Bond Stores, Inc.

In the Matter of BOND STORES, INCORPORATED, EMPLOYER and RETAIL CLERKS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION, A. F. OF L., PETITIONER Case No. 4-RC-410.-Decided June 28, 1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Julius Topol, 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 Houston 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 organizations named below claim to represent certain employees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa- tion of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The Employer, with 54 employees, is engaged in selling men's and women's apparel and accessories at its retail store in Reading, Pennsylvania. The parties generally agree that employees of the retail store, excluding office employees, the manager, the credit department manager, the women's department manager, and supervisors, con- stitute an appropriate unit. The parties are in dispute respecting the 'unit placement of the tailor shop employees, the downstairs cashier, the assistant manager, and the display manager., . There has been no bargaining history covering employees at this plant. (a) The tailor shop employees: The tailor shop employees make alterations on ready-made garments purchased in the Employer's retail store. They include a foreman-fitter, pressers, bushelmen,l and I "Bushelmen" is a trade term for tailors. 84 N. L. R. B., No. 79. 667 668 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD seamstresses. They are located on the third floor and do not inter- change with the sales employees, who sell goods in the basement and on the first and second floors. Unlike sales employees, they do not work evenings. The foreman-fitter fits and marks clothes at the time of their sale to the customer and assigns and responsibly directs the alteration work to be completed by the other tailor shop workers. He spends a portion of his time working on the garments himself. He appears to be a highly skilled employee, and has power effectively to recommend the hire and discharge of employees under his direction. The Petitioner would exclude, and Amalgamated Clothing Makers of America, CIO, herein called the Intervenor, would include the tailor shop employees. The Employer takes no position respecting their unit placement. As noted above, there is no past bargaining history respecting employees at the Employer's store. There is no established pattern regarding the placement of tailor shop employees in the retail store industry. In the absence of any cogent reason for their exclusion, we shall include them in the -unit.. We find that the foreman-fitter is a supervisor and shall exclude him, as such, from the unit.2 (b) The downstairs cashier: The Petitioner would include the downstairs cashier in the unit; the Employer and the Intervenor would exclude him as an "office" employee. The downstairs cashier rings up the first floor cash sales and pre- pares daily sales reports for the men's furnishings department, which are forwarded to the Employer's main office in New York City. She handles no credit transactions. She is in constant daily contact with the other retail store employees and does not work with the office employees employed in the credit department on the second floor, whom the parties agree to exclude. We find that the downstairs cashier is not an "office" employee, and shall include her with sales personnel in the Unit .3 (c) The assistant manager and display manager: The assistant manager spends 50 percent of his time in selling operations. The remainder of his time he directs the retail store sales and service em- ployees in such matters as the adjustment of customers' claims, check- ing invoices and shipments, and compiling inventories, in the course of which he makes independent decisions, subject to the approval of the manager. He is paid a salary plus commission. He effectively recommends the hire and discharge of employees and has exercised such powers on occasion. The display manager designs, builds, and 2 Matter of Mandel Brothers, Inc, 77 N L. It. B. 512; Matter of Mandel Brothers, Inc., 72 N. L. It. B 859 , and cases cited therein ; cf Matter of Wise, Smith & Company, Ina., 83 N L. R.B 1019 3 Matter of Florsheim Retail Boot Shop, 80 N L,R B 1312. BOND STORES, INCORPORATED 669 arranges displays for the windows and interior of the retail store. He directs the work of an assistant window trimmer and a porter (both of whom the parties agree should be included in the unit) whose hire and discharge he effectively recommends. We find that the assistant manager and the display manager are supervisors and shall exclude them from the unit. We find that all employees in the Employer's retail store in Read- ing, Pennsylvania, including the tailor shop employees and the down- stairs cashier, but excluding office employees, the tailor shop foreman- fitter, the manager, the assistant manager, the credit department man- ager, the women's department manager, the display manager, 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 4 As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur- poses 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 National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, 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 reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also 'exclud- ing employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to de- termine whether they desire to be represented, for the purposes of collective bargaining, by Retail Clerks International Association, A. F. of L., or by Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, CIO, or by neither. 4 Any participant in the election directed herein may , upon its prompt request to, and approval thereof by , the Regional Director , have its name removed from the ballot. 853396-50-vol 84-46