Spray Woolen Mill

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 18, 1938

5 N.L.R.B. 393 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter of SPRAY WOOLEN MILL and TEXTILE WORKERS ORGAN-
IZING COMMITTEE
In the Matter of KARASTAN RUG MILLS and TEXTILE WORKERS ORGAN-
IZING COMMITTEE
In the Matter of MARSHALL FIELD BLANKET MILL and TEXTILE WORK-
ERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
In the Matter Of MARSHALL FIELD,SHEETING MILL and TEXTILE WORK-
ERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
In the Matter Of WEARWELL BEDSPREAD MILL and TEXTILE WORKERS
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Cases Nos. R-,531 to 535, respectively.Decided February 18, 1938
Wool and Cotton Textile and Rug Manufacturing Industries-Investigation
of Representatives: controversy concerning representation of employees in five
different mills : refusal by employer to recognize petitioning union as exclusive
representative-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: all employees at
each mill, respectively, except clerical, sales, and supervisory employees ; no con-
troversy as to-Elections Ordered
Mr. Jacob Blunt and Mr. Herbert Eby, for the Board.
Mr. J. C. B. Ehringhause and Mr. Ben C. Trotter, of Spray, N. C.,
for the Company.
Mr. Haywood D. Lisle and Mr. Gordon Chastain, of Spray, N. C.,
for the T. W. O. C.
Mr. D. R. Dimicle, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On October 15, 1937, Textile Workers Organizing Committee,
herein called the T. W. O. C., filed two petitions with the Regional
Director for the Fifth Region (Baltimore, Maryland) alleging that
questions affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Marshall Field & Company, herein called the Com-
pany, at its Marshall Field & Company Woolen Mill,' Spray, North
Carolina, herein called the Woolen Mill, and at its Karastan Rug
'Erroneously designated as Spray Woolen Mill in the Order of Consolidation and Direct-
ing Investigation and Hearing.
393
394 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS 130ARD
Mills; Leaksville, North Carolina, herein called the Rug Mill. On
November 6, 1937, the T. W. O. C. filed three similar petitions con-
cerning the representation of employees of the Company at its
Marshall Field Blanket Mill, Draper, North Carolina, herein called
the Blanket Mill, at its Marshall Field & Company Sheeting Mill,2
Draper, North Carolina, herein called the Sheeting Mill, and at its
Marshall Field & Company Bedspread Mill," Spray, North Carolina,
herein called the Bedspread Mill. All of the petitions requested the
National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, to conduct
investigations and to certify representatives pursuant to Section
9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called
the Act.
On November 20, 1937, 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 1, as amended, ordered investi-
gations and authorized the Regional Director to conduct them and
to provide for appropriate hearings upon due notice, and acting pur-
suant to Article III, Section 10 (c) (2), of said Rules and Regula-
tions, further ordered that the cases be consolidated for the purpose
of hearing.
On December 4, 1937, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing to be held in Reidsville, North Carolina, copies of which
were duly served upon the T. W. O. C., upon the Wooleii Mill, upon
the Rug Mill, upon the Blanket Mill, upon the Sheeting Mill, upon
the Bedspread Mill, and upon Marshall Field & Company, New
York City. Pursuant to the notices,' a hearing was held on Decem-
her 17, 1937, at Spray, North Carolina, before D. Lacy McBryde, the
Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board, the Com-
lnany, and the T. W. O. C. participated in the hearing, the first two
being represented by counsel and 'tlie latter by an organizer of the
Textile Workers Organizing Committee. Full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evi-
dence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties. No motions or
objections to the admission of any evidence were made at the hearing.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Woolen Mill, Rug Mill, Blanket Mill, Sheeting Mill, and
-Bedspread Mill, herein collectively called the Mills, are located in
2 Erroneously designated as Marshall Field Sheeting Mill in the Order of Consolidation
and Directing Investigation and Hearing
3 Erroneously designated as Wearwell Bedspread Mill in the Order' of Consolidation and
Directing Investigation and Hearing
# All parties were notified that the place of hearing was changed to Spray, North Caro-
lina, and that the date of hearing was changed from December 13, 1937 to December 17,
1937.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 395
three adjoining towns in the State of North Carolina, and are wholly
owned and operated by Marshall Field & Company, a corporation
organized under the laws of the State of Illinois. Each of the Mills
receives its raw materials, manufactured parts, and other supplies
from a number of States other than the State of North Carolina.
The Woolen Mill manufactures men's suiting, ladies' dress goods,
coatings, and blankets; the Rug Mill manufactures rugs; the Blanket
Mill manufactures blankets; the Sheeting Mill manufactures sheet-
ing, casing, and pillow tubing; and the Bedspread Mill manufactures
bedspreads and yarns. Ninety per cent of the products manufac-
tured by each of the Mills are sold outside of the State of North
Carolina. The Mills utilize salesmen, retailers, and mail-order houses
in the disposal of the manufactured products.
Approximately the following number of workers are employed
at each of the Mills : The Woolen Mill 450, the Rug Mill 150, the
Blanket Mill 1,000, the Sheeting Mill 570, and the Bedspread Mill
385.
IT. TILE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Textile Workers Organizing Committee is a labor organization
affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organization. The
record is silent as to the classes of employees of the Company em-
ployed at the Mills that are eligible to membership in the organiza-
tion.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
It is alleged in substance in the five petitions 6 for investigation
and certification of representatives filed by the T. W. O. C., that
the national office of the Textile Workers Organizing Committee
endeavored without success to negotiate an agreement with the offi-
cials of the Company and that said Company refused to bargain
collectively with the T. W. O. C. During the hearing the Board's
representative made a statement, which statement was agreed to
by the Company and the T. W. O. C. for the purposes of the record,
to the effect that a question of representation had arisen between
the management of the Mills and the T. W. O. C.
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of the employees of the Company employed at the Mills.
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
'Board Exhibit 1.
396 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
at its Mills' 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 T. W. O. C. claims that all employees of the Company at each
Mill, respectively, exclusive of clerical, sales, and supervisory em-
ployees constitute, in the case of each Mill, a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining. The Company raised no objections
to such bargaining units.
We find that all employees of the Company at each Mill, respec-
tively, except clerical, sales, and supervisory employees, constitute,
in the case of each Mill, a unit appropriate for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining and that said units will insure to employees of the
Company at its Mills 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 questions which have arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of the Company's employees at its Woolen Mill, Rug Mill,
Blanket Mill, Sheeting Mill, and Bedspread Mill, respectively, can
best be resolved by the holding of elections by secret ballots at each of
the afore-meiationed Mills to determine whether the employees wish
the T. W. O. C. to represent them. Those employees of the Company
in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period
next preceding the filing of the petition in each case shall be eligible
to vote, except those employees who have quit or have been discharged
for cause between that period and the date of the election.
On 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. Questions affecting commerce have arisen Concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Marshall Field & Company at each of the
Mills, respectively, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2
(6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act. -
2. All the employees of the Company at, each Mill. respectively,
except clerical, sales, and supervisory employees, constitute, in the
case of each Mill, a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National
Labor Relations Act.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
397
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, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of
National Labor Relations Board' Rules and Regulations-Series 1,
as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigations authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining,
elections by secret ballot shall be conducted within a period of fifteen
(15) days from the date of this Direction of Elections, under the
direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Fifth
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and
Regulations, among all employees of Marshall Field & Company
who were on the pay roll of the Company at its Marshall Field &
Company Woolen Mill, Spray, North Carolina, at its Karastan Rug
Mills, Leaksville, North Carolina, at its Marshall Field Blanket Mill,
Draper, North Carolina, at its Marshall Field & Company Sheeting
Mill, Draper, North Carolina, and at its Marshall Field & Company
Bedspread Mill, Spray, North Carolina, during the pay-roll period
next preceding the filing of the petition relating to each respective
Mill, exclusive of clerical, sales, and supervisory employees and except
those who have since quit or have been discharged for cause between
that period and the date of the election, to determine whether or
not they desire to be represented by Textile Workers Organizing
Committee, for the purposes of collective bargaining.