American Woolen Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 10, 1945

61 N.L.R.B. 1045 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of AMERICAN WOOLEN COMPANY (NATIONAL AND PROV-
IDENCE MILLS) and TEXTILE WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA (CIO)
Case No. 1-R-,0275.-Decided May 10, 1945
Mr. Spencer B. Montgomery, of Boston, Mass., for the Company.
Messrs. Joseph C. Novo and Louis Sault, of Providence, R. I., for
the CIO.
Mr. Charles Suisman, of New London, Conn., and Messrs. Frank
Sgambato, and George Sanford, of Providence, R. I., for the AFL.
Mr. Sidney Grossman, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Textile Workers Union of America,
CIO, herein called the CIO, alleging that a question affecting com-
merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
American Woolen Company (National and Providence Mills ), Prov-
idence, Rhode Island, herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Robert E. Greene, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held
at Providence, Rhode Island, on March 8, 1945. The Company, the
CIO, and United Textile Workers of America, Local Union 2195,
AFL, herein called the AFL, 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 ruling upon the AFL' s motion to dis-
miss the petition on the ground that a prior certification and an exist-
ing contract between it and the Company constitute a bar to this pro-
ceeding. For the reasons set forth in Section III, infra, the motion
is granted. 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 the case, the Board makes the
following:
61 N. L. R. B., No. 176.
1045
1046 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
American Woolen Company, a Massachusetts corporation, having
its principal executive office in New York City, is engaged in the man-
ufacture and sale of woolen fabrics, blankets, and yarns. The Com-
pany owns and operates 25 mills located in several States of the United
States and maintains offices in several cities. The National and
Providence Mills, located at Providence, Rhode Island, are the only
mills involved in this proceeding. Substantially all of the raw
materials used at the mills here involved are shipped to them from
points outside the State of Rhode Island, while almost all of the
finished products are shipped to points outside that State. The sales
of the Company exceeded $150,000,000 during 1944.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Textile Workers Union of America, affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to mem-
bership employees of the Company.
United Textile Workers of America, Local Union 2195, affiliated
with the American Federation of Labor, is a labor organization ad-
mitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Federal Union No. 22004, AFL, hereinafter referred to as Federal,
had been bargaining representative of the Company's employees un-
der contract since 1940 or. 1941. In November 1943, prior to the
operative date of the automatic renewal clause in its 1943 contract
with the Company, Federal notified the Company of a desire to ne-
gotiate a'new contract. About the same time, the CIO asserted a
claim for recognition as bargaining representative of the Company's
employees and thereafter filed a petition with the Board. Negotia-
tions between Federal and the Company for a new contract were
thereupon suspended pending disposition of the CIO's petition. Pur-
suant to an election directed by the Board,' Federal, on June 15, 1944,
was certified as the bargaining representative of the Company's em-
ployees. On May 19, 1944, after the election but prior to the Board's
certification, Federal reaffiliated with the United Textile Workers of
1 Matter of Amertean Woolen Company, National & Providence Worsted Mills, 55
N. L R. B. 987
AMERICAN WOOLEN COMPANY 1047
America, an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor with which
it had been formerly associated, and resumed its identity as Local
Union 2195 under its former charter. Following the certification, the
AFL and the Company continued to observe the terms of the 1943
contract, but on September 9, 1944, the AFL submitted a proposed new
contract to the Company and therewith apprised the Company of
its status as successor to Federal.2 However, it was not until January
23, 1945, that the Company and the AFL executed a new agreement
for a period of 1 year. On November 28, 1944, the CIO had again
asserted its claim for recognition, but the Company refused to accede
thereto. Shortly after the AFL and the Company had executed their
1945 contract and approximately 71/2 months after the Board's cer-
tification of the AFL, the CIO filed its petition. The AFL urges,
in effect, that its 1945 contract, since executed within 1 year after
the Board's certification, precludes a present determination of
representatives.
We agree with the AFL's contention. We have held that the cer-
tification of a bargaining representative by the Board must be effec-
tive for a reasonable length of time which, absent unusual circum-
stances, the Board customarily deems to be 1 year.3 Since the AFL's
1945 contract with the Company was executed during the period
when it was still presumptively the chosen representative of a ma-
jority of the Company's employees and entitled to undisturbed en-
joyment of its certified status as such, no valid question concerning
representation was raised by the CIO's claim for recognition, although
timely, and its petition predicated thereon. Nor does the fact that
our certification of June 1944 extended to Federal rather than to the
AFL herein, as contended by the CIO, alter this conclusion, since
we perceive no substantial change in the labor organization thereby
2Insofar as the record discloses , reaffiliation with the UTWA was ratified by the mem-
bers of the AFL on October 6, 1944 Formal notification thereof was neat to the Company
on October 7, 1944.
3 Matter of Bohn Aluminum and Brass Corporation ( Plants #13 and Magnesium Fabri-
cators ), 57 N L R B. 1684
The CIO, in its brief , relies upon Mattel of Trackson Company, 56 N L R. B 917, where
the employer and the certified union having entered into a contract after a Board election
but 2 months prior to the certification , the Board directed an election at the end of the
contract term but only 9x/2 months after its certification There the parties to the contract,
by anticipating the certification , demonstrated that in the particular circumstances the cer-
tification was not the factor upon which the existence of conditions conducive to stabilized
bargaining relations depended Here, Federal notified the Company in November 1943 of
a desire to negotiate a new contract . Consequently the automatic renewal clause con-
-tained in its then existing contract with the Company became inoperative and the contract
expired on February 1, 1944 Although the Company and Federal continued to abide by
the terms of the expired contract , no new agreement to replace it was entered into until
January 1945 See also Matter of Thompson Products , Inc, 47 N L R B 619. Cf.
Matter of Aluminum Company of America , Newark Works , 57 N. L. R. B. 913 , footnote 3
on p, 915, Matter of Kimberly- Clark Corporation, 61 N. L R B. 90
1048 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
certified, other than in name,4 and it is clear that its relationship with
the Company remained unchanged.5 Accordingly, we shall dismiss
the petition filed herein.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, and upon the entire
record in the case, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders
that the petition for investigation and certification of representatives
of employees of American Woolen Company, National and Providence
Mills, Providence, Rhode Island, filed by Textile Workers Union of
America, affiliated with the C. I. 0., be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
4 Cf. Matter of bl=algreen Company, 44 N. L R B 1200 , 1212 , wherein we stated that
"What the Board certified in the representation case was not a name but a union " Also,
Matter of American-Hawaiian Steamship Company, 10 N. L . R. B 1355, 1362
5 The record also discloses that the CIO , in filing its petition , had not been motivated by
Federal's reafflliation with the UTWA.