Marshall Field & Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 16, 1951

97 N.L.R.B. 5 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

MARSHALL FIELD & COMPANY e5
MARSHALL FIELD & COMPANY and LOCAL 242, AFL, MARSHALL FIELD
EMPLOYEES UNION, BUILDING SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL
UNION, PETITIONER . Case A o. 13-RC-152,0. November 16, 1951
Decision and Order
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Joseph A. Butler,
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 [Members Houston, Reynolds, and Styles].
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 employees,
of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-.
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the following
reasons:
The Employer operates a large department store in Chicago, Illi-.
nois, and three surburban stores in the Chicago area. The Petitioner-
seeks to represent a departmental unit comprised of the employees,
in six sections of the Employer's workrooms division. The Peti-.
tioner is the bargaining representative of the warehousing and stock,
handling, housekeeping-elevator, engineering, bakery, candy shop, and
restaurant employees in the main Chicago stores." The Employer
contends that the unit sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate. The.
Intervenor, Local 1515 MF, Retail Clerks International Association,
AFL, claims to represent certain of the employees within the proposed
unit, and intervened on the basis of a showing of sufficient interest.
The Petitioner's proposed unit is limited to six workroom sections
of the Employer's main Chicago store : The leather workroom, the
stationery engraving workroom, the watch and clock repair work-.
room, the silver engraving workroom, the metal workroom, and the.
jewelry repair workroom. Other workrooms of the Employer are
located in two other buildings in Chicago, and in one building in
Evanston, Illinois. The six sections sought by the Petitioner are
supervised by a group section manager, who reports to the manager,
1 See Marshall FtelC & Company , 36 NLRB 748, 37 NLRB 36, 38 NLRB 1146, 57 NLRB,
1244, 74 NLRB 411, 90 NLRB 1
97 NLRB No. 7.
986209-52-vol 97-2
6 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of the workrooms division. With but one exception, each of the
jivorkrooms sought is separately supervised by a foreman.
The leather workroom stamps leather merchandise for customers,
and makes and repairs saddles and harnesses. In this section are two
saddle and harness makers, both of whom are conceded by the Em
ployer to be skilled employees. A leather stamper also works in this
section, stamping initials on leather merchandise. The stationery
engraving workroom engraves stationery, wedding invitations, visit-
ing cards, letterheads, and other similar papers. The section employs
power-press operators, a stationery hand illuminator, a stationery
packer, a pantograph operator, and stationery engravers. The Em-
ployer concedes that the stationery engravers, the power-press opera-
tor, and the stationery hand illuminator are skilled employees. The
watch and clock repair workroom employs a foreman, two master
watchmakers, clockmakers, a watch repair and material man, a pricer,
and a day houseman. The watchmakers and the clockmakers are
skilled.2 The silver engraving workroom engraves flat and hollow
silverware, and polishes and plates jewelry and silverware. This
section employs a foreman, silver engravers, jewelry and silver
polishers and platers, and a pricer. Only the engravers are conceded
by the Employer to be skilled employees. In the metal workroom the
Employer manufactures metal items, mounts and repairs lamps, and
repairs, replates, and polishes other metal items. Employed in this
section are metal buffers, a lamp mounter, a silversmith repairman,
and a pricer.3 In the jewelry workroom the Employer repairs, re-
mounts, and restrings jewelry and pearls or beads. This section also
repairs china and values jewelry brought to the Employer for sale.
Employed in this workroom are a foreman, bead stringers, china re-
pairmen, jewelry repairmen, a pricer, and a checker. The work of
the china repairmen and of the jewelry repairmen is skilled.
The record indicates that there is no job progression in the Em-
ployer's organization from other jobs to the six workrooms, and
there is no job progression from one workroom to another. All the
workrooms, with the exception of the stationery engraving work-
room, are located on the same floor, and the employees work the same
hours, which differ from those of the employees in the other selling
and nonselling sections of the retail store.
Thus, the unit sought by the Petitioner consists of six heterogeneous
groups of employees. The work, performed by each group is in-
, The work done in the watch and clock repair workroom is substantially similar to that
,,one at the watch repair desk and the jewelry repair desk in another section of the store
not sought by the Petitioner herein. That section employs watch estimators , a watch.
maker , and an outside clock serviceman.
At the time of the hearing , the position of foreman in this section was vacant
MARSHALL FIELD & COMPANY 7
dependent and unrelated to that performed by the other groups sought,
and employees performing similar work in the Chicago store and
elsewhere in the Employer's organization are not included in the
proposed unit. As the Petitioner's proposed departmental unit is
not composed of a homogeneous group of employees performing dis-
tinctive functions, and as these employees do not constitute a separate
appropriate unit on any other basis, we find that the unit sought is
inappropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.4 We shall
therefore dismiss the petition.'
Order
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition in this matter be, and it
hereby is, dismissed.
4 There is no bargaining history in the proposed unit.
5 Cf. Marshall Ftield and Company, 92 NLRB 81.
MARSHALL FIELD & COMPANY and WAREHOUSE AND MAIL ORDER EM-
PLOYEES UNION, LOCAL #743, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF
TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF
AMERICA, A. F. OF L., PETITIONER. Case No. 13-RC-1604. No-
vember 16, 1951
Decision and Order
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Joseph A. Butler, 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 [Members Houston, Reynolds, and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Boards 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. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the following
reasons:
The Employer operates a large department store in Chicago, Illi-
nois, and three surburban stores in the Chicago area. To service
97 NLRB.No. 8.