Fitzgerald Mills Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 15, 1948

77 N.L.R.B. 1156 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

III the Matter of FITZGERALD MILLS CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and
UNITED TEXTILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, A . F. L., PETITIONER
Case No. 10-RC-95.Decided June 15,1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing officer's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organization named below claims to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. A question of representation exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer , within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit :
The parties agree upon a unit of production and maintenance em-
ployees, excluding office and clerical employees, guards, professional
employees , overseers , and all other supervisors . They disagree,
however, as to watchmen -firemen, whom the Employer would exclude
as guards, and as to the chief electrician and sectionmen, whom the
Employer would exclude as supervisors.
Watchmen-firemen: These employees work in shifts around the clock
7 days weekly. In the daytime, they devote all their time to firing
the boilers ; during the night shift , particularly from 6 to 10 p. m.
'Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Gray.
77 N. L. R. B., No. 186.
1156
FITZGERALD MILLS CORPORATION 1157
when most of the plant is shut down, and during week ends, they have'
the additional duty of patrolling the plant and punching the clocks
whenever the regular guards are off duty. It does not appear that
the watchmen are armed, whereas the regular guards are armed and
deputized. As these watchmen-firemen spend the major portion
of their time doing firemen's work and only a small portion assisting
the guards, we find that they are not employed as guards within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) (3) of the amended Act. We shall, there-
fore, include them in the unit.'
Chief electrician: The electrician installs and maintains electrical
equipment throughout the plant. He works alone. Occasionally, at
his request, the superintendent or an overseer assigns a man or two
to help him with heavy work, such as extensive wiring. He has no
power to hire or discharge employees or to recommend changes in their
status. We find that the chief electrician is not a supervisor and we
shall include him in the unit.
Section-men: Of the 500-odd employees in the Employer's plant,
there are 2 superintendents, about 9 overseers, and, under them, ap-
proximately 30 section-men, also called fixers. The chief duty of the
section-men is to adjust the machines to keep them in good running
order and generally to look after production. Each section-man is in
charge of his section whenever the superintendent or the overseer is
out.2 In the winding room, and in each of the shifts in the little weav-
ing room, the section-men regularly act as overseers. All section-Then
check the quality and quantity of the operators' work and tell the
workers when and at which machines to work, and, when necessary,
they call in new employees from the spare room, where unemployed
persons gather for the purpose of obtaining work. They report in-
efficient employees to the overseers, and, although they have never been
told that they have power to recommend discharges, the record shows
several instances of such recommendations, one of which was followed
without further inquiry. They receive a higher rate of pay than pro-
duction employees.
Under these circumstances, we believe, as the Employer contends,
that its section-men are supervisors within the meaning of the Act,
and we shall, therefore, exclude them from the unit.3
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the
Employer's Fitzgerald, Georgia, mill, including watchmen-firemen,
Matter of Radio Corporation of Amei ica, 76 N L R B 826
2 In its petition, the Petitioner iegnested the exclusion of second hands, a category of
empIotiees which in other nulls noinially exercises supei visor.) functions, but which does not
exist in the Employers plant
d See Matter of Dfoiowebb Cotton Mills Company, 75 N I. It B 9S7, and Matter of
Denison Cotton Mills Company, 63 N L It B 929
788586-40-vol 77 7-I
1158 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and the chief electrician ; but excluding office and clerical employees,
guards ( including gatemen) , professional employees, section-men,
overseers , and all other supervisors, 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 the Employer , an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
30 days from the date of this Direction , under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was
heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and ' 203.62 of National'Lauor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, among the em-
ployees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4,
above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of this Direction of Election , including employees
who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill
or on vacation or temporarily laid off , 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 , and also ex-
cluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to
determine whether or not they desire to be represented , for'purposes
of collective bargaining , by United Textile Workers of America,
A. F. L.
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