Laurel Textiles, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 10, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 262 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of LAUREL TEXTILES, INC., EMPLOYER and TExTlI.E.
WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 15-RC-46.-Decided November 10, 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.' The request of the Intervenor, United Textile Workers
of America, AFL, Local 144, for oral argument is hereby denied,
as the record and the briefs, in our opinion, adequately present the
positions of the parties.
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 organizations involved claim to represent employees of
the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce 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.2
i The Intervenor objects to rulings of the hearing officer excluding evidence offered by it
to attack the validity of letters purportedly sent by certain of its officers to the Employer
for the purpose of forestalling the automatic renewal of its contract . In view of our find-
ing that the contract is not, in any event, a bar to this proceeding , we find that these-
rulings were not prejudicial. See footnote 2, infra.
* Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Gray.
2 The Intervenor , citing Matter of Texas Paper Box Manufacturing Company, 75 N. L.
R. B. 799, moved to dismiss the petition upon the ground that a collective bargaining agree-
ment executed by the Employer and the Intervenor on June 1, 1947 , for an initial term of
1 year, constitutes a bar to this proceeding , because it was automatically renewed within
the certification year . Hoaaever , the record discloses that the contract provided for main-
tenance of membership in the Intervenor as a condition of employment . The Intervenor
has not been certified by the Board , under Section 9 ( c) (1) of the Act, as being authorized
SO N. L . R. B., No. 52.
262
LAUREL TEXTILES, INC. 263
4. The parties are in substantial agreement that the appropriate
unit should consist of all production and maintenance employees of
the Employer, including truck drivers, boiler room employees, j ani-
tresses, and yard crew, but excluding office clerical and professional
employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act. The par-
ties disagree, however, as to the following employees :
The Petitioner urges the inclusion of the cloth checker. The Em-
ployer and the Intervenor would exclude the cloth checker, upon the
ground that she has not been a part of the production and maintenance
unit established by the contract between the Employer and the In-
tervenor. The record does not disclose that the cloth checker has
interests or duties which would normally prevent her inclusion in
the bargaining unit. However, in the absence of any compelling
circumstances warranting a departure from our practice of not dis-
turbing a contract unit established as the result of collective bar-
gaining, we shall exclude the cloth checker.$
The Petitioner would also include watchmen in the unit. As the
watchmen perform the usual duties of such employees, we find that
they are guards within the meaning of the Act .4 We shall exclude
them.
We find that the following employees of the Employer constitute
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within
the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees, including truck driv-
ers, boiler room employees, janitresses, and yard crew, but excluding
office clerical and professional employees, the cloth checker, watchmen,
guards, and supervisors as defined in 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 supervision of the Regional Director for the Fifteenth Region,
and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the em-
to execute such a union-security provision . For this reason, and without regard to any
other considerations , we find that even if the contract has been renewed, an issue which
we do not decide , it is not a bar to a present determination of representatives . Matter of
C. Hager & Sons Hinge Manufacturing Company , 80 N. L. R. B. 163; Matter of Gen-
eral Electric Company, 80 N. L. R. B . 169. Accordingly the motion to dismiss is hereby
denied.
+ Matter of Petersen & Lytle, 60 N . L. R. B. 1070.
4 Matter of C. V. Hill and Co., Inc., 64 N . L. It. B. 1109.
264 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 re-
hired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding
employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine
whether they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bar-
gaining, by Textile Workers Union of America, CIO, or by United
Textile Workers of America, AFL, Local 144, or by neither.