Cohen Brothers

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 16, 1949

87 N.L.R.B. 1059 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

gn the Matter of ST . JAMES REALTY & DEPARTMENT STORE COMPANY
TRADING AND D/B/A COHEN BROTHERS, EMPLOYER and TRUCK DRIVERS,
WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS LOCAL 512, AFFILIATED WITH INTERNA-
TIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN
& HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL,1 PETITIONER
Case No. 10-RC-712.-Decided December 16, 1949
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Gilbert Cohen,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.2
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 [Chairman Herzog and Members
Reynolds and Gray].
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 em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. No 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, for the following reasons:
The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of drivers, drivers' helpers,
garage employees, and warehouse employees, excluding supervisors.
The Employer contends that employees at its store having the same
classifications as employees located at the warehouses should also be
included in the unit.
The Employer operates a single large department store in Jackson-
ville, Florida. In addition to its store building, it has two warehouses
1 The name of the Petitioner appears as corrected at the hearing.
The Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the ground, among others, that the
unit sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate. For the reasons set forth in Section 3, the
motion is hereby granted.
87 NLRB No. 128.
1059
1060 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and a small garage within a 2-mile radius of the store. There is no,
history of collective bargaining for any of the employees.
The unit requested by the Petitioner would include only the em-
ployees, approximately 37 in number, in the following departments::
outside delivery, garage,, inside delivery, and warehouse. These de-
partments are all under the general supervision of the manager. of
operations, who also has supervision over receiving, shipping; and
delivery employees in the store, whom the Petitioner would exclude
from the unit.
In the outside delivery department, there are five package drivers,.
four furniture drivers, five drivers' helpers, a shuttle-truck driver, a
shuttle-truck helper, a rug driver, and two appliance service men.
These employees deliver merchandise from the store or warehouses to
customers, or transport it between the store and warehouses. They
are the only employees who drive trucks. Like the employees in the
inside delivery department,' discussed below, they are under the imme-
diate supervision of a supervisor of inside delivery.
In the garage, there are two garage service men, under the imme-
diate supervision of a garage supervisor. They wash, grease, and
gas the Employer's trucks, snake minor adjustments on them, and do
tire repair work. There are no other employees having similar duties.
In the inside delivery department, there are a shipping clerk, 2
wrappers, a shipping typist, and' an inside delivery sorter. These
employees, like those in the outside delivery department, are under
the immediate supervision of the supervisor of inside delivery.' The
shipping clerk and wrappers do the same work as a shipping clerk and
20 wrappers and packers in the store, none of whom the Petitioner
seeks to include in the unit. The shipping typist and sorter have no
counterparts in the store; however, the sorter works with packages
received from wrappers and packers in the store as well as from wrap-
pers in his own department.
. In the warehouse department, there are 2 furniture refinishers, a fur-
niture crater, a receiving clerk, 5 stock clerks, and 3 porters. All except
the receiving clerk are under the immediate supervision of a ware-.
house manager; the receiving clerk is under the manager of the re-
ceiving and marking department in the store. ' The receiving clerk,
stock clerks, and porters have the salve duties as 38 receiving clerks
and markers, 20 stock clerks, and 25 porters and maids employed in
the store, all of whom the Petitioner excludes from the unit it seeks 4
3 The entire delivery department was formerly located in the store, but was moved to
the warehouse approximately 6 weeks before the hearing because of lack of space in the
store.
t In the store , the receiving clerks and markers are under the immediate supervision of
the manager of the receiving and marking department : the stock clerks. under a head of
stock : and the porters and maids, under a porter boss.
COHEN BROTHERS 1061
'There are no furniture refinishers and craters located in the store;
however, the furniture refinishers do some work on merchandise in
the store, and the work of the crater is similar to that of the packers
in the store.
. All the Employer's employees are carried on the same pay roll, and
have the same employee benefits, working hours, and pay rate schedule.
'Those in similar job classifications in the warehouse and store are fre-
quently interchanged, .and are under the same over-all supervision.
Furthermore, all the employees in the unit sought by the Petitioner
and those in similar classifications in the store,5 will, within a year, be
located in a single large warehouse.
It is clear from these facts and from the record as a whole that
the Employer's warehouse activities are closely integrated with those
.of the store ; that employees at the warehouses perform duties similar
to those of store employees; and that the interests of both groups with
respect to wages, hours, and other conditions of employment are closely
related. We believe, therefore, that the proposed unit is too limited in
scope to constitute a separate bargaining unit.6 Accordingly, we find
that the unit sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate for collective
bargaining purposes.. We shall therefore dismiss the petition.
ORDER
IT Is IIEREt3Y ORDERED that the petition filed herein be, and it hereby
is, dismissed.
6I. c., the shipping clerk , wrappers and packers , receiving clerks and markers, stock
clerks , and porters and maids.
6 Connell & Chaffin, Inc ., 85 NLRB 887; Bonwit Teller, Inc., S4 NLRB 414 ; J. L.
Brandeis & Sons, 82 NLRB 806 ; Louis Pizitz Dry Goods Company, 80 NLRB 1442 ; Mont-
gomery Ward & Co., Incorporated, 77 NLRB 1363.