Bullock's Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 13, 1952

99 N.L.R.B. 740 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

740 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of representatives to the Petitioner for the unit described above, which
the Board, under such, circumstances, finds to be appropriate for pur-
poses of collective bargaining. In the event a majority vote for the
Intervenor, the Board finds the existing unit to be appropriate and
the Regional Director will issue a certificate of results of election to
such effect.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
BULLOCK'S INC. and CARPET, LINOLEUM & RESILIENT FLOOR DECORA-
TORS, LOCAL ' 1247, BROTHERHOOD OF PAINTERS , DECORATORS &
PAPERHANGERS OF AMERICA , AFL, PETITIONER . CaBe No.
91-RC-2097. June 13, 1952
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Arthur Hailey, hear-
ing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. At the hearing, the
Employer moved to dismiss the petition upon the ground that the
unit sought is inappropriate. For reasons discussed in paragraph
numbered 4, infra, the motion is hereby denied.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims 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 a craft unit of carpet cutters, carpet layers,
carpet binders, and Oriental rug repairmen, their assistants and
apprentices, including the maintenance carpet layer and his assistant
and the head Oriental rug repairman, but excluding carpet measure-
man, shipping clerk, carpet workroom manager, and all other depart-
ment store employees of the Employer. The Employer regards these
employees as skilled workmen, but urges that separate craft units are
inappropriate in a department store organization. The Employer
also maintains that the head Oriental rug repairman is a supervisor.
There is no history of collective bargaining for any of the employees
involved herein.
99 NLRB No. 103.
BULLOCK'S, - INC. 741
. The Employer operates,five retail department stores in the State of
California. As part of its retail organization, the Employer operates,
in a separate warehouse building known as Service Building No. 2,
several service departments under the supervision of the service and
workroom superintendent. The carpet workroom, the headquarters
or working area of most of the employees sought herein, occupies the
entire south end of the first floor of this building and is divided into
a sewing area, Oriental rug area, and two rows of storage racks with
the cutting floor between them. The carpet workroom is supervised
by the carpet- workroom manager.
In support of its opposition to separate craft units, the Employer
presented evidence to show that all employees, under a uniform per-
sonnel policy, enjoy the same privileges and benefits and that the func-
tions of the employees sought herein, like those of other service and
workroom departments, are related to the selling functions of the oper-
ation. Although they indicate a general-community of interest among
employees of the Employer, we do not regard these factors as a suf-
ficiently cogent reason for denying the establishment of separate craft
units in a retail store operation.' It therefore becomes necessary to
consider whether the employees sought herein possess skills and per-
form dLitips of a type that would warrant their being given the desig-
nation of ,raft employees.
The nature of the duties performed by the employees concerned is
indicated by their function in the Employer's organization. An order
is made for carpet sold in the selling sections of the stores. Measure-
ments of each room to be covered are then taken in the customer's home
by a measureman or estimator and occasionally by salesmen or the
interior decorator. Some of the measurements are made for the
Employer by an independent contractor. , A diagram of the area in
which carpet is to be installed together with the measurements and an
estimate of the quantity of carpet needed are placed on the back of
the order which is then forwarded to the carpet workroom.
The carpet cutter, using the specifications on the order, removes the
appropriate carpet from the storage rack, spreads it out on the cutting
floor and inspects it for flaws, measures and marks it according to the
specifications, and cuts it with an electric knife. He must be accurate
and must be able to detect miscalculations. An assistant helps the.
cutter and measures, marks, and cuts the pad. At times, experienced
carpet layers assist the carpet cutter in this work. To qualify to
learn carpet cutting, the Employer requires 3 years' experience as a
carpet layer.
Carpet binders affix the proper binding to the edges of the carpet
after it has been cut. They use carpet binding machines, surging
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742 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR, RELATIONS BOARD
machines, or work by hand, depending upon the nature of the carpet.
Carpet layers take the order with the specifications for the install a
tion of the carpet to the customer's home where the cut and bound
carpet has been delivered. With the help of an assistant or trainee,
he removes furniture and old floor covering. By consulting the design
contained on the back of the order, they proceed to install the carpet,
using the tools of their trade including such equipment as carpet
stretchers, kickers, and hammers, after which they clean up the area
and replace the furniture. The Employer requires a minimum of 3
years' experience to qualify as a carpet layer.
The Oriental rug repairmen reweave worn or damaged areas in
Oriental rugs, reduce the size of Oriental rugs, and put the pattern
back together in such a way as to maintain the pattern. and balance
of the design. They are trained from childhood in the art of re-
weaving Oriental rugs and must be able to execute the various types
of Oriental stitch for rug weaving and sewing. Although Oriental
rugs ordinarily do not require installation, any Oriental rug installa-
tion on stairs is done by Oriental rug repairmen. The Employer
requires a very minimum of 5 years' experience to qualify as an
Oriental rug repairman.
The only employees of the Employer, other than those assigned to
the carpet workroom, who perform like skills are the maintenance car-
pet layer and his assistant. They are assigned to the manager of the
carpenter shop because their duties are generally performed after
store hours. They lay and replace worn carpet in selling areas, tea-
rooms, and beauty salons of the stores. This work is done in the same
manner as that performed in the homes of customers. Carpet layers
assigned to the workroom also do maintenance carpet laying when the
occasion requires additional help.
Although the Employer does not use the term apprentice, it has
on-the-job training for the various skills exercised by its employees
in the carpet trade. Employees in the classifications of assistant and
trainee are receiving such training. Several of the carpet layers
received their training with the Employer under an approved G. I.
training plan. One or two of these employees were sent by the Em-
ployer to an apprentice school operated under a State-established
standard requiring 400 hours on-the-job training and 576 hours of
school instruction. This school, which is operated by one of the large
carpet manufacturers and includes among its instructors one of the
officers of the Petitioner, is attended by individuals from all over the
West and Middle West.
The employees involved assist one another but do not interchange
with employees in other classifications. In fact, training in one clas-
sification may be a basis for training in progressive classifications
within the trade.
BULLOCK'S, INC... 743
On the basis of the facts presented herein,. there is no doubt but
that Oriental rug repairmen are highly skilled craftsmen in a long-
established and well-recognized craft. Although the carpet layers
and carpet cutters are less skilled, we believe, contrary to the opinion
of our colleagues, that they perform related skills in a functional
group which has predominantly craft characteristics.2 We find
accordingly, that the Oriental rug repairmen, carpet cutters, and
carpet layers, and those performing related duties have, by reason
of the craft character of their work, a special community of interest
apart from other employees, sufficient to warrant their separate repre-
sentation in a unit appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining.
As noted above, the Employer would exclude the head Oriental
rug repairman as a supervisor. The head Oriental rug repairman
is responsible for all Oriental rug stock. He handles all sales checks
and work orders on Oriental rugs. He goes to customers' homes to
give estimates on repairs. He handles complaints regarding Oriental
rugs for the Oriental rug selling section. He is called upon by the
Oriental rug buyer for an opinion as to irregularity in the condition
of any Oriental rug and occasionally replaces tufts in Oriental rugs
in the store. Although the head Oriental rug repairman has certain
nonsupervisory duties of a craft nature, the record indicates that
he also performs work of a definitely supervisory character. Thus,
he assigns the work, adjusts minor grievances and takes up other griev-
ances-to his superiors, permits time off, interview's prospective em-
ployees in that section, makes recommendations with respect to his
choice of prospective employees, reports as 'to the progress of new
employees, and recommends pay raises for employees in that section.
The service and workroom superintendent is guided by the head Orien-
tal rug repairman's recommendation in these respects. Although a
personnel department has final authority in these matters, there is no
doubt but that the head Oriental rug repairman's recommendations
are given great weight. Accordingly, we find that he is a supervisor
within the meaning of the Act and shall exclude him from the unit
hereinafter found appropriate.
We find that all Oriental rug repairmen, carpet cutters, carpet
layers, carpet binders, and their assistants, trainees, and apprentices
at the Employer's stores and warehouses at Los Angeles, California,
including the maintenance carpet layer and his assistant, but exclud-
ing the head Oriental rug repairman, carpet measureman, shipping
clerk, carpet workroom manager,, and all other employees, and all
supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for
See National Container Corporation, Inc, Southern Container Division , 75 NLRB 770;
Food Machinery Corporation, 72 NLRB 482.
744 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9
(b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
CHAIRMAN HERZOG and MEMBER MURDOCK, dissenting :
We find it difficult to understand the basis upon which the majority
finds the unit appropriate herein. It is not a departmental unit,
because it includes some but not all employees in three separate de-
partments which are under separate supervision.3 It is not a single
craft unit, because the skills of the Oriental rug repairmen are totally
different from those of the other employees in the unit. Oriental rug
repairmen and other rug employees do not interchange, do not have
dommon supervision, and do different work. Moreover, it seems
doubtful that the carpet cutters, carpet layers, and carpet binders are
anything more than semiskilled employees.4 The only thing common
between the Oriental rug repairmen and the other employees in the
unit is that both groups work on or with carpets. We do not believe
that the medium upon which employees work is sufficient to constitute
them a craft group.
It seems to us that the majority is extending to a totally different
situation the "craft nucleus" rationale sometimes used by the Boaxd
to find departmental units appropriate.5 The majority is using the
Oriental rug repairmen, who undoubtedly are highly skilled crafts-
men, as the nucleus about which to range a so-called craft unit more
than five times the number of rug repairmen. Despite the statement
of the majority to the contrary, the evidence does not support a find-
ing that the Oriental rug repairmen and other employees in the unit
have related skills or that they constitute a single functional group.
The majority, we believe, is adding confusion to a situation which
is already sufficiently difficult. We would adhere to traditional cri-
teria and find that the proposed unit is inappropriate, because it is not
a craft unit but one composed of a heterogeneous group of employee
skills s
a The cases cited in footnote 2 of the majority opinion to support the unit finding are
not apposite, because both cases involved departmental units In the National Container
case, a machine shop unit, and in the Food Machinery case, a foundry department unit,
were found appropriate
4 Federal Security Agency, Dictionary of Occupational Title, Voy 1, Definition of Titles,
(2nd ed. 1949) pp. 197, 198, classifies carpet cutters, carpet layers, and carpet binders
as semiskilled
Although the majority opinion refers to the fact_ that several cutters attended a school
requiring 400 hours on-the-job training and 576 hours instruction, the United States
Department of Labor considers that an apprenticeable occupation Is one requiring at
least 4,000 hours to learn, with 144 hours per year of classroom instruction. U S. De-
partment of Labor, The National Apprenticeship Piogram, 1947, p 2.
'International Harvester Company, 79 NLRB 1452
6 The Halle Rios Company. 91 NLRB 100