Elder Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 8, 1947

73 N.L.R.B. 230 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of ELDER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. 0.,
PETITIONER
Case No. 14-R-1581.-Decided April 8, 1947
Mr. Alfred W. Petschaft, of St. Louis, Mo., and Mr. M. Walker
Cooper, of Bloomfield, Mo., for the Employer.
Mr. Philip Lampert, of Chicago, Ill., and Mr. Nils Hagy, of St.
Louis, Mo., for the Petitioner.
Messrs. John T. Wiley, Jr., and Harry H. Craig, of St. Louis, Mo.,
for the Intervenor.
Mr. Lewis H. Ulinan, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Dexter,
Missouri , on October 18, 1946, before Charles K. Hackler , hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case , the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. TIIE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Elder Manufacturing Company, a Missouri corporation, is engaged
in the manufacture of men's shirts and boy's wear at its several plants
located in St. Louis, Webb City, Ste. Genevieve, and Dexter, Missouri,
and McLeansboro, Illinois. The Dexter plant is the only one involved
in this proceeding.
During the year ending October 18, 1946, the Employer purchased
raw materials for use at its Dexter plant valued at more than $1,000,-
000, all of which represented shipments from the Employer's main
plant at St. Louis, Missouri. During the same period the finished
products of the Dexter plant were valued at more than $1,000,000, of
73 N I , R. B., No. 41.
230
ELDER MANUFACTURING COMPANY 231
which approximately 90 percent represented shipments to points out-
side the State of Missouri.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
United Garment Workers of America, herein called the Intervenor,
is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
III. TIIE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On September 18, 1946, the Petitioner, by telegram, notified the
Employer that it represented the employees at the Employer's Dexter
plant, and requested a collective bargaining conference. The Em-
ployer replied by letter, advising the Petitioner that the employees of
its Dexter plant were covered by an outstanding contract with the
Intervenor. On September,19, 1946, the Petitioner filed its petition
herein.
The record reveals that the Intervenor won a consent election con-
ducted by the Board on January 8, 1946, and, subsequent to certifica-
tion by the Board's Regional Director, entered into a collective
bargaining contract with the Employer covering production and
maintenance employees at the Dexter plant. This contract provided
that it was to remain in effect until June 15, 1946, and from year to
year thereafter in the absence of 30 days' notice, prior to any expira-
tion date, that either party desired changes. Although the contract
would have been automatically renewed in June 1946, since neither
party gave notice that it desired changes, a representative of the
Intervenor executed an extension agreement with the Employer, ex-
tending the contract until June 15, 1947.
The Intervenor asserts that its contract, as extended, bars a present
determination of representatives; the Petitioner asserts that the con-
tract is not a bar because the Intervenor, following the mass disaffilia-
tion of its members in September of 1946, became a defunct labor
organization. We find it unnecessary to resolve the issue thus raised,
inasmuch as the contract which the Intervenor asserts to be a bar will
expire within less than 3 months 1 and the instant petition may be
regarded as timely filed prior to the 1947 automatic renewal date 2
'Matter of The Wheland Company , 72 N L R B 351.
2 Matter of F. S. Lang Manufacturing Company, 66 N. L. R. B 473.
232 DECISIONS OF NATTONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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.
1V. THE Ari'ROI'RIATE, UNIT
We find, substantially in accord with the agreement of the parties,
that all employees of the Employer's Dexter, Missouri plant, excluding
night Niatchmen, janitresses, office and clei;tcal employees, foreladies,
assistant foreladies, foremen, and all other supervisory employees with
authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect
changes in the status of eluployees, or effectively 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 3
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with Elder Manufacturing Company,
Dexter, Missouri, 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 Di-
rector for the Fourteenth 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 Regulations-
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 vaca-
tion 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 dis-
charged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the
date of the election, to determine whether they desire to be represented
by Amalgamated. Clothing Workers of America, C. I. 0., or by United
Garment Workers of America, A. F. of L., for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining, or by neither.
C1IACRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.
' Any participant in the election herein may, upon its prompt request to, and approval
thei eof by, the Regional Director, have its name removed ti om the ballot'