Bettendorff's Select Foods, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 26, 1949

85 N.L.R.B. 919 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of BETTENDORFF'S SELECT FOODS, INC., EMPLOYER and
LOCAL 655, RETAIL STORE EMPLOYEES' UNION, A. F. L., PETITIONER
Case No. 14-RC-761 .-Decided August $6, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Ralph E. Ken-
nedy, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hear-
ing 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 the case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer, a Missouri corporation, operates a super market,
in which it sells at retail meat, poultry, groceries, produce, tobacco,
beer, and liquor. During the fiscal year ending April 2, 1949, its pur-
chases of commodities for resale totaled approximately $1,873,000..
Of this amount, products valued at $138,000 were shipped directly to it-
from points outside the State of Missouri and products valued at,
$700,000 were bought from the Bettendorff warehouse in St. Louis,
Missouri.' However, these latter products originated from points
outside the State of Missouri. The balance of the commodities was
purchased by the Employer from local wholesalers and jobbers, who
received a large part of such commodities from outside the State of
Missouri. During the same period, the Employer's sales totaled ap-
proximately $2,000,000, all of which were made to customers within
the State of Missouri.
The Employer concedes that it is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act, but International Brotherhood of Teamsters,
Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, AFL, Local 688,
the Intervenor, contests the Board's jurisdiction. However, we find,
contrary to the Intervenor's contention, that the Employer is engaged
I The Employer operates a warehouse which sells products to other retail outlets in addi-
tion to its own retail store . The warehouse and the retail store are operated independently
of each other.
85 N. L. R. B., No. 159.
919
920 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
in commerce within the meaning of the Act and that it will effectuate
the policies of the Act to assert jurisdiction in this case .2
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent 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 a unit composed of all employees in the
Employer's retail store, excluding employees in the meat department,3
drivers of motor vehicles exclusively, guards, watchmen, office clerical
employees, store managers, and other supervisors. The parties are in
general agreement that the proposed unit is appropriate. However,
the -Intervenor contends that the checkers (also called cashiers) and
parking lot attendants should be excluded from the unit.
The proposed unit encompasses an over-all group of unrepresented
employees at the Employer's store. In the absence of unusual circum-
stances, such over-all, residual group of unrepresented employees is
appropriate for collective bargaining purposes.4 The Intervenor con-
tends, however, that the checkers and parking lot attendants do not
have a community of interests with the other employees in the unit
petitioned for. The record shows that all the employees in the pro-
posed unit are subject to identical supervision and the same working
conditions and that there is interchange of duties between the checkers
and other employees in the unit.5 Moreover, there is no evidence in the
record that the jobs and employment interests of the checkers and the
parking lot attendants differ in any substantial respects from those of
the other employees. As no other labor organization seeks to repre-
sent the checkers and parking lot attendants separately, we shall there--
fore include them in the unit.°
We find that all employees at the Employer's store in Maplewood,
Missouri, including checkers and parking lot attendants, but excluding
meat department employees, drivers -of motor -vehicles exclusively,
guards, watchmen, office clerical employees, store managers, and other
supervisors, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
2 Matter of Tip Top Grocery Company , 81 N. L. R. B. 955 ; Matter of Providence Public
Market Company, 79 N. L. R. B. 1482.
3 The meat department employees are currently represented by another labor organization.
* Matter of Air Metals, Inc., 83 N. L. R. B. 945 ; Matter of American Security and Trust
Co., 78 N. L. R. B . 927.
The checkers spend 5 to 10 percent of their time doing general work about the store
and, in addition , assist in cleaning the store.
A Matter of Hopper Machine Works, 83 N. L. R. B. 1007; Matter of New York Steam
Laundry, Inc ., et al ., 80 N. L. R. B. 1597; Matter of General Plywood Corporation, 79
N. L. R. B. 1458.
BETTENDORFF'S SELECT FOODS, INC. 921
5. The Intervenor also objects to the participation of the part-time
employees in the election. Of the approximately 41 employees in the
proposed unit, 25 are part-time employees who work between 18 and
35 hoursper week. The part-time employees work regularly assigned
hours each week and do the same type of work as the full-time em-
ployees. Although the part-time employees are students, there is a
relatively small rate of turn-over among these employees. We find
that the part-time employees have sufficient interest in the terms and
conditions of their employment to warrant their participation in the
election.7
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 8
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by sec-
ret 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 re-.
instated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by
Local 655, Retail Store Employees' Union, A. F. L., or by Interna `
tional Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and
Helpers of America, AFL, Local 688, or by neither.
7 Matter of Burrows t Sanborn, Inc., 81 N. L. R . B. 1308 and 84 N. L. R. B. 304;
Matter of Tip Top Grocery Company , 81 N. L. R. B. 955 ; Matter of Providence Public
Market Company, 79 N. L . R. B. 1482.
. 8 Any participant in the election directed herein may, upon its prompt request to and
approval thereof by the Regional Director , have its name removed from the ballot.