Adams-Millis Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 6, 1949

83 N.L.R.B. 1128 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of ADAMS-MILLIS CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and
AMERIOAN FEDERATION OF HOSIERY WORKERS, PETITIONER
Case No. 34-RC-120.-Decided June 6, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Howard A.
McIntyre, hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board.
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju-
dicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Murdock].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organization named below claims to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit :
The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all production and maint-
enance employees of the Employer, excluding fixers, clerical help,'
watchmen, foremen, foreladies, and all other supervisors. The parties
are in general agreement as to the composition of the unit. The Pe-
titioner, however, would exclude, whereas the Employer would include,
the fixers, the watchmen-firemen, utility men (electrical), the ma-
chinist, the lot-boy, Jessie Bishop, the utility girl, and Clannie Bishop.
Fixers: The Employer has three employees classified as fixers, who
perform the duties typical of employees in this category in the N11-
'At the hearing, the Employer contended that this exclusion from the unit should be
changed to read "office clerical help." It is not clear from the record whether or not
any plant clerical employees are employed by the Employer In accordance with our
usual practice, however, we shall exclude only office clerical employees from the production
and maintenance unit hereinafter found appropriate . Matter of The Clark Thread
Company, 79 N. L R . B. 542.
83 N. L R. B., No. 158.
1128
ADAMS-MILLIS CORPORATION 1129
fashioned hosiery industry. We have heretofore recognized that there
exists a well-established pattern of collective bargaining in the full-
fashioned hosiery industry whereby fixers are excluded from units
of production and maintenance employees.2 We shall therefore ex-
clude the fixers from the unit.
Watchmen-firemen: The Employer employs three watchmen-fire-
men. One of them works only on Saturdays and Sundays. His prin-
cipal occupation is firing the boiler and sweeping the plant. He makes
a tour of the plant every hour punching time clocks located in two or
three places in the plant. One of the Employer's witnesses testified
that this tour occupies about 10 minutes out of every hour. Another
of the watchmen-firemen works 4 days each week, including Saturday
and Sunday. The third watchman-fireman works 5 days a week, in-
cluding Saturday and Sunday. On weekdays these two employees
are engaged exclusively in firing the boiler and sweeping the plant.
Their duties on Saturday and Sunday are identical with those of the
first watchman-fireman described above, each of the three men work-
ing on a different shift. None of these men is deputized or uniformed.
In accordance with previous Board decisions with respect to part-
time watchmen who are engaged predominantly in other work, we
shall include these watchmen-firemen in the production and main-
tenance unit as maintenance employees.3
Utility man (electrical) : 4 The Petitioner contends that this individ-
ual is a supervisor. The record shows that he is the plant's only
electrician and that he does minor electrical work and other odd jobs
around the plant. As this individual is not a licensed electrican any
major electrical work that may be required is performed by an elec-
trician from the Employer's main plant. On occasion, other em-
ployees in the plant may be temporarily assigned to assist the utility
man in performing certain tasks. The record does not show that he
has any power to hire or discharge these temporarily assigned em-
ployees, to recommend changes in their status, or responsibility to
direct them. We shall therefore include the utility man (electrical)
in the unit.
Machinist: 8 The Petitioner contends that this individual should
be excluded from the unit as a fixer. He is classified by the Employer
as a machinist, and he is engaged in rebuilding knitting machines.
This work consists of remolding, refinishing, and repointing. He has
' Matter of Garden State Hosiery Co , 74 N . L. R. B. 318, 325 ;,Matter of Tower Hosiery
Mill, Inc., 64 N. L. R. B . 1245; Matter of Adams-Millis Corporation, Plant Number 7, 63
N. L. R. B . 362; Matter of Mock, Judson, Voehringer Company of North Carolina, Inc.,
63 N. L . R. B. 96.
Matter of Radio Corporation of America , 76 N. L . R. B. 826.
Ralph Henderson.
s W. R. Spangle.
1130 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
no machinists or helpers working under his supervision, and he
works under the supervision of the general foreman. This man has
been employed intermittently by the Employer for 18 years. At the
time of the hearing, he has been engaged at his present employment
for 15 months. About 3 or 4 years prior to the hearing, this individ-
ual had been employed by the Employer as a foreman-fixer. As the
machinist has no employees working under his direction or any other
indicia of supervisory authority, we shall include him in the unit.
Lot-boy: The Petitioner contends that the lot-boy'is an assistant
fixer. This individual is an unskilled worker in the seaming and
looping department. He distributes work to production employees.
In addition, he is learning fixing, puts needles in machines, and fixes
belts. He is hourly paid, at a rate much lower than that of the
knitters and just above the minimum for unskilled workers. He has
no authority to discipline or transfer employees, to make recommen-
dations affecting their status, or responsibly to direct them. We shall
include the lot-boy in the unit.
. Jessie Bishop: The Petitioner contends that this individual should
be excluded from the unit as a seamer instructor. The Employer's
.position is that, although this individual had been an instructor for a
6-month period ending about 3 months prior to the hearing, she is
now a seamer. The Employer further contends, and the record shows,
that she has not'now, nor did she have while an instructor, authority
to hire or discharge employees, to reprimand them, effectively to
recommend changes in their status, or responsibly to direct them.
We shall include Jessie Bishop in the unit as a production worker s
Utility girl: The Petitioner contends that this individual should be
excluded from the unit as a forelady. She is carried on the pay roll
as a utility girl, is hourly paid, and works in the same room with the
production employees. She distributes work to inspectors and
menders, but has no authority to correct or reprimand the employees
to whom she distributes work. At a time 10 months before the hear-
ing, when the foreman was ill, she assisted the superintendent by
putting needles in machines. Her other duties were not changed at
that time, she received no additional compensation, and she did not
have authority to hire or discharge employees, to make effective recom-
mendations with respect to changes in their status, or responsibly to
direct them. We find that the utility girl is not a supervisor, and
we shall therefore include her in the unit.
Clannie Bishop: The Petitioner contends that Bishop is a super-
visor. He is engaged in cleaning the knitting machines, but does
6 Matter of Ely ct Walker Dry Goods Company, 73 N. L. R. B. 874; Matter of Textron,
Incorporated, 72 N. L. It. B. 341 ; Matter of Mock, Judson, Voehringer Company of North
Carolina, Inc., 63 N. L. It. B. 96.
ADAMS-MILLIS CORPORATION 1131
no repair work. He has been employed longer than the other cleaners
in the plant and receives about 5 cents an hour more. He has no
authority to reprimand, discipline, or transfer employees, to make
recommendations in that respect, or responsibly to direct them. Com-
plaints concerning the work of cleaners come from the knitters whose
machines have not been properly cleaned. As Bishop has none of
the indicia of supervisory authority, we shall include him in the unit
as a maintenance worker.
We find that all production 7 and maintenance 8 employees at the
Employer's Tryon, North Carolina, plant, including watchmen-fire-
men, the utilityman (electrical), the machinist, the lot-boy, and the
utility girl, but excluding fixers, office clerical employees, foremen,
foreladies, and all other supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within
the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was
heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among
the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered
4, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date'of this Direction of Election, including employees
who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill
or on vacation or temporarily laid off, 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, and also exclud-
ing employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to de-
termine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of
collective bargaining, by American Federation of Hosiery Workers.
* Including Jessie Bishop.
Including Clannie Bishop.