Spack Shoe Co.

In the Matter of SPACK SHOE COMPANY, EMPLOYER and UNITED SHOE WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER Case No. 1-RC-1113.-Decided October 21, 1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Albert Allen, 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 National Labor Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Members Reynolds, Murdock, and Gray]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is enaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain 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 Petitioner seeks a unit confined to production employees, excluding maintenance employees.' The Employer contends that only an over-all unit of production and maintenance employees is appropriate. Among the classifications which the Petitioner would exclude are shippers, packers, table workers, and an odd job and general work employee.2 The Petitioner contends that the unit should be confined to those employees engaged in the routine operation of shoemaking, and that it has never represented maintenance employees because it felt that it could not "do anything for them." 3 We find no merit in 1 The employees whom the petitioner would exclude as maintenance employees spend at least 50 percent of their time in the performance of production work, such as cementing soles, tacking, staining and polishing shoes, and applying buckles. 2 Lewis Saunders occupies this position. 3 The Petitioner stated that another organization of the CIO represents this classifica- tion of employees. However, we note that in many other cases the Petitioner has repre- sented over-all production and maintenance units. Matter of International Shoe Oom- 86 N. L. R. B., No. 103. 701 702 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD either of the Petitioner's contentions; moreover, the record is devoid of any evidence to support such contentions. It does not appear that the claimed employees are readily identifiable apart from maintenance employees in the plant by reason of their skills, duties, functional inde- pendence, separate supervision, separate work location, rate or manner of pay, or general working conditions. In view of the foregoing, we perceive no valid reason for departing from our usual policy of in- cluding maintenance employees within the same unit as production employees.-' We find that all production and maintenance employees at the Em- ployer's Roxbury, Massachusetts, plant, excluding guards, profes- sional employees, and supervisors, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Sec- tion 9 (b) of the Act. As the unit found appropriate is broader than the unit sought by the Petitioner, the Petitioner may, if it desires, withdraw its petition in this proceeding, provided that it notify the Regional Director for the First Region to that effect within ten (10) days from the date of issuance of this Decision and Direction of Election. 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 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 rein- stated 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 bar- gaining, by United Shoe Workers of America, CIO. pang, 83 N. L. R. B. 386; Matter or Belle-Moo, Inc., 81 N. L. R. B 6; Matter of Dover Shoe Company, 80 N. L. It. B. 139; Matter of Prosper Sheveneil.t Son, Inc., 81 N. L. It. B. 1303. 4 Matter of Overhead Door Company of Pennsylvania, Inc., 86 N. L. It. B., No. 14; Matter of McKamie Gas Cleaning Company, 80 N. L. It. B. 1447; Matter of Goodall Com- pany, 80 N. L. It. B. 562.