American Stores, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 4, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 126 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of AMERICAN STORES, INC., EMPLOYER and AMALGAM-
ATED MEAT CUTTERS UNION, LOCAL 162, AMALGAMATED MEAT CUT-
TERS AND BUTCHER WORKMEN OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 5-RC-158.-Decided November 4, 1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a 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-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
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. It operates retail food stores and ware-
houses in seven States and the District of Columbia.
2. The labor organizations named below claim 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 Petitioner seeks a unit of all employees in six of the Employ-
er's stores in Frederick, Maryland, and vicinity, listed in Schedule A,
excluding supervisors. Retail Clerks International Association, Local
692, AFL, herein called the Intervenor, contends that the unit sought
by the Petitioner is inappropriate because of the pattern of bargaining
of the industry in the area. It urges that there should be two separate
units, (1) all meat department employees, excluding supervisors, and
(2) all grocery department employees, excluding supervisors. The
Employer takes no position as to the proposed unit.
* Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Gray.
80 N. L. R. B., No. 28.
126
AMERICAN STORES, INC. 127
The stores involved in this proceeding are divided into meat and
grocery departments,' which are separately operated and supervised.2
There is considerable difference in function between the meat and
grocery department employees, and there is no interchange of per-
sonnel except on rare occasions . While the grocery department em-
ployees are unskilled, the meat department employees are highly
skilled, and must serve an apprenticeship of at least 3 years to become
qualified journeymen meat cutters. The Employer recognizes the
meat cutters as a craft. The wages of the meat department employees
are higher than those of the grocery department employees. There
are 38 employees in the grocery department, including head grocery
clerks, grocery clerks, checkers and cashiers. Of the 12 meat depart-
ment employees, 5 are classified as head meat cutters, 1 as a journey-
man meat cutter, 5 as apprentice meat cutters, and 1 as a part-time
meat clerk.
There is no bargaining history affecting the six stores involved in
this proceeding. The record shows that in Maryland all chain grocery
store collective bargaining contracts are separately negotiated and
executed for units of grocery department employees and for units of
meat department employees. All the Employer's contracts for stores
in the District of Columbia, Virginia, and West Virginia, cover sepa-
rate units for grocery department employees and for meat department
employees.3
In view of the pattern of collective bargaining for the retail food
industry in the area , and the difference in function and skill between
meat and grocery department employees, we believe that the employees
in the six stores involved herein may function either in one unit of
both meat and grocery department employees, or in two separate
units of meat department employees and grocery department employ-
ees 4 We shall therefore not make any final unit determination at this
time, but shall first ascertain the desires of the employees themselves
as expressed in the elections directed hereinafter.
Accordingly, we shall direct that separate elections by secret ballot
be held among employees in each of the following voting groups in the
six stores listed in Schedule A, excluding supervisors : 5
2 Although the store at Middletown , Maryland , is equipped to, and does, sell meat, it
does not maintain a separate meat department , and there are no meat cutters employed
at this store. The grocery clerks sell meat which has already been cut.
2 Separate records, pay rolls and cost accounting systems are kept for the meat and
grocery departments . There is no interchange or common use of equipment between the
two departments.
3 The evidence shows that the majority of collective bargaining contracts in the industry
throughout the United States and Canada provide for two units.
Matter of The Kroger Company, 77 N. L It. B. 370.
1 Inasmuch as no meat cutters are employed in the Middletown store, all employees in
this store shall be considered to be included in voting group 2
128 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
1. All meat department employees.
2. All grocery department employees.
If at such elections, the employees in both voting groups select the-
Petitioner they will be taken to have indicated a desire to constitute a,
single bargaining unit; otherwise they will be taken to have indicated
a desire to constitute separate bargaining units.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS 6
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the'
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, elections 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 described in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were,
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Elections, 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 (a)
whether or not employees in group 1, above, desire to be represented
by Amalgamated Meat Cutters Union, Local 162, Amalgamated Meat
Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, AFL, for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining, and (b) whether employees in group
2, above, desire to be represented by Amalgamated Meat Cutters
Union, Local 162, Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Work-
men of North America, AFL, or by Retail Clerks International Asso-
ciation, Local 692, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by
neither.
SCHEDULE A
Store No. 228 at South and Market Streets, Frederick, Maryland.
Store No. 4665 at North Bentz Street, Frederick, Maryland.
Store No. 2884 at North Market Street, Frederick, Maryland.
Store No. 4787 at W. Seventh & Bentz Streets, Frederick, Maryland.
Store No. 2991 at Brunswick, Maryland.
Store No. 1732 at Middletown, Maryland.
6 Any participant in the elections directed herein may , upon its prompt request to, and
approval thereof by, the Regional Director , have its name removed from the ballot.