Sayles Finishing Plants, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 6, 1943

49 N.L.R.B. 532 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of SAYLES FINISHING PLANTS, INC. and FEDERATION
OF DYERS, FINISHERS, PRINTERS AND BLEACHERS OF AMERICA
Case No. B-5148.-Decided May 6, 193
Messrs. ,George E. Sinkenson and George Herr, of Saylesville, R. I.,
and Edwards & Angell, by Mr. Kirk Smith, of Providence, R. I., for
the Company.
Messrs. Frank J. Benti and Ferdinand Sylvia, of Providence, R. I.,
for the C: I. O.
Mr. Charles F. Risk, of Pawtucket, R. I. for the Independent.
Mr. A. Swmner Lawrence, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Federation of Dyers, Finishers, Print-
ers and Bleachers of America, affiliated' with the Congress of Indus-
trial Organizations, herein called the Federation, alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Sayles Finishing Plants, Inc., Providence, Rhode
Island, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations
Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before
Robert E. Greene, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Provi-
dence, Rhode Island, on April 8, 1943. The Company, the Feder-
ation, and Sayles Independent Union, herein called the Independent,
appeared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evi-
dence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's ruling made at
the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
The Company filed a brief. which the Board has considered.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
49 N. L. R B, No. 74;
532
SAYLES FINISHING PLANTS, INC.
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF' THE COMPANY
533
Sayles Finishing Plants, Inc., a Rhode Island corporation, has its -
principal place of business in the State of Rhode Island where it has
two plants engaged in the business of finishing and dyeing textiles
known as "gray goods" for its customers from whom it receives
more than $1,000,000, annually. Of the plants referred to, only plant
A located at Saylesville, Rhode Island, is involved in these proceed-
ings. During a normal calendar year, the Company processes in,
excess of 10,000,000 yards of "gray goods," more than 80 percent of
which is received from points outside the State of Rhode Island..
Of the finished product, approximately 90 percent is shipped' to^
points outside the State of Rhode Island to customers of the Com-
pany or to their order. Raw materials currently used by the Com-
pany include starch, dyes, and various chemicals, more than 5a
percent of which is received from points outside the State of Rhode
Island. The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Federation of Dyers, Finishers, Printers and Bleachers of America
is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the Com-
pany.
Sayles Independent Union is an unaffiliated labor organization,
admitting to membership employees of, the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATIONI
About June 1942, the Federation requested that the Company
recognize it as exclusive bargaining representative for the employees
of the Company. In reply, the latter informed the Federation that
it could not grant the request because of an outstanding contract
between the Company and the Independent.
The contract is an exclusive recognition agreement dated April
10, 1942, with a duration- period of 1 year subject to automatic renewal
in the event that neither party gives notice of a desire to terminate
or modify the agreement 30 days prior to the expiration date thereof.
Neither the Company nor the Independent contends that the contract
is a bar to the present proceeding. Since the petition of the Fed-
eration was filed prior to the effective date for automatic renewal
534 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of the contract, we find that the contract does not constitute a bar
to an investigation and determination of representatives.'
A statement of the- Regional Director, together with other evi-
dence introduced at the hearing, indicates that the Federation rep-
resents a substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter
found 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 National Labor
Relations Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Federation contends that the appropriate unit should ' consist
of all employees of the Company at plant A, excluding executives,
supervisors, maintenance employees (including yard. gang), time-
study employees (time clerks), all -clerical and office employees (in-'
eluding plant clerical employees), laboratory workers, watchmen and
guards, truck drivers and box shop employees.
The Independent, with whose contentions the Company is in accord, -
urges the unit covered by the recent contract between the Company
and the Independent, cdmprising all production and maintenance
employees of the Company at plant A, excluding executives, super-
visory employees, clerical employees in the main office and planning
office, laboratory employees and watchmen. Q
A comparison of the above positions shows a conflict only with
respect to the inclusion or exclusion of mantenance employees (in-
cluding yard gang) truck drivers, box shop employees and plant
clerical employees.
Maintenance employees: There are 82 such employees who consist
of members of various crafts such as electricians, pipers, pipers' help-
ers, millwrights, machinists, machinists' helpers, stationary engineers
and pattern makers. The group generally receives higher wages than
those of the production workers and is under the supervision of a
I See Matter of Service Wood Heel Company, Inc, doing business under style and trade.
name of Russell Heel Company and United Shoe Workers of America, Wood Heel Turners
Local 12 A, (C. 1. 0.), 41 N. L. R. B. 45 -
7 The Regional Director reported that the Federation had submitted 553 signed member-
ship cards dated between February 1941 and March 1943, of which 257 appeared to bear
apparently genuine original signatures of persons whose names are on the Company's pay
roll for the week ending March 6, 1943, -containing a total of 1161 names, of which 1002
were in the alleged appropriate unit. -
The Independent did not produce any evidence of membership but relied upon its contract
as evidence of its interest in the proceeding.
' While the showing of, the Federation is only approximately 25.6 percent of, the claimed
appropriate -unit, we find that this showing is substantial in view of the provision in the
contract requiring maintenance of membership In the Independent. Cf. Matter of Oregon
Plywood Company and Plywood Box Shook and Door Council #9, International Wood
Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 33 N. L. R. B.
1234; Matter of Certain-Teed Products Corporation and International Longshoremen's h
Warehousemen 's Union, Local 1-6, 28 N. L. R. B. 915.
SAYLES FINISHIl'G PLANTS, INC. 535
separate superintendent. On the other hand, both maintenance and
production workers are hourly paid employees who observe the same
shift hours. Moreover, though maintenance employees are assigned
to their work by their own craft foremen, they are likewise directed
by the foremen of the production departments to which they are
called to make repairs. Of the entire group of 82 maintenance em-
ployees, 63 spend all their time working in the plant repairing ma-
chines-and doing general maintenance work. Of the remaining main-
tenance group other than the janitor, 3 divide their time between
the machine shop and the operating departments, 8 work on machine
shop repair work, 7 do work in the machine shop but also may do
some work outside. On occasion, men are borrowed from the machine
shop for repair of trucks in the company garage. Of the 64 inen who
work in the plant, about 15 are known as departmental maintenance
employees and are regularly assigned to various production depart-
ments where they work more or less under the direction of the depart-
mental foremen. The remainder of this group constitute a general
maintenance pool and are subject to the orders of the mechanical
superintendent only. All types of maintenance employees have been
included together-with-production employees in collective bargaining
agreements between the Company and the Independent since 1939.
A witness for the Independent testified that maintenance employees
have been among those for whom grievances have been handled by
the grievance committee in the administration of the collective bar-
gaining agreements. The record does not disclose that any craft
unions are presently contending for representation of the various
craft members in the group of maintenance employees whom the
Federation would exclude from the appropriate unit.
We are of the opinion and find that the maintenance employees
have substantial interests in common with the production employees
of the Company. For this reason, and since they have been included
in the contractual unit, we shall include the maintenance employees
within the appropriate unit.
Yard-gang: The record reveals that the yard gang is composed of
27 employees of whom 3 are masons and the rest laborers. The wages
of the group are in the low brackets of the wage scale of production
employees. While the yard gang is a separate department from that
of the maintenance employees, it is, however, subject to the super-
vision of the same superintendent as the maintenance employees.
Like the latter, the yard gang has been included under collective bar-
gaining agreements between the Company and the Independent, pro-
viding for an industrial unit of production and maintenance em-
ployees. We find that the yard gang has substantial interests in
common with the production and maintenance employees. We shall
include the yard gang within the appropriate unit.
536 DE0SiIONS OF, NAPLONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Truck drivers: The truck drivers as a group are under the same
general supervision as the maintenance employees and are responsible
to the same intermediate foreman as the yard gang. The wages of
the truck drivers are about mid-way on the scale of the- plant em-
ployees. Like the maintenance and yard gang employees, the truck
drivers have been included under the industrial unit established by
the contracts between the Company and the Independent. We find
that the truck drivers have substantial interests in common with the
employees properly found to be within the appropriate unit. We
shall, accordingly, include the truck drivers in such unit for purposes
of collective bargaining. -
Box shop employees: There are 8 or 9 employees in this group who
work in a separate building called the box shop which is about 50
yards distant from the rest of the plant, all of which is enclosed by
a fence. The box shop employees operate machines that make boxes.
While the box shop employees have nothing to do with the produc-
tion of cloth and have also no occasion to meet with the production
employees during working hours, they receive about the same wages
as the production employees. ' Moreover, though their immediate
supervision is different from that of the production workers, the box
shop employees are under the direction of the same superintendent
as a number of other departments including the bleaching, dyeing,
finishing and drying rooms. Like maintenance employees, yard gang
and truck drivers, box shop employees have been included under the
collective bargaining agreements of the Independent. We find that
the box shop employees have interests similar to-those of the produc-
tion and maintenance groups. We shall include them within the
appropriate unit.
There remains of the disputed categories for consideration, the
question of the inclusion or exclusion of the plant clerical employees.
These consist of application or production clerks, expediters and
time clerks.
Application or production clerks sit at desks and copy from slips
to manufacturing orders, the yardages and assortments that are com-
ing through and being invoiced •to customers. While the production
clerks receive wages which are in the lower brackets of the wage
scale and have also been included under the industrial unit covered
by the agreements between the Company and the Independent, the
production clerks do work of a primarily clerical nature. Moreover,
though in one instance they sit at desks in one of the large depart=
ments; -in two other cases they work in closed .offices one of which
is confined to those- production clerks while' the other is shared with
the superintendent and chief expediter. Since 'it appears that they
have insufficient interests in -common .with the production and main-
SAYLES FINISHING PLANTS, INC. 537
tenal ce employees, the application or production clerks will, be ex-
,eluded from the appropriate unit.
Expediters, sometimes called lot chasers, follow through lots of
cloth to completion and look up parts of lots that are missing. While
expediters are paid on an hourly basis and have been included in the
industrial unit represented by the Independent in its relations with
the Company, expediters not only work closely with the foremen, but
-do not directly participate in production or maintenance work. We
are of the, opinion and find that expediters have few interests in
common with-the production and maintenance employees. We shall,
accordingly, exclude them from the appropriate unit.3
Time clerics, with the exception of one indivdual, are hourly rated
,employees whose wages are in the lower brackets of the wage scale
of the production workers with whom they are in daily contact and
over whom they have no supervision. Time clerks have moreover,
been included 'in the industrial unit represented by the Independent.
On the other hand, time clerks figure the wages due on the time cards
which are thereafter sent to the pay-roll department. Other duties of
time clerks include the work of piece checkers. Time clerks work in
offices either with other clerks or in an office used for foreman's
meetings. Like application clerks and expediters, time clerks are
responsible to the chief expediter in the particular department con-
cerned. The Company's vice president and general manager testi-
fied that time clerks are supposed to refrain from divulging time card
information to their fellow employees. We find that time clerks are
clerical employees whose interests are dissimilar to those of the pro-
duction and maintenance employees.4 We shall, accordingly, ex-
,elude time clerks from the appropriate unit.
The only other matter yet to be considered concerns the request of
the Federation that assistant foremen or gang bosses be excluded from
the appropriate unit as supervisory employees. Assistant foremen
or gang bosses as they are called at the Company's plant, occupy the
same position as "second hands" in most textile mills. ' The Company
and the Independent take no position with respect to the request
for the exclusion of assistant foremen. Since these employees exer-
cise supervisory authority and appear to be of the same type as the
"second hands" whom we have customarily excluded from textile
units, we shall exclude them from the appropriate unit.5
We find that all production and maintenance' employees of the
'Company employed at Plant A, Saylesville, Rhode Island, including
3 See Matter of The Yale if Towne Manufacturing Company and International Associa-
tion of Machinists , Lodge 539, A. F. L., 44 N L. R. B. 1259.
See footnote 3, supra.
6 See Matter of Monarch Mills, Ottaray Plant and United Textile Workers of America,
A F. L., 41 N. L. R B. 1248. /
538 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
yardgang, truck drivers and box shop employees, but excluding ex-
ecutives, supervisors, assistant foremen, all plant clerical and office
employees, laboratory workers, watchmen and guards, constitute a
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining 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
Election 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 Re-
lations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National-,
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives'for the purposes of collective bargaining with Sayles Finishing
Plants, Inc., Saylesville, Rhole Island, 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 First 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 temporar-
ily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the
United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but ex-
cluding employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause,
to determine whether they desire to be represented by Federation of
Dyers, Finishers, Printers and Bleachers of America, affiliated twith
the Congress of Industrial Organizations, or by Sayles Independent
Union, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.