Russell Heel Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 18, 1942

41 N.L.R.B. 45 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of SERVICE WOOD HEEL COMPANY, INC., DOING BUSINESS
UNDER STYLE AND TRADE NAME OF RUSSELL HEEL COMPANY and UNITED
SHOE WORKERS OF' AMERICA, WOOD HEEL TURNERS LOCAL 12A
(C.I.O.)
Case No. R-3764.Decided May 18,' 1942
Jurisdiction : wood heel manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : re-
fusal of Company to accord union recognition ; revocation of employees' desig-
nation of petitioning union not conclusive of desires of such employees regard-
ing representation in view of competing union's closed-shop contract with the
Company ; contract renewed after petition filed and claim of petitioning union
known, no bar; election necessary. '
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees at the Company's
I'lai-tow, New' Hampshire, plant, excluding executives, supervisors and office
-employees.
Mr. Walter E. Espovich, of Haverhill, -Mass., for the Company.
Grant cC Ango ff, by Mr. Sidney S. Grant, of Haverhill, Mass., for
the C. I. O.
Mr. Edward A. Raleigh, of Boston, Mass., for the A. F. of L.
Mrs. Augusta Spaulding, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION,
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by United Shoe Workers of America,
Wood Heel Turners Local 12A (C. I. 0.), herein called the C. I. 0.,
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the
representation of employees of Service Wood Heel Company, Inc.,
doing business under style and trade, name of Russell Heel Com-
pany, Plaistow, New Hampshire, herein called the Company, the
National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice before Albert J. Hoban, Trial Examiner. Said hear-
ing was held at Haverhill, Massachusetts, on April 24, 1942. The
Company, the C. I. 0., and Heel Makers Federal Labor Union
#22714, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, herein
-41 N. L. R. B., No. 11.
45.
n 46 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
called the' A. F. of L., appeared, participated, and were afforded full
opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses,
and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Exam-
iner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and
are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Company is engaged in the manufacture and sale of wood
heels at Plaistow, New Hampshire, and at Lawrence, Massachusetts.
-At its Plaistow plant, the only plant involved in this proceeding, the
Company produces unfinished wood blocks.
During the year 1941, the Company purchased for its Plaistow
plant approximately 1,500,000 feet-of lumber, valued at $75,000, of
which more than 75 percent was shipped to the plant from points
outside New Hampshire. During the same period the Company pro-
duced at its Plaistow plant more than 500,000 dozen wood blocks,
valued in excess of $150,000, more than 75 percent of which was
shipped from the plant to points outside New Hampshire. The Com-
pany admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Shoe Workers of America, Wood Heel Turners Local 12A,
is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Or-
ganizations, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
Heel Makers Federal Labor Union #22714 is a labor organization
affiliated with the - American Federation of Labor, admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
M. THE. QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On or about February 19, 1942, the C. I. O. informed the Coin-
pany that it represented a majority of the Company's employees and
asked that the Company negotiate a contract for such employees.
The Company refused on the ground that a contract between the
Company and the A. F. of -L. constituted a bar. Thereupon the
C. I. O. filed the petition in this proceeding.
On June 6, 1941, the Company entered into a contract with the
A. F. of L., effective for the term of 1 year. The contract is renew-
able for 1 year, and thereafter from year to year, unless terminated
by written notice 3 months before the expiration of the contract or
i • : RUSSELL HEEL , COMPANY 47
any extended term thereof. Neither the Company nor the A. F. of L.
gave such notice prior to March 6, 1942. The A. F. of L. takes the
position that on that date the contract became automatically renewed
for 1 year and that, as so renewed, it constitutes a bar to this pro-
ceeding. We find no merit in this contention. The C. I. 0. made
known to the Company its claim of majority and filed the petition
in this proceeding about 2 weeks before the day when a failure to
terminate would result in automatic renewal of the contract for an
additional year. The contract is accordingly no bar to a present
determination of representatives.'
A statement prepared by the Regional Director and introduced at,
the hearing-and a supplementary statement read into the record by
the Trial Examiner indicate that the C. I. 0. and the A. F. of L. each
represents a substantial number of employees in the appropriate
unit.2
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.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNrr
The C. I. 0. and the A.'F. of L. agree, and we find, that executives,
supervisors, and office employees should be excluded from the bar-
gaining unit. The A. F. of L. contends that the bargaining unit
should include all other employees of the Company. The C. I. 0.
would exclude firemen and 14 lumber operators who do not regularly
operate machine tools.
1 Cf. Matter of International Harvester Company Tractor Works and Chicago The
Sinkers Local No. 100 of the International Die Sinkers Conference, 36 N L. R. B. 520.
2 The C. I. O. presented to the Regional Director 2 petitions , dated January 26, 1942,
reciting that the signers appointed the C. I. O. as their sole bargaining representative.
The petitions list, respectively, 25 and 9 signatures. Of the 34 signatures 32 appear to
be genuine signatures of employees on a current pay roll . The C. I. O. submitted to the
Trial Examiner a third similar petition , dated January 26, 1942, listing 4 signatures, of
which 3 appear to be genuine signatures of employees on a current pay roll, and an
application for membership bearing the apparently genuine signature of an additional
employee in the alleged appropriate unit.
There are about 100 employees at the Plaistow plant.
The terms of the contract between the Company and the A. F. of L . require that all
production and maintenance employees of the Company be members of, or have work
permits issued by, the A. F. of L. At the close of the hearing, the A. F. of L submitted
to the Trial Examiner , 11 slips of paper, all of which bore'apparently genuine signatures
of employees who purported to revoke their designation of the C. I. O. as their sole
bargaining agent. Such signatures are the names of employees on the petitions submitted
by the C. I. O. to the Regional Director.
In view of the terms of the present contract between the Company and the A. F. of L,
we can attach no importance to such revocations , whatever their number might be, for
their execution cannot be taken as conclusive of the desires of the Company's employees
regarding representation . Cf. Matter of John Englehorn & Sons and Packinghouse Work-
ers Organizing Committee , C. 1. 0., 33 N. L. R. B 1139 , and Matter of George W. Borg
Corporation and United Clock Workers-Union, 25 N. L . R. B, 481, cited therein.
48 DECISIONS OF=NATIONAL' LABOR ` RELATIONS BOARD
The Company employs three firemen, whose duty it is to tend fires.
The record- does not disclose under what conditions they work. They
do not handle lumber or operate-machine tools to process lumber.
Since firemen are included in the present contract between the Com-
pany and theA. F: of L., we shall include firemen in the bargaining
unit. -
The Company employs 18 "lumber operators."' Four such em-
ployees regularly operate machine tools-a planing machine, a cutting-
off -saw; and, 2 rip' saws. The C. I: O. agrees to the inclusion of
these 4 machine operators in the bargaining unit. -It would exclude
other lumber operators.
Lumber operators receive green lumber from cars and unload it
by hand. They place the lumber in dry kilns and take the dried
lumber to machines for cutting. The Company transfers its trained
lumber operators from one job to another wherever it needs the
services of -a skilled lumber operator. Lumber operators are included
in the present contract between the Company and the A. F. of L. We
shall include lumber operators in the barganing unit.
We find that all employees of the Company at its Plaistow plant;
excluding executives, supervisors,' and office employees, 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
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among employes
within the appropriate unit who were employeed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of our Direction of Election,
subject to the limitations and additions set forth therein.
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 8, of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
it is hereby '
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Service Wood
Heel Company, Inc., doing business under style and trade name of
Russell Heel Company, Plaistow, New Hampshire, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later
than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction, under the,
direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the First
RUSSELL HEEL COMPANY 49
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and
Regulations, among all employees of the Company within the unit
found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during
the pay-roll period -immediately preceding, the date bf this Direction,-
including employees who did not work during such pay-roll period
because'they were, ill or- on vacation or in the active military service
or training of the United States, or temporarily laid off, but exclud-
ing employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to
determine whether they desire to be represented by United Shoe
Workers of America, Wood Heel Turners-Local 12A (C. I. 0.), or
by Heel Makers Federal Labor Union #22714 (A. F. of L.), for
the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.
463892-42 -A o1: 41 - --- 4
In the Matter of SERVICE WOOD HEEL COMPANY, INC., DOING BUSINESS
UNDER STYLE AND TRADE NAME OF RUSSELL HEEL COMPANY and UNITED
SHOE WORT ERs OF AMERICA, WOOD HEEL TURNERS LOCAL 12A
(C. I. O.)
Cage No. B-3764
ORDER PERMITTING WITHDRAWAL OF PETITION
WITHOUT PREJUDICE
June 12,1942
On May 18, 1942, the National Labor Relations Board issued a
Decision and Direction of Election in this pr'oceeding.' On June 4,
1942, United Shoe Workers of America, Wood Heel Turners Local
12A (C. I. 0.), the petitioner in this proceeding, filed a request to
withdraw without prejudice its petition for investigation and cer-
tification of representatives filed herein. Service Wood Heel Com-
pany, Inc., doing business under style and trade name of Russell
Heel Company, Plaistow, New Hampshire, and Heel Makers Federal
Labor Union #22714, affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor, the other parties in this proceeding, consent to the granting of
this request. Under these circumstances, the Board will grant the
request of the petitioner noted above.
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the request of the petitioner herein to
withdraw without prejudice its petition filed in this proceeding be,
and it hereby is, granted and that the aforesaid case be, and it hereby
is, closed.
141 N. L. R. B. No. 11.
41 N. L. R. B. 45.
50