Dohrmann Commercial Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 13, 1960

127 N.L.R.B. 205 (N.L.R.B. 1960)

DOHRMANN COMMERCIAL COMPANY, ETC. 205
-partment employees, inspectresses, maids, linenroom clerks, seam-
stress, hallboys and lobby porter in the housekeeping department,
bellmen, elevator operators, room clerks, the night auditor and the
cashiers in the front office, the secretary to the sales manager, the
general cashier, the auditor and the clerks in the auditing department,
the PBX operators, part-time waiters and waitresses in the banquet
department, waitresses, busboys, busgirls, and cashiers in the bar de-
partment, and the barbers and shoeshine boy in the barbershop, but
excluding soda dispensers in the drugstore, the confidential secretary
to the manager, the assistant manager, the superintendent of service,
-chief engineer, the laundry clerk, the housekeeper, the chief steward,
the chef, the banquet captain, the hostess, so-called timekeeper, watch-
men, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
Dohrmann Commercial Company 1 and Dohrmann Hotel Sup-
ply C0 .2 and Freight Checkers, Clerical Employees and Help-
ers Union , Local 856, International Brotherhood of Teamsters,
Chauffeurs , Warehousemen & Helpers of America , Petitioner.
Case No. 20-RC-4039. April 13, 1960
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Paul A. Cassady, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board 3 finds :
1. The Companies took no position on jurisdiction. The record
,shows that Commercial owns and operates a number of retail stores
in California and Arizona; its total annual sales exceed $500,000.
Hotel Supply, a wholly owned subsidiary of Commercial, wholesales
items to hotels, hospitals, and other institutions through 11 States;
its annual out-of-State sales exceed $50,000. The Board finds that the
Companies are engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act
and that it will effectuate the policies of the Act to assert jurisdiction
herein.'
' Hereinafter called Commercial.
'Hereinafter called Hotel Supply. Hotel Supply's name appears as amended at the
hearing.
' Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the Act, the Board has delegated its
powers in connection with this case to a three -member panel [Chairman Leedom and
Members Bean and Fanning].
4 Carolina Supplies and Cement Co., 122 NLRB 88; Siemons Mailing Service, 122
NLRB 81.
127 NLRB No. 27.
206 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
2. The Petitioner claims to represent certain employees of the
Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen-
tation of certain 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 to represent the office clerical employees of
Commercial and Hotel Supply in a single unit ; in the alternative, it
will accept separate units. The Employer contends that only separate
units are appropriate , and has moved to dismiss the petition on the
ground that the unit sought is inappropriate.
Commercial and Hotel Supply operate separate but related selling
organizations in the retail and wholesale field. The central offices of
both companies, the establishments involved herein, occupy two con-
tiguous buildings . Both Companies have substantially the same di-
rectors and officers, including a common officer in charge of labor
relations . The two Companies have similar office job classifications,
wage rates , and employee benefits . Although there is little inter-
change of employees and the employees of each Company are sep-
arately supervised , employees of Commercial perform some work for
Hotel Supply.
In view of the corporate relationship of the two Companies, their
geographical proximity, the similarity of their operations, and their
functional integration, particularly with respect to labor relations,
we find that Commercial and Hotel Supply constitute a single em-
ployer for the purposes of collective bargaining .' Accordingly, we
find that a single unit , including the office clerical employees of both
Companies , is appropriate.
The parties are in agreement as to the composition of the unit,
except for the following employees whom the Employer would exclude
and the Petitioner would include :
G. Peters, the assistant traffic manager , performs the usual functions
of a secretary . She also checks rate information and occasionally
routes shipments and handles transportation for personnel . She does
not exercise supervisory authority except during the occasional ab-
sences of her supervisor , the traffic manager. We find that Peters is
neither a supervisor nor a managerial employee , and include her.'
M. Zydonis receives all reimbursement claims and distributes work
to the two 'girls who work with her in the preparation of accounts
payable. As she only routinely directs the work of these two em-
ployees, we find that she is not a supervisor . Accordingly , we shall
include her.
M. Keith is the chief clerk in the credit and accounting office. She
directs the work of 20 employees and has the authority effectively to
6 See Harvey Radto Laboratories, Inc, 117 NLRB 552, 553.
6 See Compagme Generale Transatiantique (French Lane), 117 NLRB 535, 538.
SEAFARERS' INT'L UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, ETC. 207
recommend hiring and discharge. We find that she is a supervisor
and exclude her.
K. Morini, L. Cavalli, L. Croft, and D. Salcedo are secretaries to
the Employer's vice president-treasurer, the office manager, the store
manager and assistant store manager, and the vice president of Hotel
Supply, respectively. Although these employees have access to the
minutes of directors' meetings or to personnel and other files, there is
no evidence that they act in a confidential capacity to any person who
formulates, determines, and effectuates the Employer's labor relations
policies. We find that they are not confidential employees and shall
include them in the unit.'
Accordingly, we find that all office clerical employees at the offices
of Dohrmann Commercial Company and Dohrmann Hotel Supply
Co., at 972 and 984 Mission Street, San Francisco, California, exclud-
ing confidential secretaries, salesmen, professional employees, and
supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
'Arden Farms, et al., 117 NLRB 318, 320; The B. F. Goodrich Coma (my, 115 NLRB
722, 724.
Seafarers ' International Union of North America, Atlantic and
Gulf District, Harbor and Inland Waterways Division, AFL-
CIO and Superior Derrick Corporation . Case No. 15-CC-71..
April 13, 1960
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND ORDER
On November 12, 1958, the Board issued its Decision and Order'
herein, finding that the Respondent had violated Section 8 (b) (4) (A)
and (B) of the Act. With respect to certain other unfair labor prac-
tices alleged in the complaint, the Board dismissed. On January 21,
1960, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
affirmed the Board's finding of a violation but reversed that part of
the Board's Decision and Order dismissing certain allegations of the
complaint and remanded the case to the Board for action consistent
with the court's opinion?
In its original decision, a majority of the Board participating
therein found that the Respondent's picketing at the Dumaine Street
wharf violated Section 8(b) (4) (A) and (B) of the Act. However,
with respect to Respondent's picketing at the Gretna Street wharf, a
1122 NLRB 52.
2 Superior Derrick Corporation v. N.L.R.B., 273 F. 2d 891 (C.A. 5).
127 NLRB No. 11.