Spencer Shoe Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 20, 1946

68 N.L.R.B. 791 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of SPENCER SHOE CORPORATION and ASSOCIATED SHOE
MANAGERS' UNION
Case No. 1-R-2563.-Decided June 20, 1946
Mr. Edward J. Ziegler , of Boston , Mass ., for the Company.
Mr. Dudley A. Weiss, of Boston, Mass ., for the Association.
Mr. Harry Tuvin, of Boston , Mass. , and Mr. Martin Janow, of New
Haven, Conn., for the CIO.
Mr Benj . E. Cook, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Associated Shoe Managers' Union,
herein called the Association, alleging that a question affecting com-
merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Spencer
Shoe Corporation, Boston, Massachusetts, herein called the Company,
the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hear-
ing upon due notice before Leo J. Halloran, Trial Examiner. The hear-
ing was held at Boston, Massachusetts, on May 1, 1946. The Company,
the Association, and Local 282, United Retail Wholesale and Depart-
ment Store Employees of America (CIO), herein called CIO, appeared
and participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard,
to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence
bearing on the issues. 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
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Spencer Shoe Corporation, a Massachusetts corporation, has its prin-
cipal office at Boston, Massachusetts. It owns and operates retail shoe
68 N. L. R. B., No. 106.
791
792 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
stores in the States of New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massa-
chusetts, and New Hampshire. The materials purchased annually for
resale by these stores are valued at approximately $1,600,000, a major
portion of which is received from States other than the State in which
it is sold. During the year 1945, the Company's total sales were
valued at approximately $2,250,000.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Associated Shoe Managers' Union, is an unaffiliated labor organiza-
tion, admitting to membership employees of the Company.'
Local 282, United Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Employees
of America, is a labor organization, affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company, has refused to grant recognition to the Association
as the exclusive bargaining representative of its store managers unless
certified by the Board.
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 Association requests a company-wide unit of store managers ;
the CIO contends that the unit should be limited to stores of the
Company within the State of Connecticut.2 The Company does not
object to a supervisory unit composed of store managers, and agrees
with the Association that the unit should be company-wide in scope.
The only disputed issue here presented was before us in a prior case
involving the employees of the Company.3 In that case, the Board found
appropriate a unit of production and maintenance employees in all
stores of the Company, rejecting a similar request by the CIO, who
was the petitioner in that case, that the unit be confined to employees
'Contrary to the contention of the CIO we find that the Association is a labor organi-
zation within the meaning of the Act.
3 The Company operates a total of 32 stores in the States of Massachusetts , Connecticut,
Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and New York.
' See Matter of Spencer Shoe Corporation, 61 N L. R. B. 1058, wherein store managers
were excluded from the unit found appropriate in view of their supervisory status.
SPENCER SHOE CORPORATION 793
in stores located in the State of Connecticut. Here, as in the prior case,
the record reveals that the Company's operations constitute a single,
highly integrated enterprise, and that there exists a similarity of duties,
skill, and working conditions among store managers in all stores of the
Company. Accordingly, we find that a unit limited to the store managers
employed in the Company's stores throughout the State of Connecticut
is inappropriate.
We find that all store managers employed in the Company's retail
stores located in the States of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island,
New Hampshire, and New York 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 employees
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 Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representatives
for the purposes of collective bargaining with Spencer Shoe Corpora-
tion, Boston, Massachusetts, an election by secret ballot shall be con-
ducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from the
date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Re-
gional Director for the First Region, acting in this matter as agent for
the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sections
10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among 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, in-
cluding employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because
they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including em-
ployees in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves
in person at the polls, but excluding those employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or re-
instated prior to the date of the election, to determine whether they
desire to be represented by Associated Shoe Managers' Union, or by
794 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Local 282, United Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Employees
of America (CIO), for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by
neither.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY, dissenting:
Inasmuch as the unit found appropriate in this case is composed of
supervisory employees, I am constrained to dissent from the majority
opinion for the reasons stated in my dissenting opinion in Matter of
Packard Motor Car Company, 61 N. L. R. B. 4, and Matter of Jones
& Laughlin Steel Corporation, 66 N. L. R. B. 386.