Frolic Footwear, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 15, 1969

180 N.L.R.B. 188 (N.L.R.B. 1969)

188 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Frolic Footwear , Inc. and Boot and Shoe Workers
Union, AFL-CIO, CLC, Petitioner. Case
26-RC-3573
December 15, 1969
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF
ELECTION
BY MEMBERS FANNING, BROWN, AND ZAGORIA
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held before J. O. Dodson, Hearing
Officer of the National Labor Relations Board.
Following the hearing and pursuant to Section
102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules
and Regulations and Statements of Procedure,
Series 8, as amended, and by direction of the
Regional Director for Region 26, the case was
transferred to the National Labor Relations Board
for decision. A brief has been timely filed by the
Employer.
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.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's
rulings made at the hearing and finds that they are
free from prejudicial error. The rulings are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board
finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act, and it will effectuate the
purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The labor organization involved claims to
represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists
concerning the representation of the employees of
the Employer within the meaning of Sections 9(c)(1)
and 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
The Petitioner seeks to represent all production
and maintenance employees at the Employer's
manufacturing plant, Monette, Arkansas, excluding
office clerical employees, guards, and supervisors as
defined in the Act. The Employer maintains that the
representation petition is premature and should be
dismissed or, alternatively, that the direction of
election should be held in abeyance because the
Employer' s present work force does not constitute a
substantial and representative segment of the
ultimate employee complement . If an immediate
election is directed, the Employer agrees that the
unit sought is appropriate.
The Employer, an Arkansas corporation, is
engaged in the manufacture of women's shoes at
three locations in Arkansas: Jonesboro, Walnut
Ridge, and Monette. The Jonesboro and Walnut
Ridge facilities are complete plants, capable of
producing finished shoes. The Monette plant, which
is the only one involved in the instant proceeding,'
was not a complete operation at the time of the
hearing, September 12, 1969. This plant began
operations on June 20, 1969, as a service facility for
the Employer's two other plants by providing them
with partially finished shoes for completion. Thus, it
engaged in only the first three shoe manufacturing
processes: cutting, prefitting, and fitting. These
functions were performed by a total of 69
production and maintenance employees in 33 job
classifications .2
Shortly after the Monette plant was established,
the Employer decided to expand it into a complete,
self-contained operation. Accordingly, plans were
made for the addition of the remaining phases in
shoe manufacture which would involve four new
departments: (1) the Bottoming and Lasting
Department employing 19 employees in 10 job
classifications; (2) the Finishing Department
employing 18 employees in 9 job classifications; (3)
the Packing Department employing 5 employees in
3 job classifications; and, (4) the Shipping
Department employing 5 employees in 4 job
classifications. As of the hearing date, the Employer
expected to have the first of these departments,
Bottoming and Lasting, in operation by the last
week in October 1969. The definiteness of this
expansion schedule is evidenced by the fact that all
machines required for the department's work (with
the exception of three ordered but not yet delivered)
were on the plant premises on the hearing date.
Furthermore, in anticipation that the Bottoming and
Lasting Department will handle more work than is
currently being provided by the three existing
departments, 32 unmanned machines were on hand
in the Cutting, Prefit, and Fitting Departments on
that date also. As employees become proficient in
bottoming and lasting jobs (which the Employer
calculates will take about 8 weeks), 36 new people
will be hired to operate these machines. Moreover,
during this 8-week interval, the remaining new
departments - Finishing, Packing, and Shipping -
will be set up.
Therefore, toward the latter part of December
1969, the Employer will have a complete plant in
operation at Monette. This will involve the addition
of four departments to the present three, and the
employee complement of the three existing
departments will be expanded by 36 additional jobs.
The employee complement of the four new
departments will total 47 employees in 26 job
classifications. In summary, while at the time of the
hearing there were three departments with 69
employees working in 33 job classifications, by the
'Although the Jonesboro and Walnut Ridge plants have a contract with
the Petitioner , no issue of accretion is raised herein
'The Cutting Department employed 4 employees in 4 job classifications,
the Prefit Department employed 22 employees in 10 job classifications,
and, the Fitting Department employed 40 employees in 17 job
classifications In addition , there were two mechanics and one janitor
180 NLRB No. 22
FROLIC FOOTWEAR, INC. 189
last week in October 1969, the Employer will have a
total of four departments with 88 employees
working in 43 job classifications, and by the last
week in December 1969, the completed shoe
manufacturing facility will contain seven
departments, 152 employees, and 59 job
classifications. The record discloses that the only
contingency with respect to this expansion program
is an unforeseen late arrival of certain machinery
which has already been ordered.'
It is clear from the foregoing that by October 31,
1969, a date preceding the date of issuance of this
Decision, the Employer expected to have had at
least 4 of 7 departments operating, composed of 88
employees in 43 job classifications. This amounts to
more than half of the Employer's intended total
operation, 57.8 percent of the 152 employees
anticipated by December 31, 1969, and 72.8 percent
of a total of 59 job classifications also anticipated
by that date.
With respect to job classifications, the Employer
maintains that they are all different and distinctive;
therefore, none of the employees currently working
is either utilizing, or being trained to utilize, the
skills required for the classifications to be added.
Thus, the Employer argues that the composition of
the production and maintenance employee
complement on the hearing date is not
representative, and that it will not be sufficiently
representative until after the end of December 1969.
It appears from the record that the "job
classifications" listed and counted by the Employer
for each of its seven functional departments are
more properly referred to as job descriptions for
they seem to describe distinct operations in the
assembly of shoes' rather than separate and distinct
job classifications in terms of types of skills
possessed by employees.' In addition, only a cursory
study of the Employer's overall classification list
indicates that certain similar and, in some instances,
apparently identical jobs occur and are counted
more than once.' Moreover, this recurrence occurs
interchangeably among current and anticipated
departments.' In any event, even if the Employer's
"job classification" figures are accepted, a
substantial majority (72.8 percent) of the Employer's
anticipated December 31 total was represented in its
employee complement by October 31. Furthermore,
we find that, contrary to the Employer's contention,
the remaining "job classifications" to be added are
'Evidence was offered that the Employer is also contemplating a further
expansion of the Monette plant by the construction of a new building to
house cutting , prefitting , and fitting equipment and thereby resulting in the
employment of an additional 150 employees The anticipated date for this
development is around the end of May 1970 However, the project is
dependent upon a successful bond issue by the city of Monette to finance
not all entirely new and distinctive, and that some of
the job skills which they depict will be utilized by
employees on or before October 31.
In these circumstances, we are satisfied that,
regardless of the size of the employee complement
on the date of the hearing, the present employee
complement is substantial and representative for the
purpose of directing an immediate election.'
Accordingly, we conclude that the petition herein
was not prematurely filed, and the motion to dismiss
the petition is hereby denied.
4. We therefore 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 production and maintenance employees at the
Employer's manufacturing plant, Monette,
Arkansas, excluding office clerical employees,
guards, and supervisors as defined in- the Act.
[Direction of Election' omitted from publication.]
the building , and also upon an increased demand for the Employer's
product Because of the speculative and remote nature of these tentative
plans, the Board has not weighed them in its consideration of the
expanding unit issue raised by the Employer Moreover, in the event that
the petition is not dismissed, the Employer is apparently only seeking to
delay an election until immediately after December 1969
'E.g , the following "job classifications" are listed for the Prefit
Department skive , perforate (W S & R M ), stamp, stitch mark , splitting
machine, cement , combine, hand work , service, check out For the Fitting
Department the list includes Barbour trim, French bind, one-needle stitch,
two-needle stitch , close back seam, edge stitch , space row, French fold, rub
& tape , bar tack, zig-zag, kick press, staple , nip binding , hand work,
service, check out Anticipated "job classifications" for the new Bottoming
and Lasting Department are listed as staplers, side lasters, camborian,
staple fasteners , roughers , shank staplers, bottom cementers , shoe spotters,
sole pressers , last puller
'We note that the Dictionary of Occupational Titles 1965, Definitions of
Titles, Vol I (3d ed ), U S. Department of Labor, pp 654-655, carries less
than 30 titles within the shoe industry
'See, e g , in fn 4, supra , how various "stitching" operations appear in
both the Prefit and Fitting Departments , "service" and "check out" are
also duplicated
'Fn 4, supra . shows that the "staple" operation is listed in the existing
Fitting Department and in the Bottoming and Lasting Department to be
added by October 31, 1969
'See American Type Founders Co, Inc . 173 NLRB No 108, Endicott
Johnson De Puerto Rico , Inc, 172 NLRB No 194 , Revere Copper and
Brass , Incorporated , 172 NLRB No 117
'In order to assure that all eligible voters may have the opportunity to
be informed of the issues in the exercise of their statutory right to vote, all
parties to the election should have access to a list of voters and their
addresses which may be used to communicate with them Excelsior
Underwear Inc, 156 NLRB 1236, N L R B v Wyman-Gordon, 394 U S
759. Accordingly , it is hereby directed that an election eligibility list,
containing the names and addresses of all eligible voters, must be filed by
the Employer with the Regional Director for Region 26, within 7 days of
the date of this Decision and Direction of Election . The Regional Director
shall make the list available to all parties to the election No extension of
time to file this list shall be granted by the Regional Director except in
extraordinary circumstances Failure to comply with this requirement shall
be grounds for setting aside the election whenever proper objections are
filed