Goodall Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 22, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 562 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of GOODALL COMPANY, EMPLOYER and UNITED GARMENT
WORKERS OF AMERICA, A. F. OF L., PETITIONER
Case No . 10-RC-303.Decided November 22,1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing offi-
cer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing officer's rul-
ings 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 certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks a unit limited to production employees at the
Employer's Talladega, Alabama, plant. The Employer contends that
the only appropriate unit should include both production and main-
tenance employees at said plant.
The Employer is engaged in the production of men's and boys' wash
suits. The parties agree that the following employees should be in-
cluded in the proposed unit : machine operators, pressers, bundle boys
and girls, weavers, spotters, and cutting-room employees. The parties
also agree that the following employees should be excluded : office man-
agers and office clerical employees, canteen workers, guards, profes-
sional employees, floor ladies and other supervisors. The parties are in
*Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Gray.
80 N. L. R. B., No. 94.
562
GOODALL COMPANY 563
disagreement over the following categories of employees, which the
Employer would include and the Petitioner would exclude : mainte-
nance employees, plant clerical employees, and night watchmen.'
With respect to the following employees, whom the Employer would
specifically include, the Petitioner has failed to indicate its conten-
tions : fitters, and pairing and shortage girls.
Maintenance employees include machine adjusters and repairmen,
presser adjusters and repairmen, machinists, oilers, carpenters, steam-
fitters, and firemen 2 They work in the same building and under the
same conditions of employment as the production employees. In
view of the integrated nature of the Employer's operations, the uni-
form conditions of employment, the close relationship and community
of interest among the production employees and the maintenance em-
ployees, and the absence of any cogent reason for their separate treat-
ment, it is our opinion that a unit limited to production employees
would be based on the extent to which the employees have organized,
a factor which may not be controlling under Section 9 (c) (1) (5) of
the Act. Accordingly, we find that a plant-wide unit embracing both
production and maintenance employees of the Employer will insure
to these employees the most effective representation for collective bar-
gaining purposes, and we so find.8
Clerical employees include (1) stockroom clerks and (2) thread
office girls. (1) Stockroom clerks type size tickets, code numbers and
labels, and perform other clerical functions in connection with the
shipping of the Employer's product. We shall include them as plant
clericals in the plant-wide unit. (2) Thread office girls issue to the
production workers thread, needles, and allied materials from a room
separated from the general stockroom. They also maintain a record
of these materials. As plant clericals, their interests also lie suffi-
ciently with those of the production and maintenance employees to
warrant their inclusion in the plant-wide unit.
Night watchmen regularly patrol the plant at night, principally for
fire protection when the Employer's plant is not engaged in production.
They are not deputized and carry no sidearms. As plant guards, they
should be excluded from the plant-wide unit, and we so find.
I Included also in this group are utility girls. As there are at the present time no
utility girls on the Employer's pay roll, we shall not consider unit placement of this job
classification at this time.
2 The Petitioner urges the exclusion of certain of the maintenance employees upon the
ground that labor organizations in the near future may apply for a craft severance of
those employees . We shall base our decision with regard to the maintenance employees
on the facts as brought out at the hearing, rather than on speculative arguments.
" Matter of Sheffield Iron and Steel Company, 77 N. L. R. B. 998.
817319-48-vol 80-37
564 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Fitters assemble the component pieces of the garments in prepara.
tion for the operations of the production employees. Their work is
so closely connected with production that we shall include them in the
plant-wide unit.
Pairing and shortage girls match accessories with the garments on
the production line and also watch for damage and imperfections.
They are an integral part of the production process and are properly
included in the plant-wide unit.
Stockroom and shipping room employees, instructors, warehouse
employees, porters and maids, and cafeteria employees. The Peti-
tioner further seeks to include, and the Employer to exclude, these
employees. As the record made at the hearing is devoid of evidence
descriptive of their duties and functions, we shall exclude them from
the unit hereinafter found appropriate and therefore from participa-
tion in the election which we shall hereinafter direct. However, our
action shall in no wise prejudice whatever future rights these employ-
ees may have to file a petition for their inclusion in this unit or any
other unit which they may deem appropriate.
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the
Employer's Talladega, Alabama, plant, including machine operators,
pressers, bundle boys and girls, weavers, spotters, cutting room em-
ployees, fitters, pairing and shortage girls, machinists, oilers, car-
penters, steamfitters, firemen, stockroom clerks, and thread office girls,
but excluding office managers, office clerical employees, stockroom
and shipping room employees, instructors, 'warehouse employees,
porters and maids, cafeteria employees, canteen workers, guards, night
watchmen, professional employees, floor ladies, and other supervisors,
constitute a unit appropriate for collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
5. The Employer urges that an election among the employees in
its Talladega plant would be premature at this time, as it is engaged
in an expansion program and expects to increase the number of its
production and maintenance employees from 550 to 1,200 within the
next 18 months. It further asserts that the present complement of
employees does not constitute a fair cross section of the personnel
which will ultimately be in its employ. The Petitioner desires an
immediate election.
The employees of the Talladega plant currently perform 541 opera-
tions essential to the production of wash suits. Although the plant
expansion program calls for an increase of approximately 100 percent
in both personnel and machinery, the Employer does not anticipate a
material change in these operations or an increase in their number.
GOODALL COMPANY 565
We are, therefore, of the opinion that the unit herein found appro-
priate is representative of the work force which the Employer may
reasonably anticipate. Accordingly, we find that the Employer's
plant expansion program does not prevent an election at this time.4
As the unit found appropriate is broader than the unit sought by the
Petitioner, the Petitioner may, if it desires, withdraw its petition in
this proceeding without prejudice, provided that it notify the Re-
gional Director for the Tenth Region to that effect within ten (10)
days from the date of issuance of this Decision and Direction of
Election.
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 su-
pervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case
was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among
the employees 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 Garment Workers of America,
A. F. of L.
4 Matter of Western Electric Company , Incorporated, 76 N L R. B 400.