Crown Shoe Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 15, 1948

79 N.L.R.B. 721 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of CROWN SHOE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, EMPLOYER
and UNITED SHOE WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. 1. 0., PETITIONER
Case No. 141-RV-)4O.-Decided September 10,4948.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Palmyra,
Missouri, on April 28, 1948, before Glenn L. Moller, hearing officer.
On July 6, 1948, the Board ordered the record reopened for the pur-
pose of taking further evidence concerning the business of the Em-
ployer. Pursuant to such order, a further hearing was held at St.
Louis, Missouri, on July 19, 1948, before V. Lee McMahon, hearing
officer. The hearing officers' rulings made at the hearings are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the 13Iovisions. of, Section 3 (b), of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members. *
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Crown Shoe- Manufacturing Company, a Missouri corporation,
herein called the Employer, operates two plants, one in Palmyra and
the other in St. Louis, both in Missouri, where it manufactures and
sells shoes. This proceeding involves only the employees in its
Palmyra plant.
The Employer is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tober-Saifer Shoe
Co., of St. Louis, Missouri, which acts as the principal distributor and
sales outlet for the Employer and for two other similarly owned riianu-
facturing companies. The same persons act as officers and directors
* Chairman , Herzog and, Members Murdock and Gray.
i9 N L. R. B., No. 97
721
722 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
for both the Employer and Tober-Saifer. During the 12-month pe-
riod ending June 30, 1948, the Employer purchased raw materials
valued' in excess of $500,000, of which approximately 33 percent was-
received directly from sources outside the State of Missouri. Of the
remainder, the greatest part was purchased from another Tober-Saifer
subsidiary company, which in turn bought them largely outside the
State. During the same period, the Employer sold more than 99,
percent of its finished products, valued in excess of $621,000, to whole-
salers within the State of Missouri. However, approximately 83 per-
cent of sales was to Tober-Saifer, which commingled these shoes with-
its general line of merchandise. Seventy percent of Tober-Saifer's
total sales was made to out-of-State customers.
Contrary to the Employer's contention, we find that it is engaged-
in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.,
II. THE LABOR ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Shoe Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization claiming to represent
employees of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation
of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1)
and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
We find, in accordance with an agreement of the parties , that all,
production and maintenance employees at the Employer 's Palmyra,
Missouri , plant, including the janitor; but excluding office and clerical
employees , guards, professional employees , foremen, and all other
supervisors as defined in the Act, 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
The Employer urges that any election herein be deferred pending an
expected expansion in its working force. Its general manager stated
i Matter of Solvay Process Co , 74 N. L. R B. 1146.
Upon the basis of the foregoing finding , the Employer ' s motion to dismiss the petition
is denied
We have included the janitor, who sweeps the factory , because he clearly falls within
the category of a maintenance employee.
CROWN SHOE MANUFACTURING COMPANY 723,
that, although the March 1948 peak of 103 employees had fallen off"
due to a decrease in business, it was planned eventually to hire about
300 employees in the Palmyra plant. He also said that the plans de-
pended upon future development and growth of the Employer's busi-
ness and a favorable turn in the presently depressed state of the shoe
industry generally, factors concerning which he could make no pre-
diction. As the planned increase in the Employer's working forces.
is purely speculative, we see no valid reason for deferring the election.3
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days
from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision
of the Regional Director for the Fourteenth Region, and subject to
Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules.
and Regulations-Series 5, among the employees in the unit found
appropriate in paragraph numbered IV, above, who were employed
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this
Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during
said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily
laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been
,discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to,
the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are-
not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they desire.
to be represented, for the purposes of collective bargaining, by United_
Shoe Workers of America, C. I. O.
Matter of United States Gypsum Company, 70 N. L. R B. 1345.