J. P. Stevens & Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 17, 1951

93 N.L.R.B. 1513 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

J. P. STEVENS & Co., INC. 1513
(a) Public utilities or transit systems; (b) companies which function
as instrumentalities and channels of interstate and foreign commerce
and their essential links; or (c) enterprises engaged in producing or
handling goods destined for out-of-State shipment, or performing
services out of State, in the value of $25,000 per annum or more." 6
While the reasonably expected volume of sales to be made to firms
out of State does not exceed $25,000 and the volume of sales to firms
within the State which meet the requirements of Section (c) cited
above, does not exceed $50,000, alternative minimum requirements
established for these categories, the projected sales figures, expressed
as a percentage of the required minimum figures established for each
of the afore-mentioned categories, totals at least 100 percent when
added to each other. Accordingly, we find that it will effectuate the
policies of the Act for the Board to assert jurisdiction over the opera-
tions of this Employer 7
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. We find a unit composed of all production and maintenance
employees employed at the Employer's Atlanta, Georgia, plant, ex-
cluding executive, professional, clerical employees, guards, and super-
visors as defined by the Act, to be the appropriate unit for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
° See. Hollow Tree Lumber Company , 91 NLRB 635 ; Justrite Press, 93 NLRB 786.
The Rutledge Paper Products, Inc., 91 NLRB 625. In view of the fact that the
instant case meets the requirements promulgated in our Rutledge Paper Products decision,
weconsider it unnecessary to determine whether or not some other aspect of our announced
policy would also be applicable.
J. P. STEVENS & CO., INC., REPUBLIC COTTON MILLS DIVISION and
TEXTILE WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER . Case No.
10-RC-884. April 17,1951
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before John C. Carey, Jr., hearing
93 NLRB No. 259.
1514 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.'
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.2
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
(1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit :
The Petitioner and Intervenor seek a unit of all production and
maintenance employees in the Employer's mills Nos. 1, 2, and 3 in
Great Falls, South Carolina, excluding office clericals, guards, pro-
fessional employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act. The Em-
ployer contends that the appropriate unit consists of all its employees,
including office clericals, and excluding only supervisors and con-
fidential employees. -
The Employer, a division of J. P. Stevens & Co., Inc., operates three
plants at Great Falls, South Carolina, where it is engaged in the
manufacture of cotton textiles. The Employer employs approximately
b00 workers in mill No. 1, 500 in mill No. 2, 700 in mill No. 3, and 150
in its office and elsewhere. Each mill completely processes cotton from
its raw state to cotton cloth, which is shipped out from the cloth room
located in mill No. 3.
In 1946, the Board, pursuant to a consent election, certified the Inter-
venor as representative of a single bargaining unit of production and
'At the hearing the United Textile Workers of America, AFL, moved to dismiss the
petition because a charge filed by it against the Employer of refusal to bargain was
then pending. Since the hearing the General Counsel has sustained the Regional
Director's refusal to issue a complaint. The motion to dismiss is therefore denied
The Employer at the hearing questioned the adequacy and currency of the Petitioner's
showing of interest. The determination of these questions is an administrative matter.
Ballantine Produce Co ., Inc., 81 NLRB 629.
The Employer further offered to prove, and moved to dismiss the petition on the
ground, that the Congress of Industrial Organizations, with which the Petitioner is
affiliated, had not complied with the filing requirements of Section 9 (f), (g), and (h)
of the Act. The hearing officer rejected the offer of proof and reserved ruling on the
motion to dismiss for the Board. For the reasons set forth in J. H. Rutter-Rex Manu-
facturing Co., Inc, 90 NLRB 130, the hearing officer's rejection of the offer of proof
is sustained and the motion to dismiss is denied It may be added that the Board's
records show that the CIO was in compliance with the filing requirements of the Act
at the time the petition was filed and is currently in compliance. Stowe Spinning
Company, 93 NLRB No. 139.
2 The motion of United Textile Workers of America, AFL, herein called the Intervenor,
to intervene, was granted by the hearing officer without objection.
J. P. STEVENS & CO., INC. 1515
maintenance employees at the Employer's three Great Falls mills.
From 1946 until July 1, 1949, the Employer and the Intervenor main-
tained contractual relations on a multimill basis. Labor relations for
the three mills are handled by the same official. None of the parties
herein has indicated a desire for separate units. We find, therefore,
that a single unit of the employees in the Employer's three Great Falls,
South Carolina, mills is appropriate.
The parties are in disagreement over the following employees, who
would be included by the Employer and excluded by the Petitioner
and Intervenor, except as noted :
(1) O)fte clericals: In accordance with customary Board policy,
we shall exclude all office clerical employees, including the following
specific categories of employees : General payroll men, payroll clerks
including Ford Jackson, production statistics man (Gene Campbell),
accounts payable clerk, supply clerk typist, switchboard operators,
secretary to the general manager, and general typists.
(2) Factory clericals: The factory clerical employees include nine
production and statistical clerks who gather and tabulate data in the
factory, nine supply clerks and three reserve supply clerks, the yarn
supply checkers, the inventory clerk, the raw material clerk, and the
shipping clerks. In accordance with our customary policy, we shall
include the factory clericals in the unit.
(3) Designers: The Employer employs a head designer and one
assistant, who work under the planning supervisor. The designers
do no original work, but lay out patterns for styles, draw patterns,
and perform other duties of a technical nature. Their work involves
little contact with production employees, and we shall exclude the
two designers from the unit.'
(4) Costs and standards men: These employees, who work under
the costs and standards supervisor, run time tests on particular jobs
and run time studies on groups of jobs. During the prior bargaining
with the Intervenor, the costs and standards men represented the
Company in timing particular operations in order to determine rates.
Seventy-five percent of the time of these employees is spent in the
mill in timing operations and the remainder is spent in calculating
rates, which are subject to the approval of the mill overseers before
being put into effect. It appears from the testimony that the interests
of these employees are dissimilar to those of the production and main-
tenance employees, and we shall exclude them from the unit .4
(5) Laboratory technician: This employee runs quality tests on
yarn samples and also grades yarn. In addition he prepares yarn
tints for use in the mills. The laboratory technician spends two-thirds
of his time in the laboratory and visits the mills only to deliver yarn
8 Botany Worsted Mills, 53 NLRB 920; Mooresville Mills, 90 NLRB No. 48.
4 Southern Desk Company, 92 NLRB No. 137.
1516 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
.1
tints. As the task performed is technical, and as this employee has
little contact with production and maintenance employees, we shall
exclude him from the unit.'
(6) Cloth salesgirl: This employee is stationed at the Great Falls
Community Center where the Employer maintains a booth to sell
cloth to employees and to certain townspeople. We shall exclude the
cloth salesgirl from the unit because she has no common interests
with the production and maintenance employees.
(7) Janitors: There are three or four janitors who clean up in the
mills and one who works exclusively in the office building. In agree-
ment with the parties,° we shall include the mill janitors in the unit.
We shall exclude the office janitor who works under the office super-
visor and has no contact with the production and maintenance em-
ployees.7
(8) Warehouse and allied personnel: These employees all work
under the warehouse supervisor. The freight truck drivers haul
freight between the railroad station and the mills and from mill to
mill. One of these drivers also spends part of his time in the yards
of the mills driving a tractor. The cloth truck driver hauls cloth
from mills No. 1 and No. 2 to the cloth room in mill No. 3.8 The 6
warehouse laborers load, unload, and stack cotton in the warehouse
located in mill No. 3. The 10 yardmen receive cotton, load and unload
cars, and clean up the' mill grounds. Because the interests of these
employees are closely allied to those of the production and mainte-
nance employees, we shall include the freight truck drivers; the cloth
truck driver, the warehouse laborers,1° and the yardmen 11 in the unit.
(9) Timekeeper: This employee sits in an automobile in the yard
and keeps the time of the warehouse employees and the yardmen. The
timekeeper is supervised by the engineer. His data is used for cost
analysis purposes. The record does not show that the activities of
the timekeeper differ from those of similar employees who have been
included in production and maintenance units. We shall include this
employee in the unit in accordance with our usual policy 12
Wm. P. McDonald Corporation , 83 NLRB 427 , 432 Union-Buffalo Mills , 93 NLRB
No 105. The laboratory technician has a clerk who records test results and on occasion
assists the technician For the reasons adduced above, we shall also exclude the clerk
from the unit . Mooresville Mills , supra ( Par. 4 (9) of Decision).
0 At the hearing the Intervenor took the position that all of the janitors should be
excluded from the unit . In its brief , however, the Intervenor indicated its desire to
represent the mill janitors as part of the production and maintenance unit
Stowe Spinning Company, supra. Cf. Southern Desk Company, supra.
° At the hearing the Intervenor took the position that all of the janitors should be
In its brief , however , the Intervenor indicated that it wished this employee excluded.
0 Southland Manufacturing Company, 91 NLRB No. 3,8 ; Glazer Steel Corporation,
81 NLRB 530.
10 Edgar F . Hurff Company , 77 NLRB 762.
11 Glazer Steel Corporation, supra.
12 H. 0. Canfield Company, 76 NLRB 606. The Petitioner took no position regarding
the inclusion of the timekeeper in the unit.
J. P. STEVENS & CO., INC. 1517
(10) Garage mechanic: This employee fixes the Employer's 12
trucks and the 1 company automobile. He works under the super-
vision of the master mechanic, who supervises other employees in-
cluded in the unit herein found appropriate, and is located in the
garage adjoining one of the mills. We shall include the garage me-
chanic in the unit.13
(11) Painters and Plunnbers: These employees, who would be in-
cluded by the Petitioner, work in the mills doing repair work and
also do some work in houses owned by the Employer. Inasmuch as
the painters and plumbers primarily are engaged in maintenance work
in the Employer's plants, we shall include them in the unit.
(12) Dye plant employees: The dye plant, a new operation for the
Employer, employed about three men as of the date of the hearing.
When in full operation the dye plant will employ nine men who will
be engaged in matching colors and dyeing cloth.. The dye plant em-
ployees take a direct part in the Employer's production operations.
We, therefore, shall include them in the unit.
(13) Filter plant employees: The three filter plant employees op-
erate the filter plant and test the water used in the mills. The tests
performed are relatively simple and require little training and al-
though the filter plant is geographically separated from the rest
of the production and maintenance employees, we shall include the
three filter plant employees in the unit 14
(14) Plant protection employees:
(a) Firemen: These nine employees watch the boilers in each mill.
They work in boiler rooms, which in the case of each mill are located
within 50 yards of the mill. On week ends the firemen patrol the
mills and'punch watch boxes. We shall include the firemen in the
unit, because less than 50 percent of their time is spent in guard duty.15
(b), Gatemen: These four employees are stationed at gate houses
near the entrance of each mill. They check persons coming in and
out of the mills. Although the gatemen perform some work on leather
binders, the record shows that their predominant duty is that of a
guard as defined in the Act. We shall therefore exclude the gatemen
from the unit.-
The parties are also in disagreement as to the supervisory status
of the loom fixer instructors, the nine mechanics,17 and the head slasher
tenders, all of whom would be included by the Employer and ex-
cluded by the Petitioner and Intervenor.
13 Enid Co - Operative Creamery Association, 79 NLRB 444.
19 Wm. P. McDonald Corporation , supra.
u Wm. P. McDonald Corporation, supra; Morowebb Cotton Mills Company, 75 NLRB 987.
16 Mooresville Mills, supra.
17 The Employer concedes and we find that the two master mechanics , Locklear and
Hammett, are supervisors within the meaning of the Act.
1518 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
There is one loom fixer instructor in each mill. These employees
spend one-third of their time training prospective loom fixers. The
rest of their working time is spent in the mills, either instructing or in
the actual fixing of looms. Although the loom fixer instructors partic-
ipate in a pension plan not available to production workers and are,
paid 15 to 20 percent more than fixers, they possess none of the indicia
of supervisors. In accordance with the customary Board policy, we
will include the loom fixer instructors in the unit.18
There are three mechanics in each mill who work under the supervi-
sion of the master mechanics. On the first shift these employees spend
25 percent of their time in keeping the time of, and laying out work for,
machinists, and 75 percent of their time on their own manual work.
On the second and third shifts they work alone. The mechanics have
no authority to hire, fire, or discipline any other employees or effec-
tively to recommend such action, nor do they responsibly direct any
other employees. In these circumstances we find that the mechanics
are not supervisors, and we shall include them in the unit.-
The nine head slasher tenders work under the general slasher over-
seer who is in charge of the slasher rooms in all of the mills involved
herein. There is one head slasher tender on each shift in control of the
slasher room of each mill. This employee keeps the time of the other
slasher tenders and directs their work in the absence of the overseer.
The record shows that the head slasher tenders have no authority to
hire or fire and that they spend only 30 minutes a day in keeping
records of the employees under them. However, but for these head
slasher tenders, there would be only one person in authority over all
the slasher tenders for three large mills. In these circumstances in-
cluding the fact that each head slasher tender controls the slasher room
operations on his staff, we find that the head slasher tenders responsibly
direct other employees and we will exclude them as supervisors 20
Accordingly, on the basis of the stipulations among the parties, and
our findings set forth above, we find that all production and mainte-
nance employees of J. P. Stevens & Co., Inc., Republic Cotton Mills
Division, Great Falls, South Carolina, with the following specific
inclusions and exclusions, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of
the Act :
Inclmasions : Factory clericals, production and statistical clerks, sup-
ply clerks, reserve supply clerks, yarn supply checkers, inventory clerk,
raw material clerk, shipping clerks, mill janitors, freight truck drives,
warehouse laborers, cloth truck driver, yardmen, garage mechanic,
painters and plumbers, dye plant employees, filter plant employees,
" Stokely Foods, Inc., 91 NLRB No 29; Rockwood Pottery , Division of Sperti, Inc.,
89 NLRB 1349.
19 Mooresville Mills, supra.
20 Morowebb Cotton Malls Company, supra ; Stowe Spinning Company, supra.
STANT MANUFACTURING COMPANY 1519
firemen, loom fixer instructors, mechanics, machinists, head over-
haulers, color grader, head grader and other graders, card room com-
bination man, section men, machinery movers, and loomfixers.
Exclusions: Office clericals, general payroll men, payroll clerks,,
production statistics man, accounts payable clerk, supply clerk typist,
switchboard operator, general typists, timekeeper, head designer, as-
sistant designer, costs and standards men, laboratory technician, cloth
salesgirl, office janitor, gatemen, head slasher tenders, secretary to gen-
eral manager, personnel clerks, standards typists, raw material and
inventory supervisor, paymaster, waste control man, personnel super-
visor, assistant personnel supervisor, overseers, shift foremen (second
hands), master mechanics, warehouse supervisor, machinery mover
superintendent, production and standards supervisor, supply super-
visor, planning supervisor, guards, professional employees, and other
supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
STANT MANUFACTURING COMPANY and LOCAL 70, METAL POLISHERS,
BUFFERS, PLATERS & HELPERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, A. F. L.,
PETITIONER
STANT MANUFACTURING COMPANY and AMERICAN FEDERATION OF
LABOR, PETITIONER . Cases Nos. 35-IBC-413 and 35-IBC-454. April
17 , 1951
Decision and Direction of Elections
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before William A. McGowan,
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 this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. • The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
(1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit :
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of automobile parts
and accessories, and employs approximately 550 employees. From
93 NLRB No. 253.