Woodside Cotton Mills Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 16, 1938

7 N.L.R.B. 960 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter Of WOODSIDE COTTON MILLS COMPANY and TL'xTII.E
WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Case No. R-729.-Decided June 16, 1938
Cotton Textile Industry-Investigation of Representatives : controversy con-
cerning representation of employees : majority status disputed by employer-
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : production and maintenance em-
ployees, excluding clerical and supervisory employees and watchmen-Election
Ordered
Mr. Marion A. Prowell, for the Board.
Mr. C. F. Haynsworth and Mr. C. F. Haynsworth, Jr., of Green-
ville, S. C., for the Company.
Mr. Whitherspan Dodge, of Greenville, S. C., for the T. W. O. C.
Mr. S. G. Lippman, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF TIIE CASE
On December 17, 1937, Textile Workers Organizing Committee,
herein called the T. W. O. C., filed with the Regional Director for
the Tenth Region (Atlanta, Georgia) a petition, and on April 6,
1938, an amended petition , alleging that a question affecting com-
merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Woodside Cotton Mills Company, Greenville, South Carolina, 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 April 13, 1938, 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 Board Rules and Regu-
lations-Series 1, as amended , ordered an investigation and author-
ized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice.
Thereafter, the Regional Director issued and duly served notice,
amended notice and second amended notice of hearing upon the Com-
960
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 961
pany and the T. W. 0. C. Pursuant to the second amended notice
a hearing was held on May 9, 1938, at Greenville, South Carolina,
before D. Lacy McBryde, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the
Board. The Board, the Company, and the T. W. 0. C. were repre-
sented by counsel and participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to
be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce
evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties. During the
course of the hearing, the Trial Examiner made several rulings 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 in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS or FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Company is a South Carolina corporation engaged in the
manufacture of cotton print cloth, operating three plants in Green-
ville County, South Carolina. This proceeding concerns only the
main plant located in Greenville, South Carolina, known as the
Greenville Plant.
In 1937 the Company used 8,623,677 pounds of cotton at its Green-
ville Plant. Approximately 18 per cent of this cotton came from
sources outside the State of South Carolina. In addition, practically
all of the Company's supplies came from outside the State of South
Carolina. In 1937 the Company manufactured 8,844,845 pounds of
cotton cloth at its Greenville Plant. The sale of this cloth is made
through a New York commission house and practically all of the
Company's finished cloth is shipped to points outside the State of
South Carolina.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Textile Workers Organizing Committee is a labor organization
affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organization, admitting
to its membership the Company's production and maintenance
employees, exclusive of supervisory and clerical employees.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
About May 1937 the T. W. 0. C. began organizing the Company's
employees. On December 7, 1937, the T. W. 0. C. sent a letter to the
Company stating that it represented a substantial majority of the
Company's Greenville Plant employees and requested a bargaining
conference. The Company replied by letter, dated December 15,
962 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
1937, stating : "We are unable to agree with your claim that you
represent a majority of the Woodside Cotton Mill employees for
purposes of collective bargaining, and in such circumstances we
wonder whether a conference would be worth while."
We find that a question has arisen concerning 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 APPROPRIATE UNIT
The T. W. 0. C. claims that the Company's production and main-
tenance employees, excluding clerical and supervisory employees
and watchmen, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining. The Company contends that watchmen should
be included in the bargaining unit. The Company employs five
watchmen at its Greenville Plant, some of whom fire furnaces in
addition to their work as watchmen. The watchmen are eligible for
membership in the T. W. 0. C.
It has been our practice to exclude watchmen from a unit com-
posed of production and maintenance employees where objection
to their inclusion is raised by a participating labor organization.'
Accordingly we shall exclude the watchmen from the bargaining unit.
We find that the production and maintenance employees of the
Company's Greenville Plant, excluding clerical and supervisory em-
ployees and watchmen, 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. DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The T. W. 0. C. contends that it represents a majority of the Com-
pany's Greenville Plant employees in the appropriate bargaining
'Matter of Plankinton Packing Company and Packing House Workers Organizing Com-
mrottee on Behalf of Local 681 of the United Packing House Workers of America, 5 N. L.
R B. 813; Matter of Simmons Company and Steel Workers Organizing Committee, 6
N. L. R B. 208.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 963
unit. Elizabeth Hawes, an organizer for the T. W. O. C., however,
admits that no check of its membership was ever made against the
Company's pay roll. The T. W. O. C.'s application cards and the
Company's pay roll were not introduced into evidence.
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen can best be resolved by the holding of an election by secret
ballot.
The parties agreed that the Company's pay roll for the week end-
ing April 27, 1938, should be used in determining the list of eligible
voters. Accordingly, all employees in the appropriate bargaining
unit, whose names appear on the pay roll for the week ending April
27, 1938, shall be eligible to vote in the election.
The parties also agreed that the election should be held on a day
when the mill is in operation 2 at the Woodside Grade School, which
is in the vicinity of the mill, and that voting should take place from
11 a. m. to 8 p. m. This is a matter within the discretion of the
Regional Director in his conduct of the election, but we see no objec-
tion to the holding of the election at the time and place agreed
upon by the parties.
On the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire record
of the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
senation of employees of Woodside Cotton Mills Company at its
Greenville Plant, Greenville, South Carolina, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
2. The production and maintenance employees of the Company's
Greenville Plant, excluding clerical and supervisory employees and
watchmen, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collec-
tive 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 Re-
lations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended,
it is hereby
2 At the present time, the mill operates only on Monday and Tuesday , and is closed the
balance of the week.
964 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
DIRECTED that, as a part of the investigation authorized by the
Board to ascertain representatives for collective bargaining with
Woodside Cotton Mills Company, Greenville, South Carolina, an
election by secret-ballot shall be conducted within fifteen (15) days
from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision
of the Regional Director for the Tenth Region, acting in this mat-
ter as the agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and sub-
ject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among
the production and maintenance employees who were on the Com-,
pany's pay roll for the week ending April 27, 1938, excluding clerical
and supervisory employees and watchmen, and those who have since
quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they
desire to be represented by Textile Workers Organizing Committee
for the purpose of collective bargaining.