Colonial Stores, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 27, 1949

84 N.L.R.B. 558 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of COLONIAL STORES, INCORPORATED, EMPLOYER Clad
RETAIL CLERKS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION, LOCAL UNION No.
1063, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 10-RC-468.-Decided June 27,1949
DECISION
AY D
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Leroy W.
C. Mather, hearing officer. 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-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Reynolds].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. Colonial Stores, Incorporated, a Virginia corporation, operates
a series of retail chain grocery stores in the States of Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, and Georgia. There
are 42 stores involved in the instant petition, all of which are located
in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, and its environs. The Employer
annually purchases for use in its Atlanta stores $5,000,000 worth of
goods, of which in excess of $2,500,000 originates outside the State
of Georgia and are shipped in interstate commerce to its Atlanta
warehouse. Its annual sales in the city of Atlanta and the greater
Atlanta area exceed $5,000,000 annually. We find that the Em-
ployer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Labor Man-
agement Relations Act.'
2. The labor organization named below 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 2
1 Matter of Providence Public Market Company, 79 N L R B 1482 ; Matter of American
Stores, Inc, 80 N L R B 126
2 The Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that the Petitioner has not
made a proper showing of interest , and that its claim of representation should be proved at
the hearing. As the Board 's authority to conduct an investigation under Section 9 (c)
84 N. L R. B , No 67.
558
COLONIAL STORES, INCORPORATED '559
4. The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit consisting essentially of
employees in the grocery and produce departments of the Employer's
stores in the greater Atlanta area. The Employer contends that any
unit found appropriate by the Board should also include the meat
market employees 3 The Employer would exclude, and the Petitioner
.include, the Employer's assistant managers and the bookkeepers.
Meat market employees.-The record discloses that the Employer
conducts a special training course in meat preparation and selling, in
which most of the meat market employees have received training. All
of them are required to be qualified for their work by reason of experi-
ence and knowledge of meats, and are under the separate supervision
of a meat market manager. The Board has frequently found that
grocery department and meat department employees may constitute
separate appropriate units.' We shall exclude them from the unit in
this proceeding.
Assistant managers.-Employees in this classification perform pri-
marily the duties of first-class clerks. They also assume the duties of
the managers for short periods of time, but, even while acting as such,
they do not have the right to hire or discharge, and their direction of
other employees is limited to the arrangement of merchandise on
shelves. The assistant managers do not participate in any incentive
compensation plan as do the store and produce managers. We find
that, they are not supervisors as defined in the Act and shall include
them in the unit.
Bookkeepers.-The Petitioner seeks the exclusion of "head book-
keepers." The Employer contends there is no such classification in its
employ. The record discloses, however,, that a , class of clerk is em-
ployed whose duty is aiding the managers to-maintain the books.
These employees, who are employed only in the supermarkets, spend
60 or 65 percent of their time at keeping books. The remainder of their
duties consists of checking purchases at the checking counter. As they
do not possess any supervisory authority, we shall include the book-
keepers in the unit .5
of the Act is in nowise dependent upon the Petitioner's showing, we have frequently held
that the Petitioner 's showing is an administrative matter and not subject to litigation
at the hearing The Employer 's- motion is therefore denied Matter of Lion Oil Co., 76
N L R. B. 565 ; cf. Matter of 0 D. Jennings & Co., 68 N L R B 516
3 The record discloses that the Petitioner does not seek to represent the meat market
employees because they are under the jurisdiction of another labor organization affiliated
with the same parent body as the Petitioner Matter of Tilly Varnish Co., 53 N. L R B.
1203 Matter of Montsanto Chemical Co ., 53 N L R B. 784
* See, for example, Matter of The Kroger Company , 77 N. L. It. B. 370.
5 Matter of Florsheim Retail Boot Shop, 80 N L R. B 1312.
560 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We find that the following employees of the Employer constitute
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within
the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act :
All employees at the Employer's retail stores in the greater Atlanta
area (Atlanta, College Park, Hapesville, East Point, Decatur, and
Buckhead), including bookkeepers, checkers, food clerks, stock men,
produce clerks,, assistant managers, and regular part-time employees,
but excluding meat market employees, store and produce managers,
package boys, and all supervisors as defined in 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 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 in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4,
above, who were employed during the' pay-roll period immediately
p 'receding 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 excluding
employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective
bargaining, by Retail Clerks International Association, Local Union
No. 1063, AFL.