Chadbourne Hosiery Mills, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 20, 1947

74 N.L.R.B. 333 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of CHADBOURNE HOSIERY MILLS, INC.,' EMPLOYER and
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF HOSIERY WORKERS, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 5-R-2701.-Decided June 00, 1941
Guthrie, Pierce, and Blakeney, by Whiteford S. Blakeney, and
Helms d Mullis, by William F. Mullis, of Charlotte, N. C., for the
Employer.
Mr. H. G. B. King, of Chattanooga, Tenn., Mr. Robert D. Beame
and Miss Adeline Stemp, both of Charlotte, N. C., for the Petitioner.
Mr. Herbert C. Kane, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Char-
lotte, North Carolina, on January 21, 1947, before Charles B.
Slaughter, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. At
the hearing, the Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the ground
that the Employer named in the petition was no longer in existence and
that the Board had no jurisdiction in this case. The hearing officer
referred this motion to the Board for disposition. For the reasons
set forth below, the motion is hereby denied.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Chadbourne Hosiery Mills, Inc., is a North Carolina corporation
owning and operating the Gaybourn Mills, Inc., Gainesville, Georgia,
the Shenandoah Knitting Mills, Inc., Shenandoah, Virginia, and Full-
Knit, Inc., a North Carolina corporation. In addition, it operates a
plant at Charlotte, North Carolina, known, until recently, as Larkwood
Hosiery Mills, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, where it manufactures
women's full-fashioned hosiery. This is the only plant involved herein.
I Name as amended at the bearing.
74 N. L. R. B., No. 54. 333
334 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Prior to the hearing herein, the stockholders of Larkwood assented
to a dissolution of the corporation, all its assets being transferred to,
and its liabilities assumed by, Chadbourne. The officers of the two
corporations , with a single exception , are the same persons. There
has been no change in operations of the business nor has there been any
appreciable personnel change since the transfer. Although the final
dissolution has not as yet been filed with the Secretary of State of
North Carolina, Larkwood is presently being audited for this purpose.
For all practical purposes, Larkwood is dissolved and Chadbourne is
operating the Larkwood plant as its successor.
During 1946, Larkwood purchased more than $100,000 worth of raw
materials , of which more than 50 percent was received from points
outside the State of North Carolina. During the same period, it manu-
factured finished products valued in excess of $500,000, of which more
than 50 percent was sold and shipped to points outside the State.
We find, contrary to the contention of the Employer, that it is the
Employer of the employees involved herein, and that it is engaged in
commerce within the meaning of the Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Petitioner desires a unit of all production and maintenance em-
ployees in the knitting department of the Employer's Larkwood plant,
including knitters, knitters' helpers, and knitter leg bar toppers, but
excluding machine fixers or mechanics, and clerical and supervisory
employees. The Employer objects to this unit, contending that the
only appropriate unit should comprise all the employees of the
Employer.
The Larkwood plaiit is a two-story building, on the upper floor of
which knitting, looping, seaming, and inspecting operations are per-
CHADBOURNE HOSIERY MILLS, INC. 335
formed. The lower floor houses the mending, nylon pre-boarding,
boarding, and dyeing operations. The plant is under the supervision
of a general manager, under whom are 2 superintendents, one for each
floor. Under the superintendents are 12 foremen, one for each shift
or each operation. The knitting machines are all located on the upper
floor, most of them along 1 wall, separated from the nearest other
operation on that floor by a 10-foot aisle. The knitting department
operate on 3 shifts; practically all employees in the other departments
work but 1 shift.
The knitters, traditionally men, are concededly the most highly
skilled and highest paid employees of the Employer. All other opera-
tions require less skill and are customarily performed by women. The
toppers, although less skilled than the knitters, are more closely con-
nected with the knitting processes than are the other employees, and
are under the same supervision. As noted above, there is one foreman
for each shift of knitting. Another foreman has charge of all the
non-knitting auxiliary operations, looping, seaming, inspecting, and
mending. There is no interchange between the employees in the
knitting department and the employees in any other operation at the
plant.
There has been no prior history covering the employees involved
herein. The Petitioner has made prior unsuccessful attempts to organ-
ize the employees of the Employer on an over-all industrial basis since
1944. The only response to this attempted organization has beep from
the employees of the knitting department, all others evincing
disinterest.
In view of the physical and organizational separation of the knitting
department, the difference in skills, the absence of employee inter-
change between it and other departments, and the limited extent of
self-organization among the employees of the Employer, we are of
the opinion that the unit sought herein is now appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining?
We find that all production and maintenance employees in the
knitting department of the Employer's Larkwood plant, including
knitters, knitters' helpers, and knitter leg bar toppers, but excluding
machine fixers or mechanics, clerical employees, and all supervisory
employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively
2 A majority of the Board has recently had occasion to reexamine and reaffirm the
Boa, d 's long standing practice of determining the appropriateness of a bargaining unit
in the light of the extent of organization where the record also shows the existence of
certain other relevant factors and safeguards such as are present here ; See Matter of
Garden State Hosiery Go, 74 N L. R. B. 318; Matter of Nebel Knitting Company,
74 N L R B 310 , Matter of Waldensian Hosiery ill-ills, Inc, 74 N. L. R. B 315 , and at.
Matter of Hudson Hosiery Company, 74 N L. It. B. 250, all issued this day.
755420-48-vol. 74-23
336 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
recommend such action, 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 Chadbourne Hosiery Mills,
Inc., Charlotte, 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 Director for the Fifth Region, acting in this matter as
agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections
203.55 and 203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regu-
lations-Series 4, 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, including employees
who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or
on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including 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 American Federation of Hosiery Workers,
CIO, for the purposes of collective bargaining.
MR. JAMES J. REYNOLDS, JR., dissenting :
For the reasons stated in my dissenting opinion in Matter o l Garden
State Hosiery Co.,' I do not believe that the extent of the Petitioner's
effective organization of- the employees involved is a proper factor to
be used in determining the appropriate unit.
Accordingly, I would dismiss the petition herein.
J 74 N L R B 318, issued this day.