SHtlTS • TOWELS • •lOSnlADS • IIANKETS • i lECTIIC IIANKITS • HOSIEt V • K AR ASTAH BUGS • SYHTHITK FAdtlCS
MILL WHISRE
Publisheil bj Reldcresf Mills, lot • Plants bcjled io Sjraj, Draper and leaksvfllB, R. C. and Fieiflab, Va.
Spray, N. C., Monday, April 4, 1955
NUMBER 19
Union Contract
To End June 1
The Company has notified the
Textile Workers Union of America,
of its decision to terminate the
contract between the Company and
the Union at its expiration June 1,
1955. The TWUA earlier had notified
the Company of its desire to renew
the agreement for another year.
Ill commenting on the Company’s
Position, E. W. Medbery, vice president
Fieldcrest Mills, Inc., said: “We find
*t necessary to terminate the present
Contract. This contract, as it is now
being interpreted by the Union offi-
(Joes not express the intent of
parties as understood by the
'“Ompany when it signed the agree-
ment.”
Mr. Medbery further stated, “We
advised the TWUA that we shall
® glad to meet with representatives
the Union at a mutually agreeable
®te to discuss the matter.”
The present agreement became ef-
‘ective May 25, 1953, to run until June
1’ 1955. The Company gave written
^°tice to the Union Thursday, March
1| 1955, of its desire to end the con-
*!^pt, thus complying with the pro-
*sion for 60 days’ advance notice.
Einploy66S To Got Nbw Bookl6ts On BBnofits
Booklets describing the Fieldcrest
Inc., Pension Plan and the An-
J^'ty Plan have been reprinted and
be distributed during the coming
All employees will receive the
booklet and the annuity book-
tlp’ to all who are par-
'Pating in the Annuity Plan.
^^Sortie sections of the booklets were
^^■arranged for easy reference and
it ’Tiaterial was re-worded to make
bell^ ^l^ar and direct as possible. It is
that the new publications
^et it easy for employees to
^fniine their benefits.
booklets were prepared with the
of Towers, Perrin, Forster &
antu retirement plan consult-
Of Philadelphia.
sioJ®^'^'=rest Mills instituted the pcn-
Vvgj. in 1943 when such plans
iri(j(f '^°'^Paratively rare in the textile
®tfy. Since that time, several hun-
Whitcomb, President Of Company
Chosen Textile Man Of The Year
Harold W. Whitcomb, president and a director of Fieldcrest Mills,
Inc., has been chosen the “Man of the Year” by the North Carolina
State College Chapter of Phi Psi, national honorary textile fraternity.
Announcement of the selection of
the Fieldcrest president to receive the
award, presented each spring to a top-
ranking textile executive, was made
March 31 by G. H. Dunlap, faculty
adviser of the Phi Psi Chapter and
director of the Placement Bureau in
the School of Textiles at State College.
Mr. Dunlap said that President Whit
comb, long a leader in the nation’s
textile industry, will be honored at
the annual Phi Psi banquet to be held
in Raleigh May 6 when he will for
mally receive the award.
Student leaders of the Siate College
Phi Psi Chapter are Harry Yarborough
of Wilson, who has served as chapter
president during the current school
year, and Robert Bruce Stuart of Great
Neck, N. Y., newly-elected chapter
president. They will play key roles in
arranging the honor ceremonies for
Mr. Whitcomb.
Born in Concord, N. H, Mr. Whit
comb was graduated from the Uni
versity of New Hampshire with a B. S.
degree in economics and business ad
ministration. He was associated with
Sulloway Hosiery Mills, Franklin, N.
H., in various capacities before joining
Marshall Field and Company in 1936
as manager of the Lumb Knitting
Company, Pawtucket, R. I. He moved
in 1937 to the Spray headquarters
of the manufacturing division of
Marshall Field Company.
He was elected divisional vice-presi
dent of Marshall Field and Company
in 1946 and on October 1, 1953, upon
sale of the mills by Marshall Field
and Company, was elected vice-presi-
dent of Fieldcrest Mills, Inc. On De
cember 1, 1953, he became president
and was elected to the Board of Di
rectors.
Mr. Whitcomb is a director of the
American Cotton Manufacturers In
stitute and chairman of the ACMI
education committee. He is a director
of the North Carolina Textile Manu
facturers Association; a trustee of the
Institute of Textile Technology, Char-
(Continued on page eight)
HAROLD W. WHITCOMB
... To Be Honored • • •
dred employees have retired with a
monthly pension for life.
The Company pays the entire cost of
the pension plan.
A revised Group Insurance Certifi
cate containing an up-to-date table of
benefits and combining Group Life
and Accident and Health Insurance m
one certificate is also being mailed this
week to each employee enrolled in the
Fieldcrest Group Insurance program.
The new certificate replaces all for
mer Group Life and Accident and
Health policies which employees are
requested to return to the Industrial
Relations Department.
In a letter accompanying the certifi
cate, Macon P. Miller, director of
industrial and public relations, urges
employees to check the beneficiary as
shown on the certificate and to advise
Industrial Relations Department
(Continued on page eight)
the