Utica Willowvale Bleaching Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 14, 1940

27 N.L.R.B. 1368 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

In the Matter of UTICA WILLOwvALE BLEACHING COMPANY and
TEXTILE WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA, CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL
ORGANIZATIONS
(Case No. R-2109.-Decided November 14, 1940
Jurisdiction : cotton goods processing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re-
fusal to accord recognition to union ; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees excluding foremen,
second hands, and clerical and supervisory employees.
Mr. James F. Hubbell, of Utica, N. Y., for the Company.
Mr. Milton Rosenberg, Mr. Harry Walton, and Mr. Edward Cheney,
of Utica, N. Y., for the T. W. U. A.
Mr. Bertram Diamond, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION,
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On August 13, 1940, and on October 1, 1940, respectively, Textile
Workers Union of America, Congress of Industrial Organizations,
herein called the T. W. U. A., filed with the Regional Director for
the Third, Region (Buffalo, New York) a petition and an amended
petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of Utica Willowvale Bleach-
ing, Company, Chadwicks, New York, herein called the Company,
and requesting an investigation and certification of representatives,
pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49
Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On October 8, 1940, the National
Labor Relations Board, herein 1called 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.
27 N. L R. B., No 215.
1368 -
UTICA WILLOWVALE BLEACHING COMPANY 1369
On October 10, 1940, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and
the T. W. U. A. Pursuant to notice, a hearing, was held on October
17, 1940, at Utica, New York, before Edward D. Flaherty, the Trial
Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Company was rep-
resented by counsel and the T. W. U.I A. by official representatives;
both participated in the hearing and were afforded full opportunity;
to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce
evidence bearing on the issues. During the course of the hearing,
the Trial Examiner made several rulings on objections to the ad-
mission 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 in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE C011PANY
Utica Willowvale Bleaching Company is a New York corporation
having its principal office and place of business at Chadwicks, New
York. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Utica & Mohawk Cotton
Mills Company, herein called the Parent Company, and is engaged at
its only plant, at Chadwicks, in the processing of cotton goods. None
of the cotton goods processed by the Company is owned by it. From
July 1, 1939, to July 1, 1940, it processed about 8,596 tons of fabric,
for which it charged about $689,000. Sixty per cent of this tonnage
was received from the Parent Company, which operates two mills
in Utica, New York. The fabric thus received from the Parent Com-
pany was bleached, finished, and manufactured into sheets and pillow
cases. While the record is not entirely clear as to the exact proportion,
it appears that at the direction of the New York City selling
agents of the Parent Company, 30 per cent of the goods processed for
the Parent Company were shipped by the Company directly to cus-
tomers of the Parent Company in practically all of the States of the
United States and in foreign countries, and 70 percent of the goods
were shipped to the Parent Company's New York City's warehouses,
whence they, went to customers similarly located. The other 40 per
cent of the total tonnage processed by the Company was processed
at the'order of various textile brokers, known as converters, located
in New York City. Goods received from such converters were bleached
and finished, and then shipped by the Company in a limited measure
directly to customers of the converters and in the main to 'the con-
verters' New York City warehouses.
1370 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
During the period from July 1, 1939, to July 1, 1940, the chemicals
used by, the Company in the processing operations described above
were valued at about $30,000. Some of these raw materials were
received by the Company from the New York City warehouse of the
-Parent Company, to which point they had been shipped from many
'States and foreign countries.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Textile Workers Union of America is a labor organization affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations. It admits to member-
ship employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
In July 1940 and subsequently the T. W. U. A. requested that the
Company bargain with it as the exclusive representative of the Com-'
pany's employees in an appropriate unit. The Company declined to
deal with the T. W. U. A. on the ground that it desired proof that the
T. W. U. A. represented the majority of its employees in the aforesaid
unit.
There was introduced in' evidence a statement by the Regional
Director showing that the T. W. U. A. represents a'substantial num-
ber of employees in the unit herein found to be appropriate?
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company.
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 com-
merce and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATEUNIT
The Company and the T. W. U. A. agree, and we find, that all
production and maintenance employees in the employ of the Com-
pany at its Chadwicks, New York, plant, excluding foremen, second
hands, and clerical and supervisory employees, constitute a unit
1 According to the statement, the T. W. U. A. submitted 155 authorization cards bearing
what appealed to be genuine original signatures . Of this number , 96 were dated June
1940, and 38 July, August and September 1940. Ten did not give the year in which
they had been signed, and 11 were wholly undated . There are approximately 450 employees
in the appropriate unit.
UTICA WILLOWVALE BLEACHING COMPANY 1371,
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
The question concerning representation which has arisen can best
be resolved by, and we shall accordingly direct, an election by secret
ballot.
There is disagreement between the Company and the T . W. U. A.
over the appropriate date to be used in determining eligibility to
vote in the election , the T . W. U. A . requesting the pay-roll period
for the week of August 6, 1940, while the Company contends for
the one which shall immediately precede the date of our Direction
of Election . The Company 's force is usually greater between the
beginning of October and the end of May, than during the remainder
of the year . Employees laid off in ' the earlier part of the year
have a reasonable expectancy of reemployment in the latter part
of the year . The factory pay roll for the period including August
6. 1940, contained the names of about 590 working employees, while
it showed a total of about 640 working employees for the week ending
October 5 , 1940 . Twenty-five of the, 50 employees added in the interval
between these two pay rolls are permanent employees who will be
retained indefinitely . The other 25 may be laid off in June, if
operations decrease about that time. In that event , however, they
would have a reasonable expectancy of reemployment when produc-
tion again increased . In view of these circumstances we shall follow
our usual practice and determine eligibility to vote by the pay roll
for the period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of
Election herein.
We shall direct that those eligible to vote in the election shall be
the employees in the appropriate unit who are employed by the
Company during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of our Direction of Election herein, including employees who did not
work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation,
and employees who were then or have since been temporarily laid off,
but excluding those who have since quit or been discharged for cause.
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 Utica Willowvale Bleaching Company,
1372 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Chadwicks, New York, within the meaning of Section 9 ('c) and Sec-
tion 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All production and maintenance employees in the employ of the
Company at its Chadwicks, New York, plant, excluding foremen,
second hands, and clerical and supervisory employees, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the 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 Utica Willowvale Bleaching Company, Chadwicks, New York, 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 of Election,
under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the
Third 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 Chadwicks, New York, plant of the Company, who were employed
during the pay-roll period iimnediately preceding the date of this
Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during
such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation, and em-
ployees who were then- or have since been temporarily laid off, but
excluding foremen, second hands, and clerical and supervisory em-
ployees, and those who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to
determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Textile
Workers Union of America, Congress of Industrial Organizations, for
the purposes of collective bargaining.