Blue Ridge Shoe Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 21, 1969

175 N.L.R.B. 11 (N.L.R.B. 1969)

BLUE RIDGE SHOE CO.
Blue Ridge Shoe Company and Drivers Local Union
No. 61 , affiliated with the International
Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs,
Warehousemen and Helpers of America. Case
I1-CA-3732
March 21, 1969
DECISION AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS
BROWN AND JENKINS
Upon a charge filed by Drivers Local Union No.
61, affiliated with the International Brotherhood of
Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers
of America, herein called the Union, the General
Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, by
the Regional Director for Region 11, issued a
complaint on September 27, 1968, alleging that Blue
Ridge Shoe Company, herein called the Respondent,
had engaged in and was engaging in unfair labor
practices within the meaning of Section 8(a)(1) and
(5) of the National Labor Relations Act, as
amended. Thereafter, the Respondent filed an
answer to the complaint, admitting certain
jurisdictional and factual allegations , but denying
the commission of any unfair labor practices.
On October 31, 1968, the parties to this
proceeding filed with the National Labor Relations
Board a stipulation of facts, and requested that this
case be transferred directly to the Board for the
issuance of findings of fact, conclusions of law, and
a Decision and Order. The parties waived their
rights to a hearing before a Trial Examiner and the
issuance of a Trial Examiner's Decision. They
agreed that the formal documents in this case and in
Case 11-RC-2659, including the stipulation of facts,
shall constitute the entire record in the case.
On November 4, 1968, the Board issued an Order
granting the motion, approving the stipulation, and
transferring the case to the Board. Thereafter, briefs
were filed by the Respondent and the General
Counsel.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
powers in connection with this case to a
three-member panel.
Upon the basis of the stipulation of facts, the
briefs, and the entire record in the case, the Board
makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE RESPONDENT
The Respondent is a New York corporation
engaged in the business of manufacturing foot
apparel at its plant located in Boone, North
Carolina. During the past 12 months, the
11
Respondent shipped goods valued in excess of
$50,000 from its Boone plant to points outside the
State of North Carolina and purchased raw
materials valued in excess of $50,000 directly from
points located outside the State of North Carolina.
We find that the Respondent is engaged in
commerce within the meaning of Section 2(6) and
(7) of the Act, and that it will effectuate the policies
of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
11. THE LABOR ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Union is a labor organization within the
meaning of Section 2 (5) of the Act.
III. THE UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES
A. Background
On August 15, 1968, the Board certified the
Union as the exclusive bargaining representative of
the Respondent's employees in an appropriate unit,
following a consent election held on February 19,
1968, in which a majority of the employees
designated the Union as their bargaining
representative, by a vote of 188 for the Union and
154 against, with one vote challenged.' On August
19, 1968, the Union requested a meeting with the
Respondent for the purposes of collective
bargaining. By letter dated August 23, 1968, the
Respondent refused this request. Since August 23,
1968, the Respondent has refused to bargain with
the Union. The Respondent defends this refusal to
meet with the Union on the ground that the election
and certification are invalid. It asserts, as it did in
the representation proceeding, that the Board
improperly failed to sustain all or a portion of the
Employer's Objections to Conduct Affecting the
Results of the February 19, 1968, election, and,
consequently, that the Board improperly certified
the Union as the bargaining representative of the
employees.
After the election, the Respondent filed the said
objections to the conduct of the election. The
Regional Director conducted an investigation and on
May 8, 1968, issued and duly served upon the
parties his Report on Objections, in which he
recommended that said objections be overruled in
their entirety and that the Union be certified as the
collective-bargaining representative of the
employees.
On May 22, 1968, the Respondent filed its
exceptions to the Regional Director's Report, and
on August 15, 1968, the Board issued its Decision
'See Decision and Certification of Representative issued on August 15,
1968, in Case I I-RC-2659 (unpublished). The stipulated bargaining unit is
as follows:
All production and maintenance and plant clerical employees at the
Employer's Boone , North Carolina, location , but excluding all office
clerical employees, guards, watchmen , professional (the nurse)
employees , the office janitor , and supervisors as defined in the Act.
175 NLRB No. 4
12 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and Certification of Representative in the
representation proceedings, in which the Board
adopted the Regional Director's findings and
recommendations.
B. Validity of the Certification
The Respondent's position in this complaint
proceeding is the same as that taken in its
exceptions to the Regional Director's Report, which
we adopted. We rejected those exceptions because it
appeared to us that the alleged threats to employees,
even if proved, were not sufficiently substantial to
create an atmosphere of fear and reprisal preventing
a general freedom of choice in the election, and that
the other Union conduct objected to did not
improperly interfere with the election. The
Respondent has not come foward with any newly
discovered or previously unavailable evidence or
special circumstances requiring our reevaluation of
the issues which were settled in the representative
proceeding. We adhere to our rulings in that
proceeding. We therefore reaffirm the certification
of the Union as the exclusive bargaining
representative of Respondent's employees, based on
the election held on February 19, 1968, and find
that at all times since that date the Union has been,
and now is, the exclusive bargaining agent of all
employees in the appropriate bargaining unit
described above.
C. The Refusal To Bargain
As stipulated by the parties, the Union, on
August 19, 1968, requested the Respondent to
commence negotiations for collective-bargaining
agreement covering these employees in the
appropriate unit , and on August 23, 1968, the
Respondent replied, refusing to bargain with the
Union on the ground that its certification was
invalid. We find that since on and after August 23,
1968, the Respondent has refused to bargain
collectively with the Union in violation of Section
8(a)(l) and (5) of the Act.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE UNFAIR LABOR
PRACTICES UPON COMMERCE
The activities of the Respondent set forth in
section III, above, occurring in connection with its
operations as described in section I, above, have a
close, intimate, and substantial relation to trade,
traffic, and commerce among the several States, and
tend to lead to labor disputes burdening and
obstructing the free flow of commerce.
V. THE REMEDY
Having found that the Respondent has engaged in
certain unfair labor practices, we shall order it to
cease and desist therefrom and take certain
affirmative action to effectuate the policies of the
Act.
In order to insure that the employees in the
appropriate unit will be accorded the services of
their elected bargaining agent for the period
provided by law, we shall construe the initial year of
certification as beginning on the date the
Respondent commences to bargain in good faith
with the Union as the recognized bargaining
representative in the appropriate unit. See Mar-Jac
Poultry Company, Inc., 136 NLRB 785; Commerce
Company d/b/a Lamar Hotel, 140 NLRB 226, 229,
enfd. 328 F.2d 600 (C.A. 5), cert. denied 379 U.S.
817; Burnett Construction Company, 149 NLRB
1421, enfd. 350 F.2d 57 (C.A. 10).
CONCLUSIONS OFLAW
1. The Respondent is an employer within the
meaning of Section 2(2) of the Act.
2. The Union is a labor organization within the
meaning of Section 2(5) of the Act.
3. All production and maintenance and plant
clerical employees at the Respondent's Boone,
North Carolina, location, but excluding all office
clerical employees, guards, watchmen, professional
(the nurse) employees, the office janitor, and
supervisors, as defined in the Act, constitute an
appropriate unit for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the
Act.
4. By virtue of Section 9(a) of the Act, the Union
has been since February 19, 1968, the exclusive
bargaining representative of the employees in the
above-described unit.
5. By refusing to recognize, meet, and bargain
with the Union as the exclusive collective-bargaining
representative of the employees in the appropriate
unit, the Respondent, since August 23, 1968, has
engaged in unfair labor practices in violation of
Section 8(a)(5) of the Act; and has interfered with,
restrained, and coerced its employees in the exercise
of rights guaranteed to said employees in Section 7
of the Act, and has thereby engaged in unfair labor
practices in violation of Section 8(a)(1) of the Act.
5. The aforesaid unfair labor practices affect
commerce within the meaning of Section 2(6) and
(7) of the Act.
ORDER
Pursuant to Section 10(c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, as amended, the National Labor
Relations Board hereby orders that the Respondent,
Blue Ridge Shoe Company, Boone, North Carolina,
its officers, agents, successors, and assigns, shall:
1. Cease and desist from:
(a) Refusing to bargain collectively concerning
wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of
employment with Drivers Local Union No. 61,
affiliated with the International Brotherhood of
BLUE RIDGE SHOE CO.
Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers
of America, as the exclusive bargaining
representative of the employees in the following
appropriate bargaining unit:
All production and maintenance and plant clerical
employees employed by Blue Ridge Shoe
Company at its Boone, North Carolina, plant,
excluding all office clerical employees,
professional (the nurse) employees, guards,
watchmen, the office janitor, and supervisors, as
defined in the Act
(b) In any like or related manner interfering with,
restraining, or coercing its employees in the exercise
of their rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act.
2. Take the following affirmative action, which
the Board finds will effectuate the policies of the
Act:
(a) Bargain collectively concerning wages, hours,
and other terms and conditions of employment with
the Union as the exclusive representative of the
employees in the appropriate unit and, if an
understanding is reached, embody such
understanding in a signed agreement.
(b) Post at its place of business in Boone, North
Carolina, copies of the attached notice marked
"Appendix."' Copies of said notice, on forms
provided by the Regional Director for Region 11,
shall, after being signed by the Respondent's
representative, be posted by the Respondent
immediately upon receipt thereof, and be maintained
by it for 60 consecutive days thereafter, in
conspicuous places, including all places where
notices to its employees are customarily posted.
Reasonable steps shall be taken by Respondent to
insure that said notices are not altered, defaced, or
covered by any other material.
(c) Notify the aforesaid Regional Director, in
writing, within 10 days from the date of this Order,
what steps the Respondent has taken to comply
herewith.
in the event that this Order is enforced by a decree of a United States
Court of Appeals, there shall be substituted for the words " a Decision and
Order" the words " Pursuant to a Decree of the United States Court of
Appeals Enforcing an Order "
APPENDIX
NOTICE To ALL EMPLOYEES
13
Pursuant to the Decision and Order of the National
Labor Relations Board and in order to effectuate the
policies of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended,
we hereby notify our employees that:
WE WILL NOT refuse to bargain collectively with
Drivers Local Union No. 61, affiliated with the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs,
Warehousemen, and Helpers of America, as the
exclusive collective-bargaining representative of all our
employees in the following unit.
All production and maintenance and plant clerical
employees at our Boone, North Carolina, plant,
excluding all office clerical employees, professional
(the nurse) employees, guards, watchmen, the office
janitor, and supervisors, as defined in the Act.
WE WILL NOT in any like or related manner interfere
with, restrain, or coerce our employees in the exercise
of their rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the National
Labor Relations Act, as amended.
WE WILL bargain collectively with the Union and, if
an understanding is reached, we will sign a contract
with the Union.
BLUE RIDGE SHOE
COMPANY
(Employer)
Dated By
(Representative) (Title)
This notice must remain posted for 60 consecutive days
from the date of posting, and must not be altered,
defaced, or covered by any other material.
If employees have any question concerning this notice
or compliance with its provisions they may communicate
directly with the Board's Regional Office, 1624 Wachovia
Building, 301 North Main Street, Winston-Salem, North
Carolina 27101, Telephone 919-723-2911.