Wilson Athletic Goods Manufacturing Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 31, 1951

95 N.L.R.B. 892 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

892 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
work under the supervision of the construction leaders from Martins-
burg. The Employer states that upon completion of the construction,
production jobs will be offered to these 25 men. It can be said, there-
fore, that these 25 men have every reasonable expectation of being
retained in employment at the Pleasant Gap plant after the plant has
become fully operative. As the Employer's total anticipated work
force is 120, these 25 employees, together with the 30 limestone removal
employees, constitute in excess of 45 percent of such work force.
However, because the processing and manufacturing operations will
not commence until sometime after August 1, 1951, we will not direct
that an immediate election be held. We shall provide that an election
be held at such time after August 1, 1951, as the Regional Director
shall determine that a representative and substantial segment of the
total work force to be engaged in the processing and manufacturing
operations has been employed, subject to submission by the Petitioner
of an adequate showing of representation in such representative
group.° Eligibility shall be determined by the payroll of the period
immediately preceding the issuance of a notice of election.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
6 Waite Carpet Company, 85 NLRB 1130; Rathy Shoes , Inc., Inc, 88 NLRB 10.35; Weyer-
haeuser Timber Company, 93 NLRB 887.
Wn soN_ ATHLETIC GOODS MANUFACTURING CO., INC. and UNITED
TEXTILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER . Cases Nos. 10-
RC-137 and 10-RC-139. July 31,1951
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 Frank E. Hamilton, 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 [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
employees of the Employer.,
'International Fur and Leather Workers Union was permitted to intervene in both
cases.
95 NLRB No. 90.
WILSON ATHLETIC GOODS, MANUFACTURING CO., INC. 8917
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 owns and operates approximately 10 plants through-
out the country, including the 2 plants at Tullahoma, Tennessee,
which are alone involved in this case . The Petitioner contends that
each of these 2 plants should constitute a separate bargaining unit,
while the Intervenor insists that only a single unit embracing both
plants would be appropriate. The Employer takes no position on
this question.
As in the case of the Employer's other plants, the Tullahoma
plants, which are situated directly across the street from each other,
are both subject to the same general, company-wide policies, their
labor relations policies being determined by the Employer's industrial
relations director who has his office in Chicago, Illinois. There is,
however, no functional integration between the plants; the manu-
facturing methods and products of each are entirely different. In
one, plant golf clubs are produced, while in the other the principal
products are baseballs and softballs. There is no exchange of em-
ployees between the two plants, apparently because experience ac-
quired at one plant is of little or no value at the other. The work
at the golf club plant involves a good deal of skilled work, whereas
that at the baseball plant is mostly unskilled or semiskilled. On the
local level, each plant has its own manager, who aside from having:
general managerial powers over production, also has the power to,
hire and discharge, subject to the final approval of the industrial,
relations director. There is no history of collective bargaining at
these plants. The record does not indicate that the Tullahoma plants
stand in any closer relation to each other than they do to any of the
Employer's other plants.
In view of the foregoing facts, we believe that there does not exist
sufficient community of interest between the employees in the two
plants to warrant combining them in a single bargaining unit. Ac-
cordingly, we find that the single-plant units sought by the Petitioner
are appropriate.
In the baseball and golf club plants there are, respectively, one and
two watchmen. The Petitioner and Intervenor would include, and
the Employer would exclude, these employees. The principal duties
of the watchmen are patrolling the plants to see that doors and win-
dows are closed, controlling admissions to the plant, and maintaining
order. The watchmen in the golf club plant do a certain. amount of
janitorial work, such as sweeping floors, but no more than 25 percent
of their time is spent on such duties. The watchman in the baseball
plant has no janitorial duties. We find that the watchmen in both
S94 DECISIONS OF 'NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
plants are guards within the meaning of the Act and we shall,'there-
fore, exclude them from the units herein found appropriate.2
The Employer would exclude the shipping -clerks in each plant as
office clericals, and the Petitioner would include them as plant cleri-
rcals.g These clerks spend most of their time filling out bills of lading,
,checking goods into the plant, and checking out shipments. They
.also direct the filling of orders. They do not supervise the work of
,other employees. Occasionally, the shipping clerks are called upon
to do certain physical labor in connection with their regular duties.
They do not work in the plant office but in the shipping room, which
is connected with the stockroom.' All these clerks are hourly paid and
normally work the same hours as the other employees. Upon the fore-
going facts, we find that the shipping clerks are plant clericals, and
that- they should be included in the production and maintenance units .4
We find that the following separate units are appropriate for col-
lective bargaining purposes within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of
the Act :
(1) - All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's
Tullahoma, Tennessee, baseball plant, including the shipping clerks,
but excluding office clerical employees, the watchman, the truck driver,.
the home sewers , the head inspector, and all supervisors.
(2) All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's
Tullahoma, Tennessee, golf club plant, including the shipping clerks,
but excluding office clericals, the watchmen, the head inspector, and
all supervisors.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
*Mullins Lumber Company and Schoolfteld Industries , Division of Mullins Lumber Com-
pany,,94 NLRB 28 ; and Memphis Cold. Storage Warehouse Company, 91 NLRB 1404.
8 The Intervenor would include the shipping clerks In , the baseball plant , but would
exclude those in the golf club plant.
S Southern Athletic Company, Inc., 86 NLR..908, 909.
THE BARRETT- DIVISION, ALLIED CHEMICAL & DYE CORPORATION and
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF FIREMEN & OILERS, LOCAL No. 8,
AFL, PETITIONER . Case No. 13-RC-1913. July 31,1951
Decision and Direction of. Election
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Albert Gore,
hearing officer. The hearing' officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.'
At the hearing United Construction Workers, United Mine Workers of America, Local
No. 440, the Intervenor , moved to dismiss the petition on the grounds that (a) a sub-
95 NLRB No. 100.