Burlington Mills Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 31, 1945

64 N.L.R.B. 661 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of BURLINGTON MILLS CORPORATION, TRUCKING DEPART-
MENT, PIEDMONT HEIGHTS, BURLINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA and IN-
TERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF, TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WARE-
HOUSEMEN, AND HELPERS, LOCAL UNION #391, A. F. OF L. '
Case No. 5-R-2005.-Decided October 31, 194b
Mr. D. E. Hudgins, of Greensboro, N. C., for the Company.
Mr. S. C. Jones, of Burlington, N. C., and Mr. Lloyd Huggins, of
High Point, N. C., for the Union.
Miss Ruth E. Blie fiield, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by International Brotherhood of Team-
sters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers, Local Union #391,
A. F. of L., herein called the Union,' alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Burlington Mills Corporation, Trucking Department, Piedmont
Heights, Burlington, North Carolina, herein called the Company,2 the
National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice before George L. Weasler, Trial Examiner. The hear-
ing was held at Greensboro, North Carolina, on August 7, 1945. The
Company and the Union 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 's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error
and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded opportunity to file
briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
i A waiver signed by the Union , introduced into evidence at the hearing , states that the
Union "waives any right , power, or privilege to protest any election held" in this case
"on any ground set forth in Case 5 -C-1930."
2 By a stipulation made at the hearing the formal title and all pleadings were corrected
to show the name of the Company as it appears herein.
64 N. L. R. B., No. 113.
661
'662 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Burlington Mills Corporation, a Delaware corporation, with execu-
tive offices at Greensboro, North Carolina, operates approximately 50
plants, most of which are located in North Carolina and Virginia.
The Company is engaged at these plants in the manufacture and sale
of textiles. We are solely concerned herein with the Trucking De-
partment of the Piedmont Heights division, located in Burlington,
North Carolina. During the fiscal year ending September 1944, the
Company purchased for use in the Piedmont Heights division raw
materials consisting mainly of rayon yarn, cotton and chemicals,
valued in excess of $1,000,000, more than 50 percent of which was
purchased and shipped to the Piedmont Heights division from points
outside the State of North Carolina. During the same period the
value of goods finished at the Piedmont Heights division, consisting
principally of upholstery materials, bed spreads and draperies, ex-
ceeded $2,000,000, more than 75 percent of which was sold and shipped
to points outside the State.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act, and we so find.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehouse-
men, and Helpers, Local Union #391, affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, is a labor organization admitting to membership
employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant the request of the Union, made
in June 1945, that it be recognized as the exclusive bargaining repre-
sentative of the Company's truck drivers.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.3
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.
8 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 32 membership application
cards ; that the names of 31 persons appearing on the cards were listed on the Company's
pay roll which contained the names of 39 employees in the alleged appropriate unit ; and
that the cards were dated June 1945.
BURLINGTON MILLS CORPORATION
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
663
The parties agree that the appropriate unit should consist of all
local and long distance drivers in the Trucking Department of the
Piedmont Heights division, excluding mechanics, warehousemen,
dispatchers, office and clerical employees, and all supervisory em-
ployees.4 The Company contends however, that three employees who
work part of the time as warehousemen and part of the time as truck
drivers should also be included in the unit, while the Union desires
their exclusion.
Two of the three employees, namely J. R. Dunn and Joseph C.
Wilson, work approximately 20 to 25 percent of the time as truck
drivers and the remainder of the time as warehousemen; the third
employee, Fred Faggart, spends about 50 percent of his time working
as a truck driver, and the remainder as a warehouseman. Faggart
is classified as a driver. The others are listed as warehousemen; they
are eligible for the first driver vacancies which may occur, but it is
not definitely known when there will be a change in their status. Inas-
much as both Dunn and Wilson are classified as warehousemen and
spend the majority of their working time as such, it would appear that
their interests are more closely aligned with those of the warehousemen
who are excluded from the unit, than with those of the truck drivers.
We shall exclude them. Although Faggart divides his time working
both as a warehouseman and a truck driver, he is classified as a driver,
performing the duties of a driver one half-of his working time. We
conclude that his interests are more closely related to those of the truck
drivers, and we shall include him.
We find that all local and long distance drivers in the Trucking
Department of the Company's division at Piedmont Heights, Burling-
ton, North Carolina,5 but excluding mechanics, warehousemen,' dis-
patchers, office and clerical employees, and all supervisory employees
with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise
effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such
action , constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Union requested that the pay roll used by the Board in checking
the membership applications it submitted as evidence of its interest
4 In Matter of Burlington Mills Corporation, 51 N. L. R. B. 849, the Board, upon a peti-
tion filed by Textile Workers Union of America, Local Union No. 260, C. I. 0., found
appropriate a unit of all production and maintenance employees of the Company in
plants 1, 3, and 4 of its Piedmont Heights division, Burlington, North Carolina, excluding,
among others, the employees in the trucking or transportation department.
° Including Fred Faggart.
° Including J. R Dunn and Joseph C. Wilson.
664 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
in this proceeding should be used to determine eligibility to vote. It
based its request on the statement of a witness for the Company that
there might be some change in personnel in the unit between the time
of the hearing and the time of the election . However, since it appears
that any change in personnel would be due to the normal course of
business operations and developments , we perceive no reason to deviate
from our usual practice with respect to selecting a current eligibility
period.
Accordingly, we shall direct that the question concerning represen-
tation which has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot
among the employees in the appropriate unit who were employed
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the
Direction of Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions
set forth in the Direction.
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 Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Burlington Mills
Corporation , Trucking Department , Piedmont Heights, Burlington,
North 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, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Direc-
tor for the Fifth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National
Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11,
of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found
appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, in-
cluding employees who did not work during the said pay-roll period
because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and includ-
ing employees in the armed forces of the United States who present
themselves in person at the polls, 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 , to determine whether
or not they desire to be represented by International Brotherhood of
Teamsters , Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers , Local Union
#391, A. F. of L., for the purposes of collective bargaining.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.