Eisner Grocery Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 17, 1947

72 N.L.R.B. 721 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of EISNEI2 Guoci:RY COMPANY, EMPLOYER and INTER-
NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREIIOUSE-
D EN & Hlna'ERs, LOCAL UNION No. 798, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 13-R-3735.-Decided February 17, 1947
Mr. lhilliam H. Lee, of Champaign , Ill., for the Employer.
Cllr. H. F. Simonson, of Champaign , Ill., for the Petitioner.
Mr. Emil C. Farkas, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon 't petition duly fi.ed, hearing in this case was held at Urbana,
Illinois, on September 24, 1946, before Gustaf B. Erickson, hearing
officer. At the hearing the Employer moved to dismiss the petition
on various grounds. The hearing officer referred this motion to the
Board. For the reasons stated in Section IV, infra, the motion is
hereby denied. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing area
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the followiiig :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Eisner Grocery Company, an Illinois corporation , is engaged in
the retail selling of staple groceries , meats and produce under the
name of "Piggly Wiggly," ^ and operates a chain of 33 grocery stores,
of which 27 are located in Champaign , Illinois, and 6 are located in
LaFayette , Indiana. In connection with its retail grocery business
the Employer owns and operates 14 warehouses , 8 of which are located
in Champaign , Illinois , 2 in Bloomington , Illinois , 2 in Danville, Illi-
nois, 1 in Mattoon , Illinois , and 1 in LaFayette , Indiana. We are
here concerned with the Employer 's warehouses in Champaign,
Illinois.
' It appears from the record that "Piggly wiggly" is a registered trade name under
which businesses such as the Employer 's are licensed to operate
72 N. L R B., No. 131.
721
722 DECISTONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
i
In the operation of its business, the Employer annually purchases
through its main offices at Champaign, Illinois, meats, staple groceries
and produce valued in excess of $1,500,000. Meats comprise approxi-
mately 40 percent of the Employer's total retail sales and are procured
almost entirely from meat packers in Chicago. Staple groceries are
purchased from processors or manufacturers, some of whom are lo-
cated in Illinois ; but the bulk of such staple foods is shipped to the
Employer from points outside the State. Most of the produce is ob-
tained in Chicago or through Chicago brokers and originates in States
other than the State of Illinois. In addition more than $300,000 worth
of food products are delivered annually to the Employer's Indiana
warehouses from its Illinois warehouses, and approximately $50,000
worth of merchandise is brought into Illinois from its Indiana ware-
houses. During the year 1945, the Employer's sales of food products
totaled approximately $8,350,229, approximately 95 percent of which
represented local retail sales through its retail outlets in Illinois and
Indiana, and the remainder of which represented sales to local whole-
salers.2
On the basis of the foregoing facts, we find, contrary to the Employ-
er's contention, that, in the operation of its chain of grocery stores and
warehouses in the States of Illinois and Indiana, it is engaged in
interstate commerce within the meaning of the National Labor
Relations Act.3
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
As previously noted, of the Employer's 14 warehouses, 8 are located
in Champaign, Illinois. The latter are the Grocery Division, the
c 2 The above figures as well as the value of the Employer 's purchases of food products
were furnished by the Employer at the hearing . The figures as to purchases when con-
trasted with figures as to sales , suggest that the former are rather general while the latter
are quite specific.
2 Matter of Ritchie Grocer Company, 69 N. L R B. 471; Matter of Piggly Wiggly of San
Diego, Inc., 60 N. L . R. B. 47; Matter of Elliott Grocery Company , 59 N. L. R. B. 196;
Matter of H. G. Hill Stores, Inc., Warehouse, 39 N. L. R. B. 875 ; see also N. L. R. B. v.
Suburban Lumber Company , 121 F. ( 2d) 829 (C. C. A. 3), cert. den. 314 U. A. 693.
EISNER GROCERY COMPANY 723
Package Division, and the Produce Division, all located at 202 South
Market Street; the Garage and Maintenance Division and the Meat
Division located at 210 and 212 South Market Street, respectively,
and adjacent to 202 South'Market Street, the Beef House Division
located at 811 North State Street, and No. 1 and No. 4 warehouse
stores of the Grocery and Produce Division located at 134 West
Church Street and 114 South Neil Street, respectively.
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all truck drivers, warehousemen and
helpers of the Employer's Grocery Division, Produce Division, Meat
Division and Beef House Division, but excluding employees of the
Package Division, of the Garage and Maintenance Division, of ware-
house stores No. 1 and No. 4 of Grocery and Produce Division, watch-
men, maintenance men, clerical employees, all other employees and
all supervisory personnel.4 The Employer, however, urges that, in
view of its integrated operations, the appropriate bargaining unit is
one embracing all the employees in its retail stores and warehouses,
except executives and supervisory employees, or, in the alternative,
one of all employees engaged in its warehousing operations.
The warehouses involved in the Petitioner's unit are located at 202
and 212 South Market Street and 811 North State Street, Champaign,
Illinois. There are approximately 50 employees at these warehouses
falling within the desired classifications. The record discloses that all
the Employer's employees engaged in warehousing operations through-
out Champaign, Illinois, including those sought by the Petitioner,
receive and store merchandise purchased by the Employer and prepare
it for distribution to the various retail outlets. It reveals further that
from time to time the employees of one warehouse are interchanged
with similarly classified employees of another warehouse without
regard to its location in the city. In addition truck drivers and
warehousemen interchange in their duties.
With particular reference to the approximately 24 employees of the
Package Division and of warehouse store No. 1, sought to be excluded
by the Petitioner on the alleged ground that they are not warehouse-
men, the record shows that they perform in general the same type of
work as the employees located at the Employer's other warehouses
and are interchangeable, and have from time to time been inter-
changed, with them. Although the employees of the Package Division
have the added duty of repackaging certain food items such as coffee,
beans, sugar, cakes and produce, which must be' wrapped in smaller
containers or bundles for resale, and although the employees at ware-
house store No. 1, where produce and processed foods such as Kraft
'No 4 warehouse store has no warehouse employees and is serviced by the warehouse
employees from No. 1 store; the Garage and Maintenance Division is devoted to mainte-
nance work only.
724 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
cheeses and salad dressing are stored in refrigerated rooms for future
use, have the added duty of filling orders as they are received from the
various retail stores, these added duties do not effect a change in their
basic function which is that of warehousemen.
From all the foregoing we are persuaded that there is no warrant
,for excluding from the requested unit employees with similar classi-
fications in the Package Division and at warehouse store No. 1. The
functions performed by the employees at all the warehouses in Cham-
paign are generally similar and closely related and the employment
interests of these employees appear to be identical. Moreover, the
operations at all the Employer's warehouses are carried on in an in-
tegrated manner. In fact, the record reveals that the Employer has
recently acquired a 50-acre tract of land for the purpose of construct-
ing a single building to house its Champaign warehousing operations,
and that its present scattered warehousing facilities are attributable to
its inability to find quarters large enough and generally suitable as a
warehouse. Accordingly we shall not direct an election in the unit
requested by the Petitioner, but shall instead direct an election among
the employees of the Employer engaged in warehousing operations at
all its warehousing facilities in Champaign, Illinois.
We find that all truck drivers, warehousemen and helpers of the
Employer's warehousing facilities in Champaign, Illinois, but excld-
ing all supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, dis-
charge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
ployees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.5
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Eisner Grocery Company,
Champaign, Illinois, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as
early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of
this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional
Director for the Thirteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for
the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections 203.55
and 203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regula-
tions-Series 4, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in
Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period im-
mediately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees
who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill
I If the Petitioner does not wish to participate in an election for the unit herein found
appropriate, it may withdraw its petition filed in this proceeding upon notice to that effect
given to the Regional Director, in writing, within ten (10) days from the date of the
Direction of Election herein.
EISNER GROCERY COMPANY 725
or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the
armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person
at the polls, 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, to determine whether or not they desire to be
represented by International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs,
Warehousemen & Helpers, Local Union No. 798, AFL, for the purposes
of collective bargaining.