Clinton Garment Company and R. & M. Kaufmann, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 20, 1939

12 N.L.R.B. 354 (N.L.R.B. 1939)

In the Matter Of CLINTON GARMENT COMPANY AND R. & M. KAuF-
MANN5 INC. and INTERNATIONAL LADIES' GARMENT WORKERS'
UNION
Case No. C-1217.Decided April 20,1939
Ladies Garment Manufacturing Industry-Settlement : stipulation providing
for compliance with the Act : including reinstatement with back pay as to one
person ; back pay without reinstatement as to one person-Order: entered on
stipulation.
Mr. Lee Loevinger, for the Board.
Mr. Erwin Feldman, of New York City, for the respondents.
Mr. Harold W. Schwartz, of Chicago, Ill., for the Union.
Mr. A. J. Toth, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon charges and amended charges duly filed by International
Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, herein called the Union, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, by the Re-
gional Director for the Eighteenth Region (Minneapolis, Minnesota),
issued its complaint dated January 25, 1938, against Clinton Garment
Company, Clinton, Iowa, and R. & M. Kaufmann, Inc., Aurora, Illi-
nois, alleging that the respondents had engaged in and are engaging
in unfair labor practices affecting commerce within the meaning of
Section 8 (1) and (3) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National
Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. Copies of
the complaint and notice of hearing thereon were duly served upon
the respondents and the Union. The respondents filed an answer
to the complaint.
With respect to the unfair labor practices, the complaint alleged
in substance : that the respondents, in the operation of their plant at
Clinton, Iowa, discharged and refused to reinstate two named em-
ployees for the reason that they joined and assisted the Union and
engaged in concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargain-
ing and other mutual aid and protection; that the respondents, by
12 N. L. R. B., No. 45.
354
CLINTON GARMENT COMPANY 355
posting and permitting the posting of printed and written documents
upon plant property, advised, urged, directed, and warned its em-
ployees to refrain from becoming or remaining members of the
Union; that the respondents advised, urged, directed, and warned
labor leaders within the City of Clinton, Iowa, to refrain from
accepting or soliciting employees of the respondents as members of
the Union; and that by the above acts and other acts, the respondents
interfered with, restrained, and coerced their employees in the exer-
cise of the right guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act.
Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held at Clinton, Iowa, on Febru-
ary 16 and 17, 1939, before Madison Hill, the Trial Examiner duly
designated by the Board, at which the Board and the Union were
represented by counsel, and participated in the hearing. The respond-
ents, by their representative, appeared specially for the purpose of
seeking a continuance of the hearing. On February 17, 1939, the
respondents' motion for a continuance of the hearing until March 6,
1939, was granted and the hearing was adjourned. On March 3,
1939, the respondents, the Union, and counsel for the Board entered
into a stipulation in settlement of the case, subject to the approval of
the Board. This settlement stipulation provides as follows :
It having been heretofore charged by the International Ladies'
Garment Workers Union that the respondents, Clinton Garment
Company, a corporation, and R. & M. Kaufmann, Inc., a corpo-
ration, have engaged in unfair labor practices within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, and the
National Labor Relations Board, through the Regional Director
for the 18th Region, having heretofore issued and served upon
the parties hereto a complaint setting forth said charges, and
pursuant to said complaint and the notice of hearing contained
therein, a hearing having been convened to hear evidence upon,
the charges contained in said complaint on February 16 and
February 17, 1939, and upon the request of the respondents
herein said hearing having been continued until March 6, 1939,
and it being the desire of all the parties hereto to dispose of
this proceeding without the holding of a hearing upon the
allegations of said complaint, accordingly it is hereby stipulated
and agreed by and between all of the parties to the above entitled
proceeding that :
1. The official transcript of the hearing hereinabove referred
to and the exhibits offered at such hearing shall be considered as
a part of this stipulation as fully as though specifically set forth
herein. The stipulation or statement regarding the business of
the respondent companies attached hereto and made a part
169134-39-vol 12-24
356 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
hereof, and marked Board's Exhibit 3,' shall be considered as a
part of this stipulation as fully as though specifically set forth
herein.
2. All parties hereto expressly waive the right to any further
hearing upon the charges contained in the complaint heretofore
referred to, and further expressly waive the right to offer evi-
dence upon such charges, the right to an intermediate report by a
trial examiner, and the right to the making of findings of fact
and conclusions of law by the Board.
3. All parties hereto hereby consent to the issuance of an order,
in the terms and form stated below, by the National Labor Re-
lations Board and to the entry of an appropriate decree by an
appropriate Circuit Court of Appeals upon said order :
ORDER
Upon the basis of the stipulation entered into herein, and
pursuant to Section 10 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act,
the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the re-
spondents, Clinton Garment Company and R. & M. Kaufmann,
Inc., shall:
1. Cease and desist from :
a. Discouraging membership in any labor organization of its
employees by discharging or refusing to reinstate any of its
employees, or in any manner discriminating in regard to their
hire and tenure of employment or any term or condition of
employment;
b. In any other manner interfering with, restraining, or coerc-
ing its employees in the exercise of the right to self-organization,
to form, join or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively
through representatives of their own choosing, or to engage in
concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or
other mutual aid or protection as guaranteed in Section 7 of the
Act.
2. Take the following affirmative action which the Board finds
will effectuate the policies of the Act :
a. Offer to Fannie Riley immediate and full reinstatement to
the position which she formerly held with the respondents on
August 27, 1938, without prejudice to her seniority and other
rights and privileges;
b. Make whole said Fannie Riley and Marion Bergemann for
any loss of pay which they suffered by reason of the respondents'
refusal to employ them by payment to said Fannie Riley of the
' This exhibit is omitted here because the pertinent facts related therein are set forth
in our findings of fact, Section I, infra.
CLINTON GARMENT COMPANY 357
sum of $165.00 and by payment to said Marion Bergemann of the
sum of $125.00.
c. Post immediately and keep posted for a period of at least
sixty (60) consecutive days from the date of posting, a notice
to their employees in conspicuous places at the plant in Clinton,
Iowa, stating that respondents will cease and desist in the manner
set forth in Paragraph 1 of this order;
d. Notify the Regional Director for the Eighteenth Region in
writing within ten (10) days from the date of this order what
steps the respondents have taken to comply herewith.
4. Marion Bergemann does not desire and therefore will not
be given reinstatement to her job in the Clinton plant.
5. It is further agreed that no further charges shall be filed
against the Clinton Garment Company and R. & M. Kaufmann,
Inc., respondents herein, because of any acts done or alleged to
have been done prior to the date of signing this agreement.
6. This stipulation shall become effective upon approval by
the National Labor Relations Board and notification of such
approval to the parties hereto, and this stipulation shall be of
no effect whatsoever unless and until such approval is given.
On March 20, 1939, the Board issued its order approving the above
settlement stipulation, making it a part of the record, and transfer-
ring the proceeding to the Board for the purpose of entry of a
decision and order by the Board.
Upon the stipulation and the entire record in the case, the Board
makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE RESPONDENTS
The respondent, Clinton Garment Company, is an Iowa corpora-
tion, with its only office and plant located at Clinton, Iowa. The re-
spondent, R. & M. Kaufmann, Inc., is an Illinois corporation, with
its principal office located in Chicago, Illinois, and its only plant
located in Aurora, Illinois. The same persons are the directors and
stockholders of both corporations. The treasurer of Clinton Garment
Company is the secretary of R. & M. Kaufmann, Inc., and the
secretary of Clinton Garment Company is the treasurer of R. & M.
Kaufmann, Inc. This case is concerned with the operation of Clinton
Garment Company at its plant in Clinton, Iowa.
The Clinton Garment Company is engaged in the manufacture of
ladies' outer garments such as house dresses, smocks, and hooverettes.
It is a contracting plant manufacturing garments as contractors of
R. & M. Kaufmann, Inc. There are no written agreements or licensing
358 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
agreements between the Clinton Garment Company and R. & M.
Kaufmann, Inc. The Clinton Garment Company neither owns nor
sells any merchandise. Accordingly, there is no passage of title
between the respondents since ownership of the finished and unfin-
ished product is always in R. & M. Kaufmann, Inc. The Clinton
Garment Company has used none of its own materials during the
last fiscal year in the operation of the Clinton plant. The materials
used in the Clinton plant were materials owned and purchased by
R. & M. Kaufmann, Inc. These materials were shipped to the plant
by order of R. & M. Kaufmann, Inc., from the different finishing
plants located mainly in the eastern and southern parts of the United
States. All of the materials used by the Clinton Garment Company
were shipped to R. & M. Kaufmann, Inc., % Clinton Garment Com-
pany, from outside the State of Iowa.
The Clinton Garment Company produced approximately 48,000
dozens of garments during the last fiscal year. Approximately 75 per
cent of the finished garments were shipped to R. & M. Kaufmann,
Inc., in Aurora, Illinois, and were then shipped by R. & M. Kaufmann,
Inc., to almost every State, pursuant to sales placed with them. The
remaining 25 per cent were shipped by R. & M. Kaufmann, Inc., as
consignor, to other accounts outside the State of Iowa as consignees.
We find that the above-described operations constitute a continuous
flow of trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact, the stipulation, and
the entire record in the case, and pursuant to Section 10 (c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, the National Labor Relations Board
hereby orders that the respondents, Clinton Garment Company and
R. & M. Kaufmann, Inc., shall :
1. Cease and desist from :
(a) Discouraging membership in any labor organization of its
employees by discharging or refusing to reinstate any of its em-
ployees, or in any manner discriminating in regard to their hire and
tenure of employment, or any term or condition of employment;
(b) In any other manner interfering with, restraining, or coercing
its employees in the exercise of the right to self-organization, to form,
join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through
representatives of their own choosing, or to engage in concerted ac-
tivities for the purpose of collective bargaining, or other mutual aid
or protection as guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act.
CLINTON GARMENT COMPANY 359
2. Take the following affirmative action which the Board finds will
effectuate the policies of the Act :
(a) Offer to Fannie Riley immediate and full reinstatement to
the position which she formerly held with the respondents on August
27, 1938, without prejudice to her seniority and other rights and
privileges;
(b) Make whole said Fannie Riley and Marion Bergemann for
any loss of pay which they suffered by reason of the respondents'
refusal to employ them by payment to said Fannie Riley of the stun
of $165 and by payment to.said Marion Bergemann of the sum of
$125;
(c) Post immediately and keep posted for a period of at least
sixty (60) consecutive days from the date of posting, a notice to their
employees in conspicuous places at the plant in Clinton, Iowa, stating
that respondents will cease and desist in the manner set forth in
paragraph 1 of this Order;
(d) Notify the Regional Director for the Eighteenth Region in
writing within ten (10) days from the date of this Order what steps
the respondents have taken to comply herewith.