Chicopee Manufacturing Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 8, 1937

4 N.L.R.B. 455 (N.L.R.B. 1937)

In the Matter of CHICOPEE MANUFACTURING CORPORATION and TEX-
TILE WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Case No. R-300.-Decided December. 8, 1937
Cotton Textile Industry -Investigation of Representatives: controversy con-
cerning representation of employees : refusal of employer to recognize peti-
tioning union as exclusive bargaining agent until question of representation
is determined by Board-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: plant-wide,
excluding supervisory and clerical employees ; functional coherence ; Election-
Ordered-Certification of Representatives.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES 01
0
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On August • 30, 1937, Textile Workers Organizing Committee,
herein call the T. W. O. C., filed with the Regional Director for the
First Region (Boston, Massachusetts) a petition alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa-
tion of employees of Chicopee Manufacturing Corporation, Chicopee--
Falls, Massachusetts, herein called the Company, and-requesting an
investigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section
9 (c) of the National, Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein
called the Act. On September 4, 1937, the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section,
9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, -as amended, ordered
an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct
it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On September 18, 1937, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the
T. W. O. C., and American Federation of Textile Operatives, herein
called the A. F. T. 0., a labor organization purporting to represent
some of the Company's employees. Pursuant to the notice,, a hear-
ing was held at Springfield; Massachusetts, on September 27, 1937,,
before Paul Davier, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the
Board. The Board, the Company, the T. W. O. C., and the A. F.
T. O. were represented and participated in the hearing. Full op--
portunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and
to introduce evidence bearing- on the issues was afforded all .the
parties. During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made-
67573-38-vol. iv--30 455
456 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
several rulings on motions and on objections to the admission of
evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Ex-
aminer and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The
rulings are hereby affirmed.
After examining the record in the case, the Board concluded that
a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Company, and on the basis of such con-
clusion, and acting pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of said Rules
and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, issued a Direction of Elec-
tion on October 20, 1937,1 in which it was found that all the employ-
ees of the Company, except supervisory and office employees, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
Merely for the purpose of expediting the election and thus to insure
to the employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to
collective bargaining as early as possible, the Board directed the
os election without at the same time issuing a decision embodying com-
plete findings of fact and conclusions of law.
Pursuant to the Board's Direction of Election, an election by secret
ballot was conducted on October 29, 1937, by the Regional Director
for the First Region among the employees of the Company constitut-
ing ;the, bargaining unit found .appropriate by, the Board. On No-
vember 1, 1937, the Regional Director issued his Intermediate Report
upon the secret ballot, which was duly served upon the parties to the
proceeding. No exceptions to the Intermediate Report have been
filed by any of the parties.
As to the results of the secret ballot, the Regional' Director reported
the following :
Total number eligible----------------------------------------- 611
Total ballots cast--------------------------------------------- 455
Total number of blank ballots--------------------------------- 0
Total number of void ballots---------------------------------- 2
Total, number, of ballots cast for, Textile Workers, Organizing
Committee of the C. I. 0------------------------------------- 386
Total number of ballots cast for, the American Federation of Tex-
tile Operatives--------------------------------------------- 65
Total number of ballots cast for neither union----------------- 2
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Company stipulated the following facts concerning its
business :
The Company. incorporated in Massachusetts in 1916, has its prin-
cipal office and place of business in Chicopee. Massachusetts. It is
13 N. L R. B. 853
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 457
a wholly owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, Inc., of New
Brunswick, New Jersey, a New Jersey corporation. All sales of the
Company's products are handled by the Chicopee Sales Corporation
of New York City, a New York corporation. Shipping orders on
goods are received by this corporation and it also handles the direct
billing to the purchasers. The Company employs an average of 600
persons engaged in actual production, exclusive of supervisory and
clerical employees. It manufactures surgical gauze, crinoline, and
bunting, and produces about 2,000,000 yards of cotton fabric a week.
The plant handles a complete manufacturing process, taking raw
cotton in the bale, and cards, spins, weaves, and processes it into cot-
ton fabric. About 200 bales of raw cotton, weighing about 500
pounds each, are used weekly, and this cotton is shipped to the mill
from points outside Massachusetts. Most of the dyestuffs, starches,
and acids, in sufficient quantity to process the factory production of
cotton cloth, are imported from states other than Massachusetts.
About 95 per cent in volume and value of the raw materials used in
the production of the Company's product are imported from states
other than Massachusetts. Of the average production of 2,000,000
yards of cotton cloth per week, about 1,000,000 yards are shipped as
processed, bleached, or finished goods, and 1,000,000 yards are shipped
as gray goods for further processing at other plants. About 90 per,
cent of the gray goods and 70 percent of the finished goods are
shipped to points outside Massachusetts. The transportation of the
raw material and the finished goods is carried on by rail and motor
truck.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Textile Workers Organizing Committee is a labor organization
affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organization. It admits
to membership all employees of the Company, except supervisory and
clerical employees.
Chicopee Loom Fixers Union is a labor organization affiliated with
the American Federation of Textile Operatives. It admits to mem-
bership all loom fixers of the Company. During the hearing the
officials of this union indicated a willingness, in the event that it
should be chosen as the bargaining representative of the Company's
employees, to amend its charter so as to *render eligible for member-
ship all employees of the Company excluding only clerical and super-
visory employees.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
During July 1937, a strike occurred in the spinning department of
the Company. The strike was handled by the T. W. O. C. for the
458 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
employees and an agreement was reached between the Company and
the T. W. O. C. that brought about a settlement of the strike. Sub-
sequently thereto, during the course of conferences pertaining to
labor grievances between the Company and the T. W. O. C., the
question arose as to whether the latter should be recognized as the
sole bargaining agency of the Company's employees. At that point
John F. Shaw, the Company's agent, informed the T. W. O. C. that
there was another union at the plant, and suggested that the two
unions get together. Having dealt with the A. F. T. O. for the loom
fixers, he wanted a ruling from the National Labor Relations Board
before he entered into an exclusive bargaining agreement with the
T. W. 0. C.
We find, therefore, that a question has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation, which has
arisen in connection with the operations of the Company described
in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial relation to
trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States, and tends to
lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce and the
free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
No adequate evidence was introduced to show that the loom fixers
should constitute a separate bargaining unit. On the contrary, the
record indicates that there are no important ^ differentiating features
between loom fixers and other skilled textile operatives, such 'as spin-
ners and weavers. Moreover, there is such an interrelation in the
operations of the Company's plant that a cessation of work in, any
one department will shortly cause other departments to cease opera-
tions. A common handling of the bargaining problem by an organi-
zation representing all employees would obviate, such separate and
possibly disruptive action.
During the course of the hearing, the A. F. T. 0., through its
representative and local officers, agreed to an election on a plant-
wide, basis among all the Company's employees, except clerical and
supervisory employees. This agreement, subsequently reduced to
writing and signed by the representatives of the T. W. O. C. and the
A. F. T. 0., is highly persuasive that the unit for collective bargain-
ing should be a plant-wide unit.
We find that all the employees of the Company, except supervisory
and office employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 459
of collective bargaining and that said unit will insure to the Com-
pany's employees the full benefit'of their right to self-organization
and collective bargaining, and otherwise to effectuate the policies of
the Act. -
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
No evidence was introduced at the hearing upon the basis of which
we could make a finding that a majority of the employees in the
appropriate unit has designated and selected a representative for
the purposes of collective bargaining. We, therefore, directed an
election by secret ballot to determine their representative.
In accordance with our usual practice, we directed that the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were on the Company's pay roll
for the week including the date of the petition herein, August 30,
1937, should be eligible to vote in the election.
The election by secret ballot, which was held in conformity with
the above findings and pursuant to the Direction of the Board, re-
sulted in a vote for the T. W. O. C. by a majority of the employees
in the appropriate unit. The T. W. O. C. is, therefore, by virtue
of Section 9 (a) of the Act, the exclusive representative of all the
employees in such unit for the purposes of collective bargaining in
respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other con-
ditions of employment, and we will so certify.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact, and upon the entire
record in the proceedings, the Board makes the following:
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of the Chicopee Manufacturing Corporation,
Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
and Sections 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All the employees of the Company, except supervisory and office
employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National
Labor Relations Act.
3. Textile Workers Organizing Committee is the exclusive repre-
sentative of all the employees in such unit for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (a) of the National
Labor Relations Act.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
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, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of
460 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series, 1,
as amended,
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Textile Workers Organizing Commit-
tee has been designated and selected by a majority of the employees
of Chicopee Manufacturing Corporation, Chicopee Falls, Massachu-
setts, excluding supervisory and office employees, as their representa-
tive for the purposes of collective bargaining, and that, pursuant to
Section 9 (a) of the Act, Textile Workers Organizing Committee is
the exclusive representative of all such employees for the purposes
of collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of
employment, and other conditions of employment.