Boyd-Welsh, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 22, 1947

73 N.L.R.B. 1239 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of BOYD-WELSH, INC., EMPLOYER and BOOT AND SHOE
WORKERS UNION, AFL, PETITIONER
In the Matter of B OYD-WELSH, INC., EMPLOYER and UNITED SHOE
WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER
Case Nos. 14-R-1653 and 14-R-1658, respectively. Decided
May 22, 1947
Mr. Christian B. Peper, of St. Louis, Mo., and Mr. Edward Groteke,
of Richmond Heights, Mo., for the Employer.
Messrs. Ben Berk and Ed Ii oby, both of St. Louis, Mo., for the AFL.
Messrs. Dave Wilson, Leo T. Cassidy, and Harry W. Wichirizan, all of
St. Louis, Mo., for the CIO.
Mr. Martin Sacks, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
AND
ORDER
Upon separate petitions duly filed, a consolidated hearing in these
cases was held at St. Louis, Missouri, on January 24, 1947, before
Charles K. Hackler, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings
made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in these cases, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Boyd-Welsh, Inc., is a Missouri corporation engaged in the manu-
facture of shoes at its St. Louis, Missouri, plant. During the year
1946, the Employer purchased, for use at this plant, raw materials
valued in excess of $500,000, of which over 75 percent represented
shipments from points outside the State of Missouri. During the same
period, the Employer sold finished products valued in excess of $1,000,-
000, of which over 75 percent represented shipments to points outside
the State.
73 N. L. R. B., No. 220. 1239
1240 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Boot and Shoe Workers Union, herein called the AFL, is a labor
organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, claim-
ing to represent employees of the Employer.
United Shoe Workers of America , herein called the CIO , is a labor
organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On January 3, 1947, the AFL, by letter, requested recognition of
the Employer as the exclusive representative of employees in the Fit-
ting Department. On January 8, 1947, the CIO, by letter, requested
recognition as the exclusive representative of all the Employer's pro-
duction and maintenance employees. Shortly thereafter, the Em-
ployer, by telephone, refused such recognition to both unions pending
the Board's determination of the issues.
We find that, in Case No. 14-R-1653, a question affecting commerce
has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Em-
ployer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7)
of the Act.
Inasmuch as the bargaining unit sought to be established by the Pe-
titioner in Case No. 14-R-1658 is hereinafter found inappropriate, Ave
find as to that proceeding that no question has arisen concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The AFL petitions for a unit consisting of all Fitting Department
employees, excluding machinists, clerical and supervisory employees.
The CIO petitions for a unit of all production and maintenance em-
ployees of the Employer, excluding office clerical and supervisory per-
sonnel. The Employer takes no position, other than that maintenance
employees be excluded from any unit which is found to be appropriate.
The Employer manufactures shoes in a three-story building. It di-
vides its plant into eight production departments, consisting of the
Cutting, Pre-Fitting and Fitting Departments on the third floor,
the Sole Leather, Lasting, Bottoming, and Finishing Departments
on the second floor, and the Packing Department on the first floor;
it also has a separate Maintenance Department. The process of fabri-
cating the finished shoe begins on the third floor, where the leather
BOYD-WELSH, INC. 1241
is first cut to specifications in the Cutting Department , is then pre-
pared for stitching in the Pre-Fitting Department, and is stitched in
the Fitting Department. Thereafter, the work moves to the second
floor, where the Lastmg Department fits the upper part of the shoe
to the last. After the Sole Leather Department has processed the
outsole, the Bottoming Department attaches the insole and the uppers
to the outsole . The Finishing Department then performs the next
operation, that of finishing the bottom of the shoe. Upon completion
of the finishing operation, the shoe then moves to the Packing De-
partment on the first floor, where it is "treed" and prepared for ship-
ment. The Maintenance Department consists of the following un-
skilled employees : three watchmen , three porters , an unspecified num-
ber of firemen , a matron and a part-time carpenter.
A salaried non-working foreman is in charge of each department,
and is responsible for the hiring of personnel . Each department re-
quires a separate and distinct skill which takes from 5 months to 3
years to acquire . Differences in the skill required by each department
account for the different wage schedules existing in the respective
departments.
With particular reference to the employees in the Fitting Depart-
ment sought by the AFL, the record discloses that the approximately
112 employees therein are a distinct and homogeneous group engaged
in the common task of stitching the uppers and linings together. The
skill required of the Fitting Department employees takes approxi-
mately 2 years of training to acquire, and because this skill is separate
and distinct from that possessed by employees of the other depart-
ments, there is virtually no interchange between the employees of the
Fitting Department and the employees of the other departments.
The employees of the Fitting Department are supervised by a fore-
man, who is, like the other foremen, responsible for the hiring of new
employees for his department . Moreover , the seniority of the em-
ployees of the Fitting Department, like that of all employees in the
plant, is established on a departmental basis.
The acquisition of bargaining rights at this plant by the AFL and
the CIO has been by the successive organization of separate depart-
ments. Thus, the AFL has been the recognized bargaining repre-
sentative for employees of the Cutting and Pre-Fitting Departments
since 1919 and 1945 respectively, and the CIO has been acting as the
bargaining representative for employees of the Sole Leather, Bottom-
ing, Lasting, and Finishing Departments since 1937, and all employees
in the Packing Department since 1945. During the periods detailed
above, and continuing up to the time of the filing of the instant peti-
tion, the two labor organizations have had both written and oral
1242 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
collective bargaining agreements with the Employer covering the
employees in their respective departments. All parties agree that
the AFL is the exclusive bargaining representative of the employees
in the two departments which it now represents, and that the CIO
is the exclusive bargaining representative of the employees in the five
departments which it now represents. It is also significant that the
pattern of departmental organization at this plant has its counterpart
in seven other shoe plants in St. Louis, the area involved herein.
In connection with the above bargaining history, it appears that the
CIO petitioned the Board in flatter of Boyd-Welsh, Inc., 59 N. L. R. B.
1442, for a plant-wide unit, and that the AFL intervened in the interest
of the employees in the Cutting Department which it then represented.
And although the Board directed elections among employees in two
voting groups, i. e., among the employees in the Cutting Department,
and among all other employees in the plant, excluding primarily
clerical and certain maintenance employees, in order to determine the
unit or units appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining,
no elections were ever held, inasmuch as the CIO thereafter requested -
and was granted leave by the Board to withdraw its petition. We
note that the record in the previous case did not reveal the clearly
existing pattern of bargaining on a departmental basis in similar
plants in the area involved herein, and that the AFL did not oppose,
as it now does, an election in a plant-wide group. In addition, the
record in the instant case reveals that, although the CIO again seeks
a plant-wide unit, it admittedly has no representation, and has not
organized, among the employees in the Cutting, Pre-Cutting, and
Fitting Departments which contain approximately 55 percent of the
total employee complement. Moreover, it is not clear from the record
whether the CIO has any representation in the Maintenance Depart-
ment, as such.
Accordingly, in view of all the facts, including the history of
organization aid representation in the Employer's plant on a depart-
mental basis, and the co-existence of the same bargaining pattern at
similar plants in the area, and in the absence of sufficient reason for
modifying or abandoning the existing pattern at this plant, we are
of the opinion that, at the present time, the only appropriate unit is
the departmental unit.' We find, therefore, that the employees in the
Employer's Fitting Department constitute an appropriate unit for
the purposes of collective bargaining,2 and we shall dismiss the peti-
tion of the CIO.
' See Matter of The W. S Tyler Company, 73 N. L. R B. 239.
2 No useful purpose would be served by directing an election in the departments now
represented by the AFL in which the CIO admittedly has no representation , or in the
departments presently represented by the CIO where the AFL admittedly has no repre•
sentation.
BOYD-WELSH, INC. 1243
There remains for consideration the question of inclusion in or
exclusion - from the unit of the Fitting Department's maintenance
machinist. The AFL and the Employer would exclude him, whereas
the CIO seeks his inclusion. This machinist is regularly assigned to'
this department, and spends almost all his time repairing the depart-
ment's machines. He works in close proximity to the employees in
this department, and is at all times under .the supervision of the Fitting
Department's foreman. We shall include him in the unit. -
We find that all employees in the Fitting Department at the Em-
ployer's St. Louis, Missouri, plant, including the machinist, but ex-
cluding clerical employees, floorgirls,3 the foreman, and supervisory
employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively rec-
ommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 4
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Boyd-Welsh, Inc., of St. Louis,
Missouri, 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 supervision of the Regional Direc-
tor for the Fourteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the
National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections 203.55 and
203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
Series 4, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Sec-
tion IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period imme-
cliately 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 temporarily laid off, and including employees 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 dis-
charged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the
date of the election, to determine whether they desire to be represented
by Boot and Shoe Workers Union, AFL, or by United Shoe Workers
of America, CIO, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by
neither.
3 The parties agree and we find that the three floorguls in the department , i e , Wells,
Becker, and Ravenort , are supervisory employees and should be excluded from the unit.
4 Any participant in the election herein may , upon its prompt request to, and approval
thereof by, the Regional Director , have its name removed from the ballot.
1244 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition for certification of representa-
tives of employees of Boyd-Welsh, Inc., St. Louis, Missouri, filed by
United Shoe Workers of America, CIO, in Case No. 14-R-1658, be,
and it hereby is, dismissed.