Benner Tea Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 23, 1950

88 N.L.R.B. 1409 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of BENNER TEA COMPANY, EMPLOYER and GENERAL
DRIVERS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS UNION, LOCAL No. 218,
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WARE-
HOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, A. F. L., PETITIONER
Case No. 18-RC-527.-Decided March 23, 1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Erwin A.
Peterson, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made .at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
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 involved claims to represent certain
employees 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 to represent a unit consisting of all employ-
ees in the Employer's warehouse, including warehousemen, truck
drivers, garage mechanics, fresh meat department employees, mainte-
nance or carpenter shop employees, coffee and extract department em-
ployees, the car washer, the janitor, and the warehouseman in the home
service department, but excluding driver-salesmen , office and clerical
employees, guards, and supervisors. The Employer contends that the
unit should be limited to warehousemen, truck drivers, and garage
mechanics.
The Employer operates a chain of retail grocery stores in three
States. To service its stores, it operates a warehouse in Burlington,
Iowa, which alone is involved in this proceeding. Within this ware-
house building are also located the Employer's main office, and the other
departments whose employees the Petitioner desires to include in the
unit. Until sometime in 1948, the activities now carried on in the
88 NLRB No. 253.
1409
1410 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
single warehouse were conducted in three separate buildings within
the city of Burlington.'
Since 1941, the Petitioner has represented truck drivers, warehouse-
men, and garage mechanics in a single unit. There has been no prior
Board certification. All collective bargaining contracts were signed
before the consolidation of warehousing and other. activities. in a single
building..
The frest meat department occupies two walled-off rooms in the
center of the warehouse. In this department, five employees cut fresh
meat into appropriate portions for retail sale and four other employees
package it. The meat is then delivered to the Employer's retail stores
by a so-called fresh meat truck.driver for sale in the packaged form.
The coffee and extract department is located in a separate room on the
second floor of the-warehouse. Here fresh coffee is blended, roasted,
ground, and packaged, and extracts are bottled and labeled. The de-
partment employs three persons in dispute-an alleged supervisor
and two packers. The maintenance or carpenter shop department oc-
cupies an enclosed area in one corner of the warehouse. In it are em-
ployed two carpenters who make and repair shelves, counters, signs,
and other equipment used in the retail stores and warehouse. The car
washer washes the trucks in the garage, and in the summertime cares
for the lawn around the warehouse. The janitor cleans the warehouse
premises. The warehouseman in the home service department per-
forms the same work as other warehousemen, except that he works
exclusively in the home service department, which is a separate de-
partment handling home delivery sales.
The Employer contends that the fresh meat department employees,
the maintenance or carpenter shop employees, the coffee and extract
department employees, the car washer, the janitor, and the warehouse-
man in the home service department should not be included in the
unit because : (1) they have not been included in the unit for which
the Employer and the Petitioner have bargained fora number of
years; (2) the functions and work of the employees whom the Peti-
tioner now seeks to include with warehousemen, truck drivers, and
garage mechanics are unlike and independent of those of the latter;
and (3) the two groups have different immediate supervision. In
the alternative, the Employer suggests that the • disputed classifica-
tions of employees be "Globed" to determine whether they desire to
be included in the same unit with the employees whom the Petitioner
now represents.
I Except the fresh meat and the maintenance or carpenter shop departments , which are
newly created.
BENNER TEA COMPANY 1411
The unit which the Petitioner seeks is generally classified as a pro-
duction and maintenance unit. It is one which the Board customarily
finds appropriate. It is not inappropriate in this case because the
Petitioner has already been representing a less inclusive unit,2 or be-
cause it comprises employees indifferent departments having different
immediate supervision.3 Further, the diversity between the various
groups of employees in the proposed unit is no greater than that which,
usually exists in any unit of production and maintenance employees.
Nor is there any reason for "Globing" these disputed classifications.
of employees, as no other union is seeking to represent them in a.
separate unit .4
The parties are in disagreement as to the status of the so-called fresh-
meat truck driver and the person in acting charge of the coffee and
extract department. The fresh meat truck driver is a former store,
manager with special skill in the display of meat products. He de-
livers packaged meat to six retail stores in Burlington, sets up the meat.
case in each store and arranges the meat display. He is continually
circulating among the Burlington stores, checking on displays and
shifting meat from one store to another. Driving a truck is a mere,
incident of his more important duties. Without deciding whether-
this individual is the supervisor of the fresh meat department, as.
contended by the Employer, we find that his interests are different
from those of other employees in the unit and we shall therefore-
exclude him.
The acting head of the coffee and extract department supervises the
work of two girls in his department, and has the power effectively to.
recommend the hiring and discharge of subordinates. We find that
he is a supervisor. We shall therefore exclude him from the unit.
We find that all employees in the Employer's warehouse in Burling
ton, Iowa, including warehousemen,-5 truck drivers, garage mechanics,.
car washers, janitors, and employees in the fresh meat, coffee and ex-
tract, and maintenance or carpenter shop departments, but excluding-
driver-salesmen, the fresh meat truck driver, office and clerical em-
ployees, guards, the acting head of the coffee and extract department,,
and other supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appro--
S See American Hoist 1 Derrick Company, 87 NLRB 654; Lone Star Producing Company,
85 NLRB 1137.
a Texas-Empire Pipe Line Co., 88 NLRB 631.
' In accordance with his dissent in Lone Star Producing Company, supra, footnote 2, and'
with principles set forth in Illinois Cities Water Company , 87 NLRB 109 , Member-
Reynolds would have granted a self-determination election to the employees previously
excluded from the unit represented by the Petitioner. However, he considers himself bounds
by the decision of the Board in the Lone Star case.
' This includes the warehouseman in the home service department.
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1412 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
priate 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 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 supervision
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 Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations , among the employees in the unit
found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above , who were em-
ployed during the payroll period immediately preceding the date of
this Direction of Election , including employees who did not work
during said payroll 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 General Drivers , Warehousemen and Helpers Union, Local
No. 218 , International Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs, Ware-
housemen and Helpers of America , A. F. L.