P. H. Hanes Knitting Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 29, 1941

33 N.L.R.B. 824 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of P. H. HANES KNITTING COMPANY and UNITED
TEXTILE WORxERs of AMERICA (A. F. L.)
Case No. R4698.-Decided July 09, 1941
Jurisdiction : textile manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re-
fusal to accord union recognition ; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all production and maintenance
employees of the Company excluding clerical and supervisory employees and
fixers having the power to hire or discharge or to recommend hiring or
discharging.
Mr. T. 0. Moore, of Winston-Salem, N. C., for the Company.
Mr. Gordon L. Chastain and Mr. Robert W. Donnahoo, of Spartan-
burg, S. C., for the Union.
Mr. Robert S. Fousek, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On January 3 and 18, 1941, respectively, the United Textile Work-
ers of America (A. F. L.), herein called the United, filed with the
Regional Director for the Fifth Region (Baltimore, Maryland) a
petition and an amended petition alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees
of the Hanes plant of the P. H. Hanes Knitting Company, Hanes,
North Carolina, herein called the Company, and requesting an in-
vestigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section
9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein
called the Act. On June 17, 1941, the National Labor Relations
Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c)
of the Act, and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered an
investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and
to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On June 20, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing
copies of which were duly served upon the Company and the United.
33 N. L. R. B., No. 153.
824
P. H. HANES KNITTING COMPANY 825
Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on July 1, 1941, at Winston-
Salem, North Carolina, before Herbert 0. Eby, the Trial Examiner
duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. All parties were
represented and participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evi-
dence bearing upon the issues was afforded all parties. During the
course of the hearing the Company moved to dismiss the petition
upon the grounds that the Company had not been given opportunity
to examine the application cards submitted to the Regional Director
and that there was not sufficient basis established for conducting an
investigation or election. The Trial Examiner reserved ruling for
the Board. The motion is hereby denied. The Trial Examiner
made several rulings on other motions and on objections to the
admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the
Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed.
The rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record of the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The P. H. Hanes Company is a North Carolina corporation oper-
ating two textile plants of which only the Hanes plant, located at
Hanes, North Carolina, is involved in this proceeding. The Hanes
plant produces cotton-and-wool-mixed yarns. In the calendar year
1940, the Hanes plant purchased $1,000,000 worth of raw materials of
which two-thirds came from points outside of the State of North
Carolina. The value of finished products produced at the Hanes
plant during the same period totaled approximately $1,750,000 of
which 9.0 per cent was shipped to points outside of the State.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Textile Workers of America is a labor organization
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, admitting to mem-
bership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
In December 1940, and again on January 9, 1941, the United re-
quested that it be recognized as the exclusive bargaining agent of
the Company's employees. The Company denied the request. It
states that its continued refusal to bargain is based upon the ground
that it is not clear that the United represents a majority of the
employees in the alleged appropriate unit. A report of the Regional
Director introduced in evidence shows that the United represents
826 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
a substantial number of employees in the unit alleged in its petition
to be appropriate.'
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I, above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and. the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The United contends that all production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Hanes plant of the Company, excluding clerical and
supervisory employees and fixers having the power to hire and dis-
charge or recommend hiring and discharging constitute an appro-
priate unit. The Company did not object to such a unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the
Hanes plant of the Company, exclusive of clerical and supervisory
employees and fixers having the power to hire or discharge or to recom-
mend hiring or discharging, constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining and that said unit will insure to
employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to self-
organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the
policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question which has arisen concerning representation
can best be resolved by, and we shall accordingly direct, an election
by secret ballot. The parties requested that the pay roll as of July 1,
1941, be used 'to determine eligibility to vote. We shall give effect
to the desires of the parties and direct that the employees of the Com-
pany eligible to vote in the election shall be those in the appropriate
unit who were employed during the pay-roll period of July 1, 1941,
subject to such limitations and additions as are set forth in the
Direction.
' The Regional Director reported that the United submitted to him 361 authorization
cards all of which bore apparently genuine signatures , 311 of which are the. names of
persons on the Company 's pay roll as of June 14, 1941 . Two hundred and seventy-three
were dated 1940 and eighty -four bore 1941 dates The Company employs approximately
688 production and maintenance employees.
P. H. HANES KNITTING COMPANY 827
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of the Hanes plant of the P. H. Hanes Com-
pany, Hanes, North Carolina, within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All production and maintenance employees at the Hanes plant
of the Company, excluding clerical and supervisory employees and
fixers having the power to hire and discharge or to recommend hiring
or discharging, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National
Labor Relations Act.
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,
49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with P. H. Hanes Knitting Co., Hanes, 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, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among
all production and maintenance employees at the Hanes plant of the
Company, who were employed during the pay-roll period of July 1,
1941, including employees who did not work during such pay-roll
period because they were ill or on vacation or in active military service
or training of the United States, or temporarily laid off, but excluding
clerical and supervisory employees and fixers having the power to hire
or discharge or to recommend hiring or discharging, and employees
who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether
or not said employees desire to be represented by United Textile
Workers of America, (A. F. of L.) for the purposes of collective
bargaining.