Famous-Barr Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 1, 1944

54 N.L.R.B. 230 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of THE MAY DEPARTMENT STORES COMPANY, D/B/A
FAMOUS-BARR COMPANY and ELEVATOR OPERATORS AND STARTERS,
LOCAL 50-E, A. F. L.
In the Matter of THE MAY DEPARTMENT STORES COMPANY, D/B/A
FAMOUS-BARR COMPANY and LOCAL 372, UNITED RETAIL ,}WHOLESALE,
AND DEPARTMENT STORE EMPLOYEES OF AMERICA, CIO.
Cases Nos. 144-R-779' and 14-R-'794, respectively.Decided January
1,191/
Mr. Charles K. Hackler, for the Board.
Lewis, Rice, Tucker, Allen and Chubb, by Messrs. Milton H. Tucker
and Robert T. Burch, of St. Louis, Mo., for the Company.
Mr. Daniel J. Carmell, of Chicago, Ill., for Local 50-E.
Mr. Joseph A. Padway, by Mr. Robert A. Wilson, of Washington,
D. C., and Mr. J. H. Skaggs, of St. Louis, Mo., for the A. F. of L.
Messrs. Francis Heisler and Leonard Levy, of Chicago, Ill., and
Messrs. Morris J. Levin, Victor B. Harris, and Emanuel Boggs, of St.
Louis, Mo., for the C. I. O.
Mrs. Augusta Spaulding, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon separate petitions duly filed by Elevator Operators and
Starters, Local 50-E, A. F. L., herein called Local 50-E, and by
Local 372, United Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Em-
ployees of America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations, herein called the C. I. 0., each alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of The May Department Stores Company, doing business as
Famous-Barr Company, St. Louis, Missouri , herein called the Com-
pany, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appro-
priate consolidated hearing upon due notice before R. N. Denham,
Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at St. Louis, Missouri, on
November 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, and 23, 1943. The Board, the Company,
54 N. L. R. B., No. 30.
230
THE MAY DEPARTMENT STORES COMPANY 231
Local 50-E, the C. I. 0., and the American Federation of Labor, rep-
resenting its several affiliated international unions, herein called the
A. F. of L., appeared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity
to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce
evidence bearing on the issues. During the course of the hearing, the
A. F. of L. and the Company moved to dismiss the petition of the
C. I. O. on the ground that the unit proposed therein was not an
appropriate unit and on the further ground that the C. I. O. had
failed to submit evidence of sufficient representation among em-
ployees in an appropriate bargaining unit. The Trial Examiner
denied the motions and the motions were renewed before the Board.
For reasons which appear in Sections III and IV, below, the motions
are denied. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were
afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board. The request for
oral argument filed by the A. F. of L. is hereby denied.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board' makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The May Department Stores Company is a New York corporation,
owning and operating department stores in several States. In St.
Louis, Missouri, the Company does business,under the trade name of
'Famous-Barr,Company and Famous and Barr Company. The Com-
pany's store at St. Louis, Missouri, is the only store of the Company
involved in the instant proceedings.
At St. Louis, Missouri, the Company is engaged in purchasing,
receiving, processing, repairing, selling, and distributing a general
line of department store goods and merchandise. During 1942 the
Company purchased and transported to its store goods and merchan-
dise valued at approximately $27,000,000, approximately 70 percent
of which represented purchases transported from points outside
Missouri. During the same period the Company sold and trans-
ported from its store goods and merchandise valued in excess of $27,-
000,000, of which approximately 12 percent represented sales of goods
transported to points outside Missouri.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Elevator Operators and Starters, Local 50-E, is a labor organiza-
tion chartered by Building Service Employees International Union,
and through it affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, ad-
mitting to membership employees of the Company.
232 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Local 372, United Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Em-
ployees of America, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of
the Company.
The American Federation of Labor is an international labor organi-
zation, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On September 2, 1943, Local 50-E notified the Company by letter
that a majority of elevator operators at the Company's store had
designated Local 50-E as their bargaining representative and re-
quested a bargaining conference.- On September 13, 1943, the Com-
pany refused to recognize Local 50-E as bargaining representative of
these employees.
On September 29,1943, the C. 1. 0. asked the Company for a bargain-
ing conference for the purpose of negotiating a collective bargaining
contract covering employees at the Company's store. On October 2,
1943, the Company refused to hold any such conference.
Statements of the Regional Director and other evidence introduced
at the hearing indicate that Local 50-E and the C. 1. 0. each represents
a substantial number of employees in the unit herein found appropriate
for elevator operators of the Company and that the C. I. O. represents
a substantial number of employees in the unit herein found appropriate
for other store employees of the Company.'
'In support of its contention to represent a substantial number of elevator employees,
Local 50-E submitted 50 cards, , each of which purported to bear an original signature of
an elevator employee of the Company . Fifteen of these cards were dated in 1942, 1 was
undated, and the remaining were dated 1943. The C. I. O. submitted 24 cards, of which
4 were undated and the remaining dated in 1942 , each of which 'purported to bear the
signature of an elevator employee of the Company.
There are approximately 40 employees in the unit appropriate for the Company 's elevator
'operators
In support of its contention to represent a substantial number of employees at the
store, the C. I. 0 submitted 1,558 cards , 118 of which bore printed names and the remain-
ing purported to bear genuine original signatures of employees of the Company . Of these
cards 180 were undated , 189 bore dates prior to July 1, 1942, 529 bore dates between July
1 and November 24, 1942, and the remaining bore dates subsequent to November 24, 1942.
In support of its claim to be actively organizing the employees of the Company, the
American Federation of Labor submitted to the Trial Examiner at the hearing approxi-
mately 95 cards, some of which were dated in 1941, a few in 1943, and the remaining in'
1942 These cards bore apparently original signatures of employees of the Company.
The Company declined , upon request , to furnish a pay roll to the Regional Office for the
timely use of the Board 's agent in making a preliminary investigation of the claims of the
labor organizations to represent employees of the Company in their respectively proposed
bargaining units . None of the cards submitted by these labor organizations was therefore
checked against any pay roll of the Company prior to the hearing. During the course of
the hearing , the Company 's pay roll was received in evidence and the Company then re-
quested that the hearing be interrupted for the comparison of the signatures on the
authorization cards with the names of employees on the pay roll . The A. F. of L. joined
in this request . The Trial Examiner denied the requests.
The Company and the A. F . of L. contend that the petition of the C. I. O. should be
dismissed because the record does not affirmatively ' indicate the exact percentage of
employees in an appropriate bargaining unit who have apparently designated the C. I. O.
as their bargaining representative . We do not agree . The Board 's purpose in making a
THE MAY DEPARTMENT STORES COMPANY 233
We find that questions affecting commerce have arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9, (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
Iv. THE APPROPRIATE UNITS
The Company's main store building at St. Louis is situated on a city
block bound by Sixth, Seventh, Olive, and Locust Streets. The base-
ment, the main floor, and the upper floors to and including the 10th
floor are used wholly or in part for the sale of merchandise. Parts of
certain floors and intervening galleries are set aside for work rooms
conveniently adjacent to the appropriate selling departments. The
11th floor is confined to the Company's executive and general offices
and service departments. The 12th floor contains stockrooms for
small wares; otherwise the 12th and 13th floors are also confined to
general service departments and offices. Joined to the main store by
a tunnel through an intervening street and serving as an annex to
the store proper, is the St. Charles Street warehouse where merchandise
for the store is received and marked, where the delivery department
has its downtown office, and where there are work rooms, shops, a
bakery, an ice cream plant, a fur storage department, and various
stockrooms for merchandise required for immediate transfer to the
selling floors in the main store. A second warehouse known as the
Pine Street warehouse and a third warehouse known as the Spring
Avenue warehouse are about a block and about 3 miles respectively
from the main store. A customers' garage and parking lot is about
5 blocks distant from the store's principal entrances.
preliminary check of authorization cards against the pay roll of the employer is to serve
as a safeguard against the premature institution of proceedings ,by a labor organization
having little or no representation among ' mployees for whom it desires to be certified as
bargaining representative , and not as a su )stitute for an election . On December 24, 1942,
the Board dismissed a petition in Case No . 11-4580 , a prior representation proceeding
involving employees of the Company filed by the C. I. 0., because the unit therein proposed
was not a well defined bargaining unit aad because the petitioner did not indicate that
it represented a sufficient number of employees in any appropriate bargaining unit to make
an immediate election of any immediate value. Matter of The May Department Stores
Company, d/b/a Famous -Barr Company, ,6 N. L. R. B. 305. The instant record clearly
discloses that, since the decision in the prior proceeding was rendered , the C. I. O. has
carried forward its organizational program and has acquired a substantial number of
authorization cards.
The Company lists on its pay roll approximately 4,500 employees , but the number of
employees actually working during any pay-roll period fluctuates . There were 3,204 em-
ployees listed on the pay roll of August 14, 1943, who actually worked some time during.
that pay -roll period . The record does not disclose the present number of employees in
the several departments and work classifications at the store . Although the record does
not affirmatively establish exactly how many employees are included in the store unit
herein found appropriate or the percentage of employees who are purported to have
signed cards designating the C. I. 0 as their bargaining representative therein, upon the
showing made and the basis of the entire record herein, we are of the opinion that an
election in furtherance of our investigation should be held without further delay, in
order that we may determine thereby the question of the Immediate desire of the Com-
pany's employees for collective bargaining with their employer. Cf. Matter of Republic,
Aviation Corporation, 51 N. L. R. B. 206.
234 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The parties agree that all employees of the Company at the Spring
Avenue warehouse should be excluded from any unit herein found
appropriate for the Company's employees. Substantially all these
employees have been organized by and bargain with the Company
through labor organizations affiliated with the American Federation
of Labor. None of the labor organizations herein concerned claims
to represent any of these employees or desires their inclusion in any
unit herein proposed as an appropriate bargaining unit. We shall,
therefore, exclude employees of the Company at the Spring Avenue
warehouse from our present consideration and from the units herein
found appropriate for bargaining.
The Company would include within a single bargaining unit em-
ployees at the main store, the St. Charles Street warehouse, the Pine
Street warehouse, and the customers' garage. The A. F. of L., appear-
ing on behalf of its several affiliated international unions, agrees with
the Company with respect to the general scope of the appropriate
bargaining unit. The ,C. I. 0., not disputing the appropriateness of
the larger unit proposed by the Company and the A. F. of L., would,
on the scope of organization among the Company's employees, limit the
immediate bargaining unit to employees at the main store and the ad-
joining St. Charles Street warehouse. Local 50-E seeks a unit re-
stricted to elevator operators at the store and the St. Charles Street
warehouse.
The record contains little reference to employees of the Company
at the Pine Street warehouse and at the customers' garage. Both these
groups of employees are physically separated in their work from
employees at the main store and the St. Charles Street warehouse. The
C. I. 0. has not attempted to organize these employees of the Com-
pany. Although the A. F. of L. contends that the organizational
efforts of its affiliated unions have been on a broad-plant basis and
have included these employees, the record does not disclose that the
A. F. of L. through its affiliated unions claims to represent a majority
of employees in the.broad unit which it contends is appropriate for
bargaining purposes. While employees at the various buildings of
the Company in St. Louis might well be included in a single plant-
wide unit, no labor organization presently claims to represent a ma-
jority of such employees. Since neither of the labor organizations
petitioning herein seeks to, represent employees at the Pine Street
warehouse and at the customers' garage, and would exclude such em-
ployees from their proposed bargaining' units, we shall exclude these
employees from the bargaining units which we herein find appropri-
ate. The present issue with respect to the scope of the appropriate
bargaining group thus narrows itself to the consideration of the bar-
gaining unit or units appropriate for employees at the Company's store
and St. Charles Street warehouse which will insure to such employees
THE MAY DEPARTMENT STORES COMPANY 235
the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to collective
bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act.
The instant dispute between the C. I. 0. and Local 50-E concerns
the issue whether elevator operators, who constitute a separate depart-
ment of the Company's store operations, should be set apart from other
store employees as a separate bargaining unit or whether they should
form a part of the store unit which, with certain departmental ex-
clusions, the C. I. 0. contends is an' appropriate bargaining unit.
The Company agrees with the C. I. 0. that the elevator operators
should constitute a part of the store unit. The A. F. of L. favors the
contention of its affiliate that the elevator operators should constitute
a separate bargaining unit apart from other employees at the store.
Local 50-E limits its membership to elevator operators and admits
to membership no other employees of the Company.
Elevator operators and starters work under the direction and super-
vision of an elevator supervisor who, so far as the record discloses, is
not concerned with the work of any other of the Company's employees.
The elevator superviser interviews all new employees who desire eleva-
tor employment. These applicants are for the most part inexperienced
operators and must be trained for their work. They are first given
an overall study of the store plan to familiarize them with the scope
and location of the several departments and services offered by the
Company so that they may assist and direct the Company's customers.
The new employees are then given special training in running the
Company's elevators. They are first placed with an experienced
operator on elevators restricted to the use of the Company's employees;
after some training they are placed on general passenger elevators.
After several weeks''training under the supervision of a skilled opera-
tor, these new employees are judged sufficiently experienced to operate
an elevator alone. At different times of the day, elevator operators
are assigned to watch the escalators in the store, and this work is
considered part of their regular duties. There are few transfers of
elevator operators to other departments of the store. There are 26
passenger elevators and 2 freight elevators in the store and the ad-
joining warehouse. The regular and relief elevator operators number
about 40.
The record discloses that the organization of the Company's em-
ployees at St. Louis was begun more than 2 years ago and that the
competing labor organizations interested in this effort have made slow
progress in accomplishing their purposes. Several labor organizations
have succeeded in gaining certification or recognition as bargaining
representatives of employees in small craft or skilled groups.2 The
C. I. 0. and the A. F. of L. each desires to organize the employees of
2 The Company has recognized craft unions as the representatives of teamsters, elec
fricians , carpenters , painters , and upholsterers , respectively.
236 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the Company on a broad basis. In Case No. R-4580, the prior rep-
resentation proceeding involving employees of the Company noted
above,3 the C. I.'O. made an attempt to secure certification as bargain-
ing representative of the Company's store employees in a broad unit.
We were not persuaded that the restrictions placed on the unit pro-
posed by the petitioner would protect the bargaining interests of the
excluded employees or that the unit proposed was otherwise appro-
priate for bargaining purposes. Under these circumstances, when it
did not appear that the petitioner represented a substantial number
of employees in any definable unit clearly appropriate for bargaining
purposes, we dismissed the petition. In Case No. R-5331, a later rep-
resentation proceeding involving employees of the Company, we found
that employees in the busheling departments at the Company's store
constituted an appropriate bargaining unit and we certified the
C. I. O. as their bargaining representative 4 Thus, collective bargain-
ing became an immediate possibility for employees in craft and de-
partmental groups who desired collective bargaining without the
delay pendent upon the wider organization of employees of the
Company in a larger unit. Since each finding with respect to an
appropriate bargaining unit is predicated upon the situation instantly
presented to the Board, and present scope of organization constitutes
an important circumstance of unit determination, later considerations
of a unit or units appropriate for the Company's employees are not
foreclosed by earlier findings. Whether or not employees in the Com-
pany's store presently desire to bargain collectively on a broad basis,
and the evidence is admittedly less certain on this question, it seems
very clear that the elevator operators, first organized as a skilled group
by Local 50-E, have signified a desire to form a separate bargaining
unit.
In view of the history of the slow organizational activity among the
Company's employees, in the absence of any collective bargaining
history on a broad basis, and in view of the small groups-which func-
tion as bargaining units for employees in the Company's busheling
and other craft departments, we find that elevator employees at the
Company's store and the St. Charles Street warehouse constitute an
appropriate bargaining unit apart from other employees of the Com-
pany. We shall include within this bargaining unit elevator em-
ployees and starters and escalator attendants, and we shall exclude
from this unit all supervisory employees of the Company within our
usual definition of that term.
The C. I. 0., the A. F. of L., and the Company agree that confiden-
tial and supervisory employees 3 and all employees in departments
B Matter of The May Department Stores Company , footnote 1, supra. '
In Case No. R-5331, the petition was filed by and the certification issued in the name
of St . Louis Joint Council , representing the C. I. 0.
5 So far as the record discloses the parties do not disagree with respect to the persons
who fall within the agreed excluded categories . The record indicates , and we assume, that
THE MAY DEPARTMENT STORES COMPANY 237
324, 325; 341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 352, 379, 421, 422, 431, 381, 382, 443, 477,
541, and 5616 should be excluded from the bargaining unit for the
Company's store employees. The C. I. 0. would further exclude from
the store unit all employees in the general office department,? demon-
strators, and employees in leased departments. The Company and
A. F. of L. oppose the exclusion of these employees from the store unit.
The Company employs in several of its regular selling and non-
selling departments clerical employees who work with other employees
of these departments and under the same departmental managers and
supervisors. These department' clerical employees somewhat cor-
respond to plant clerical employees who work in and among produc-
tion employees in manufacturing plants, except that most of the Com-
pany's employees are white-collar employees and many of them in-
clude some phase of clerical work among their regular duties. The
C. I. 0. would include departmental clerical employees with other
employees of the same departments because all such ,employees are
closely associated in their departmental work and enjoy a common
and immediate bond of employment, and the Company and the A. F.
of L. approve their inclusion. Employees in the general office depart-
ments, who are also clerical employees, carry on overall office opera-
tions covering phases of the work of all departments at the store.
Most general office departments are located on the 11th floor of the
main store building, but some of them are in offices scattered through
the building and at the St. Charles Street warehouse. It is clear that
employees in the general office departments might very well function
as part of an overall store unit since they are an integral part of the
Company's business operations." No labor organization;, however,
under the term supervisory employees , all employees who fall within our usual definition
of that term are deemed by the parties excluded from the bargaining unit, and we shall
so provide.
6 These departments , by name and in the order given, are listed as follows : Paymaster,
Cashier-Main , Store Supervision , Employment , Timekeepers , Educational , Welfare, Store
Protection , Elevator Supervision , Store Watchmen-Night, Store Watchmen-Day, Elec-
tricians-maintenance , Carpenters , Painters and Plasterers , Electricians-new work, Mer-
chandise Office-Basement . Floor Managers , and Packing Supervision
a
The following offices are included under the term general offices : Department 304,
Executive Office and Clerical ; Department 305, Mail Clerks ; Department 311, Sales Audit-
ing ; Department 312, Sales Tax Coupon Auditing ; Department 314, Customers Accounts-
Check Sorters ; Department 315, Customers Accounts ; Department 316, Employees Ac-
counts ; Department 319, C. 0 D. & Will Call Bookkeeping ; Department 320, Statistics ;
Department 321, Accounts Payable ; Department 322, Retail Inventory & Statistics ; De-
partment 324, Paymaster ; Department 325, Casbier-Main ; Department 327, Invoice Office ;
Department 331, Credit Office ; Department 332, Charg -a-Plate ; Department 333, Federal
Regulations "W" Frozen Accounts ; Department 335, Charge Authorizers ; Department 337,
Collections-Regular Accounts ; Department 338, Collections-Installment Accounts ; De-
partment 340, Collections-Suspended Accounts ; Department 348, Addressograph ; Depart-,
ment 350, Social Security & Unemployment Records ; Department 372, Bureau of Adjust-
ment ; Department 373, Bureau of Adjustment-Charge Accounts ; Department 476, General
Merchandise Office ; Department 477, Merchandise Office-Basement ; Department 479, Mer-
chandise Office-Wearing Apparel ; Department 491, Merchandise Comparison ; Department
492, Slow Moving Merchandise Analysis ; Department 501, Traffic Office.
8 The fact that the Company could not operate its store without the services of its gen-
eral office employees is not conclusive of their necessary inclusion in an otherwise clearly
238 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
claims to have organized the general office employees or to represent
a majority of employees in any appropriate bargaining unit includ-
ing them. The C. I. 0. admits that it desires to organize the general
office employees, but contends that they have substantially repudiated
its attempt to interest them in union organization., Since we are
concerned in making collective bargaining an immediate possibility
for all employees of the Company who so desire, we shall exclude from
the store unit, which we herein find appropriate for bargaining, all
employees in the general offices of the Company.
Demonstrators are specially trained salesmen hired by manufac-
turers to give public demonstrations of their products for advertising
purposes in department stores. The regular wages of demonstrators
are paid by the manufacturers who hire them. In some instances, a
portion of the wages of the demonstrators is absorbed by the store in
which they operate. Demonstrators frequently make sales of store
merchandise other than the products which they are demonstrating.
The store, in' most instances, pays a commission to demonstrators for
such sales. The Company exercises some control over the demonstra-
tors operating in its store, and they necessarily work subject to general
store conditions and general store rules. The record does not disclose,
whether or not demonstrators in the Company's store are paid wages
by the Company, nor' does it disclose what demonstrators receive com-
missions from the Company for sales made, nor the average amounts
they may receive. Although demonstrators clearly have an employ-
ment interest common to employees of the Company, it is also clear
that' they constitute a special group of employees with special employ-
ment problems. The C. I. 0. does not desire their inclusion in the
unit, and the A. F. of L. does not claim to represent a majority of em-
ployees in *any unit including demonstrators. For these reasons, and
on the basis of the entire record, we shall exclude them from the bar-
gaining unit which includes employees who look solely to the Com-
pany as their employer in the store.
The Company leases to several outside concerns space in its store
for the operation of specialty shops ° Employees working in leased
departments are primarily employees of the lessee . Many of them
perform specialized service for their employers of a type not per-
formed by any employees of the Company. The Company exercises
some general control and supervision over employees in these depart-
ments, as well as over the services rendered by the departments, to
insure that neither the lessee nor its employees violate general company
defined and appropriate bargaining group Matter of Carlisle & Jacquelin, 53 N. L R B 902.
The leased departments in the Company ' s St. Louis store, include the following
shops : Optical , Lov-E' Brassiere , Aladdin Shop , Hosiery and Glove Repair , Photo Studio, -
Photo Reflex, Phonograph Recording, Jewelry Repair, Cleaning, Sewing Machines, Beauty
Service, Multi -Foto , Shoe Repair, and Novelty Rings.
THE MAY DEPARTMENT STORES COMPANY - 239
policies . Employees in leased departments work under the same
general store conditions as employees of the Company. They are
sometimes , as a matter of convenience, listed on the Company's pay
roll and paid through the Company's pay-roll facilities, although their
salaries are actually paid by their lessee employers. Employees in
leased departments, however, work directly and specifically under
the direct supervision of departmental managers who represent their
employer in the Company's store. The several lessee employers who
occupy space in the Company's store were not made parties to this pro-
ceeding. Many of their employees have special skills and are eligible
to membership in skilled craft organizations. The record does not
disclose how far such employees may be organized or what labor or-
ganizations claim to represent them. For these reasons and on the
basis of the entire record herein, we shall exclude all employees in
leased departments at the Company's store from the bargaining unit
herein found appropriate for the Company's store employees.10
The Company generally, classifies its selling and non-selling em-
ployees as regular employees, regular extra employees, and "extra"
or "just extra" employees. Regular employees normally report for
work every day that the store is open for business, although some
regular employees do not work all the hours of the working day.
Regular extra employees are employees who, after having served, a
period of probation, have satisfied the Company that on call they may
be depended upon for responsible service in the store, and they are
therefore subject to preferential hiring whenever the Company needs
the services of extra employees. Regular extra employees are called
by mailing card as their services are needed by the store. In every
working day in the year-the Company employs some persons listed as
regular extra employees. "Extra" employees or "just extra" employees
are employees who have-applied for available work and who have not
yet demonstrated their reliability for prompt service when the Com-
pany needs them at the store, or employees who have proved unreliable
or unavailable for classification as regular extra employees on the
preferential call list. The Company normally draws its regular em-
ployees as needed from the list of reliable regular extra employees. It
does not immediately hire employees on general application so long as
there are competent regular extra employees available on its regular
extra list. Twenty-nine percent of the persons presently listed on the
regular extra list were formerly regular employees of the Company,
many of whom transferred from regular employment to the regular
extra list at their own request rather than completely withdraw their
services from the Company. Approximately 17 percent of all em-
1 0 Matter of J. L Branders & Sons, 50 N. L it. B. 325, and cases cited therein.
240 DECISIONS -OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS -BOARD
ployees now listed on the regular pay roll were transferred to regular
employment from the Company's regular extra list.
The chief clerk who is in charge of maintaining lists of extra em-
ployees has the responsibility of removing names from the regular
extra list when such employees request that their names be so, re-
moved or when the employees so listed fail in her opinion. to make
proper response to calls for work and she concludes that they may be
no longer depended upon for service. The Company has established
no specific rule for the transfer of names from one employment list
to another. The matter is left entirely to the judgment and discre-
tion of the clerk. The names of some employees are retained on the
regular extra list although, for one reason or another, they may not
have actually worked in the store for a long period of time. It is
the duty of the supervisors in the various selling and non-selling de-
partments to notify the clerk in charge of the extra lists, if possible,
3 days in advance of the day when extra employees are needed in
their departments, unless emergencies arise that render such notice
impossible. The number of regular extra employees employed in the
store on any given day varies with the volume of business. On
every working day some extra employees are employed. Mondays,
Tuesdays, and Saturdays are heavy weekly selling days at the Com-
pany's store, when the employment of a number of regular extra em-
ployees is anticipated. Special sales days require even more em-
ployees. Employees listed on the "just extra" list are not summoned
for work until all available regular extra employees have been called.
Opportunities for their work in the Company's store are not suffi-
ciently-frequent to establish for them any degree of regularity of em-
ployment. - Some employees, however, ,remain on the Company's reg-
ular extra list 15 years or more. It is questionable whether they
have any employment elsewhere because -of the frequency and
promptness with which they respond to the Company's request for
their services. In both selling and non-selling departments the daily
earnings of working extra employees are comparable with those of
regular employees in the same departments. The amount of daily
compensation received depends upon the skill and working experi-
ence of the employee.
It seems clear that employees listed on the Company's extra or
"just extra" list do not have sufficient expectation of future employ-
ment with the Company to give them the right of inclusion in the
same bargaining unit with regular employees working at the store.
For this reason, we shall exclude them from the bargaining unit.
On the other hand, regular extra employees have a reasonable ex-
pectation of future employment at the store, and many of them have
served the Company as extra employees over a period of years.
THE MAY DEPARTMENT STORES COMPANY 241
We therefore shall include regular extra employees within the bar-
gaining unit with regular employees at the store.
We find that all regular and relief elevator operators and starters
employed in the Company's St. Louis store and in the St. Charles
Street warehouse, including escalator attendants, but excluding all
supervisory employees who have 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 ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the mean-
ing of, Section 9 (b) of the Act.
We further find that all selling and non-selling, clerical and non-
clerical, regular and regular extra employees at the Company's St.
Louis store and the St. Charles Street warehouse, but excluding all
extra or "just extra" employees, elevator operators, starters, and
escalator attendants, general office employees, demonstrators, em-
ployees in leased departments, employees represented by other unions
and presently under contract with the Company, employees at the
Pine Street warehouse, at the customers' garage, and at the Spring
Avenue warehouse, and all employees in the busheling departments,
all employees in - departments 324, 325, 341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 352,
379, 421, 422, 431, 381, 382, 443, 477, 541, and 561, confidential em-
ployees, and all supervisory employees who have authority to hire,
promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the
status of employees 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.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the questions affecting commerce which have arisen
concerning the representation of employees of the Company can best
be resolved by separate elections by secret ballot.
The parties generally agree that regular extra employees who have
a reasonable basis for steady employment at the store should be in-
cluded in the bargaining unit and should participate in the selection
of a bargaining representative. The Company and the A. F. of L.
would permit all regular extra employees to vote without differentiat-
ing among them on the basis of their actual work record. The C. I. O.
would make eligible to vote only such regular extra employees as
have served in the Company's store not less than 3 days out of every
week in a period of 4 months immediately preceding the filing of its
petition on October 4, 1943. It is the expressed intention of the C. 1. 0.
to exclude those employees whose record shows an infrequent and
uncertain tenure of employment and whose economic interest in their
jobs is very substantially less than employees who are working every
567900-44-vol. 54-17
242 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
day in the store and are dependent on the store for their livelihood.
The average number of days worked by regular extra employees dur-
ing the 6 months preceding the hearing was slightly over 10 days per
month out of approximately 26 working days per month, although
each regular extra employee did not work 10 days in each month
during the period and some worked substantially more. In order that
regular extra employees who realize a substantial employment interest
in the-store may participate in the election for a bargaining repre-
sentative, who shall provide that all regular extra employees may vote
who, during the 6-month period immediately preceding the date of
the issuance of our Direction of Elections herein, have performed some.
work in at least 5 of such months and who have worked a sufficient
number of days during the 6-month period to represent an average of
10 days per month, and we shall exclude from participation in the
election all other regular extra employees of the Company.
Local 50-E and the C. I. O. each has indicated that it represents a
substantial number of the Company's - elevator operators. For this
reason we shall provide that Local 50-E and the C. I. O. participate in
the election among these employees. The A. F. of L. and its affiliated
organizations have been organizing the Company's employees in the
store unit herein found to be appropriate, and we shall permit'the A. F.
of L. on behalf of its affiliates to participate in the election among
them. We shall, therefore, place the name of the C. 1. 0. and the name
of the A. F. of L. on the ballot-in the election among these employees.
Those eligible to vote in the separate elections which we shall noiv
direct shall be all employees in the respective units found to be appro-
priate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elections
herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
By virtue of and pursuant to the poiver vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with May Department
Stores Company, doing business as Famous-Barr Company, St. Louis,
Missouri, separate elections 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 Direc-
tor for the Fourteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the
National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sections
10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among all employees of the
THE MAY DEPARTMENT STORES COMPANY 243
Company in the respective groups described below, including regular
employees who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of this Direction and those who did not work during
said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily
laid off, and regular extra employees who, during the 6-month period
immediately preceding the date of the issuance of the Direction of
Elections herein, have performed some work for the Company in at
least 5 of such months and who have worked during the 6-month period
a sufficient number of days to represent an average of 10 days em-
ployment per month, including regular and regular extra employees
in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in
person at the polls, but excluding all other regular extra employees
and all employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and
have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the elections:
1. All employees in the unit found appropriate for elevator opera-
tors of the Company in Section-IV, above, to determine whether they
desire to be represented by Local 50-E, Elevator Operators and
Starters, A. F. L., or by Local 372, United Retail, Wholesale, and
Department Store Employees of America, C. I. 0., for the purposes of
collective bargaining, or by neither; and
2. All employees in the unit found appropriate for other store em-
ployees of the Company in Section IV, above, to determine whether
they desire to be represented by Local 372, United Retail, Wholesale,,
and Department Store Employees of America, C. I. 0., or by the
American Federation of Labor, for the purposes of collective
bargaining, or by neither.