Bear Brand Hosiery Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 7, 1951

93 N.L.R.B. 95 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

BEAR BRAND HOSIERY COMPANY • 95
4. In accordance with the agreement of the parties, we find that the
following employees of the Employer constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All employees of the Employer, at its Eugene, Oregon, shop, includ-
ing those engaged in making, assembling, erecting, dismantling, and
repairing of machinery and equipment and/or parts thereof per-
formed by the Company on or off its premises but excluding office
employees, administrative employees, guards, and all supervisors as
defined in the Act.
Order
IT Is IIEREBY ORDERED that the Decision and Order in the above-
entitled proceeding issued by the Board on December 8, 1950, be, and it
hereby is, vacated and set aside.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
BEAR BRAND HOSIERY COMPANY and TEXTILE WORKERS UNION OF
AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER. Case No. 9-RC-1035. February 7,1951
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before John P. Von Rohr,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pusuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations 1 involved claim to represent certain
employees 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 Petitioner and the Intervenor agree that the appropriate
unit should consist of the Employer's production and maintenance
I The hearing officer properly granted intervention to the United Textile Workers of
America, APL , herein called the Intervenor
93 NLRB No. 15.
96 • DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
employees, including cafeteria employees. The Petitioner, however,
would exclude from the unit three individuals who it contends are
supervisors, whereas the Employer and the Intervenor would include
them. The duties of these individuals are discussed below.
The head cook.-The cafeteria staff is under the office manager
and consists of five employees including the head cook. The head cook
orders provisions, plans menus with the assistance of the superintend-
ent and office manager, supervises the preparation of food by the
other cafeteria employees, and together with these employees serves
food at the counter and cleans the cafeteria. Approximately 90 per-
cent of her time is spent performing the same duties as those performed
by the other cafeteria employees. She has no authority to hire or
discharge cafeteria employees or to recommend that they be hired.
Although she may recommend that such employees be discharged,
there has been no instance in which an employee was discharged pur-
suant to such recommendation, and we are not satisfied that, within
the meaning of Section 2 (11) of the Act, she possesses the authority
effectively to recommend personnel action. Cafeteria employees seek-
ing time off obtain such permission directly from the office manager,
whose office is adjacent to the cafeteria. Like the other cafeteria em-
ployees, the head cook is hourly paid, but receives a rate which is 5 to
10 percent higher. All cafeteria employees use the same facilities
and have the same working conditions and employee benefits. We find
that the head cook is not a supervisor and shall include her in the unit.
The box factory mechanic.-There are 4 female employees and 1
male mechanic who work in the Employer's box factory which is under
the supervision of the plant superintendent. The mechanic does the
setup work on the machines and is also the fixer on the ender machine
while it is in operation. Approximately 90 to 95 percent of his time
is spent at these duties . He also acts as the group leader for the
women who perform simple routine operations consisting of making
the boxes, wrapping the loxes, wrapping the covers, and cutting the
chipboard. All these operations can be performed by each of the
women, and the mechanic may assign the women to specific operations
and interchange them if he desires. Essentially the mechanic's func-
tion in directing their work is to coordinate their operations. He has
no authority to hire or discharge them or to recommend such action.
He may recommend that they be disciplined or transferred, but there
is no evidence indicative that such recommendations are effective. He
is hourly paid, as are the other box factory employees, and receives
a rate which is approximately 50 percent higher than the rate for
them. This wage differential is explained by the fact that he, as dis-
tinguished from then, is a skilled employee. He receives the same
BEAR BRAND HOSIERY COMPANY 97
employee benefits as all other hourly paid employees. We find that
the nnechanm, because he does not responsibly direct the work of the
other box factory employees or have the authority over them to hire,
discharge, discipline, or effectively to recommend such action is not a
supervisor and shall include him in the unit.
The dye house working foreman.-There are five employees in the
dye house who have no specific job classifications. One of them, who
was described at the hearing as a working foreman or group leader,
is In charge of the rest. The duties of all these employees consist of
immersing bags containing knit hosiery in tubs filled with dye solu-
tions. After Immersion the bags are taken out, placed into an extractor
for removal of moisture, and are then put on trucks which are pushed
to boarding forms. It does not appear that the working foreman is
required to give other than routine directions to the other employees,
as the immersion periods are set by the dye cards and the selection
of hosiery and colors to be used is made by the finishing foreman. The
working foreman spends approximately 95 percent of his time per-
forming the same operations as those performed by the other dye
house employees. He has no authority to hire or discharge these em-
ployees, but may recommend that they be discharged to the plant
superintendent or office manager who make the final decisions as to
discharges. As in the case of the box factory mechanic there is no
evidence in the record which establishes the effectiveness of such rec-
ommendations. Dye house employees seeking time off or other favors
speak to the working foreman, who may handle the request himself
or refer it to the superintendent or office manager. There is no evi-
dence as to the types of requests which the working foreman may
grant and those which he refers to higher authority. Like the other
production employees he is hourly paid, but receives a rate which is
20 percent higher than that of the other dye house employees. The
Employer indicated that this differential is attributable to his sub-
stantially longer service. He also receives the same employee bene-
fits as all other hourly paid employees. We are satisfied from the fore-
going that the dye house working foreman is not a supervisor and
shall include him iii the unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the Em-
ployer's Gary, Indiana, plant, including cafeteria employees, the head
cook' the box factory mechanic,' and the dye house working foreman,'
but excluding office and clerical employees, guards, professional em-
ployees, foremen, and all other supervisors as defined in the Act,
z Florence Steel
Avei il] Cates
} Bill Cari
943732-51 S
98 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
BURROUGHS ADDING MACHINE CO . and LOCAL 1373, DISTRICT 38,
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS , PETITIONER. Case
No. 1-RC-1743. February 7',1951
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Robert E. Greene,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain 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 Employer is engaged in the manufacture, sale, and servicing
of business machines. The home office and manufacturing plants are
located in the State of Michigan. In connection with its marketing
activity, the Employer operates a large number of branch offices in
various parts of the United States. The Petitioner seeks a unit of
mechanical employees at the branch in Boston, Massachusetts. The
Employer contends that a unit limited to this branch alone is not
appropriate for bargaining purposes, and urges that the only unit
appropriate is one including employees at all the branches in its north-
east region. The Employer also urges the inclusion of employees the
Petitioner would exclude, namely stock clerks, shipping clerks, and
utility clerks.
Prior to September 1, 1950, the Employer conducted its marketing
operations on a divisional basis, each of 12 divisions being composed
of the branch offices within its geographical area. On that date, the
Employer officially instituted a regional system now in the process of
being put into effect. It is contemplated that 8 regions will be es-
93 NLRB No. 17.