Musgrove Mills

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 28, 1942

43 N.L.R.B. 780 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of MUSGROVE MILLS and TEXTILE WORKERS UNION OF
AMERICA
Case No. R-4137.-Decided August 08, 194
Jurisdiction : textile manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re-
fusal to accord petitioner recognition because of doubt of union's majority ;
election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : production and maintenance em-
ployees, excluding clerical, office, and supervisory employees, and watchmen.
Mr. Horace P. White and Mr. Clyde Je ff eries, of Gaffney, S. C.,
for the Union.
Mr, L. W. Perrin, of Spartansburg, S. C., for the Company.
Mr. William C. Baisinger, Jr., of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF •ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Textile Workers Union of America,
herein called the Union , alleging that a question affecting commerce
had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Musgrove
Mills, Gaffney, South Carolina , herein called the Company, the
National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hear-,
ing upon due notice , before Ralph L. Wiggins, Trial Examiner.
Said hearing was held at Gaff ney, South Carolina, on August 7, 1942.
The Company and the Union appeared , participated , and were
afforded full opportunity to be heard , to examine and cross -examine
witnesses , and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues . The Trial
Examiner 's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial
error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Musgrove Mills is a South Carolina. corporation engaged at Gaff-
ney, South Carolina, in the business of operating a textile mill. The
43 N. L. R. B., No. 125.
780
MUSGROVE MILLS 781
raw materials used, consisting of cotton , starch, sizing , etc., exceed
$100,000 per month in value . Over 50 percent of the raw material
used is purchased outside-the State of South Carolina. The finished
product manufactured by the Company is cotton sheeting . The value
of the finished product is between $110,000 and $115,000 per . month.
Approximately 70 percent of the finished product is shipped outside
the State of South Carolina . The Company admits that it is engaged
in interstate commerce within the meaning of the National Labor
Relations Act. ,
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Textile Workers Union of America is a labor organization. It
admits to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On May 5, 1942, the Union requested the Company to recognize it
as the representative of the employees within the alleged appropriate
unit. The Company refused to grant such recognition because it
doubted that the Union represented a majority of the employees in
the plant. A statement of the Field Examiner introduced in evidence
at the hearing, shows that the Union represents a substantial number
of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of the employees of the Company, within the
meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
Subject only to a controversy concerning the status of five watch-
men employed by the Company, the parties agree that all production
and maintenance employees of the Company, excluding clerical, office,
and supervisory employees constitute an appropriate unit.
, The duties of the watchmen are to watch the Company's property,
to watch for fire, and' to protect the 'plant from prowlers and
saboteurs. They serve in the capacity of policemen and their,only
connection with production or maintenance work'is to fire the boilers
in the plant's slasher room at times in the winter when there are no
firemen on duty, in order to keep up the steam pressure and to prevent
the boiler pipes from freezing. We shall exclude the\watchmen from
the unit.
' The Field Examiner stated that the Union submitted to him 118 membership cards for
the Union , of which all appeared to bear genuine original signatures , that 86 of said 118
signatures are names of persons whose names were on the Company pay roll on July 18,
1942 , in the alleged appropriate unit, and that said pay roll contained the names of 269
persons ii-ithin the alleged appropriate unit.
782 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of, the
Company, excluding clerical, office, and supervisory employees, and
watchmen, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
-bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
i V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot. The Company
and the Union request that, if an election is ordered by the Board, the
pay-roll date of August 8, 1942, be used for determining the eligibility
of voters. The request is hereby granted, 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 Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of the National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain the repre-
sentatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with the Musgrove
Mills, Gaffney, South Carolina, 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 Tenth 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 the em-
ployees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, whose
navies appear on the Company's pay roll of August 8, 1942, includ-
ing any such employees who did not work during said pay-roll period
because they were ill or on vacation or in the active military service
or training of the United States; or temporarily laid off, but exclud-
ing any who have since quit or been discharged for cause to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented by the Textile Workers
Union of America for the purposes of collective bargaining.
CHAIRMAN MILLIS took no part, in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.