textile Workers
Organizing Committee for the purposes of collective bargaining.