Scoa Industries, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 25, 1974

209 N.L.R.B. 843 (N.L.R.B. 1974)

NORRWOCK SHOE
Norrwock Shoe , Division of Scoa Industries, Inc. and
Boot and Shoe Workers Union , AFL-CIO-CLC,
Petitioner . Case I-RC-12932
March 25, 1974
DECISION ON REVIEW
BY CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS
KENNEDY AND PENELLO
On November 13, 1973, the Regional Director for
Region 1 issued a Decision and Direction of Election
in the above-entitled proceeding in which he found
appropriate the Petitioner's requested unit consisting
of four of the Employer 's five plants , rejecting the
Employer 's contention that the appropriate unit
should include all five plants . Thereafter, in accord-
ance with Section 102 .67 of the National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations , Series 8, as
amended , the Employer filed a timely request for
review of the Regional Director's decision together
with a supporting brief , alleging that the Regional
Director made erroneous findings of fact and
departed from precedent in finding a four-plant unit
appropriate.
On December 17, 1973, the National Labor
Relations Board by telegraphic order granted the
request for review and stayed the election pending
decision on review.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
authority in this proceeding to a three -member panel.
The Board has reviewed the entire record in this
case and makes the following findings:
The Employer is a Delaware corporation engaged
in the manufacture , sale, and distribution of foot-
wear . It operates three plants located in Skowhegan,
Maine (herein called Plants 4 , 6, and 12), and one
plant in Norridgewock , Maine (Plant 1), all of which
are within a 6-1/2-mile radius of each other; and a
fifth plant at North Jay , Maine (Plant 3), located
approximately 33 miles from the central plant in
Norridgewock.1
i The Employer employs approximately 1,135 employees in all five
plants, 200 of whom work in the North Jay plant. The remaining 935
employees are distributed as follows- 320 in Plant 1, 230 in Plant 4,165 in
Plant 6, and 220 in Plant 12.
2 The record does not support the Regional Director's conclusion that
the geographical separation of the North Jay plant from the other plants
hinders employee contact . Nor is there any evidence of employee contact or
interchange between the four plants included in the unit by the Regional
Director. in addition , there has been no bargaining history for any of the
Employer's plants
3 The Regional Director's reliance on the fact that the North Jay plant is
capable of producing and produces complete men's shoes is misplaced. The
record shows that each of the other plants primarily produces one particular
843
In finding that the employees in four plants shared
a community of interest separate and apart from the
employees at the North Jay plant, it is clear that the
Regional Director relied largely on the fact that there
was a 33-mile geographic separation between the
group of four plants and the North Jay plant; that
there was a lack of interchange with the North Jay
plant; and other factors. We do not agree with the
Regional Director's unit determination.2
The record establishes that all of the Employer's
plants are functionally interdependent to some
degree in that each of the Employer's five plants
perform supportive functions for the others.3 The
record further establishes that the Employer main-
tains centralized administrative and executive offices
at Plant 1 and the Employer's director of manufac-
turing and the general superintendent at that plant
formulate and administer uniform production and
personnel policies for all five plants.4 The Employer
also maintains common personnel, payroll, industrial
engineering quality control, industrial relations, and
marketing offices, as well as a central warehouse. In
addition, employees at all five plants have the same
wages and benefits and participate in a centralized
intraplant bidding procedure.5
On the record as a whole and particularly the facts
that all five plants are located within a 33-mile
geographical area, have the same degree of local
autonomy, are subject to common centralized overall
labor relations policy, do not interchange employees,
and are functionally interdependent, we find that the
employees at the four plants sought do not have a
community of interest sufficiently distinct and
separate from that enjoyed by employees of the fifth
plant so as to warrant the establishment of the four-
plant unit found by the Regional Director. As it does
not appear that the Petitioner desires a five-plant
unit, we shall therefore dismiss the petition.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition be, and it
hereby is, dismissed.
type of shoe while also providing supportive functions for the other plants.
Thus, Plant I makes women's shoes, Plant 4 makes children 's, boys', and
girls' shoes, and Plant 12 makes primarily men's and boys' shoes and some
women 's and girls' shoes.
4 Although hiring is done at the individual plants, the central personnel
office establishes all hiring and interview procedures , places all radio and
newspaper advertisements, and approves all hirings.
5 The bidding procedure was instituted in August 1973. Although there
have been no transfers to or from the North Jay plant , bids were received
from two employees at the North Jay plant but were declined after having
been approved by the central office . There is no evidence regarding the
extent of transfers between any of the other plants.
209 NLRB No. 135