Moulton-Bartley, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 16, 1945

60 N.L.R.B. 1238 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter Of MOULTON-BARTLEY , INC. and BOOT & SHOE WORKERS'
UNION, LOCAL No. 480 , A. F. L.
Case No. 14-R-1116.-Decided March 16, 1945
Messrs. Thomas C. Hennings, Jr., and William Watkins Moulton,
of St. Louis, Mo., for the Company. -
Messrs. Karol A. Korngold and Ben Berk, of St. Louis, Mo., for
the Union. _
Miss Ruth E. Bliefield, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Boot & Shoe Workers' Union, Local
No. 480, A. F. L., herein called the Union, alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Moulton-Bartley, Inc., Highland, Illinois, herein called the
Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appro-
priate hearing upon due notice before Hugh D. McNew, Trial Exam-
iner. Said hearing was held at St. Louis, Missouri, on January 25,
1945. The Company and the Union appeared and participated. All
parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and
cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the
issues. The Company in its brief requested oral argument before
the Board. This request is hereby denied. The Trial Examiner's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs
with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Moulton-Bartley, Inc., is a Missouri corporation, having its prin-
cipal office in St. Louis, Missouri. It operates a plant at Highland,
60 N. L. R. B., No. 213.
1238
MOULTON-BARTLEY, INC. 1239
Illinois, where it is engaged in the manufacture and sale of women's
rationed shoes. During the year 1944 the Company purchased leather
and other -materials valued in excess of $600,000, all of which was
shipped to its plant from points outside the State of Illinois. During
the same period the finished products manufactured by the Company
were valued in excess of $1,300,000, and approximately 95 percent
thereof was shipped to points outside the State of Illinois.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Boot & Shoe Workers' Union, Local No. 480, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, is a labor organization admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
III. TIIE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of the employees in the upper
cutting department until it has been certified by the Board in an
appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.,
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
1V. TIIE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit comprising all employees in the upper
cutting department of the Company's plant in Highland, Illinois,
including cutters, stampers, and tracers, but excluding office clerical
employees, supervisory personnel, and all other employees of the
Company. The Company contends that the appropriate unit should
consist of all employees of the Company's plant in Highland, Illinois,
excluding office clerical employees and supervisory employees. It
argues that the petition should be dismissed because the Union's
parent body is presently engaged in organizing employees in other
departments of the plant.
1 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 36 authorization cards all of
which bore the names of persons listed on the Company ' s pay roll which contained the
names of 50 employees in the appropriate unit ; and that 3 cards were dated August 1944 ;
5 cards were dated September 1944: 5 cards were dated November 1944 ; ,and 5 cards were
undated.
1240 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Company 's operations are divided into nine departments. Each
department, with the exception of the general department which is
under the supervision of the plant superintendent , is under the super=
vision of its own foreman. The upper cutting department is located
on the third floor of the Company's premises. It is not physically
separated from the fitting department , which is also located on this
floor, but each department occupies a separate wing of the building.
The upper cutting department is composed of 50 to 55 employees;
of these, 13 to 15 are classified as cutters , 5 as skivers , and 11 as sock
and quarter lining cutters .' The others in the department are classified
as clicking machine operators , tracers, stampers , and tufta cement
employees. The cutters, who work by hand, are a highly skilled group,
the others are semiskilled workers. The clicking machine operators
are not deemed skilled employees , since it takes very little training to
master the operation of the machine . Cutting department employees
are paid on a piece-work basis, the same as all production employees in
the plant, but-their rate of pay is much higher than that of the other
production workers and as a group they are the highest paid workers
in the plant . Although production records are maintained for the
plant as a whole, separate records are kept for each department, and
a separate record is also kept of all stock that goes into the cutting
department . There is very little interchange of employees in the
plant, and on such occasions as an employee in the cutting department
is transferred to another department for a short period he remains on
the upper cutting department pay roll , and receives his usual rate of
pay. Such transfers occur only , however, when there is a shortage of
work in the upper cutting department and a fill -in is needed in another
department . It was stated by the witness for the Company that the
upper cutting department could function independently of the other
departments , but that the other departments could not do so.
From the foregoing facts it appears that the employees in the upper
cutting department , composed as it is of highly skilled cutters and the
less skilled employees who work in close association with them, are a
clearly defined and functionally integrated group, having similar in=
terests. We are of the opinion that these employees may function
effectively as a separate bargaining unit, without regard to the state
of union organization in the plant as a whole.2
We find that all employees in the upper cutting department of the
Company's plant in Highland , Illinois , including cutters, stampers,
and tracers , but excluding office clerical employees , all other employees
of the Company , and all supervisory employees with authority to hire,
promote, discharge , discipline , or otherwise effect changes in the
status of employees, or effectively ' recommend such action , constitute
2 See Matter of Boyd Welsh, Inc., 59 N. L. It. B 1442
MOULTON-BARTLEY , INC. 1241
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 ( b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in, the
Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations
Act and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Moulton -Bartley,
Inc., Highland , Illinois, ant election by secret ballot shall be conducted
as early as possible , but not later than sixty ( 60) days from the ,date
of this Direction , under the direction and supervision of the Regional
Director for the Fourteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for
the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sec-
tions 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations , among the employees in
the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Di-
rection, including employees who did not work during the said pay-
roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid
off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United States
who present themselves in person at the polls , but excluding any who
have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been re-
hired or reinstated prior to the date of the election , to, determine
whether or not they desire to be represented by Boot & Shoe Workers'
Union, Local No. 480 , A. F. L., for the purposes of collective bargaining.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.