Mandeville Mills, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 26, 1944

58 N.L.R.B. 1371 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of MANDEVILLE MILLS, INC. and TExTILE WORKERS UNION
OF AMERICA , C. I. O.
Case No. 10-B-1264.-Decided October 26, 1944
Boykin et; Boykin, by Mr. Shirley C. Boykin, and Mr. F. M. Kimble,
Jr., of Carrollton, Ga., for the Company.
Messrs. W. F. Barker and H. W. Denton, of Atlanta, Ga., and &[r.
J. D. Smith, of Carrollton, Ga., for the Union.
Mr. Julius Kirle, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon an amended petition duly filed by Textile Workers Union,
,of America, C. I. 0., herein called the Union, alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Mandeville Mills, Inc., Carrollton, Georgia, herein called
the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice before Mortimer H. Freeman,
Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Carrollton, Georgia, on
September 14, 1944. The Company and the Union appeared, partici-
pated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine
and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduced evidence bearing on
the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were
afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Mandeville Mills, Inc., is a Georgia corporation with its principal
plant and place of business at Carrollton, Georgia, where it operates
two cotton spinning mills, a cotton gin, an oil mill, and a bonded
warehouse. The Company operates nine other cotton gins within
58 N. L . R. B., No. 248.
1371
1372 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Carroll County, Georgia, and also one cotton gin located in the ad-
joining State of Alabama. During the past 12 months, the Company
purchased raw material consisting of about 16 ,000 bales of- cotton
valued in excess of $1,000,000, of which approximately 25 percent was
received from points outside the State of Georgia. During the same
period, the Company manufactured and produced at its Carrollton
Mills approximately 7,000,000 pounds of cotton yarn valued in excess
of $2,000,000, of which approximately 85 percent was shipped to
points outside that State. The Company also purchased raw ma-
terials consisting of cottonseed, rayon staple, peanuts, and soy beans;
approximately 50 percent of the cottonseed came from points outside
the State.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Textile Workers Union of America, C. I. 0., affiliated with the Con-
gress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting
to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of certain of the Company's em-
ployees until the Union has submitted proof that it represents a
majority of the employees.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
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.
1V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit of all production and maintenance em-
ployees of the Company's Carrollton Nos. 1 and 2 Mills, including dye
house employees, second hands,2 watchmen, yardmen, truckers, pack-
ers (excepting the head packer), firemen, and maintenance crew ,3
but excluding clerical employees, the head packer, foremen, and
1 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 509 cards , 487 of which were
dated July 1944 , 21 in August 1944, 1 was undated , and that there are 659 employees in
the claimed appropriate unit
2 The parties agree , and we find that the employees classified as second hands do not
come within the Board's definition of supervisory employees
3 The maintenance crew is composed of electricians, machinists , carpenters , pipe fitters,
and plumbers , whose headquarters are located in the machine shop connected with the
Nos 1 and 2 Mills
MANDEVILLE MILLS, INC. 1373
supervisory employees of the rank of overseer 4 and above. The
Company on the other hand seeks a company-wide unit and would
include the production and maintenance employees of the Company's
cotton gins, oil mill, and bonded warehouse in the unit sought by
the Union.
The Company operates two cotton spinning mills known as Nos. 1
and 2 Mills, a dye house, cotton gin, oil mill, and bonded warehouse
at Carrollton, Georgia, all within 200 to 900 yards of each other.
The dye house is located in the basement of a building adjoining the
No. 1 Mill and connected thereto by a ramp. The No. 1 Mill is 200
yards distant from the No. 2 Mill. The Company also operates nine
other cotton gins within Carroll County and one in the adjoining
State of Alabama. All cotton, rayon staple, peanuts, soy beans, and
other supplies obtained by the Company are stored in and cleared
through the bonded warehouse. The cotton, as picked in the fields,
is sent to the gins where the cotton fibre is separated from the cot-
tonseed. The cotton fibre is then taken to the Nos. 1 and 2 Mills
where it is spun into yarn, and during the process dyed in the dye
house. The cottonseed, the peanuts, and the soy beans are taken
to the oil mill where they are crushed and processed for vegetable oil.
The Nos. 1 and 2 Mills are engaged solely in spinning yarn for
the Company. The dye house, cotton gins, oil mill, and warehouse
do work for the public as well as for the Company. The cotton gins
also retail building supplies, coal, and feed products obtained from
the hulls of the seed.
There is no interchange of employees between the various divisions.
Each division is independently supervised, subject only to the over-all
supervision of the general superinttendent. Each division does its
own hiring of employees, has its own pay roll, which is prepared and
checked in the general offices of the Company and returned to each
division for distribution. The work performed in the Nos. 1 and 2
Mills and the dye house, is entirely different from that carried on in
the other divisions. The Company has never had any collective bar-
gaining agreement with a labor organization. The Union has made
no attempt to organize any of the divisions sought to be included by
the Company, since it admits to membership textile workers only. It
appears from the foregoing that the Nos. 1 and 2 Mills and dye house
constitute a homogeneous group having interests apart from the other
divisions sought to be included by the Company.-' Accordingly, we are
of the opinion that the two mills and dye house constitute an appro-
priate bargaining unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of Nos.
1 and 2 Mills, including dye house employees, second hands, watch-
The terms overseers and supervisors are used interchangeably in the record.
a Matter of Rolling Mill Dn,sion of the Miller Company, 57 N L R. B. 1373.
609591-45-vol. 58-92
1374 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
men, yardmen , truckers ; packing room employees (excepting the head
packer ), firemen, and maintenance crew, but excluding clerical em-
ployees, the head packer , foremen, overseers , 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 the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion 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 Rela-
tions 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 Mandeville Mills,
Inc., Carrollton, Georgia, an election by secret ballot shall be con-
ducted 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 Tenth 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 Regulations , among the em-
ployees 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 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 elec-
tion, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Tex-
tile Workers Union of America, C. I. 0., for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.