Hannah Pickett Mills Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 11, 1946

69 N.L.R.B. 413 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter Of HANNAH PICKETT MILLS COMPANY and TEXTILE
WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA, CIO
Case No. 5-R-2304.-Decided July 11, 1946
Mr. W. S. Blackeney, of Charlotte, N. C., for the Company.
Messrs. M. W. Lynch, and Julius R. Fry, of Charlotte, N. C., for the
Union.
Mr. Bernard Dunau, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Textile Workers Union of America,
CIO, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting com-
merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Han-
nah Pickett Mills Company, Rockingham, North Carolina, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided
for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Charles Y. Latimer,
Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Rockingham, North Caro-
lina, on June 3, 1946. The Company and the Union appeared and
participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard,
to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence
bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hear-
ing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All par-
ties were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF TILE COMPANY
Hannah Pickett Mills Company, a North Carolina corporation, is
engaged in the business of manufacturing cotton and rayon cloth at
its mill located near Rockingham, North Carolina During the year
preceding the hearing, it purchased raw materials, consisting chiefly
1 Colonial Mills, Incorporated, a New York corporation, owns a majority of the stock of
Hannah Pickett Mills Company
69 N. L. R. B., No. 49.
413
414 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of cotton, valued in excess of $100,000, of which more than 90 percent
was shipped to the mill from points outside the State of North Caro-
lina. During the same period of time, it produced finished cloth,
valued at more than $100,000, of which more than 90 percent was
shipped from the mill to points outside the State.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Textile Workers Union of America is a labor organization, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to member-
ship employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On or about March 21,1946, the Union wrote a letter to the Company
stating that it represented a majority of the Company's employees and
requesting exclusive recognition as their bargaining agent. A petition
for certification of representatives filed by the Union was docketed on
March 22, 1946. On or about April 15, 1946, an effort to arrange a
consent election was unsuccessful because of the inability of the parties
to agree to the composition of the appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the
representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Company and the Union agree that a unit composed of the Com-
pany's production and maintenance employees, but excluding super-
visors, foremen, and office clerical employees, is appropriate. They dis-
agree concerning the inclusion in the unit of the following employees:
yard crew, cafe workers, shop clerical employees, gate watchmen, and
spinning room section hands.
The mill is located in a fenced area approximately 400 feet by 130
feet. One half of the mill is a two-story structure. The single story
half of the mill is used as a weave shed. The warehouses are located to
the rear. A cafe, 30 feet by 40 feet, is situated in the central part of
the mill. Across the road from the mill is the company store building.
The Company's offices are situated above the store. Adjacent to the
mill, and forming part of the mill property, is the village in which
there are about 160 houses.
Yard crew: The Company employs six individuals, hourly paid,
who are designated the yard crew. They haul oil to the mill for the use
of the various departments; they haul starch for the use of the slasher
HANNAH PICKETT MILLS COMPANY 415
room; they unload car lots of coal, oil, salt, and other commodities;
they haul cinders from the boiler room and scatter them over the village
road; they haul garbage in the village. They are generally responsible
for keeping the mill premises clean. They cut grass in the village, and
rake the yard. We find that they are typical maintenance employees,
and we shall include them in the unit.
Cafe workers: The Company employs two individuals who work
exclusively in the cafe serving sandwiches, frankfurters, cold drinks,
and coffee to the production and maintenance employees. The cafe is
open from 6 a. m. to 10 p. m. which are the hours during which the mill
is in operation. The cafe workers are under the supervision of the
company store, are listed on the store pay roll, and receive a straight
weekly salary in contrast to the hourly or piece rates of the production
and maintenance employees. The Company would include, and the
Union would exclude, the cafe workers from the unit. Inasmuch as
their work is essentially different from that of the mill hands, and
the Union does not desire their inclusion, we shall exclude them from
the unit.2
Shop clericals: The Company would include, and the Union would
exclude, three shop clerical employees who are designated as time-
keeper, weave room clerk, and finishing room clerk. The timekeeper
works in the office and under the supervision of the plant superin-
tendent. He posts time data from the overseers' books to the pay-roll
sheets. The actual earnings , however, are computed by the office
clerical force. The weave room clerk works in the office of the overseer
of that department and under his supervision. Her duties are con-
fined to the personnel of the weave room. She keeps a record of
presence and absence of employees (ins and outs). She checks the
style of the fabric being run. She records the picks (strands of filling
yarn carried by the shuttle as it passes through the shed of the warp)
registered by a pick clock (a counting device synchronized with the
loom to register the number of picks) from which are computed the
earnings of the operators on the basis of a given rate per 100,000
picks. She also records the efficiency of an operator by a purely clerical
procedure of computing the pick reading against a norm. Her work
is therefore essentially that of a timekeeper or counter. The finishing
room clerk works under the supervision of the overseer of the cloth
room. A weigher packs, weighs, and bales the cloth. He turns over
his slips to the finishing room clerk who prepares a daily report re-
cording the poundage woven, dyed, and shipped which is then sub-
mitted to the business office. She is a typical plant clerical employee.
We shall exclude the timekeeper and the weave room clerk from the
2 See Matter of Day and Night Manufacturing Company, 65 N. L. R. B. 916, Matter of
Rockford Machine Tool Company, 64 N. L. R. B . 1400; Matter of Mock, Judson, Voehringer
Company of North Carolina, Inc., 63 N. L. R. B. 96
416 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
unit, and include the finishing room clerk in the unit, in accordance
with our usual practice of excluding timekeepers 3 and including other
plant clerical employees .4
Gate watchmen: The Company employs two gate watchmen who
control admission to the mill by means of a pass system. They are
hourly paid, unarmed, non-uniformed, non-deputized, and without
authority to arrest. We find that they are not monitorial, and we
shall include them in the unit.
Spinning room section hands: The Company employs 6 section
hands in the spinning room who are divided into 2 shifts with 3 section
hands assigned to each shift. They are hourly paid employees. Two
section hands are assigned 28 spinning frames each, and the third is
assigned 24 spinning frames. The customary hierarchy in a spinning
room is overseer, second hand, section hand. In this mill the second
hand is eliminated. The Company admits that ordinarily section
hands are included within a unit of production and maintenance
employees in a textile mill, but contends that, because of the lack of
second hands in this particular mill, the section hands perform the
duties of second hands and are supervisory employees. The section
hands are responsible for the light maintenance of the frames, a job
which consists primarily in changing gears, installing break-backs,
aligning spindles, and leveling rolls. They may also assist the over-
hauler in the heavy maintenance work of plumbing spindles, inserting
rings, removing cylinders, and changing the stroke. The bulk of the
section hand's time is devoted to repair and maintenance of the frames.
At the beginning of his shift, the section hand will examine the
frames to determine the condition in which they were left by the
previous shift. He will then assign the operators to their various
stations. In the event of absenteeism he will procure a spinner, doffer,
oiler and bander, clean-up man, as the case may be, from the surplus
labor pool on the spare floor, and place him at work at the required
station. During the course of his shift he will scan the operation of
his frames to assure continued effective production. In the event of
tardy return to work of an operator he may procure substitute labor
from the pool. He may reprove an employee for slack work. He may
instruct newly hired employees. The plant superintendent and the
spinning room overseer state that the section hands may effectively
recommend hiring and discharge of employees, but they are unable
to recall a single instance in which that has been done. It seems
unlikely from the facts disclosed by the record that the section hands
have any greater authority pertaining to employees' status than to
report the existence of a condition to the overseer who will thereupon
3 See Matter of Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc., 60 N. L. R. B. 876.
4 See Matter of Goodman Manufacturing Company, 58 N. L. R. B. 531.
HANNAH PICKETT MILLS COMPANY 417
make an independent investigation and exercise an independent judg-
ment. We find that the spinning room section hands exercise no su-
pervisory duties since they have no power to effectively recommend
hire, discharge, discipline, or other change in status. We shall include
them in the unit.,'
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Company, including yard crew, finishing room clerk, gate watchmen,
and spinning room section hands, but excluding the timekeeper, weave
room clerk, cafe workers, supervisors, foremen, office clerical em-
ployees, and all other supervisory employees with authority to hire,
promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status
of employees, 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.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among employees
in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein,
subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction.
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,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Hannah Pickett
Mills Company, Rockingham, North Carolina, 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 Fifth Region, acting in
this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and
subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regula-
tions, among 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 vacation
5 See Matter of Thomaston Cotton M ills , Grtffln Dtictiston, 66 N L R B. 731; Matter of
Industrial Rayon Corporation, 56 N. L. R. B. 1679; Matter of Hillsboro Cotton Mills, 56
N. L. R. B 271 ; see also Matter of The Toledo Edison Company, 63 N L. R B 217.
701592-47-vol 69-28
418 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 discharged
for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of
the election, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented
by Textile Workers Union of America, CIO, for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining.