Burlington Mills Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 29, 1943

51 N.L.R.B. 849 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of BURLINGTON MILLS CORPORATION and TEXTILE WORK-
ERS UNION OF AMERICA, LOCAL UNION No. 260, C. I. O.
Case No. R-5617.-Decided July 29, 19.43
Mr. D. E. Hudgins, of Greensboro, N. C., for the Company.
Mr. E. W. Witt, of Burlington, N. C., for the Textile Workers.
Mr. William R. Cameron, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon amended petition duly filed by Textile Workers Union of
America, Local Union No. 260, C . I. 0., herein called the Textile
Workers , alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of Burlington Mills Corpora-
tion , Burlington, North Carolina, herein called the Company, the
National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice before Robert A. Levett, Trial Examiner . Said hear-
ing was held at Burlington , North Carolina, on July 1, 1943. The
Company and the Textile Workers appeared , participated , and were
afforded full opportunity to be heard , to examine and cross -examine
witnesses , and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. At the
hearing the Company filed with the Trial Examiner a motion to dis-
miss the petition . This motion is denied . The Trial Examiner's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs
with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Burlington Mills Corporation is a Delaware corporation which
operates textile -mills in several States of the Union. We are here
concerned only with that division of the Company which is commonly
51 N. L. R. B., No. 130.
849
850 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
known as the Piedmont Heights Division, located in Burlington, North
Carolina, where it is engaged in the manufacture of cotton and rayon
goods. The Company operates this division as one unit, and employs
in the operations in this division approximately 1,400 employees.
During the year 1942 the Company at its Piedmont Heights Division
used raw materials amounting in value to more than $1,000,000, con-
sisting of rayon and cotton yarns, dyes, chemicals and related sub-
stances, substantially all of which was obtained from points outside
the State of North Carolina. During the same period the finished
products manufactured by the Company at its Piedmont Heights
Division amounted in value to more than $2,000,000, substantially all
of which was shipped to points outside the State of North Carolina.
11. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Textile Workers Union of America, Local Union No. 260, is a labor
organization, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On February 23, 1943, the Textile Workers by letter notified the
Company that it claimed to represent the production and maintenance
workers in the Company's Burlington Mills, Nos. 1, 3, and 4, and
requested a bargaining conference. The Company replied, declining
to grant the request, and asserting, as the reason' therefor, that the
Textile Workers did not represent a majority of the employees in
these plants.
A statement of the Field Examiner introduced in evidence, and a
statement of the Trial Examiner read into the record at the hearing,
indicates that the Textile Workers represents a substantial number
of employees in the unit hereinafter found to be appropriate."
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Textile Workers contends that all production and maintenance
employees of the Company in Plants 1, 3, and 4 of its Piedmont Heights
I The Field Examiner reported that the Textile Workers had submitted 372 authoriza-
tion cards, most of which were dated from September 1942 to April 1943, of which 299
bear the apparently genuine original signatures of persons whose names are on the Com-
pany's pay roll for the week ending March 14, 1943, containing the names of 670 employees
in the unit claimed to be appropriate.
The Trial Examiner stated at the hearing that the Textile Workers had submitted 144
additional authorization cards dated from November 1942 to June 1943, of which 93 bear
i the apparently genuine original signatures of persons whose names are on the above-
mentioned pay roll
BURLINGTON MILLS CORPORATION 851
Division, excluding watchmen, second hands and other supervisory
employees, office and plant-clerical employees, and employees employed
in the reed shop, fur shop, yarn dyeing department, sewing room,
trucking or transportation department, cloth finishing department,
commissary, machine shop, pipe shop, warehouses, garage, size plant,
and boiler room, constitute a unit appropriate for collective bargain-
ing. The Company contends that all production and maintenance
employees in the Piedmont Heights Division, excluding only super-
visors of the grade of second hands and above, office-clerical employees,
and trucking or transportation employees, constitute the appropriate
unit. The Company bases its contention upon the integration of all
departments at Piedmont Heights to the single process of textile
manufacture.
The Piedmont Heights Division is comprised of Plants 1, 3, and 4,
a reed shop, fur shop, yarn dyeing department, sewing room, truck-
ing or, transportation department, cloth finishing department, com-
missary, machine shop, pipe shop, warehouses, garage, size plant, and
boiler room. Plants 1, 3, and 4, in which are employed the employees
whom the Textile Workers seeks to represent, are known as the prepar-
atory and weaving departments. In Plant 1 the yarn is prepared for
weaving. In Plant 3 are carried on the operations of winding yarn
on the quills, grading cloth, storage of 'equipment and materials, and
certain further operations incidental to setting up equipment to cre-
ate the patterns. In Plant 4 the only operation is weaving. The larger
part of the Company's employees work in these departments. Each
of these three plants is housed in a single building. All of the em-
ployee groups sought to be excluded by the Textile Workers, with the
exception of the machine shop and parts of the commissary, work in
buildings which are separate from Plants 1, 3, and 4. The machine
shop, which is located in one end of the building which houses Plant
1, is nevertheless a separate department. It is supervised by the master
mechanic. The other departments sought to be excluded are also under
separate supervision, although the entire Piedmont Heights Division
is under the charge of one general manager.
The record discloses that in January 1938, as the result of agree-
ment between the Company and the Textile Workers Organizing
Committee, predecessor of the petitioning Union herein, a consent
election was held in a unit similar to that here sought by the Textile
Workers. The Union was successful in that election, and subsequently
entered into bargaining negotiations with the Company, but no col-
lective bargaining agreement resulted. Adhering to the unit agreed
upon in the 1938 consent election, the Textile Workers has not sought
to organize any of the groups which it here seeks to exclude, and has
no members among them. No other organization is here seeking to
represent any of the groups not organized by the Textile Workers.
540612-44-vol. 51-55
852 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOA(RD
In view of all the circumstances, including the history of a previous
election in a unit similar to that here sought by the Textile Workers,
the administrative organization of the mills, and the differentiation
both as to supervision and as to function among the various depart-
ments, we-are of the opinion that a unit which coincides with the ex-
tent 'of the Textile Workers organization is appropriate. We have
previously held in similar cases that groups of employees whose work
is functionally coherent and distinct should not be deprived of the
benefits of collective bargaining until all other employees in the plant-
wide or industrial unit are organized 2 We shall therefore exclude
from the appropriate unit the employees of departments of the Com-
pany other than those employed in Plants 1, 3, and 4, the preparatory
and weaving departments.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the Com-
pany in Plants 1, 3, and 4, of its Piedmont Heights Division, Burling-
ton, North Carolina, excluding watchmen, office and plant-clerical
employees, employees employed in the reed shop, fur shop, yarn dyeing
plant, sewing room, trucking or transportation department, cloth
finishing department, commissary, machine shop, pipe shop, ware-
houses, garage, size plant, boiler room, all supervisory employees of the
grade of second hands and above, and any other supervisory employees
with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise
effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such
action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion herein, 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 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and, Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
DmEcrED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Burlington Mills
0
2 See Matter of Rtartex Mills, 44 N. L. H. B. 486; Matter of The Patterson-Kelley Com-
pany, Inc., 38 N. L. R.. B. 1229.
BURLINGTON MILLS CORPORATION - 853
Corporation, Burlington, North 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 super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Fifth Region, acting in, this
matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject
to Article III, Section 10, of said Rules and Regulations, among the
employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
date of this Direction, including employees who did not work during
said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily
laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United
States who present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding
any who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine
whether or not they' desire to be represented by Textile Workers of
America, Local Union No. 260, C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
CHAIRMAN MILLIS took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.