Dey Brothers & Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 15, 1949

85 N.L.R.B. 689 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of DEY BROTHERS & Co., EMPLOYER and UNITED RETAIL,
WHOLESALE AND DEPARTMENT STORE EMPLOYEES OF AMERICA, CIO,
PETITIONER
Case No. 3-RC-274.Decided August 15, 1949
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Richard Lip-
sitz, 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 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 employees
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 Employer, a wholly owned subsidiary of Allied Stores Corpora-
tion, operates a retail department store in Syracuse, New York. The
Employer's operations are subdivided into approximately 90 selling
and 50 nonselling departments. The Petitioner seeks a unit consist-
ing of the employees in the Employer's Display Department,2 one of
the 50 nonselling departments. The Employer contends that the
unit sought is inappropriate. There is no bargaining history affect-
ing these employees.
1 At the hearing, the Employer moved to dismiss the petition, on the grounds that the
unit sought was inappropriate. The hearing officer referred this motion to the Board.
For the reasons stated hereinafter, the Employer's motion to dismiss is granted.
S At the hearing the Petitioner, which initially sought a unit consisting of the window
trimmers in the Display Department, amended its petition to include in the unit the sign
writer and the Print-A-Sign machine operator, the only other employees in the Display
Department or, in the alternative, to establish two units, one to include the window
trimmers ,and the other the sign writer and Print-A-Sign machine operator.
85 N. L. R. B., No. 123.
689
690 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Employer's operations are supervised by the Managing Direc-
tor. Subordinate to him, and in charge of all the Employer's opera-
tions except the purchase of merchandise and the supervision of the
store buyers, is the Store Manager. Among the nonselling depart-
ments over which the Store Manager exercises ultimate supervision is
the Advertising Department; the Display Department is a subdivision
of the Advertising Department.
The Advertising Department handles all the Employer's advertis-
ing, including copywriting, make-up for newspaper advertisements,
direct mail advertising,- accounts solicitation, radio and television ad-
vertising, fashion shows, purchase of display fixtures, sign writing, and
window display advertising. The latter two functions comprise the
jurisdiction of the Display Department.
The job categories in the Display Department are window trimmers,
a sign writer, and a Print-A-Sign machine operator. The window
trimmers set up the displays in the Employer's store windows, and
construct and paint necessary props and backgrounds from designs
and specifications prepared by the Display Director, who is head of
the Display Department, and by certain of the more experienced win-
dow trimmers. The window trimmers also similarly set up certain
general and seasonal interior displays 3 The sign writer prepares all
hand-lettered signs used in window displays and elsewhere throughout
the store; the Print-A-Sign machine operator prepares all mechani-
cally printed counter and display signs used in the store.
The Employer requires no particular training or experience for
employment in the Display Department, nor has it any established
apprenticeship program. Some of the employees in the Display De-
partment had prior training and experience as window trimmers, as
a.rtists,4 or in making and setting up stage properties and backgrounds;
others received all their training within the Display Department.
Employees in the Display Department have been recruited both from
among other employees of the Employer and from the outside.
The employees in the Display Department are subject to the same
conditions of employment 5 and receive the same benefits and privi-
leges as do all other employees of the Employer. They are paid on
the same basis as, and their average wages approximate the average
wages of, all other nonselling employees. All employees are subject
8 Counter displays are set up by certain sales personnel called Display Sponsors, who
are trained by the Employer in a 5 -week, one -half hour per week course . After they have
been trained, the Display Sponsors spend approximately 10 percent of their time doing
display work ; the remainder of their time is spent selling.
' Artists are likewise employed elsewhere in the Advertising Department.
8 The employees in the Display 'Department do not work regular store hours. However,
nearly half of the remaining nonselling departments likewise do not work regular store
hours.
DEY BROTHERS & CO. 691
to the same personnel policies and all are hired through the same
personnel office."
On the basis of the foregoing, and on the entire record, we find that
the employees sought by the Petitioner are neither craftsmen 7 nor
professional employees; 8 nor do their interests as employees differ
materially from the interests of other employees of the Employer.
Rather, the Display Department constitutes only one segment of Em-
ployer's Advertising Department, which latter department is an in-
tegral part of the Employer' s selling operations., Accordingly, there
is no basis, other than extent of organization, for establishing any of the
alternative units requested by the Petitioner. We are, however, pre-
cluded from establishing a unit on such basis alone?, We find, there-
fore , that all of the alternative units requested are inappropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining under the provisions of the
amended Act. We shall, accordingly, dismiss the petition.
ORDER
IT Is HEREBY ORDERED that the petition herein be, and it hereby is,
dismissed.
6 Applicants for employment in the Display Department are interviewed by both the
personnel office and the Display Director. The record does not reflect whether applicants
for employment in other departments are likewise interviewed by such department heads.
4 See Matter of Frederick Loeser & Company , Inc., 85 N. L. R . B., No. 52.
8 Cf. Matter of Louis Pizitz Dry Goods Company, 71 N. L. R. B. 579, 582.
9 See Matter of Montgomery Ward & Company , 78 N. L. R. B. 1070 ; Matter of Whitney's
Department Store, 73 N . L. R. B. 1245, 1248.
10 Section 9 ( c) (5) of the amended Act. See Matter of Thalhimer Brothers Incorporated,
81 N. L . R. B. 1175.
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