Hat Corp. of America

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 13, 1947

74 N.L.R.B. 998 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter Of HAT CORPORATION OF AMERICA, EMPLOYER and INTER-
NATIONAL PRINTING PRESSMEN AND ASSISTANTS' UNION OF NORTH
AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. O-R-7226.Decided August 13,19./7
McLanahan, Merritt cC Ingrahamn, by Mr. Richard S. Buell, of New
York City, and Messrs. W. P. Morin and Alexander Roberts , of Nor-
walk, Conn., for the Employer.
Messrs. Anthony J. DeAndrade and Philip C. Opinsky, of Boston,
Mass ., and Messrs. Edward R. Weingartner and George Hands, of
Norwalk, Conn., for the Petitioner.
Mr. Elias Lieberman, by Mr. Vinson C. Aronson, of New York City,
for the Intervenor.
Mr. Henry W. de Korniian, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at New York
City, on April 14, 15 and 16, 1947, before Bertram Diamond, hearing
officer. At the hearing the Employer moved to dismiss the petition.
For reasons hereinafter stated, the motion is granted. 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
I. TILE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Hat Corporation of America is a Delaware corporation engaged in
the manufacture of hats at its Plant No. 1 in South Norwalk, Connecti-
cut, which is solely involved in this proceeding. During' 1946 the
Employer purchased raw materials valued in excess of $1,000,000, ap-
proximately 90 percent of which was shipped to the Employer from
74 N. L. R. B., No. 164.
998
HAT CORPORATION OF AMERICA 999,
points outside the State of Connecticut. During the same period the.
Employer sold finished products valued in excess of $1,000,000, ap-
proximately 90 percent of which" was shipped to points outside the
State of Connecticut.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
United Hat, Cap and Millinery Workers Industrial. Union, Local
Nos. 32, 33, 81, 97, and 98, herein called the Intervenor, is a labor
organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, claim-
ing to represent employees of the Employer.
III. TILE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all employees in what it designates
as the Employer's printing department. The Employer and the
Intervenor contend that the unit sought by the Petitioner is inappro-
priate, urging that the employees whom the Petitioner seeks to repre-
sent are not a true craft and do not form a homogeneous, distinct, and
identifiable group.
The Employer Is engaged in the manufacture of hats and operates
three plants in South Norwalk, Connecticut. As noted above, only
Plant No. 1 is involved in this proceeding. At Plant No. 1 the Em-
ployer produces men's hats. Plant No. 1 is divided into a back shop
and a front shop. The hat body itself, minus all trimmings, is manu-
factured in the back shop through a series of processes not relevant
for the purposes of this proceeding. After the hat body has been
produced in the back shop, it is then sent to the front shop. The
front shop is divided into the following major operations: (1) trim-
ming operations whereby the various accessories to a hat, such as the
lining, the leather sweat band, and the outside band, are prepared;
(2) finishing operations whereby the hat and all its trimmings are
assembled, blocked, and pressed; and (3) flanging operations whereby
the brim is shaped and the hat is accorded its particular style.
All the employees whom the Petitioner seeks to represent work in
the Parts Department, which occupies virtually the entire first floor
of the front shop. Two operations in the Parts Department are of
particular interest for the purposes of this proceeding: (1) the prep-
aration of leather sweat bands (known as leathers), an operation
which is performed on a production line running the length of the
1000 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
back half of the Parts Department; and (2) the preparation of the
linings, an operation performed on a production line running the
length of the front half of the Parts Department.
Leathers are prepared in the following manner. The leathers are
first delivered to the Parts Department by 2 boys from the receiving
department. The leathers are then sorted for quality, thickness, and
blemishes by the leather sorters. At present, there are 1 full-time
and several part-time leather sorters. The leathers are then weighed
out : that is, they are separated into bundles in accordance with the
Employer's orders from customer-retailers, and' a ticket indicating
the specifications of the order is attached to each bundle. There are
3 employees engaged in the weighing out of leathers. The leathers
are then sent on to the stampers, of whom there are 12, and the em-
bossers, of whom there are 3. Five floor boys select the appropriate
dies, which they then deliver to the stampers and the embossers. The
stampers then stamp in gold the name of the customer-retailer on the
leather, and the trade mark indicating the style of the hat is either
stamped on the leather by the stampers or embossed thereon by the
embossers. The leathers are then checked against the orders by the
leather checkers, of whom there are 2. The leathers are next cut to
size by machines operated by leather cutters. Following this, the
leathers are then stitched together by the stitch-back operators. Then
a bow tie is affixed to the leathers by the bow tie tackers, and the final
step consists of attaching a size marker to the leathers, an operation
performed by 2 girls. The leathers are then folded and delivered to
the finishing shop.
In the unit sought by it, the Petitioner desires to include the stamp-
ers and embossers, alleging that they are pressmen, and the sorters,
weigh out employees, floor boys, and checkers on the theory that they
are apprentices who will work up to becoming embossers and stampers.
The other major operation carried on in the Parts Department con-
sists of preparing the linings. The lining of a hat is divided into two
parts for the purposes of production : the tip, which is the portion
of the lining at the very top of the hat and on which the trade mark is
either printed or stamped, and the remainder of the lining. The ma-
terial is first brought to the Parts Department where the lining cut-
ters then cut out a tip and the balance of the lining. Two tip mounters
next cut out squares of cardboard on which they affix the squares
cut out by the lining cutters. These squares are then delivered to
the tip printers and stampers. The trademark is either printed on
the tip by the ink printers, of whom there are four, or stamped thereon
in gold by the stampers, of whom there are three. The tip is then
brushed by a tip-brusher. Following this, the tip is cut into an oval
HAT CORPORATION OF AMERICA 1001
-shape. Then the bitlance of the lining is "shirred" so that it will
form an oval. Thereafter, the lining is sewn to the tip, the cardboard
is then removed from the tip, the lining is blocked and pressed, and
finally the entire lining is inspected and filed away.
The Petitioner also seeks to include in the unit sought by it the
tip mounters, the ink tip printers, the gold tip stampers, and the-tip-
brusher. In addition, the Petitioner seeks to include a compositor
who sets gold type when the customer does not have a die.
Thus, the Petitioner seeks a unit consisting of leather stampers,
leather embossers, leather checkers, leather weigh-out employees,
leather sorters, gold tip stampers, ink tip printers, tip mounters, floor
boys, and the compositor, a total of approximately 35 employees.
All these employees work under the separate supervision of the print-
ing foreman. However, as noted above, they work on a production
line and enjoy no degree of physical segregation from the remaining
employees in the Parts Department. It does not appear that great
skill is required of the employees whom the Petitioner considers to
be pressmen. Thus an employee can become a gold leather stamper or
embosser in several months. It takes somewhat longer to develop a
competent ink or gold tip stamper, but in no case, more than a year.
Of the 22 printers, stampers, and embossers, 4 operate job presses of
the simplest variety, while the balance operate stamping or embossing
machines.
Furthermore, it appears that the alleged "craft" unit sought by the
Petitioner in this proceeding is unknown in the hat making industry.
The Intervenor has organized approximately 80 percent of this in-
dustry on an industrial basis. The Petitioner conceded that it knew
of no plant in this industry where the type of unit which it seeks to
establish in this proceeding underlay collective bargaining relations.
In view of the absence of any physical segregation of the employees
in the "printing department" from the remaining employees in the
Parts Department, the close degree of integration between the work
of the employees whom the Petitioner seeks to represent and that of
other employees in the Parts Department, the relatively small degree
of skill required of employees in the "printing department," and the
fact that such employees have never before been, recognized as a craft
in this industry, we find that the employees whom the Petitioner here
seeks to represent do not constitute a true craft group.
It appears, moreover, that at this plant there has been a history of
collective bargaining between the Employer and the Intervenor on a
plant-wide basis.
On January 2, 1942, the Employer and the Intervenor executed a
contract which provided that it applied to all employees in the various
1002 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
departments of the front shop of Plant No. 2 and in all the depart-
ments of Plant No. 1 "for Which the unions 1 may be the exclusive bar-
gaining agency." Whatever ambiguity this language may create, it
appears that it was clearly the intention of the parties that the agree-
ment should cover the employees whom the Petitioner here seeks to
represent inasmuch as all the contract provisions as to conditions
of employment were applied to them. Similar language was used in
another contract executed on April 14, 1944, and in the last contract
executed on May 23, 1946.2 The coverage of the orginal contract
Was expanded, however, and, under the 1946 agreement, the Inter-
venor was recognized as the representative of all employees in the
various departments in Plants Nos. 1, 2, and 3.
Since 1942, the Intervenor has negotiated wage rates for the em-
ployees whom the Petitioner seeks to represent, and has also negotiated
a cost of living bonus plan, an insurance plan, and vacation provisions
for all employees, including those in the "printing department."
Furthermore, all the contract provisions as to hours of Work, seniority,
and other conditions of employment have been applied to such
employees.3
In view of all the facts set out above, we lire convinced that the unit
sought to be established by the J etitioner is not appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining. Accordingly, we shall dismiss the
petition.
IV. THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Since the bargaining unit sought to be established is not appro-
priate, as found in Section III, above, we find that no question affect-
ing commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees
of the Employer within an, appropriate unit, Within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) of the Act.
1 The contract was negotiated by a joint committee consisting of several locals of the
Intervenor.
2 The contract provided that it should remain in effect until April 1, 1947, and contained
a 60-day automatic renewal clause The Employer and the Intervenor contend that the
agreement is a bar to an election at this time In the light of our decision herein, we do
not find it necessary to pass on this contention.
a We are not unmindful of the fact that the employees whom the Petitioner seeks have
refused to join the Intervenor and that they have also negotiated their grievances indi-
vidually The Employer, howevei, has refused to recognize employees from the "printing
department" as anything other than individuals for the purpose of adjusting grievances
with them, and has further adjusted grievances with such employees directly only with
the consent of the Intervenor We do not consider that these facts, standing alone, are
sufficient to justify seyeiing the employees whom the Petitioner seeks to represent from
the existing plant-wide unit. -
HAT CORPORATION OF AMERICA
ORDER
1003
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and the entire record
in the case, it is hereby ordered that the petition for investigation and
certification of representatives of employees of Hat Corporation of
America, South Norwalk, Connecticut, filed by International Printing
Pressmen and Assistants' Union of North America, AFL, be, and it
hereby is, dismissed.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Order.