Fuld and Hatch Knitting Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 12, 1941

30 N.L.R.B. 1133 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter, ,of FULD AND HATCH KNITTING CO.' and UNITED'
, TEXTILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, A. F. L.
Case No. R-2386. -Decided, A l 12, 194.1
Jurisdiction : garment manufacturing industry. - '
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: Com-
pany refused to accord union recognition demanding proper evidence of the
authority of the union to negotiate; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees at one of the Com-
pany's plants excluding executives, foremen, foreladies, salesmen, and office
and clerical help.
Mr. Daniel R. Dimick, for the Board.
Illch d Poskanger by. Mr. A. M. Jacobs, of Albany, N. Y., for. the
'Company.
Mr. Frank Bearup, of Albany, N. Y., for the United.
Mr. Frederic B. Parkes, 2nd, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
'DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On January 8, 1941, United Textile Workers of America, affili-
ated with the American Federation of Labor,' herein called the
United, filed with the Regional Director for the Second Region (New
York City) a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce
had arisen concerning the representation of `employees of Fuld and
Hatch Knitting Co., Cohoes, New York, herein called the Company,
and requesting an investigation and certification of representatives
pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49
Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On February 25, 1941, the National
Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to
Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to
conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On February 27, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and
the United.. Pursuant to notice, a hearing'was held on March 10,
30 N L.'R. B., No. 157.' ,
1133
1134 , DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
1941, at Cohoes, New York, before Edward Grandison Smith, the
Trial Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The
Board, the Company, and the United were represented by counsel
and participated, in the hearing. Full, opportunity to be heard, to ex-
amine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing
on the issues was afforded all parties. During the course of the
hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings on motions and on
objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed
the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial
errors were committed. The rulings'are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
6
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Fuld and Hatch Knitting Co. is a New York'corporation with its
principal office and place of business at Cohoes, New York, where it
is engaged in the processing, manufacture, sale, and distribution of
cotton and woolen underwear and related 'products. The Company
operates two plants at Cohoes, New York, between one-quarter and
one-half mile apart, one at Saratoga Street and the other at Lower
Remsen Street. At the Saratoga Street plant the raw materials,
cotton and wool, are manufactured into yarn which in turn is knitted
into rolls of cloth. The rolls of cloth are transferred by an inde-
pendent trucking concern to the Remsen Street plant where they are
scoured, bleached, pre-shrunk, dyed, and made into finished garments,
packed, and shipped. At the height of the production season, the
Company employs about 500 workers.
During 1940, the Company purchased over $500,000 worth of raw
materials; of which approximately 95 per cent were, shipped to it
from points outside the State of New York. During the same period
the Company sold finished products valued in excess of $1,500,000,
approximately 90 per cent of which represented goods shipped by it
to points,outside the State of New York.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Textile Workers of America is a labor organization affili-'
ated with the American Federation 'of Labor, admitting to its mem-
bership employees in the Company's .Saratoga Street plant.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On December 26, 1940, the United requested the Company to recog-
nize it as exclusive representative of the Saratoga Street plant
employees. The Company demanded proper evidence of the authority
of the United to negotiate.
FULD AND HATCH -KNITTrN G . COMPA[IY 1135
A statement of the Regional Director, ' introduced . in ' evidence,
at the hearing, shows that the United represents a substantial ,num-
ber, of employees in the-unit found below to be appropriate.'
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find, that the question concerning representation' which has
arisen , occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above,,has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The, United claims that all the employees of the Company's Sara-
toga Street plant with the exception of executives, foremen, fore-
ladies, salesmen, and office and clerical help, constitute an appropriate
unit for the purposes of collective bargaining. The Company con-
tends that all employees, with the above exceptions, at both the
Saratoga Street plant and the Remsen Street plant constitute a single
appropriate unit.
As described in Section I above, the operations of the Company are
divided between its two plants. The Saratoga Street plant manu-
facturers the raw material into yarn which in turn is knitted there
into rolls of cloth. The' Remsen Street plant makes the cloth into
finished! garments. Each plant has its own superintendent and
pay roll, although the employees engaged in the knitting and winding
processes at the Saratoga Street plant are under the supervision of
the Remson Street plant superintendent and are included on that
plant's pay roll. The employees are not interchangeable at the two
plants, those at the Reinsen Street plant being more highly skilled
than those at the Saratoga Street plant. The employees at the
Saratoga Street plant are solely employed in the actual manufacture
of textile, either yarn or knitting. The work done at the Remsen
Street plant includes certain processes which are not textile.
The United has confined its organization activities solely 'to the
Saratoga Street plant, whose workers are clearly within the juris-
diction of the United. The United has made no attempt to organize
the workers of the Remsen Street plant. 'It appears that an unde-
' The Regional Director 's statement shows that 131 employees , whose names appear on
the Saratoga Street plant pay roll of January 17, 1941, have signed authorization cards,
dated between November 19, 1940 , and February 5, 1941, in the United. There are approxi-
mately 163 employees in the appropriate unit.
1,136 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
cided jurisdictional question • ekists at the Remsen' Street plant between
the' International Ladies' Garment' Workers Union and the A.' F:'
of L.'s "International Union bn knit ' goods ." ' Un' der • the circum
stances, we see no reason ' for not finding an ' appropriate unit which
coincides with the extent of the United's organization:'
We find that all employees of the Company , at its Saratoga Street
plant, with the exception of executives , foremen, foreladies , salesmen,
and office and clerical help, constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes , of: collective bargaining and that, said ' unit will insure
to employees of the Company the, fullbenefit ' of their right td self -t
organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate
the-policies of the Act. i ;
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The United seeks to,be certified on the basis of the record.8 We
are of the opinion, however, that the question concerning representa-
tion can best be resolved by means of an election by , secret ballot.
The United urged that the pay roll 'of either ' November' 1940, or
January 7,'1941, be used as' a' basis for determining eligibility to
vote' in the event that `the 'Boaird directed an' election, for the reason'
that either of such pay' rolls would, more properly 'represent its
members, since most of the organization11 1 al work of the United' was
conducted during November and December. 1940.
It'appears that the February pay 'r'oll cunt tined'fewer names than
th'e' November pay roll and that the Company will hire more workers'
within the next '30 days. However, it is the practice of the Company
to 'rehire; at peak periods, employees' who' have been laid off at slack
periods. Consequently, employees who 'were on the pay roll iii No'-
vember but who have since been 'laid off, have 'a' reasonable egpee-'
fation of being 'rehi'red 'in the' future when the operations of the'
Company-ine'rease and fall within the category of employees who have
been, temporarily laid off,, as described in our Direction of Election,
below.' We 'shall; there'fai'e, 'direct that the employees of the' Con-'
parry'eligible to 'vote in the election shall' be those in the appropriate'
unit who were employed during the; pay=Toll period' immediately pre
Z See Matter of R. C X. Communications; Inc and American Radio ' Telegraphists' A880-
ciattion, 2 N. L R. B 1109; Matter of dssoctiated ,Press and American Newspaper ,Guild,
5 N L R. B.' 43; Matter of Burroughs Adding Machine Co and Boston Lodge No. 2611,
International Association of Machinists , AFL, 14 N L R' B. 829 ; Matter of Western Union'
Telegraph Co. and Commercial Telegraphers Union, 16 N. L. R. B:,683 ; Matter of Chase
Brass d ' Copper 'Co., Inc, and Waterbury Brass Workers Union, 4 N. L. R. B. 47; Matter
of'New,England, Spun Silk Corp. and Federal Union of Textile Workers, AFL,'11 N. L.'R. 13.1
853; Matter of Frigidaire Division of General Motors Corp . and Metal Finishers Local
Lodge, 19 N L It. B 957; Matter of Southern Aggregates Corp. and Quarry Workers
International Uriion'of Vol t1i America, 23 N L R B 736:
^ ° See'fobtnote '`S,'supra. • ' ''[ ' ^. ,' ^' 411 . 1
FULD AND HATCH KN'ITTIN'G Co'MPA2''Y 1137
ceding the date of the Direction of Election herein, subject to such
limitations and additions as are set forth in the Direction. .
Upon the basis of the above finding of fact and upon the entire
record`in the case,,the Board^makes the following:
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Fuld 'aiid Hatch Knitting Co., Cohoes,
New York,• within the meaning of Section 9, (c), and Section 2 (6)
and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act: ' '
2. All-employeesof'1the' Company,, at its, Saratoga-' Street plant,
with the exception-,of , executives, foremen, foreladies, salesmen,' and
office and clerical help, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective"bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the
National L'abor' Relations' Act:
.. i t , • 1 ) f , . i I ' ,
' ' ,. .' , ,
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
Relations Act, 49 Stag. 449,, and pursuant' to, Article.'III, ; Section 8;
of National Labor Relations -Board Rules and Regulations-Series
2, as amended, it is hereby ' '
DIRECTED that, as part of the-investigation authorized by the
Board to ascertain representatives for the, purpose of collective bar-
gaining with Fuld and Hatch Knitting Co., Cohoes, New York, 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 Second
Region, • acting- in "this matter as, agent' for the National Labor Rela-
tions Bbard," and, subject to,Article -III, Section 9;' of said Rules"and-
Regulations; `among all employee`s` of the Company; at its ' Saratoga'
Street plant, who 'were employed during the pay. roll period imme-
diately preceding' the 'date of this Direction, 'including employees
who 'did not work during such pay-roll period because' they were
ill *or'on vacatioii or''in the active 'military service 'or'training' of the.
Unitd' States or ^teniporari]y'"l'aid off, but excluding executives,;
foremen, forela;dies, salesthen, 'and 'office 'and' 'clerical help, and 'eth '
ployees 'who' have since 'quit or ^ been discharged for cause, to deter
mine vvhether 'or riot' they desire to` be 'represented by United Textile-
Workers of "America, affiliated"with th'e American Federatiori''of
Labor, for the purposes of collective bargaining!" ''' ' ,'