Phillips-Jones Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 12, 1951

96 N.L.R.B. 153 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

PHILLIPS-JONES CORPORATION 153
employees such as we normally find may constitute separate 'bargain-
ing units s We-find, therefore, that the units sought'by the Petitioner
are -inappropriate, and we shall order-that the petitions be dismissed .9
Order
Upon the entire record in this case, the National Labor Relations
Board'hereby orders that the petitions herein be, and they.hereby are,
dismissed.
8 See Sunshine Biscuits, Inc.. 94 NLRB 770; American Viscose Corporation, Sylvania
Division, 84 NLRB 202 ; and Harbor Plywood Corporation of America, 81 NLRB 1331.
1In view of our disposition of the case , we find it unnecessary to consider the addi-
tional argument of the Employer and the Intervenor that the requested units are inap-
propriate because they are not coextensive in 'scope with the existing multiplant uiil%.
PHILLIPS -JONES CORPORATION 1 and UNITED GARMENT WORKERS OF
AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER . Cases No. 15-RC-538. September 12,
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. Truesdale, hearing
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 [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Reynolds].
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 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. The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit composed of production
and maintenance employees at the Employer's Geneva, Alabama,
plant, including warehouse employees, with certain specified exclu-
sions. The Employer contends that only a broader unit embracing
the production and maintenance employees in both its Geneva and
Hartford, Alabama, plants is appropriate. The parties also disagree
as to the unit placement of group leaders, instructors, plant clerical
employees, a truck driver, and machinist repairman.
1 The name of the Employer appears as corrected at the hearinr.
96 NLRB Na 17.
154 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The' Employer is engaged in the manufacture of shirts, operating
several plants in the States of Alabama and Pennsylvania. This pro-
ceeding concerns only its Geneva and Hartford, Alabama, plantsk
which are located about 12 miles apart. At the Geneva plant the Em-
ployer conducts a complete shirt-manufacturing operation, consisting
of the cutting and sewing of the cloth, and the inspection, laundering,
and packaging of the finished product. Unlike the Geneva plant, the
Hartford plant is engaged only in certain phases of the sewing-
opera-tions. Some of the cloth cut and partially sewn at Geneva is delivered
to Hartford where it is sewn. Thereafter, the shirts are returned to
Geneva for inspection and preparation for market.
The Employer maintains a single office at the Geneva plant where
all personnel matters are handled and a single payroll is kept for both
plants. The Geneva plant likewise provides supplies and warehousing
facilities and maintenance services for both plants. The Hartford
plant is under the supervision of the Geneva plant manager. How-
ever, the sewing room, the only operation at that plant, like the several
departments at Geneva, has a supervisor who is directly responsible to
the plant manager. Employees in the Geneva and Hartford plants
exercise similar skills and may transfer from one plant to the other
without loss of their seniority. They also enjoy the same employee
benefits and have the same general working conditions. There is no
history of collective bargaining at either plant.
In view of the foregoing, and particularly the integration of opera-
tions, centralized administration, and close community of employee
interests in the two plants, we find that a unit embracing the employees
of both plants is appropriate 2 As we are administratively satisfied
that tl.e Petitioner has an adequate showing of interest in the broader
unit hereinafter established, we shall not dismiss the petition, but shall
direct an election in a unit including the employees of the Geneva
and Hartford plants!
There remains for consideration the unit placement of employees in
the following disputed categories and classifications whom the Em-
ployer would include, and the Petitioner would exclude :
Group leaders: Each of the 10 group leaders has about 10 employees
for whom each leader furnishes raw materials and removes finished
work. They transmit to their respective groups instructions from
the plant supervisors, one of whom is present at all times in each work-
room. They have no authority to hire or discharge, or effect any
changes in the status of employees, or make effective recommendations
' Nashville Wire Products Manufacturing Co., Inc., et at., 89 NLRB 135; Boland Manu-
facturing Company, 83 NLRB 1254. See also National Cash Register Company, 95 NLRB
27. Cf Southwest Truck Body Company, 93 NLRB 1341.
8If the Petitioner does not desire to participate in an election at this time , we shall
permit it to withdraw its petition without prejudice upon notice to the Regional Director
within 10 days after issuance of the Decision and Direction of Election herein. Flora
Cabinet Company , Inc, 94 NLRB 12.
PHILLIPS-JONES CORPORATION 155
concerning same. They likewise do not responsibly direct any em-
ployees, but merely give routine directions to the latter. We find that
the group leaders are not supervisors within the meaning of the Act,
tnd shall include them in the unit.4
Instructors: Five individuals in this classification are employed in
the two plants. They train new employees and coach experienced
ones. In emergencies, instructors substitute for the plant supervisors
and assistant supervisors. They also make effective recommendations
concerning changes in the status of traineees. We find that the in-
structors are supervisors within the meaning of the Act and shall
exclude them from the unit.-'
Plant clericals: The plant clerks in the Geneva plant and the two
plant clerks in the Hartford plant work in the various production
departments alongside the production employees, recording and tabu-
lating, for payroll purposes, the amount of the daily earnings of the
latter. We shall include the plant clerks in the production and main-
tenance unit in accordance with Board policy.6
Truck driver: This employee transports materials and finished prod-
ucts between the plants and the warehouse. He also delivers mer-
chandise from the Geneva plant to the railway freight station for
shipment. When not thus employed, he also assists in packaging
shirts. We shall include him in the unit.'
Machinist repairmen: The Petitioner would include the four ma-
chinist repairmen, and the Employer would exclude them. The ma-
chinist repairmen, like other maintenance employees, work under the
direct supervision of the plant manager. Although they may prevent
operators from using machines that are not in good working condi-
tion, the record is clear that they exercise no supervisory authority
over any employees. As they have a close community of interest with
the other production and maintenance employees, we shall include
them in the unit.8
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the
Employer's Geneva and Hartford, Alabama, plants, including the
Geneva warehouse employees, group leaders, plant clerical employees,
machinist repairmen, and the truck driver, but excluding office clerical
employees, professional employees, instructors, guards, and all super-
visors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate 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.]
n United States Gypsum Company , 91 NLRB No 33.
S Stokely Foods, Inc., 91 NLRB No 29
"Louisville Railway Company, 94 NLRB 20.
Y Southland Manufacturing Company, 91 NLRB No. 38.
1 Barmac, Inc., 89 NLRB 139.