Marshall Field & Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 1, 1942

43 N.L.R.B. 874 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter Of MARSHALL FIELD & COMPANY and DEPARTMENT
STORE EMPLOYEES UNION, LOCAL 291, AFFILIATED WITH THE UNITED
RETAIL, WHOLESALE & DEPARTMENT STORE EMPLOYEES OF AMERICA,
C. I. O.
Case No. C-0249.-Decided September 1, 1942
Jurisdiction : department store industry.
Unfair Labor Practices
Collective Bargainnig: parties stipulated that Respondent refused to ' bargain
with union which had requested it to bargain, because of Respondent's, claim
that unit previously found appropriate by the Board was inappropriate and
that union did not represent a majority in an appropriate unit-Board found
unit appropriate and that the union still represented a majority of Respond-
ent's employees in the absence of evidence to rebut the presumption arising
from the certification, and accordingly found a refusal to bargain.
Remedial Orders : respondent ordered to bargain collectively.
Mr. I. S. Dorfman and Mr. Lester Asher, for the Board.
Pope & Ballard, by Mr. E. S. Ballard and Mr. Ralph E. Bowers, of
Chicago, Ill., for the respondent.
Mr. Francis Heisler and Mr. Erwin Kondrat, of Chicago, Ill., for
the Union.
Mr. Mozart G. Ratner, of counsel, to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon charges and amended charges duly filed by Department Store
Employees Union, Local 291, affiliated with the United Retail, Whole-,
sale and Department Store Employees of America, C. I. 0., herein
called the Union, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called
the Board, by the Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region (Chi-
cago, Illinois), issued its complaint, dated April 13, 1942, against
Marshall Field & Company, Chicago, Illinois, herein called the re-
spondent, alleging that the respondent had engaged in and was
engaging in unfair labor practices affecting commerce within the
meaning of Section 8 (1) and (5) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of
43 N. L. R. B., No. 147.
874
MARSHALL FIELD & COMPANY 875;
the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449 , herein called the
Act. Copies of the complaint accompanied by notice of hearing were
duly served upon the respondent and the Union.
Concerning the unfair labor practices , the complaint alleged in
substance that on or about March 31, 1942 , and. thereafter , the, re-
spondent , at its State Street store , Chicago, Illinois , refused to bar-
gain collectively with the Union as the exclusive representative of
its, employees within an appropriate bargaining unit, although the
Union represented a majority of such employees ; and that by such
refusal the respondent interfered with, restrained , and coerced its
employee's in the , exercise of their rights guaranteed in Section 7 of
the Act. On April 27, 1942, the respondent filed an answer , admit-
ting certain allegations of the complaint , but denying the commission
of'the alleged unfair labor practices and interposing certain defenses,
hereinafter set forth . On May 12, 1942, the respondent , the Union
and the Regional Attorney for the Thirteenth Region ' entered into
a stipulation , waiving hearing and the necessity for an Interme-
diate Report, Proposed Findings of Fact, and other proceedings
before 'and of the Board, and agreeing that the Board may make
Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law and enter its Decision and
Order upon the facts agreed to in the stipulation.
On June 24 , 1942, an organization denominating itself as Mar-
shall Field Employees ' Industrial Union, Local 1000, herein called
Local 1000 , filed a • motion asking leave to intervene in this proceed-
ing, and to be substituted for the Union . On July 2, 1942 , the Union
filed its answer to the motion . On July 5, 1942 , Local 1000 filed a
reply to the answer. On July 30 ,, 1942, Local 1000 filed an amend-
ment to its original motion to intervene. The Board has considered
the motion filed by Local 1000 and, for the reasons indicated below,,
the motion is hereby denied. -
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE RESPONDENT
Marshall Field & Company , an Illinois corporation with its prin-
cipal office and place of business in Chicago , Illinois , conducts a
retail department store business for the purchase , sale, and distribu-
tion of a general line of merchandise, including food products,
household furnishings and equipment , hardware , electrical supplies,
sporting goods, cosmetics , dry goods, books, stationery, luggage, wear-,
ing apparel , and other commodities and merchandise. -
0
876 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS` BOARD
The respondent owns and operates five department-stores located in
Chicago, Evanston, Oak Park, and Lake Forest, Illinois, and in
Seattle, Washington. It also owns and operates a woolen mill, a. rug
mill, a blanket mill, a sheeting mill, and a bedspread mill, all located
in North Carolina, and in addition thereto three other textile mills
located in North Carolina and two located in Virginia.
The State Street store of the respondent, located in Chicago, Illi-
nois, is the sole division of the respondent's enterprises with which
this proceeding is concerned.
In 1941, purchases by the respondent of articles for use, and resale
at its Chicago store exceeded $30,000,000,- approximately 80 percent
of which 'was shipped 'to it from points outside the State of Illinois.
During the same year, the respondent's sales exceeded $40,000,000,
of which amount approximately 12 percent represented sales of mer-
chandise transported to customers located in States other than the
State of Illinois.'
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Department Store Employees Union, Local 291, affiliated with the
United Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Employees of
America, and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor
organization, admitting to membership employees of the respondent.
I
III. THE UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES
The refusal to bargain
1. The appropriate unit and representation by'the Union of a majority
therei n
Pursuant to the Board's Decision and Direction of Elections, dated
November 7, 1941,2 separate elections by secret ballot were conducted
under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the
Thirteenth Region, Chicago, Illinois, among various groups of the
Company's employees; the result of these elections to determine, in
part, the appropriate unit, or units, for the purposes of collective bar-
' See also Matter of Marshall Field & Company and Department Store Employees Union,
Local 291 of United Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Employees of America, C I. 0 ,
34 N L It, B 1; ' Matter of Marshall Field it Company and Local 291, United Retail,
Wholesale and Department ' Store Employees of America (C I. 0 ), 35 N. L. R. B. 1200;
Matter of Marshall Field it Company and Department Store, Loft and Factory Building
Service Employees ' Council of 'the Building Service Employees ' International Union (A. F.
ofL),36N. L R. B. 748.
2 Hatter of Marshall Field it Company and Department Store, Loft and Factory Building
Sermce Employees ' Council of the Building Set vice Employees ' International Union (A. F.
,of L.), 36 N . L R. B. 748, as amended by 37 N. L R. B 35, and 37 N . L. R B.36.
C
MARSHALL FIELD & COMPANY 877
gaining. After the elections, the Board issued its Supplemental
Decision and Certification of Representatives,' dated February 12,
1942, finding, inter alia, that all employees in the elevator division, the
housekeeping division, and the engineering division employed by the
respondent at its State Street store, excluding supervisory and clerical
employees, the staffman, firemen and oilers, the boiler-room main-
tenance man, engineers and refrigerating engineers, the chief engineer,
steamfitters and welder steamfitters, plumbers, the master plumber,
and' machinists, constituted a uiiit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining and certifying the Union as the exclusive repre-
sentative of all such employees for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing with respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other
conditions of employment.
The respondent contends that the Board is without authority to
base its determination of the propriety of a unit, even in part, upon
the desires of the employees as expressed in a secret ballot conducted
by the Board. The respondent further contends that the unit found
appropriate by the Board in its Supplemental Decision and Certifica-
tion of Representatives, dated February 12, 1942, is inappropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining. We considered these conten-
tions in our Decision and Direction of Elections, dated November 7,
1941, and in our Supplemental Decision and Certification of Repre-,
sentatives, dated February 12, 1942; and found them to be without
merit. No further evidence to support the respondent's contentions
was introduced in the present proceeding. Similarly, no evidence was
introduced in the present proceeding to rebut the presumption arising
from the certification that the Union is still the representative of the
majority of the employees of the respondent in the appropriate unit.
We now find, in accordance with our previous determination, that
all employees in the elevator division, the housekeeping division, and
the engineering division employed. by the respondent at its State
Street store, excluding supervisory and clerical employees, the staff-
man, firemen and oilers, the boiler-room maintenance man, engineers
and refrigerating engineers, the chief engineer, steamfitters and welder
steamfitters, plumbers, the master plumber, and machinists, constitute
and at all times material herein constituted, a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining. We further find that on and at all
times after February 12, 1942, the Union was the duly designated
bargaining representative of a majority-of the employees in the afore-
said appropriate unit, and that, pursuant to the provisions of Section
9 (a) of the Act, the Union was on February 12, 1942, and at all times
thereafter has been and is now the exclusive representative of all em-
ployees in the aforesaid unit for the purposes of collective bargaining
$ Id. 38 N L. R B. 1148:
878 DECISIONS -OF NATIONAL— RELATIONS BOARD
with respect to 'rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, aud other
conditions of employment. -
2. The refusal to bargain
The parties have stipulated and we find that on March 25,1942,
the Union requested the respondent to bargain with it as exclusive
representative for the employees in the unit found appropriate by the
Board. On March 31, 1942, the respondent replied by letter, in which
it refused to bargain with the, Union'on the grounds that the unit found
.appropriate by the Board was, in fact and in law, inappropriate; that
the Board lacked authority to find such unit appropriate ; and that
the Union did not represent a majority of the employees of the com-
pany in an appropriate unit., The respondent has, since March 27,
1942, maintained the position set ,forth above and has continued to
refuse to bargain collectively with the Union.
We find that the respondent on March 31, 1942, and at all times
thereafter has refused to bargain collectively with the Union as the
exclusive representative of its employees in the appropriate unit and
has thereby interfered with, restrained, and coerced its employees
in the exercise of their rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES UPON COMMERCE
The activities of the respondent set forth in Section III above, occur-
ring in connection with operations of the respondent described in Sec-
tion I above, have a close, intimate, and substantial relation to trade,
traffic, and commerce-among the several States, and tend to lead to
labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce and the free flow
of commerce.
V. THE REMEDY
As we have stated above, on June 24, 1942, Local 1000 filed a motion
to intervene and to be substituted for the Union. In its motion, as
amended on July 30, 1942, Local 1000 alleged, inter alia, that in June
1942 it was formed by employees of the respondent who constituted
the "Marshall Field unit" of the Union, a group which allegedly had
been promised autonomy within the Union at the time employees of
the respondent were organized by the Union; that the Union had
disregarded its promise and had engaged in conduct inconsistent there-
with, as a result of which the "Marshall Field unit" withdrew from
the Union; and that Local 1000 now represented a majority of the em-
ployees in the unit the Board had found appropriate and was pre-
pared to file a petition to establish its right to represent the employees
" MARSHAL L FIELD & COMPANY 879
therein. The: events respecting the shift in membership alleged in
the motion, even if true, occurred subsequent to and in no, way affect
the acts complained of or the legal conclusion to be drawn therefrom.'
Since we have found that the respondent has engaged in unfair
labor practices, we will order that it cease and desist therefrom and
take' certain affirmative action designed to effectuate the policies of
the Act. We have found that the respondent has refused to bargain
collectively with the Union as the exclusive representative of its em-
ployees in the appropriate unit. We will therefore order that the
respondent, upon request, bargain collectively with the Union.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. Department Store Employees Union, Local 291, affiliated with
the United Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Employees of
America, C. 1. 0., is a labor organization within the meaning of
Section 2 (5) of the Act.
2. All employees in the elevator division, the housekeeping division,
and the engineering division employed by the respondent at its
State Street store, excluding supervisory "and clerical employees, the
staffman, firemen and oilers, the boiler-room maintenance man, en-
gineers and refrigerating engineers, the chief engineer, steamfitters
and welder steamfittters, plumbers, the 1ilaster plumber, and-machin-
ists, at all times material herein constituted, and now constitute, a
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within
the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
3. Department Store Employees Union, Local 291, affiliated with
the United Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Employees of
America, C. I. 0., was on February 12, 1942, and at all times there-
after has been, the exclusive representative of all the employees, in
the aforesaid unit for the purposes of collective bargaining within
the meaning of Section 9 (a) of the Act.
4. By refusing on It larch 31, 1942, and at all times thereafter,
to bargain collectively with Department Store'Employees Union, Lo-
cal 291, affiliated with the United Retail, Wholesale and Department,
Store Employees of American,`C. I. 0., as the exclusive represent-
4 See N L R. B. v P. Lorillard Company, 314.U. S 512, rev'g N. L R. B v P. Lorillard
Company, 117 F.I (2d) 021 (C. C A. 6) with directions to enforce Matter of P. Lorillard
Company, Middletown, Ohio and Pioneer TobaccoVorkyrrs' Local Industrial Union No 55,
'16 N. L. R B. 684; Oughton v. N. L. R. B, 118 F., (2d) 494 (C. C A. 3 ), enf'g as mod.
Matter of John J Oughton, et al., trading as The Windsor Manufacturing Company and
Textile Worl el-s Organizing Committee (C. 1. 0.), 20 N L. R. B 301 ; N. L. R. B. v. The
Louisville Refining Company, 102 F ( 2d) 678 (C C. A 6), cert denied , 308 U S 568, enf'g as
mod Matte? of The Louisville Refining Company and International Association, Oil Field,
Gas Well and Refinery Wo, lers of America, 4 N. L. R. B. 844
880 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ative of -all its employees in the aforesaid appropriate unit, the
respondent has engaged in and is ,engaging in unfair labor practices
within the meaning of Section 8 (5) of the Act.
5. By interfering with, restraining, and coercing its employees in
the exercise of- their rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act, the
respondent has engaged in and is engaging, in unfair labor practices
within the meaning of Section S (1) of the Act.
6. The aforesaid unfair labor practices are unfair labor practices
affecting commerce within the meaning of Section 2 (6) and (7) of
the Act.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and conclusions of
law, and upon the entire record in the case, and pursuant to Section
10 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, the National Labor Re-
lations Board hereby orders that the respondent, Marshall Field &
Company, at its State Street store, located in Chicago, Illinois, and
its officers; agents, successors, and assigns shall:
L. Cease and desist from :
(a) Refusing to bargain collectively with -Department Store Em-
ployees Union, Local 291, affiliated with the United Retail, Wholesale
and Department Store Employees of America, C. I. 0., as the exclu-
sive bargaining representative of all its employees in the elevator
division, the housekeeping division, and the engineering division em-
ployed at its State Street store, excluding supervisory and clerical
employees, the staffman, firemen and oilers, the boiler-room mainte-
nance man, engineers and refrigerating engineers, the chief engineer,
steamfitters and welder steamfitters, plumbers, the master plumber,
and machinists; -
(b) Engaging in any like or related acts or conduct interfering
with, restraining, or coercing its employees in the exercise of the
right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations,
to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing,
and to engage in concerted activities for the purpose of collective
bargaining or other mutual aid or protection,, as guaranteed in Sec-
tion 7 of the Act.
2. Take the following affirmative action which the Board finds will
effecuate the policies of the Act,:
(a) Upon request, bargain collectively with Department Store
Employees Union, Local 291, affiliated with the United Retail, Whole-
sale and Department Store Employees, of America, C. I. O., as the
exclusive representative of all its employees in the elevator division, .
the housekeeping division, and the engineering division employed at
its State Street store,.. excluding supervisory and clerical employees,
MARSHALL FIELD & COMPANY 881
the staffman, firemen' and ' oilers, the boiler-room maintenance man,,
engineers and refrigerating engineers, the chief engineer, steamfitters
and welder steamfitters, plumbers, the master plumber, and
machinists;
(b) Post immediately in conspicuous places in its State Street
store at Chicago, Illinois, and maintain for a period of at least sixty
(60) consecutive days from the date of posting, notices to its em-
ployees stating : (1) that the respondent will not engage in the con-
duct from which- it is ordered to, cease and desist' in paragraphs 1
(a) and (b) of this Order and (2) that the respondent will take the
affirmative' action set forth in paragraph 2 (a) of this Order;
(c) Notify the Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region in
writing, within ten (10) days from the date of this Order, what steps
the respondent has taken to comply herewith.
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