Wytheville Knitting Mills, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 18, 1946

70 N.L.R.B. 1354 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of WYTUEVILLE KNITTING MILLS, INC., EMPLOYER and
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF HOSIERY WORKERS , CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 5-R-2457.-Decided September 18, 1946
M11r. T. H. Brooks, of Greensboro , N. C., for the Employer.
Messrs. Matthew Lynch and Albert L. Hackworth , of Greensboro,
N. C., and Mr. Fred G. Held, of Pulaski, Va., for the Petitioner.
Mr. Bernard Dunau, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at4Vythe-
Ville, Virginia, on August 8, 1946, before Oscar Geltman, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made ' at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the ease, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THEE EMPLOYER
Wytheville Knitting Mills, Inc., a Virginia corporation, is engaged
in the business of manufacturing full-fashioned hosiery at its sole
plant located at Pepper's Ferry Road, Wytheville, Virginia. The
Employer annually purchases raw materials, consisting mainly of
rayon, nylon, and cotton, valued at more than $300,000, of which about
80 percent is shipped to the plant from points outside the State of
Virginia. The Employer yearly manufactures finished stockings
valued at more than $1,000,000, of which about 80 percent is shipped
from the plant to points outside the State.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the_ Congress
of Industrial Organizations claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
70N L R B , No. 139.
1354
WYTHEVILLE KNITTING MILLS, INC. 1355
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING, REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section ,9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The parties agree that all production and maintenance employees of
the Employer, excluding foremen fixers, assistant foremen fixers, fore-
lady instructors, supervising electrician, and office clerical employees,
constitute an appropriate unit. They are in disagreement concerning
the inclusion of learners within the unit. The Petitioner desires their
inclusion; the Employer takes no position, preferring a Board ruling
on the issue.
About 10 percent of the Employer's 300 employees are learners, of
whom 20 are assigned to the seaming department, and 10 are assigned
to the legging department. The learners are hired with the expecta-
tion that after their period of training they will become regular pro-
duction workers' After 1 or 2 months, the work of the learners be-
comes useful to the Employer, and after a longer period of time,
usually about 1 year, the learners achieve sufficient proficiency to pro-
duce finished work without assistance. They work under the super-
vision of the forelady instructor within the department, and under
working conditions similar to those of the regular production em-
ployees. It is evident that the learners have substantial interests in
common with the regular production and maintenance employees.
Accordingly, we shall include them in the unit.2
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the Em-
ployer, including learners, but excluding foremen fixers, assistant
foremen fixers, forelady instructors, supervising electrician, office cleri-
cal employees, 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.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation" to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Wytheville Knitting Mills, Inc.,
1 However, about 50 percent of the learners quit during their first year.
2 See Matter of Joseph P. Ryerson & Sons, Inc., 65 N. L. R. B. 921 ; Matter of Central
Barge Company, 61 N. L . R. B. 784; Matter of Douglas Aircraft Co., Inc., 60 N . L. R. B.
876.
1356 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Wytheville, Virginia, 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 Sections 203.55 and
203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
Series 4, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Sec-
tion IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period im-
mediately 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 election, to determine whether or not they desire to be
represented by American Federation of Hosiery Workers, CIO, for
the purposes of collective bargaiiung.