Singer Sewing Machine Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 8, 1949

87 N.L.R.B. 460 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of SINGER SEWING MACHINE COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
RETAIL CLERKS UNION LOCAL 899, AFFILIATED WITH RETAIL CLERKS
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION, A. F. OF L., PETITIONER
Case No. V-RC-953.Decided December 8, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before James W.
Cherry; Jr., hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and hereby affirmed. The
Employer's motion to dismiss the petition upon the ground that the
unit sought is inappropriate, is denied for the reasons given below?
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 [Chairman Herzog and Members
Reynolds and Gray].
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 is a labor organization claiming to represent
certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of all employees in the
Employer's store in Santa Barbara, California. The Employer con-
t6nds that the unit should either (1) encompass the entire Los Angeles
Agency, which includes 39 stores in California and 1 store in Nevada,2
or (2) be coextensive with the Coast District, in which the Santa
Barbara store is one of 6 stores.3 There is no history of collective
bargaining in the Los Angeles Agency.
' The Employer's request for oral argument is denied as, in our opinion, the record and
briefs adequately present the positions of the parties.
, The Los Angeles Agency also includes the Hawaiian Islands, but the Employer does
not contend that the stores there should be included in the unit.
a The Employer further contends that, if the Board should find the single-store unit
appropriate, it should refuse to assert jurisdiction in this case on the ground that the
operations of the single store are purely local in character. We find no merit in this
contention. We have recently held that "an otherwise local enterprise may lose its char-
87 NLRB No. 67.
460
SINGER SEWING MACHINE COMPANY 461
The Employer, a wholly owned subsidiary of Singer Manufactur-
ing Company, operates a world-wide chain of retail stores which sell
sewing machines, appliances, and notions. These stores are grouped
for administrative purposes into agencies, which in turn are sub-
divided into districts. The Los Angeles Agency covers the southern
part of California, extending from San Luis Obispo in the north to
San Diego in the south, a distance of about 275 miles. The Agency
also has jurisdiction over an unspecified area in Nevada. Forty stores
are scattered throughout this area, which covers about 60,000 square
miles. The Coast District, one of eight districts in the Agency, ex-
'tends from San Luis Obispo south to and including Santa Monica, a
distance of about 150 miles. There are six stores in the Coast District,
one each in San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria, Santa Barbara, Ventura,
Santa Paula, and Santa Monica. None of these stores is nearer than
20 miles to its nearest neighbor in the Employer's system. The store
in Santa Barbara, which alone is involved in this proceeding, is 70
miles from the one in Santa Maria and 30 miles from that in Ventura.
The Employer's operating system combines centralized control with
a measure of local autonomy. Wage rates, weekly hours of work,
vacation, hospitalization, and insurance programs are uniform for
the entire system. On the other hand, the individual store manager
may hire or discharge employees, subject to later approval by the gen-
eral agent, who is in complete charge of the Agency. The pay roll for
each store is made up in the store and paid out of the store's funds.
Such matters as store hours and holidays vary according to local con-
ditions. There is little actual interchange of employees between the
stores within the District or in the Agency as a whole, although perma-
nent transfers are made at the request of the employees, or, more
often, of the Employer. Employer-requested transfers are for the
most part promotions or demotions.
Upon the record as a whole, and particularly in view of the geo-
graphical separation of the stores in the District as well as in the
Agency, the lack of substantial interchange of employees, the existence
of a degree of local autonomy in matters of pay roll, hiring, and dis-
charges, and the lack of any collective bargaining history, we believe
that the single-store unit proposed by the Petitioner is appropriate.4
The Petitioner seeks to include and the Employer to exclude the'
assistant managers and the saleswoman-bookkeeper. There are three
assistant managers who, the Employer asserts, are supervisors. The
acter as such when it becomes a link in a business which stretches over many States."
Collins Baking Co., 83 NLRB 599; Grand Union Company, 81 NLRB 1016.
4 Koppers Stores, 73 NLRB 504; Burgess Battery Company, 76 NLRB 820: The Great
Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, 85 NLRB 680; Bonwit Teller, Inc., 84 NLRB 414;
The Kroger Company, 85 NLRB 6; American Stores Company, 82 NLRB 882. But cf.
Grand Union Company, 81 NLRB 1016.
462 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
record shows, however, that the assistant managers are salesmen who,
spend most of their time away from the store selling and demonstrating
machines and equipment. If the manager of the store is away, an as-
sistant manager may be put in charge, but even in such circumstances
he has no power to hire or discharge employees or to recommend such
action. The assistant managers do not responsibly direct the work of
other employees. In the light of these facts, we find that the assistant
managers are not supervisors within the meaning of this Act, and we
shall therefore include them in the unit.
The Employer would exclude the saleswoman-bookeeper, on the,.
ground that she is a confidential employee. Although, for the pur-
poses of record keeping, this employee is informed in advance as to.
proposed discharges, promotions, and wage adjustments, she does not.
act in a confidential capacity to an executive who formulates or^
effectuates the Employer's general labor policy.' We find that she
is not a confidential employee within the Board's definition and we..
shall, therefore, include her in the unit.
We find that all employees in the Employer 's store in Santa Barbara,.
California, including assistant managers and the saleswoman-book--
keeper, but excluding the store manager and supervisors as defined
in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes 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 clays from the date of this Direction, under the direction and
supervision 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 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
or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bar-
gaining, by Retail Clerks Union Local 899, affiliated with Retail
Clerks International Association, A. F. of L.
5 Chicago Railway Eq ipnaent Company, 85 NLRB 5S6.