Colonial Stores, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 20, 1948

78 N.L.R.B. 1254 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of COLONIAL STORES, INC., EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND
HELPERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL UNION No. 81, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 34-RC-48.-Decided August 00, 1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
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.
2. The labor organization named below claims 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 requests a unit comprised of all truck drivers
and drivers' helpers at the Employer's Durham, North Carolina, ware-
house, the only operation involved in this proceeding. The Employer
contends that the unit sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate be-
cause it does not also include the remaining warehouse employees,
such as mechanics, watchmen, warehousemen, and clerical employees.
There are approximately 150 to 160 employees in the Employer's
Durham warehouse, of whom 45 are truck drivers and 6 are helpers.
The drivers and helpers are of the type commonly known as "over
the road" truck drivers and are engaged solely in the delivery of
'Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Reynolds.
78 N. L. R. B., No. 175.
1254
COLONIAL STORES, INC. 1255
mechandise from the warehouse to various retail stores of the Em-
ployer which are located in North Carolina and southern Virginia.
All employees other than the drivers and their helpers are confined,
when at work, to the warehouse premises. In support of its request
for an over-all unit, the Employer asserts that it treats all of the
warehouse employees on a similar basis as regards wages, vacation
privileges, and other conditions of employment. The record indi-
cates that there is no history of collective bargaining with respect
to any of the Employer's employees.' Upon the basis of the entire
record, we believe that the truck drivers and helpers constitute a
homogeneous and functionally coherent group who 'may be repre-
sented as a unit for the purposes of collective bargaining.2
We find that all truck drivers and drivers' helpers of the Employer's
Durham, North Carolina, warehouse, excluding supervisors within
the meaning of the Act, constitute a unit appropriate 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
purposes 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 Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, 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 reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also exclud-
ing employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to deter-
mine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of
collective bargaining, by International Brotherhood of Teamsters,
Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, Local Union
No. 81, AFL.
1 Contrary to the Employer's contention, the Petitioner is not precluded from seeking
a unit of truck drivers because it had previously agreed to a consent election in a unit
which also included mechanics and watchmen (Case No. 5W-R-22). The election, which
was conducted over a year ago, on April 11, 1947, did not result in a certification or in
any subsequent collective bargaining history. See Matter of The Hartford Courant Com-
pany, 72 N L R. B 292.
s See Matter of Burnet-Binford Lumber Company, 75 N. L. R. B . 421; Matter of Royal
Tallow & Soap Go, Inc, 78 N L R B 834