Brandon Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 23, 1942

44 N.L.R.B. 331 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of BRANDON CORPORATION , MAIN PLANT ami TEXTILE
WORRFRs UNION OF AMERICA
Case No. R-4222. Decided Septembe2° 23, 19,2
Jurisdiction : textile manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re-
fusal of the Company to recognize petitioner unless certified by the Board ;
election necessary
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : production and maintenance unit
at cotton-print mill of Company's Brandon plant: cotton duck mill employees
excluded in view of the extent of employee organization and in the absence
of any great degree of interrelation and interdependence of the manufacturing
operations of the two mills.
Haynesworth & Haynesworth, by Mr. C. F. Haynesworth, of Green-
ville, S. C., and Perrin cC Tinsley, by Mr. L. W. Perrin, of Spartan-
burg, S. C., for the Company.
Mr. Witherspoon Dodge and Mr. Paul Schuler, of Greenville, S. C.,
for the Union.
Mr. Robert E. Tillman„ of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Textile Workers Union of America,
herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce
had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Brandon
Corporation, Greenville, South Carolina, herein called the Company,
the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hear-
ing upon due notice before Robert F. Koretz, Trial Examiner. Said
hearing was held at Greenville, South Carolina, on August 28, 1942.
The Company and the Union appeared, participated, and were afforded
full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses,
and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Exam-
iner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and
are hereby affirmed. -
44 N L R B, No. 61.
331
332 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD .
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF TIIE COMPANY,
Brandon Corporation, a South Carolina corporation, operates four
plants in and around Greenville, South Carolina, which are engaged
in the manufacture of cotton print cloth and cotton duck cloth. Only
one of the plants, the Brandon plant, is involved in this proceeding.
The principal raw material used in the manufacture of the Company's
products is cotton. The Brandon plant uses more than $1,000,000
worth of cotton each year, of which 90 percent is purchased outside
the State of South Carolina. The annual value of the finished prod-
ucts manufactured at the Brandon' plant is approximately $2,982,000,
of which approximately 70 percent represents products which are
shipped to points outside the State of South Carolina.
The Company admits that in its operations at the Brandon plant it
is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor
Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Textile Workers Union of America is a labor organization affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations. It admits to member-
ship employees of,the Company. -
III. TIIE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On July 18, 1942, the Union sent the Company a letter in which it
claimed to represent i majority of the employees in the print mill of
the Company's Brandon plant. In reply, the Company stated that
it would not accept as correct the Union's claim that it represented a
majority of these employees, At the hearing, the Company stated
that it would refuse to recognize the Union unless it was certified by
the Board.
A statement of a Field Examiner of the Board, introduced in evi-
dence at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial
number of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.
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.
1 The Field ' Examniner stated that the Union submitted to him 526 designation cards,
ill hearing apparently genuine original signatures , and that 395 of the signatures were
names of persons whose names appeared on the Company 's pay roll of July 25, 1942,
which listed 1,236 persons in the unit hereinafter found to be appropriate.
BRANDON - CORPORATION , MAIN PLANT 333,
IV. TIIE APPROPRIATE UNIT.
The Union proposed a unit of all production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Company's Brandon plant, excludiiig supervisory, cler-
ical , store, and cotton-duck mill employees . The Company's sole
objection to the proposed unit is that it excludes cotton-duck mill
employees.
The Brandon plant consists of two mills,,a cotton-print mill and
a cotton-duck mill. The former has approYnnately 1,247 production'
and maintenance employees, including approximately 80 maintenance
employees, whose services are available to both mills; the cotton-duck
mill has approximately 320 production and maintenance employees.
The Union desires to exclude all *320 of the employees of the cotton=
duck mill. -
There is considerable support in the record for the Company's con-
tention that the employees of both mills together constitute an appro-
priate unit. The two mills are approximately 140 feet apart and face
the same street. Each mill is subject to the supervision of the plant
superintendent. The several manufacturing operations in both mills
are similar . Each is supplied with cotton from the same warehouse,
is furnished heat from the same boiler room and compressed air from
the same pump house. One office force, one machine shop, and one
group of outside employees provide services for both mills. Lastly,
the naives of the employees of both mills are listed upon a single.pay
roll.
There are also, however, several factors which support the Union's
contention that the cotton-duck mill employees should be excluded
from the appropriate unit. The efforts of the Union to organize the
employees of the Brandon plant have been largely confined to em-
ployees of the cotton-print mill, the so-called Main Plant. Further-
more, although the manufacturing processes are similar, the two mills
do not manufacture the same type of cotton material. The cotton-
print mill makes-prints, whereas the cotton-duck mill manufactures
duck materials which require the use of a much heavier yarn. This
fact, according to the Company, compels the cotton-duck mill to use
a type of loom in its weaving department, the operation of which does
not provide a basis for piece-rate pay. Largely as a result of this,
the majority of the employees in the cotton-duck mill are hourly paid-,
whereas the majority of those in the cotton-print mill are paid upon
a piece-rate basis. This difference in the material produced appears
also-to account for the fact that the cotton -duck mill is engaged almost
100 percent in •war work, while the cotton-print mill is engaged only
10 to 20 percent in such work. Each mill completely manufactures
its own products without any aid from the other mill . Witnesses
for the Company could recall only six to eight interchanges of em-
ployees and admitted that, in proportion to the total number -of em-
334 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ployees in both mills, •-tlie number of interchanges was very small.
The Company has had no collective bargaining relations with any
labor organizations.
I
In view of the extent of employee organization and in the absence
of any great degree of interrelation and interdependence of the manu-
facturing operations of the two mills, we are of the opinion that the
employees of the cotton-print mill alone, at the present time, consti-
tute an appropriate unit. We find that all production and main-
tenance employees at the Company's Brandon plant, excluding super-
visory, clerical, store, and cotton-duck mill employees, constitute a
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of our Direction of Elec-
tion, subject to the liniitationscand additions set forth therein.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant 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 8, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Brandon Cor-
poration, Greenville, South Carolina, an election by secret ballot shall
be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days
from the date of this Direction of Election, 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
all employees of the Company in the unit found appropriate in
Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of this Direction; including employees
who did not work during such pay-roll period because they were ill
or on vacation or- in the active military service or training of the
United States, or temporarily laid off, but excluding any who have
since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not
they desire to be represented by Textile Workers Union of America,
for the purposes of collective bargaining.
MR. WM. M. LEISERSON took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of',Election. -