Saco-Moc Shoe Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 6, 1949

87 N.L.R.B. 402 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In , the Matter of SAGO-Moo SHOE CORP., EMPLOYER and BOOT AND
SHOE WORKERS ' UNION7 A. F. L., PETITIONER
Case No. 1-RC-1057.-Decided December 6, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Sam G. Zack,
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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [ Members Houston, Reynolds, and
Murdock].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The Petitioner and the Intervenor , the National Association of
Moccasin Handsewers , are labor organizations which claim to repre-
sent certain employees of the Employer.
3. The Employer asserts that there is in existence between it and
the Independent Shoeworkers of Portland , Maine, herein called the
Independent , a collective bargaining contract , which bars a present
determination of representatives . The Employer moves, therefore,
that the petition be dismissed . In July 1947 , following a consent
election , the Independent was designated as the bargaining agent of
the employees of the Employer . Thereafter the Employer met with
the Independent in a bargaining conference . According to the Em-
ployer, the parties reached some general agreement at the conference
concerning the various matters they discussed ; and in December 1947
the Employer submitted to the Independent by mail a proposed bar-
gaining contract , providing for a 2-year initial term. The Indepen-
dent did not reply to the Employer's proposal , and the contract was
never signed by either party. The Employer contends that it put
the provisions of the contract into effect, and that, the proposed, un-
:87 NLRB No. 58.
402
SACO-MOC SHOE CORP. 403
signed -contract is a bar to the present petition. We find no merit
to the contention.' The motion to dismiss is hereby denied.2
A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation
of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
(1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of casual shoes at
two plants in Portland, Maine. The two plants, located close to each
other, perform the same operations; and employees at the two are
interchangeable and have similar conditions of employment. The
parties agree, and we find, that the appropriate unit of employees of
the Employer embraces both plants. The parties also agree that the
unit generally should comprise production and maintenance em-
ployees. They disagree, however, as to the unit placement of hand-
sewers. The Employer and the Petitioner would include handsewers,
but the Intervenor would. exclude them on the ground that they con-
stitute a craft unit separate from the remaining employees. The
handsewers have been included in a production and maintenance unit
in prior Board proceedings.'
The major operations performed in the course of the manufacture
of a shoe in the Employer's plants are cutting, stitching, lasting,
handsewing, bottoming, making, and packing. The handsewing
function, like other operations, is an integral part of the process of
producing a shoe. Handsewers, who are located in a separate room,
receive the shoe from the regular lasting room where employees case
the last, or form, on which the shoe is made and tack the insole on the
shoe. The handsewers set up the shoe on a last and sew the tip to the
vamp by hand. Shoes which are not worked on by the handsewers
I Cf. Solar Mffg. Corp., 80 NLRB 1358; Owens-Illinois Glass Co., 82 NLRB 205; Swift R
Co., 82 NLRB 994.
2 The Employer moves to dismiss the petition upon the additional ground that the Board
failed to serve the Independent with notice of hearing in this proceeding in accordance with
Section 11 (4) of the Act and Section 203.83 of the Board's Rules and Regulations. The
Regional Director sent to the Independent by regular mail a letter informing it of the
filing of the petition and inviting it to submit evidence of its interest, if any, in the employees
involved. The letter was not returned, and no reply was received from the Independent.
Consequently, the Regional Director did not serve the Independent with formal notice of
hearing. About 2 years have elapsed since the Independent was designated as bargaining
agent of the Employer's employees and it has no present contractual interest in the em-
ployees ; the Independent (lid not manifest any interest in the employees when informally
notified of this petition and is not now claiming to represent them ; the Independent has
not complied with the filing requirements of Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act. Under
these circumstances, we find that formal notice of bearing to the Independent was not re-
quired . Moreover , the Employer has not been prejudiced by reason of the nonparticipation
of the Independent in this proceeding. See American Lawn Mower Co., 79 NLRB 367.
9 IIandsewers were included in a production and maintenance unit under a Board certifi-
cation pursuant to a stipulation for Certification upon Consent Election in 1945 (1-RE-35 ;
1-R-2646 ; 1-R-2712) and the designation following a consent election in 1947 (1-R-3673).
In April 1949, the Intervenor filed it, petition for a unit confined to handsewers.(1-RC-971).
The Regional Director dismissed the petition, and upon appeal in June 1949 the Board
sustained the dismissal.
877359-50-vol. 87-27
404 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
are machine stitched. Except for the handsewing operation$ employ-
ees who work on the handsewn shoes are the same employees who work
on non-hand sewn shoes. The Employer produces approximately
3,800 pairs of shoes daily, of which about 1,500 pairs are worked on by
handsewers.
The major operations in the Employer's plants are treated as sepa-
rate departments with separate foremen. Employees in each opera-
tion are employed for that particular type of work and are confined
generally to that operation. Some few employees have training in
several operations and may transfer from one to another. Hand-
sewers, like other operators, are hired to perform a particular func-
tion requiring a peculiar qualification. They are specialists and re-
ceive a high rate of pay, but their skills and wages are no higher than
those of other major operators. They have the same basis of pay and
conditions of employment as do other employees. The time required
to train a person to perform any one of the major operations varies
with the individual and the type shoe involved. Some parts of an
operation may be learned in a, few months, but acquiring the all-round
skill of an operator in cutting, lasting, handsewing, or any of the
major operations, requires about 2 or 3 years' training.
Under these circumstances, particularly the comparability of the
skills, wages, and conditions of employment of the handsewers to
those of other production employees and the integration of their
function with the Employer's total operations, we find that hand-
sewers do not constitute a separate appropriate unit, but are properly
included in a production and maintenance unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the Em-
ployer's Spring Street and Center Street plants in Portland, Maine,
including handsewers, but excluding office and clerical employees;
executives, foremen, and supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute
a unit appropriate for the purpose of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and su-
pervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case
was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the
-unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
SACO-MOC SHOE CORP. 405
of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work
during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or
temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargain-
ing, by Boot and Shoe Workers' Union, AFL, or by National
Association of Moccasin Handsewers,4 or by neither.
'If the Intervenor does not wish to participate in an election in the unit found appro-
priate , it may have its name removed from the ballot upon its prompt request to the
Regional Director and his approval thereof.