Spiegel Fashion Shops

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.