Albertsons, Inc

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 22, 1984

272 N.L.R.B. 865 (N.L.R.B. 1984)

ALBERTSONS INC 865
Albertsons, Inc and United Food and Commercial
Workers, Retail Clerks Union Local No 1105
and United Food and Commercial Workers
Union, Local No 44 Cases 19-CA-15543 and
19-CA-15612
22 October 1984
DECISION AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN DOTSON AND MEMBERS
ZIMMERMAN AND DENNIS
Upon charges filed on 24 March 1983 by United
Food and Commercial Workers Retail Clerks
Union Local No 1105 and 15 April 1983 by United
Food and Commercial Workers Union Local No
44, the General Counsel of the National Labor Re
lations Board issued a complaint on 3 May 1983
and a consolidated complaint on 17 May 1983
against Albertsons, Inc (the Respondent) alleging
that it has violated Section 8(a)(1) of the Act by
promulgating, maintaining, and enforcing a rule
concerning union buttons
On 3 October 1983 all parties filed a stipulation
of facts and a motion to transfer the proceeding to
the Board for decision without a hearing before an
administrative law judge or issuance of a judge's
decision On 28 March 1984 the Board approved
the stipulation and granted the motion The Re
spondent, Local 1105, and the General Counsel
filed briefs
The National Labor Relations Board has delegat
ed its authority in this proceeding to a three
member panel
On the entire record in this case and after con
sideration of the parties briefs, the Board makes
the following findings
I JURISDICTION
The Respondent is a Delaware corporation with
offices and places of business in Seattle Washing
ton where it is engaged in selling groceries
During the past 12 months a representative period
the Respondent had gross sales of goods and serv
ices valued in excess of $500,000 During the same
period it purchased and had delivered to its facili
ties within the State of Washington goods and ma
tenals valued in excess of $50,000 directly from
sources outside the State or from suppliers within
the State that had obtained the goods and materials
directly from sources outside the State We find
that the Respondent is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of Section 2(6) and (7) of the
Act and that Local 1105 and Local 44 are labor or
ganizations within the meaning of Section 2(5) of
the Act
II UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES
A Issue
The issue presented is whether the Respondent
violated Section 8(a)(1) of the Act by promulgat
mg, maintaining, and enforcing a rule that prohibits
employees from wearing buttons provided by any
union
B Facts
The Respondent operates several retail food
stores in the area of Seattle, Washington It pro
vides female employees with blue slacks and
smock and male employees with a large blue
fabric apron embossed with the letter A" to be
worn over slacks shirt and tie Produce section
employees wear a green plastic apron
Local 1105 and Local 44 represent employees at
the stores involved in this proceeding 1 Pursuant to
applicable collective bargaining agreements, em
ployees who work less than a 4 hour shift are enti
tled to a 10 minute break per shift, and employees
who work more than a 4 hour shift are entitled to
a 15 minute break with a 1 hour lunchbreak per
shift At all its stores the Respondent provides sep
arate employee lunchrooms located away from
general merchandise and selling areas
About mid February 1983 employees at the van
ous stores began wearing Equity in 83 buttons
during worktime on their clothing in a manner visi
ble to the public The buttons were metal, about 1
inch in diameter and one fourth inch thick, with a
dark blue background and white lettering which
read UFCW Equity in 83, No Take Aways
Concurrently with the wearing of the Equity in
83' buttons Local 1105 distributed two separate
handbills to customers outside the King and Snoho
mish County stores The leaflets were printed with
a copy of the Equity in 83' button in the back
ground They thanked customers for support men
tioned the profit status of the retail food industry
and stated that the Union was seeking an equitable
agreement and fighting Concession (take aways)
Bargaining
In mid March 1983 the Respondent published a
rule to all directors and employees at the stores in
volved either by posting it adjacent to employee
lunchrooms and/or timeclocks or by orally relating
it to employees The rule read
1 Local 1105 is the representative of all employees at the Respondent s
stores m King and Snohomish Counties Washington Local 44 is the rep
resentative of all grocery clerks and meatcutters at the Bellingham
Washington store and all meatcutters at the Bothell Edmonds Everett
Lynwood Mountlake Terrace and Port Angeles Washington stores
The units exclude office clericals guards and supervisors as defined in
the Act
272 NLRB No 117
866 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
None of our employees are allowed to wear
buttons provided by any union In particular,
the button that says
Equity in 83 No take aways USCW [sic]
1105
The Respondent has maintained the rule in effect
and has directed employees to remove prohibited
buttons from their clothing
Earlier, during October and November 1980 em
ployees at the King and Snohomish County stores
had worn recycling" buttons on worktime with
the Respondent's acquiescence The buttons, which
Local 1105 had distributed, were about 2 1/4
inches in diameter and bore orange, brown and
white lettering which stated, Keep on Recycling
Vote No #61 ' The message related to a contro
versial "bottle bill" issue that the voters of Wash
ington later rejected Also, historically employees
had worn 'union" buttons in a manner visible to
the public in the workplace during worktime The
buttons varied in size from three fourths of an inch
to 1 1/2 inches in diameter, had different color
combinations and bore the name of a labor organi
zation or the word steward" After the Respond
ent published its button rule, employees were not
allowed to wear the union buttons
In June through August 1983, following the
posting of the button rule in March 1983 the Re
spondent provided two buttons to employees to
wear publicly during worktime in the workplace
One, about 3 inches in diameter, bore the legend
Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia only 90
[cents] Vol 1 in red letters on a white back
ground The second about 2 1/2 inches in diame
ter bore the legend "LUCKY STRIKES
AGAIN" in black letters on a red and gold back
ground
C Contentions of the Parties
In support of the complaint the General Counsel
contends that the Respondent's button rule contra
venes Section 8(a)(1) because the Respondent 'has
not established any special circumstances that war
rant limiting the employees' right to display union
emblems and because the Respondent acted dispar
ately in prohibiting employees from wearing union
buttons while permitting them to wear political or
commercial buttons Local 1105 argues, in addition
that the Respondent designed the button rule to
discourage the Union's collective bargaining stance
The Respondent takes the position that the rule
is privileged It points out that a significant element
of its customer appeal program is the neat, uniform
appearance of selling employees, and that it has a
longstanding policy that only company approved
emblems may be worn at work The Respondent
also emphasizes that at times it has permitted em
ployees to wear buttons which further company in
terests such as the 'recycling button and buttons
promoting the sale of certain products, but it con
siders the 'Equity in 83 button to be a nontradi
tional union button that violates the apparel policy
and amounts to unprotected economic warfare"
against the Company on the selling floor
D Discussion
Under the protection of Section 7 of the Act,
employees may wear union buttons or other em
blems at work to demonstrate union adherence 2
This employee right is balanced against an employ
er s right to operate its business and an employer
may restrict the wearing of union emblems for con
siderations such as production, discipline, or cus
tomer relations In this case, we conclude that the
Respondent's restriction of buttons is unlawfully
broad because it applies to nonselling as well as
selling areas of the stores and applies to employee
breaktime as well as time when employees are
working Accordingly we find that the rule consti
tutes an unreasonable impediment to employee
union activity and a violation of Section 8(a)(1)
CONCLUSION OF LAW
By promulgating, maintaining, and enforcing an
overly broad rule that prohibits employees from
wearing buttons provided by any union the Re
spondent has engaged in unfair labor practices af
fecting commerce within the meaning of Section
8(a)(1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act
REMEDY
Having found that the Respondent has engaged
in certain unfair labor practices we shall order it
to cease and desist and to take certain affirmative
action designed to effectuate the policies of the
Act
ORDER
The National Labor Relations Board orders that
the Respondent, Albertsons, Inc , Seattle, Washing
ton its officers, agents, successors, and assigns,
shall
1 Cease and desist from
(a) Promulgating, maintaining, and enforcing an
overly broad rule that prohibits employees from
wearing buttons provided by any union
(b) In any like or related manner interfering
with, restraining, or coercing employees in the ex
2 See Republic Aviation Corp v NLRB 324 U S 793 (1945)
ALBERTSONS INC 867
erase of the rights guaranteed them by Section 7
of the Act
2 Take the following affirmative action neces
sary to effectuate the policies of the Act
(a) Post at its facilities in King and Snohomish
Counties, Washington, and Bellingham, Bothell
Edmonds Everett, Lynwood, Mountlake Terrace,
and Port Angeles, Washington copies of the at
tached notice marked Appendix " 3 Copies of the
notice, on forms provided by the Regional Direc
tor for Region 19, after being signed by the Re
spondent's authorized representative shall be
posted by the Respondent immediately upon re
ceipt and maintained for 60 consecutive days in
conspicuous places including all places where no
tees to employees are customarily posted Reason
able steps shall be taken by the Respondent to
ensure that the notices are not altered, defaced, or
covered by any other material
3 If this Order is enforced by a Judgment of a United States Court of
Appeals the words in the notice reading Posted by Order of the Na
tional Labor Relations Board shall read Posted Pursuant to a Judgment
of the United States Court of Appeals Enforcing an Order of the Nation
al Labor Relations Board
(b) Notify the Regional Director in writing
within 20 days from the date of this Order what
steps the Respondent has taken to comply
APPENDIX
NOTICE TO EMPLOYEES
POSTED BY ORDER OF THE
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
An Agency of the United States Government
The National Labor Relations Board has found
that we violated the National Labor Relations Act
and has ordered us to post and abide by this notice
WE WILL NOT promulgate maintain, or enforce
an overly broad rule that prohibits you from wear
ing buttons provided by any union
WE WILL NOT in any like or related manner
interfere with, restrain, or coerce you in the exer
cise of the rights guaranteed you by Section 7 of
the Act
ALBERTSONS, INC
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