Spiegel Fashion Shops

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 28, 1949

85 N.L.R.B. 437 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter Of SPIEGEL, INC. D/B/A SPIEGEL FASHION SHOPS, EM-
PLOYER and LOCAL 655, RETAIL STORE EMPLOYEES UNION, AFL,
PETITIONER
Case No. 14-RC-688.-Decided July 28, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Ziegel W.
Neff, hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board. 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 [Chairman Herzog and Members
Murdock 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 labor organization named below claims to represent em-
ployees 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 appropriate unit :
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all employees in the Employer's St.
Louis, Missouri, store, excluding guards, watchmen, and supervisors.
The parties are agreed that the store manager and assistant store
manager are supervisors. The Employer contends that a unit
confined solely to sales personnel is appropriate. Unlike the Peti-
tioner, it would also exclude the small wear assistant and mail order
desk manager on the ground that they are supervisors.
The store involved in this proceeding is one of 87 similar stores
operated by the Employer in different cities throughout the United
States. It consists of 3 floors, with a children's department and
mail order department in the basement, a small wear department on
the first floor, and a ready-to-wear department and credit office on
the second floor. Approximately 27 full and part-time employees,
constitute the entire store personnel.
85 N. L. R. B., No. 77.
437
438 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
In addition to the store manager, assistant store manager, mail order
desk manager, and small wear assistant, there are 13 full-time em-
ployees consisting of a mail order clerk, 2 cashiers, a credit clerk,
5 salesgirls, a maid, porter, and elevator operator, and 11 part-time
employees consisting of 10 salesgirls and a cashier. The mail order
clerk assists the mail order desk manager in the sale of catalog mer-
chandise, except that during rush periods he helps out in the children's
department. One of the full-time cashiers occasionally makes floor
sales and wraps goods in addition to her regular duties. Whenever
possible, the cashiers are replaced with employees from other depart-
ments. When one of the cashiers is absent, the credit clerk takes over
her duties. The elevator operator occasionally helps out in the base-
ment. The porter in addition to his regular work checks and helps
move merchandise and does some packaging in the mail order depart-
ment. The maid helps in the sales department during a rush period.
All the employees of the store are under the supervision of the store
manager and assistant store manager, except that the credit clerk with
respect to credit policy follows instructions as laid down by the dis-
trict credit supervisior whose authority is area-wide rather than
confined to a single store. Seniority, vacations, group insurance,
other similar benefits, and discount privileges are on a store-wide
basis and apply equally to all employees; working hours are approxi-
mately the same for all employees.
There is no previous bargaining history for the employees of this
store. The record does not disclose that any other union represents,
or is seeking to represent, the employees whom the Employer would
exclude.
The Board has frequently found appropriate a unit of selling and
nonselling employees in stores of the type involved here,' particularly
where no other union seeks to represent either office or sales clericals.
separately.2 Moreover, we are persuaded that a functional integration
and mutuality of interests exist among all the store employees.3 In
accordance with established Board policy, and on the basis of the
entire record in this case, we find a store-wide unit appropriate.
The only remaining question is the alleged supervisory status of the
mail order desk manager and the small wear assistant.
The mail order desk manager is in charge of the catalog sales or
mail order department; he is under the direct supervision of the store
1 Matter of Denton 's Inc. ,. 83 N. L. R. B ., 35; Matter of Florsheinn Retail Boot Shop,
80 N. L. R. B. 1312; Matter of J. M. High Company, 78 N. L. R. B. 876, and cases cited
therein.
2 Matter of Phelps Dodge Mercantile Company , 78 N. L . R. B. 179 , 180; Matter of Denver
Dry Goods Company, 74 N. L. R. B. 1,167.
3 Matter of G. C. Murphy Company , 80 N. L. R. B. 1072.
SPIEGEL FASHION SHOPS 439
manager and assistant store manager who are in constant touch with
all store operations, and also under the general supervision of a dis-
trict manager in charge of catalog sales. He normally works with one
clerk, although during rush periods he may also be assisted by a
part-time clerk. The record does not indicate that the mail order
desk manager has authority to hire, discharge, or change conditions
of employment or effectively to recommend such action. Under all
the circumstances, including the type of managerial hierarchy that
obtains in this store, we shall include the mail order desk manager
in the unit.
The small wear assistant who is under the direct supervision of
the store manager and assistant store manager, is in charge of five
to six regular salesgirls, and on rush days, several part-time sales-
girls, in the small wear department. Although she has no authority
to hire or discharge or to make changes in the status of employees,
she may nevertheless effectively recommend such action. We find
the small wear assistant to be a supervisor within the meaning of
the Act, and shall exclude her from the unit.
We find that all employees at the Employer's St. Louis, Missouri,
store, excluding guards, watchmen, store manager, assistant store
manager, small wear assistant, and all other supervisors, 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 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was
heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of the 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 re-
instated 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 bargain-
ing, by Local 655, Retail Store Employees Union, AFL.