Texas Textile Mills

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 8, 1943

53 N.L.R.B. 1227 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of TEXAS TEXTILE MILLS and TEXTILE WORKERS UNION
OF AMERICA (C. I. 0.)
Case No. 16-R-709.-Decided December 8, 1943
Mr. Arthur J. Riggs, of Dallas, Tex., for the Company.
Messrs. J. E. Crossland and Lee J. Metker, of Dallas, Tex., for the
Union.
Mr. Louis Cokin, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon 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 employees of
Texas Textile Mills, Dallas, Texas, herein called the Company, the
National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice before Elmer P. Davis, Trial Examiner. Said hear-
ing was held at Dallas, Texas, on November 4, 1943. The Company
and the Union appeared, participated, and were afforded full op-
portunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and
to introduce evidence bearing on the issues.' At the commencement
of the hearing the Company moved to dismiss the petition on the
ground that the representatives of the Union had not complied with
a statute of the State of Texas relative to the registration of union
business agents. The Trial Examiner reserved ruling. The motion
is hereby denied 2 The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing
are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties
were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board. On Novem-
' On November 3, 1943, a letter w as received from the Company requesting that attached
telegrams relative to the non -compliance of the Union's representatives with a statute of the
State of Texas requiring registration of business agents of labor organizations , be admitted
into the record The request is hereby granted and the telegrams are hereby made a part
cf the record.
2 Compliance or non-compliance with the statute referred to is wholly irrelevant to the
issues involved in this proceeding , since it is the labor organization , rather than the business
agents thereof , that is here seeking designation as collective bargaining representative.
53 N L R B , No. 223.
1227
1228 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ber 22, 1943, the Company filed a motion requesting that the record
be reopened for the purpose of taking testimony with respect to the
non-compliance of the Union's representatives with a statute of the
State of Texas relevant to the registration of union business agents.
On November 27, 1943, the Board denied the motion.3
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. TIIE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Texas Textile 'Mills is a Texas corporation operating plants in
Dallas, McKinney, and Waco, Texas, where it is engaged in the manu-
facture, sale , and distribution of cotton cloth. The Dallas plant is
the only plant involved in this proceeding. During a 6-month period,
the Company purchased approximately $95,000 worth of dye mate-
rials , all of which was shipped to its plants from points outside the
State of Texas. During the same period, the Company manufactured
at its three plants 4,777,107 pounds of finished cloth, approximately
65 percent of which was shipped to points outside the State of Texas.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Textile Workers Union of America is a labor organization affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to member-
ship employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
In August 1943, the Union requested the Company to recognize it
as the exclusive bargaining representative of the employees at the
Dallas plant. The Company refused this request.
A statement of a Field Examiner of the Board, introduced into
evidence at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a sub-
stantial number of employees within the unit hereinafter found to
be appropriate.4
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.
8 See footnote 2, sups a.
4 The report of the Field Examiner shows that the Union submitted 256 authorization cards
bearing apparently genuine signatures . No check was made of the cards against a pay roll
because of the Company's refusal to submit its pay loll There are approximately 295
employees in the approriate unit.
TEXAS TEXTILE MILLS
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
1229
The Union urges that all production and maintenance employees
at the Dallas plant of the Company, excluding technical, clerical, and
supervisory employees, constitute an appropriate unit. There appears
to be some question with respect to the disposition to be made of the
following groups of employees.
The Company employs persons classified by it as second hands.
The second hands act as assistant overseers and effectively recommend
changes' in the status of employees. We find that second hands are
supervisory employees, and as such, we shall exclude them from the
unit.
The Company employs three watchmen. They are not militarized.
We shall include them in the unit since their duties appear to be those
customarily performed by watchmen, rather than those of a specialized
plant-protection force.
The Company employs about eight truck drivers who are engaged
in hauling products between the Company's three plants in Texas and
to various distribution points. The Union urges that they be excluded
from the unit, and the Company that they be included.' Although
the truck drivers are carried on the pay roll of the Dallas plant they
work out of all three plants. Inasmuch as their duties are dissimilar
to those of the other employees at the Dallas plant, we shall exclude
them from the unit.
The timekeepers employed by the Company work throughout the
plant and are paid at an hourly rate. The Company does not oppose
their inclusion in the unit. Inasmuch as their duties are an integral
part of the Company's production processes, we shall include them
in the unit.
The Company employs one shipping clerk. In addition to his ship-
ping duties, which consume approximately one-third of his time, he
spends the remainder of his time as an ordinary, production employee
in the cloth department. Accordingly, we shall include him in the
unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the Dallas
plant of the Company, including watchmen, timekeepers, and the
shipping clerk, but excluding clerical and technical employees, truck
drivers, second hands, and any other supervisory employees with au-
thority 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.
559015-44-vol. 53-79
1230 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by means of an election by secret ballot among
the employees in'the appropriate unit who were employed during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of
Election 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 Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Texas Textile
Mills, Dallas, Texas, 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 Sixteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for
the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sec-
tions 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees
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 any persons
who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been
rehired or reinstated prior to the date of election, to determine whether
or not they desire to be represented by Textile Workers Union of
America, (C. I.0.), for the purposes of collective bargaining.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.