Selby Shoe Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 19, 1939

15 N.L.R.B. 489 (N.L.R.B. 1939)

,In The Matter of SELBY SHOE COMPANY, PORTSMOUTH , OHIO and
PORTSMOUTH PRINTING ' PRi ssiu,N 'c''- a1SSISTANTS' UNION No. 296 OF
THE I . P. P.SA.U.or N.A.
In The Matter of SELBY SHOE CO., PORTSMOUTH , O. and UNITED
SHOE WORKERS OF AMERICA-LOCAL 117
Cases Nos. R-1418 and R-1!19, respectively. Decided
September 19, 19.39
Shoe lfanefactvring Industry-Iot.vestigatiou, of Representatives controversy
.,concerning representation of employees: refusal of employer to recognize
unions in the absence of certification by the Board-Units Appropriate for
Collective Bargaining: (1) agreement by unions and company that production
-employees excluding supervisory and office.eniployees, watchmen, nurses, press-
men. .printers, typesetters, botAbiuders, and bindery workers constitute a
:general unit: controversy between unions and company as to inclusion of floor
!help, excluded as supervisory ; controversy between unions as to inclusion of
,certain individuals : maintenance employees and workers on component parts
including pattern makers, matrons, and porters, included in light of history of
bargaining relations : pressfeeder girls included in general unit because of lack
of other representation; no controversy as to (2) pressmen; (3) printers and
:typesetters, and (4) bookbinders and bindery workers-Elections Ordered
Mrs. Mary Telker Ili ff, for the Board.
.Mr. Arthur H. Bannon, of Portsmouth, Ohio, for the Company.
_Mr. Joe A. Wilson, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for the Pressmen.
Mr. Howard L. McNamara, of Portsmouth, Ohio, and Mr. Julius
.Holzberq, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for the United.
tl/r. Loren R. White, of Lucasville, Ohio, for the Typographers.
Mr. John A. Brooker, and Mr. John B. yenning, of Cincinnati,
(Ohio, for the Shoe Workers.
Mr. Joseph O. Case, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for the Bookbinders.
Mr. W. H. Whetro, of Ironton, Ohio, for the American Federation
-of Labor.
Mr. William T. Little, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On June 24, 1938, and April 27, 1939, respectively, Portsmouth
Printing; Pressmen and Assistants' Union No. 296 of the Inter-
15 N. L. R. B., No. 53.
489
490 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
national Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union of North America,
herein called . the Pressmen, and United Shoe Workers Union of
America-Local No. 117, herein called the United, filed with the
Regional Director for the Ninth Region (Cincinnati, Ohio), a peti-
tion alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of Selby Shoe Company,
Portsmouth, Ohio, herein called the Company, and requesting an
investigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section
9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called
the Act'.
On June 1, 1939, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called
the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article
III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regula-
tions-Series 1, as amended; ordered an investigation in each case
and authorized the Regional Director to conduct such investigations
and to provide for appropriate hearings upon due notice. On
June 7, 1939, the Board further ordered, pursuant to Article III,
Section 10 (c) (2), of the above Rules and Regulations, that the two
cases be consolidated for the purposes of the hearing.
On June 9, 1939, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which, together with the consolidation order, were duly
served upon the Company, the Pressmen, the United, Boot and Shoe
Workers Union, herein called the Shoe Workers, Boot and Shoe
Workers Union, Local No. 637, herein called Shoe Workers Local 637,
Typographical Union, also known as Portsmouth Typograpilical
Union, Local No. 637, and herein called the Typographers, and In-
ternational Brotherhood of Bookbinders, herein called the Book-
binders. Amended notices of hearing were duly served upon the
same parties. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on June 29
and 30, 1939, at Portsmouth, Ohio, before Whitley P. McCoy, the
Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. At the hearing, the
Typographers, Bookbinders, Shoe Workers Local 637, and Boot and
Shoe Workers Union Local 385, herein called Local 385,' moved to
intervene. The Trial Examiner granted all these motions. The
Board, Company, United, Pressmen, Typographers, Shoe Workers,
and Bookbinders were represented by counsel or other represent-
atives, and participated in the hearing. The American Federation
of Labor, herein called the A. F. of L., appeared through its repre-
sentative and participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce
evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties. During the
course of the hearing, the Trial Examiner made several rulings on
'Local 385 and Local 637 are hereinafter jointly referred to as the Shoe Workers
Locals.
SELBY SHOE COMPANY, PORTSMOUTH, OHIO 491
motions and, on objections to the admission of evidence. The Board
has reviewed the rulings, of the Trial, Examiner: and-. finds that. no,
prejudicial errors were committed., They rulings are -hereby affirmed..
At the close of the hearing, the A. F. of L. moved that the Shoe
Workers Locals' petition for intervention be amended by striking
the word "maintenance" from the petitiou.2 The Trial Examiner
reserved the ruling on the motion for the Board. The motion is
hereby granted.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following.:
FINDINGS or FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Selby Shoe Company, an Ohio corporation, having its principal.
office and place of business in Portsmouth, Ohio, is engaged in the
manufacture, sale, and distribution of women's shoes. The principal
raw material used by the Company is leather. During the year
preceding June 1, 1939, the Company purchased all the raw materials.
used in its Portsmouth plant, valued at $3,000,000, outside Ohio_
During the same period, the total sales of the Company from its,
Portsmouth plant amounted to $6,000,000, 99 per cent of which were-
made to customers outside Ohio. It is stipulated by all parties that
the Company is engaged in interstate commerce within the meaning
of the Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Pressmen, Typographers, Bookbinders, and Shoe Workersi
Locals are labor organizations affiliated with the A. F. of L: The
United, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Indus-
trial Organizations, herein called the C. I. O.
The Pressmen admit to membership the pressmen ; the Typog^
raphers, the printers and typesetters ; and the Bookbinders, the
.bindery workers and bookbinders employed by the Company. The
United admits all employees of the Company working in and around
the factory engaged in the manufacture of boots, shoes, slippers,
and. component parts. The Shoe Workers Locals are unions of the
industrial type admitting to membership employees of the Company..
III. THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
It is stipulated by all the parties to the proceeding that the Com-
pany refused and has continued to refuse to deal with, any of the
2 This would have the effect of excluding maintenance employees from the unit claimed
appropriate In the Shoe 'Workers Locals ' petition for intervention.
492 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL L A1LlOIL RELATIONS WAnl)
labor organizations enumerated in Section II unless and until such
organization is certified by the Board.
We find that questions have arisen concerning the representation
,of employees of the Company.
ffV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the questions concerning representation which have
:arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
-described in Section 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 APPROPRIATE UNITS
At the hearing the Bookbinders sought only to represent the book-
binders and bindery workers, the Pressmen claimed only the, press-
'men, and the Typographers asked to represent only the typesetters
.and printers . Neither the Company, the United, nor the Shoe-
Workers . objected to these proposed units. Accordingly, such em-
ployees shall be included in their respective units.
In its petition, the United defined the unit it sought as including
'maintenance and production employees and workers on component
parts exclusive of supervisory and clerical employees. The Shoe
Workers Locals' petition also sought to exclude supervisory and
clerical employees . At the hearing the United and the Shoe Workers
agreed on the exclusion of office and print-shop employees and floor
help. The United proposed the exclusion of the nurse and the watch-
men. The Shoe Workers did not object.
The Company objected only to the exclusion of the floor help.
Its vice president and general manager described their duties as
handing out . and dispatching work, running errands , and acting as
assistant foremen, but having no right to hire and discharge or
recommend such action . The floor help are sufficiently closely related
to management to justify their exclusion at the instance of the
linions.3
The Shoe Workers requests that maintenance employees, porters,
and pattern makers be excluded from the appropriate unit; the
United asks that they be included.
From 1934 until late 1938, Shoe Workers Local 637 and the Com-
pany have operated under collective bargaining agreements covering
Matter of Keystone Manufacturing Company and United Toy and Novelty Workers
Local , Industrial Union of the C. I. 0., 7 N. L. R. B. 172.
SELBY SHOE COIPAN Y, PORTSMOUTH, OHIO 493:
the Ironton plant of the Company. The contracts are not at all,
clear as to what employees come within their terms. It was testified
at the hearing, however, that the maintenance employees were not
within the scope of these contracts. The contract entered into in
the fall of 1936 between the Shoe Workers Locals and the Company
also included employees of the.Portsmouth plant, but it is equally
vague as to its scope.
On June 12, 1937, the Company entered into a contract with the
United on behalf of its members at the Portsmouth plant, and on!
July 22,_ 1938, the Company entered into an exclusive bargaining:
agreement with the United covering production and maintenance em-
ployees and workers on component parts in the Portsmouth plant:
excepting supervisory, and office employees, watchmen, etc., the unit
it proposes in the present proceeding.
About June 1, 1939, the Company closed its Ironton plant and
at the time of the hearing was in the process of hiring an estimated..
300 Ironton employees at its Portsmouth plant. The Ironton and
Portsmouth workers were not consolidated into a new working force,
but the Ironton employees had to reapply for positions with the
Company and were hired as new employees with a consequent loss
of seniority.
The United has bargained for the maintenance workers, pattern
makers, and porters; the employees have never objected, and some.
belong to the United. A witness for the Shoe Workers testified
that 'some of.the maintenance men were members of craft unions.
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, but did not state
the number of men or the names of the crafts affected. The same
witness testified that there was nothing objectionable to the Shoe
Workers in including maintenance workers, but that the American
Federation of Labor claimed jurisdiction.
In short, the Shoe Workers 'asked that the Board disturb the
unit established in the 1938 Portsmouth contract. They offer no
reason other than the fact that they desire such a change, and the
vague statement that some of the maintenance men belong to unions
affiliated with the A. F. of L. Such evidence is insufficient to
establish the propriety of the unit proposed by them. The main-
tenance employees, porters, and pattern makers shall be included
in the unit. The testimony shows that the matron is simply a female
porter and she, too, is included in the unit.
The United and Shoe Workers both asked that the print-shop'
employees .be excluded from the unit. Strictly construed, this would
exclude all employees in the print shop. There is some indication,
' Although the contract is not entirely clear as to the inclusion of maintenance.
employees in the unit bargained for, the undisputed testimony at the hearing was that
they were included.
494 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS. BOARD
however, that the United, at least, only meant to exclude print-shop
employees represented by the Bookbinders, Pressmen, and Typog-
raphers. At all events, there are four pressfeeder girls and a porter,
in the print shop whom the craft unions do not seek to represent.
As to the porter, we can see no difference between him and other
porters employed by the Company, and we shall accordingly include
him in the unit. We would have been inclined to include the press-
feeder girls in a unit with pressmen or bookbinders had either of
the respective unions been willing to represent them, but impelled
by the consideration that no one is likely to bargain for them if they
are not placed in the larger unit, we shall include them in the unit
with the production and maintenance employees and workers on
component parts.5
We find that all persons employed by the Company as pressmen
'constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
We find that all persons employed by the Company as book-
binders and bindery workers constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes- of collective bargaining.
We find that all persons employed by the Company as printers
and typesetters' constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes. of
collective bargaining.
We find that all production and maintenance employees and work-
,ers on component parts, including specifically, but not exclusively,
porters, matrons, pattern makers, and pressfeeder girls, and exclud-
ing supervisory and office employees, floor help, watchmen, nurses,
pressmen, printers, typesetters, bookbinders, and bindery workers
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
We find that these units will insure to employees of the Company
the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to collective
bargaining and will otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
At the hearing, the Pressmen , - Typographers , and Bookbinders
,offered substantial evidence of majority representation within their
respective units. However , in accordance with the policy announced
in Matter of The Cudahy Packing Company and in Matter of Armour
d Company we shall direct that elections by secret ballot be held
among the employees in all the units found appropriate.'
5 Matter of Daily Mirror, Inc. and The Newspaper C-aild of New York, 5 N. L. R. B. 362.
'Matter of Armour & Company and United Packinghouse Workers Local Industrial
Union No. 1,30, Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee, affiliated with the C. I. 0.,
13 N. L. It. B. 5.67 ; Matter of The Cudahy Packing Company and United Pacltivghouse
Workers of America, Local No. 21, affiliated with the C. I. 0., 13 N. L. It. B. 526.
SELBY SHOE COMPANY, PORTSMOUTH, OHIO 495
The United requests that the pay roll at the Portsmouth plant at
the time the 1938 contract expired, May 1, 1939, be used to deter-
mine eligibility to participate in the election. The Shoe Workers
asks that eligibility be determined on the basis of the combined pay
rolls of the Portsmouth and Ironton plants as of February 1, or
April 21, 1939, the last time the Ironton plant was in full operation.
We do not agree with either contention. The Company stated it
would have completed hiring former Ironton employees at Ports-
mouth, at least to the extent of achieving a, stable pay roll, some-
time during the first 2 weeks in August. It appears that the pay
roll of the Company should now be stabilized, and we see no reason
for not determining eligibility as of the pay-roll date immediately
-preceding the date of this Direction of Elections.
We find that those eligible to vote in the election shall be the
employees in the respective appropriate units during the pa'-roll
period next preceding the date of this Direction, including em-
ployees who did not work during such pay-roll period because they
were ill or on vacation and employees who were then or have since
been temporarily laid off, but excluding those who have since quit
or been discharged for cause.
On 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. Questions affecting commerce have arisen concerning the repre--
sentation of employees of Selby Shoe Company, Portsmouth, Ohio,
within. the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. (a) All persons employed by the Company as pressmen con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining,
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations
Act..
. (b) All persons employed by the Company as bookbinders and
bindery workers constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes, of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the
National Labor Relations Act.
(c) All persons employed by the Company as printers and type-
setters constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National
Labor Relations Act.
(d) All persons employed by the Company as production and
maintenance employees and workers on component parts including
specifically, but not exclusively, porters, matrons, pattern makers,
496 DECISIONS OF 1 ATIONAL LABOR RELATION -S BOARD
and pressfeeder, girls and excluding supervisory and office employees,
floor help, watchmen, nurses, pressmen, printers, typesetters, book-
binders, and bindery workers constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
By virtue of and .pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Re-
lations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation ordered by the..
Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective
bargaining with Selby Shoe Company, Portsmouth, Ohio, elections
by secret-ballot shall be conducted within twenty (20) days from
the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of
the Regional Director for the Ninth Region, acting in this matter
as agent for the National Labor Relations Board and subject to
Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among :
(a) All persons who were employed by the Company as press-
men during the pay-roll period. next preceding the date of this,
Direction, including employees who did not work during such pay-
roll period because they were ill or on vacation and employees who,
were then or have since been temporarily laid off, but excluding-
those who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented by Portsmouth Printing-
Pressmen and Assistants'. Union No. 296 of the International Print-
ing Pressmen and Assistants' Union of North America, affiliated with.
the A. F. of L.;
(b) All persons who were employed by the Company as book-
binders and bindery workers during the pay-roll period next pre--
ceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not
work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vaca-
tion and employees who were then or have since been temporarily-
laid off, but excluding those who have since quit or been discharged
for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be representec'
by International Brotherhood of Bookbinders, affiliated with -the-
American Federation of tabor;
. (c) All persons employed by the Company as printers and type-
setters during the pay-roll period next preceding the date of this-
Direction, including employees who did not work during such pay-
roll period because they were ill or on vacation and employees who,
were then or have since been temporarily laid off, but excluding-
SELBY SHOE COMPANY, PORTSMOUTH, OHIO 497
those who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented by Portsmouth Typo-
graphical Union, Local No. 637, affiliated with the American Federa-
tion of Labor;
(d) All persons employed by the Company as production and
maintenance employees and workers on component parts during the
pay-roll period next preceding the date of this Direction, including
specifically, but not exclusively, porters, matrons, pattern makers,
and pressfeeder girls, and including also employees who did not work
during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation,
and employees who were then or have since been temporarily laid
off, but excluding supervisory and office employees, floor help, watch-
men, nurses, pressmen, printers, typesetters, bookbinders, and bindery
workers and those who have since quit or been discharged for cause
to determine whether they desire to be represented by United Shoe
Workers of America-Local 117, affiliated with the Congress of In-
dustrial Organizations, or by Boot and Shoe Workers Union, Local
385 and 637, for the purpose of collective bargaining, or by neither.