Peerless Woolen Mills was a subsidiary of Burlington Industries which maintained plants in Cleveland, Tennessee,^[1] Rossville, Georgia, and Tifton, Georgia between 1951 - 1961. Burlington Industries closed the two Georgia production sites in 1961.^[2]

History of business

The textile maker made a large addition to an existing mill in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1925. At this time the Tennessee city was the second largest producer of hosiery in the United States.^[3]

Peerless Woolen Mills built a new manufacturing plant in Cleveland, Tennessee in 1955. Formerly it operated in buildings leased from Hardwick Woolen Mills, starting in 1951. A 250,000-square-foot (23,000 m²) plant, the new facility was engaged in preparing weaving and finishing operations. It opened in February 1956.^[1]

The Rossville operation was liquidated and the Tifton plant was sold to the J.P. Stevens Textile Corporation.^[2] In November 1961 a Federal judge ruled that Burlington Industries could close the Peerless Plant in Rossville without engaging in collective bargaining with a union there. He denied a National Labor Relations Board injunction. The NLRB had asked for the injunction when members of the Allied Industrial Workers contended the mill was being shut down to avoid collective bargaining.^[4] In November 1961, the NLRB studied whether to appeal the judge's ruling because the company's union won the right to represent workers in August 1961, a month before the plant was closed down.^[5]

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