Cannon Shoe Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 22, 1941

37 N.L.R.B. 825 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of CANNON SHOE COMPANY and CUTTING Room LOCAL
#186, UNITED SHOE WORKERS OF AMERICA, AFFILIATED WITH C. I. O.
Case No. R-3297.-Decided December 22, 1941
Jurisdiction : shoe manufacturing industry.
Practice and Procedure : petition dismissed where no appropriate unit within
scope of petition; unit requested by afli]iated local, composed of certain em-
ployees in the cutting department, held, inappropriate where all departments
of the factory are in one room ; employees in the different departments perform
similar work, and are occasionally interchanged ; and where the parent union
is in the process of organizing production employees in the several depart-
ments of the factory on an industrial basis.
Mr. John H. Hessey, of Baltimore, Md., for the Company.
Mr. Isaac Shada and Mr. Samuel Miller, of Hanover, Pa., for Local
#186.
Mrs. Augusta Spaulding, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On September 5, 1941, Cutting Room Local #186, United Shoe
Workers of America, affiliated with C. I. 0., herein called Local #186,
filed with the Regional Director for the Fourth Region (Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania) a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce
had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Cannon Shoe
Company, McSherrystown, Pennsylvania, herein called,the Company,
and requesting an investigation and certification of representatives
pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49
Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On November 7, 1941, the National
Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to
Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, or-
dered an investigation and authorized the Regional, Director to
conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
37 N. L. It. B., No 136
825
826 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
On November 8, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and
Local #186. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on November 17,
1941, at Hanover, Pennsylvania, before Jack Davis, the Trial Exam-
iner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Company
was represented by counsel, Local #186 by its representatives, and
both participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to
examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bear-
ing on the issues was afforded both parties., During the course of the
hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings on motions and on
objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed
the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors
were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire, record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Cannon Shoe Company is engaged in the manufacture, sale, and
distribution of shoes. Its factory'located at McSherrystown, Pern'syl-
vanla, is the only plant involved in this proceeding. For the year
ending January 31, 1941, the Company brought to the factory from
points outside Pennsylvania approximately 88 per cent of all raw
materials used in the manufacture of products finished at the factory.
During the same period the Company made approximately 960,000
pairs of shoes, practically all of which were shipped from the factory
to points outside Pennsylvania. The Company admits that it is
engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. -
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Cutting Room Local #186, United Shoe Workers of America, is a
labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organiza-
tions, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
Local #186 contends that the cutters, block boys, those who plane
blocks for cutters, stock clerks, and scrap boys 1 in the cutting depart-
ment constitute an appropriate unit. The Company contends that
the bargaining unit should include the production employees in the
several departments of its factory.
I On the pay roll of October 23, 19 41, introduced in evidence at the hearing , there is no
employee listed as a scrap boy.
CANNON SHOE COMPANY 827
All departments of the factory are on one floor and in one large
room. Material received in the sorting cage passes directly to cutters
in the cutting department- who perform by hand or _by machine the
first operation of rough cutting on leather and cloth used in the manu-
facturing of shoes. These rough-cut pieces pass to the skivers, per-
forators , edge burners , and tip finishers , who complete the preliminary
cutting operations . In the department the cut pieces are marked and
numbered . They then pass out of the cutting department into the
fitting department, whence they pass through the several assembling,
making, and finishing departments to final inspection and shipping.
At the time of the hearing the cutting department included in addi-
tion to 29 cutters, 27 other employees, of whom 13 operate skiving and
perforating machines , 3 markiiig , 1 edge burning , 2 stamping , and 1 tip
finishing . Three block boys, 2 stock -room employees , a floor girl, and
a floor boy complete the number of employees in the department. All
such employees are under the supervision of the cutting -department
foreman, who hires and discharges all department employees.
Cutters are not confined to the cutting department . There are
seven cutters in the sole and heel department . Machines which they
operate are not dissimilar from machines used in the cutting depart-
ment although there is a difference in the skill required for sole and
upper cutting . There is an occasional exchange of cutters between
the two departments . On at least one occasion when a machine'in
the cutting department broke down, the,cutter was transferred to work
on a similar machine in the sole and heel department . Five other
cutters , called rough rounders, trim off surplus stock in the making
department . Skivers work also in the cutting, sole , and welt depart
ments. I
United Shoe Workers of America, herein called the United, is in'the
process of organizing the-production employees in the several depart-
ments of the factory. In late August or early September 1941, the
United chartered Local # 186, the petitioner in this proceeding. Qual-
ifications for membership in Local .$ 186 are not set forth with partic-
ularity in the record. Cutters and certain other employees in the cut-
ting department are eligible , and skivers , perforators , and other em-
ployees who work side by side with them are deemed ineligible for
membership in Local #186. The United expects to set up another
local for stripers , treers, and other employees not specifically named,
and in a few weeks request bargaining rights for such employees.
The United , however, solicited membership in the cutting department
and in other departments of the factory on an industrial basis, and
considers that an industrial unit of all production employees in the
factory is ultimately appropriate for bargaining. The United has
organized the shoe factories of the Company 's competitors on an
828 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
industrial basis and has plant-wide contracts covering all production
employees in such plants. For these reasons and upon the entire
record, we find that the unit proposed by the petitioning union is
not, in the instant case, appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining.2
IV. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Since the bargaining unit sought to be established by the petition-
ing union is not appropriate, as stated in Section III above, we find
that no question has arisen concerning the representation of employees
of the Company in an appropriate unit at this time.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSION OF LAW
No question concerning representation of employees of Cannon
Shoe Company, McSherrystown, Pennsylvania, has arisen in a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and conclusion of
law, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the
petition for investigation and certification of representatives of em-
ployees of Cannon Shoe Company, McSherrystown, Pennsylvania,
filed by Cutting Room Local #186, United Shoe Workers of America,
affiliated with C. I. 0., be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Order.
2 Cf. Matter of Justin McCarthy , Inc -and-- International -Ladies' - Garment Workers'
.Union, Local No. 387, 36 N. L R. B. 800; Matter of R J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
and Local Union No. 217, Tobacco Workers International Union, 83 N . L. R. B., No. 115.