Crawford Clothes, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 2, 1951

93 N.L.R.B. 1121 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

CRAWFORD CLOTHES. INC.
III. RECOMi\IENDATIONS
1121
The hearing officer having found that the Respondent interfered with, coerced,
and restrained its employees in their free choice in the election, therefore recom-
mends that the objections be sustained and that the election be set aside.
Within 10 days after the receipt of this Report any party may file with the
Board in Washington, D. C. an original and six copies of exceptions thereto.
Immediately upon the filing of any such exceptions, the party or parties filing
same shall serve a copy thereof upon each of the other parties and shall file a.
copy thereof with the Regional Director.
CRAWFORD CLOTHES, INC. and CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS,.
PETITIONER. Case No. 2-RC-2772. April 2, 1951
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Lloyd S. Greenidge, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Murdock].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.'
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen-
tation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks a single unit of office and clerical employees
employed in the Employer's principal and credit offices, excluding
guards and supervisors as defined in the Act. The Intervenor opposes
the unit requested by the Petitioner and contends that the employees.
of the credit office constitute a separate and appropriate unit, and that
separate units should be established for the credit office and the prin-
cipal office. The Employer agrees with the Petitioner that a single
unit of all office and clerical employees in both offices is appropriate..
The Employer, a New York corporation, is engaged in the manu
facture of men 's clothing, and in the operation of a chain of retail
3 Distributive , Processing & Office Workers Union of America , District 65, herein called
the Intervenor , was permitted to intervene upon the basis of an existing contractual
interest.
93 NLRB No. 191.
943732-51--72
1122 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
clothing stores in New York and other States.' It maintains its plant
and principal office in New York City, approximately 11/2 miles from
its credit office in that city.
The record indicates that the Employer and the Intervenor have
bargained collectively with respect to all office and clerical employees
since 1938. Although initially separate agreements were negotiated
for the credit office employees and the employees in the principal office,3
it appears that the practice of entering into separate agreements was
abandoned at the time of the consolidation of the nominally separate
enterprises in 1946, and since then credit office and principal office
employees have been covered by single agreements. Specific refer-
ences in the agreements to such coverage does not, however, clearly
appear until the 1949 and 1950 agreements.
The Employer employs approximately 110 office and clerical em-
ployees, of whom 22, including typists, file clerks, and telephone oper-
ators, are employed in the credit office, the remaining number being
employed at the main office. The record discloses that the credit office
was established apart from the main office in order to make its facilities
more readily accessible to the retail stores which it served. The em-
ployees of the credit office maintain a complete file of retail store
accounts. They clear, check, and authorize credits. They also main-
tain a going account of payments and outstanding balances, and, where
necessary, take appropriate measures to collect unpaid balances. In
addition, they furnish credit information to other retail establish-
ments operating under the same basic credit policies.
The main office of the Employer contains the merchandising, tabu-
lating, accounting, and bookkeeping departments. Like the work of
the credit office, the work of the main office employees is closely asso-
ciated with the operation of the retail stores. Thus, the tabulating
department prepares reports on the activities of the retail stores and
is a principal source of statistical information on the operation of the
Employer's retail business. The accounting department employees
maintain records of physical inventories at the stores and of all cash
transactions, in the course of which they must periodically reconcile
its accounts with those maintained at the credit office.
Although the credit office and main office are separately supervised,-'
all supervisors are responsible to the Employer's general manager.
Moreover, the record shows that for a period of time common super-
vision existed for all accounting and tabulating employees located
2 Before 1946 the retail and manufacturing activities of the Employer were carried
on by nominally separate corporations . In 1946 the two corporations were consolidated
under the present corporate title.
3 Apparently a third agreement was entered into for the factory payroll department.
' The individual in charge of the credit office also serves as the Employer 's personnel
manager and as such has the sole responsibility for employing personnel not only for
the credit office but also for the main office and retail stores.
MANSON NEWS AGENCY, INC . 1123
both at the credit and main offices. While it is true that there is
little evidence of interchange between the two offices, it is also true
that the record presents little evidence of interchange generally among
the various clerical departments. The record also discloses that terms
and conditions of employment are the same for all office and clerical
employees, and that seniority, originally on a• departmental or cate-
gory basis, has recently been changed to apply on an office-wide basis
wherever practicable.
In view of the foregoing, and particularly in view of the uninter-
rupted course of collective bargaining on a single-unit basis in recent
years,5 we are of the opinion that only a single unit of all clerical
employees is appropriate.'
Accordingly, we find that the following employees of the Employer
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act: all office and clerical
employees employed at the Employer's credit and principal offices in
New York City, excluding guards and supervisors as defined in the
Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
5 See Nam m's Inc, 81 NLRB 1019 ; Poultry Producers of Central California, 78 NLRB
1067; The Wichita Transportation Company, 90 NLRB No. 70.
6 See Chrysler Corpo, ation, 76 NLRB 55 , Aluminum Company of America, 61 NLRB 1066,
1070. See also, Meter