Town and Country Shoes, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 13, 1952

101 N.L.R.B. 290 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

290 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tions Board. As provided in Section 102.55 of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Riles and Regulations- Series 6, as amended, the Peti-
tioner was duly served with notice of said hearing but did not appear.
We 1 view the failure of the Petitioner to appear at said hearing as
a disclaimer of interest in the representation of the employees of the
Employer. Therefore, we find that no question of representation
exists concerning the representation of the employees of the Employer
within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of
the Act.2 Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petition.
Order
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition for investigation and certifica-
tion of representatives of employees of the Employer filed herein be,
and it hereby is, dismissed.
I 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
[ Members Houston , Murdock, and Styles].
2 See Townsend Sash, Door & Lumber Co., 96 NLRB 950; Denver Smoked Fish Co.,
78 NLRB 631 ; Hartsville Manufacturing Company, 79 NLRB 206 ; Merchant Fire and
Dispatch, 83 NLRB 788 ; Bussard Taxi and Bus Service, 81 NLRB 1181.
TOWN AND COUNTRY SHOES, INC. avd BOOT AND SHOE WORKERS' UNION,
AFL, PETITIONER. Case No. 17-RC-1305. November 13, 1950
Decision and Order
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Martin Sacks, hearing
officer. 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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-
member panel [Members Houston, Murdock, and Styles].
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 employees
of the Employer.
3. No 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, for the following
reasons:
The Petitioner seeks a unit comprising all cutting department em-
ployees of the Employer at its downtown plant in Sedalia, Missouri,
101 NLRB No. 65.
TOWN AND COUNTRY SHOES, INC. 291
excluding all other employees. In the alternative, the Petitioner
requests,that a unit of cutters at the downtown plant be found appro-
priate. The Employer contends that only a plant-wide unit is appro-
priate, and that the uptown plant is a part of the downtown or main
plant.
The Employer manufactures and sells women's slip-lasted shoes at
its 3 shoe plants in the State of Missouri, located respectively at War-
rensburg, Odessa, and Sedalia. At Sedalia there is a main or down-
town plant which is an open floor 1-story building where there are
approximately 300 employees, and the uptown operation, which is a
leased building about 6 blocks away from the main plant where ap-
proximately 40 people are employed.' The Employer usually manu-
factures at any one time only 4 or 5 styles of shoes in relatively simple
designs. All production cutting is done on clicker machines and is
done in bulk or solid size 2 cutting rather than in single case styles. The
operations in the downtown plant are divided into 8 departments and
the material moves in the following pattern : from stockroom to stock
fitting, to cutting, to heel covering and cutting, to fitting, to lasting, to
bottoming, and to packing where the shoes are shipped. The process of
making shoes is a continuous one until the finished shoes are in boxes,
the various departments being interdependent in their relation to one
another 8 Practically all work is on a piecework basis and the em-
ployees in all departments work the same hours.'
The cutting department" in the main building has 43 employees 6
under the supervision of 2 foremen, one of whom has supervisory
duties outside the cutting department. It is located in an unpar-
titioned area of the main plant and there have been numerous trans-
I
Employer testified that the lease of the uptown location would expire June 30,
1952, and that premises diagonally across the street , about 150 feet from the downtown
location , had been leased , to which the uptown operation would be moved on or before that
date. Further testimony reveals that the uptown extension was necessary when the down-
town plant became crowded , and that part of the downtown cutting department was moved.
2 The customers ' orders are combined during this process so that a large number of pairs
of shoes can be cut in one type and of the same material. This procedure is known as
bulk cutting to distinguish it from producing in separate case lots of assorted sires in small
quantities as is done in factories making a wide range of styles of patterns from a variety
of materials.
$ See International Shoe Company , 74 NLRB 464, 465.
The record discloses that if the fitting room gets caught up in its work , the cutting
department may be required to work on Saturday to get work to pass on to the fitting
room. In other words , the cutting department is the beginning of the production process
and must complete its work toward the finished product before any other department can
apply its contribution.
5 The following operations are performed in the cutting department : Outside cutting,
printing, inking, splicing uppers and linings , splitting heel coverings , casing, cutting
linings, cutting outsoles , trimming, and cementing and combining.
4 The employees in this department are 10 upper leather cutters, 5 lining cutters, 4
miscellaneous cutters, 24 operators and assemblers classified as casers, cementers and
combiners , trimmers, and a die boy.
242305-53-20
292 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
fers I to and from this department. The 19 cutters in this depart-
ment perform their work on clicker machines . Material to be cut,
either leather or fabric, is placed upon a block, a die is laid over the
material, the arm of the clicker machine is brought over, clicked or
tripped by the operator, and the part is stamped out by the die. The
remaining employees in this department perform varied and related
operations. Practically all the operations performed in this depart-
ment are duplicated in other departments in the downtown plant or
in the uptown plant .8
The uptown plant performs 2 operations and is sometime referred
to as the "heel covering and cutting department." The heel covering
department (25 employees) is under the supervision of a foreman,
whereas the cutting department (15 employees) is supervised by an
assistant foreman who is assistant to the foreman of the downtown
cutting department. This uptown extension fabricates parts for the
downtown plant and constitutes an expedient to provide additional
production facilities for the downtown or main plant. Neither plant
cuts all the parts necessary for a complete shoe; parts from both cut-
ting departments are needed to complete the shoe. The evidence
discloses that the same type machines are located in the uptown cut-
ting department as are found in the downtown cutting department,
and that the same or similar classifications 9 of employees are found in
the cutting operations 10 We find that the uptown plant is part of
the main plant, and more specifically that the uptown cutting opera-
tion is in fact a part of the downtown cutting department, and should
be so considered in determining an appropriate unit.
The record reveals that of the 10 upper leather cutters in the down-
town cutting department, 3 or 4 were experienced cutters when they
were hired at this plant. The others were taken off the floor and
I Evidence presented at the hearing showed 60 interdepartmental transfers from January
1, 1951 , to date of hearing, June 5, 1952 . Included were 23 transfers from other depart-
ments to the cutting department and 10 transfers from the cutting department to other
departments.
8 Trimming (evening up the marginal edges of the shoe ) is done in the downtown cutting
department and the fitting department.
Inking (inking raw edges that show up prominently ) is done in the downtown cutting
department and the fitting department.
Cementing and combining is done in the fitting department and the downtown cutting
department.
Splitting uppers and linings ( splitting the leather to a uniform thickness ) is done in
the fitting department , the uptown cutting department , and the downtown cutting
department.
Splitting of heel covers is done in both the uptown and downtown cutting departments.
Cutting outsoles and heel taps is done in both the uptown and downtown cutting
departments.
Casing ( breaking down of bulk to customer 's individual order ) is done in the stock
fitting room , the uptown cutting department, and the downtown cutting department.
° There are no upper leather cutters at the uptown plant , but the record discloses that
one of the cutters had previously cut upper leather at the downtown plant.
10 However , the employees at the uptown plant and the downtown plant are paid on
alternate weeks.
BOTANY MILLS, INC. 293
taught to operate the cutting machines. The 5 lining cutters were
hired without previous cutting experience. Two began cutting imme-
diately and the others may have performed an intermediate step before
operating the cutting machines . None of the uptown cutters had pre-
vious cutting experience before assuming the operation of the clicker
machines ll A witness called by the Petitioner testified that he was
hired without previous experience and went immediately to the cut-
ting machine and began cutting linings and that after 3 months he
began cutting leather which he has been doing ever since. Another
of the Petitioner's witnesses testified that it would take 3 years to
become an experienced cutter, admitting that the quality of shoe pro-
duced by the manufacturer would determine the rating of the cutter
in that particular plant.
The Petitioner and the Employer stipulated that the majority of
shoe factories in the St. Louis area are organized on a plant-wide
basis .12 The record reveals that the Petitioner previously sought a
plant-wide unit at the Sedalia plant. An election was directed by the
National Labor Relations Board and the Petitioner was unsuccessful.
Under these circumstances, particularly the fact that the Em-
ployer's uptown and downtown cutting operations constitute a single
department, and the fact that cutters have skills, wages , and condi-
tions of employment similar to those of other employees, we find that
a unit limited to the downtown cutting department, as petitioned for,
is not appropriate, and further, that a unit of cutters in the down-
town cutting department, as alternatively requested by the Petitioner,
is not an appropriate craft unit i3 Accordingly, we shall dismiss the
petition.
Order
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition filed herein be, and it hereby
is, dismissed.
11 The evidence is that the foreman would usually remain with a new cutter a week or
10 days and from then on the cutter would be on his own.
12 There was testimony that a check was made of 88 shoe factories in the St . Louis area
and only 1, a plant manufacturing novelty shoes not under bulk conditions or quantity, was
found to have less than a plant-wide unit. The witness further testified that 3 other
plants had had split units, that 2 of these plants are no longer operating, and that the
third now has a plant-wide unit.
18 Cf. Saco-Moe Shoe Corp., 87 NLRB 402.
BOTANY MILLS, INC. and TEXTILE WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA, CIO,
PETITIONER . Case No. 2-RC-5016. November 13,1954
Decision and Order
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Arthur Eisenberg, hearing
101 NLRB No. 66.