Follett Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 8, 1976

223 N.L.R.B. 800 (N.L.R.B. 1976)

800 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Follett Corporation and District 65, Distributive
Workers of America . Case AO-177
April 8, 1976
ADVISORY OPINION
A petition, with attachments, was filed on Decem-
ber 24, 1975, by Follett Corporation, herein called
the Employer, for an advisory opinion, in conformity
with Sections 102.98 and 102.99 of the Board's Rules
and Regulations , Series 8 , as amended , seeking to
determine whether the Board would assert jurisdic-
tion over the activities of the Employer with respect
to the representation case pending before the New
York State Labor Relations Board, herein called the
State Board. Thereafter, on January 8, 1976, District
65, Distributive Workers of America, herein called
the Union, filed a statement in opposition to the peti-
tion for an advisory opinion.
In pertinent part, the petition, with attachments,
and the Union's opposition thereto allege as follows:
1. There is pending before the State Board a peti-
tion , Docket SE-49433, filed by the Union request-
ing that it be certified as representative of the book-
store employees, including sales , cashier, shipping
and receiving, clerical, and stock employees, em-
ployed by the Employer at State University of New
York, Stony Brook, New York.
2. The Employer, with its principal place of busi-
ness in Chicago, Illinois , is engaged in the business of
operating bookstores on college campuses,' and
otherwise, throughout the United States. During the
past fiscal year, the Employer had a gross annual
revenue from sales in excess of $500,000, and had an
inflow in excess of $100,000 and an outflow in excess
of $100,000.
3. The State Board has made no findings with re-
spect to the aforesaid commerce data, and the Union
does not dispute this data which the Employer sup-
plied.
1 At the bookstore involved herein , the Employer is a party to a contract
entered into between the Employer and Faculty Student Association of
State University of New York at Stony Brook, Inc., in which the Employer
agrees to manage a bookstore at State University of New York at Stony
Brook under the supervision of the Faculty Student Association.
4. No representation or unfair labor practice pro-
ceeding involving this labor dispute is pending before
this Board.'
5. Although served with a copy of the petition for
advisory opinion, no response, as provided by the
Board's Rules, has been filed by the State Board.
On the basis of the above, the Board is of the opin-
ion that:
The Board's advisory opinion proceedings are de-
signed primarily to determine questions of jurisdic-
tion by application of the Board's discretionary stan-
dards to the "commerce" operations of an employer.'
The Employer asserts in its petition, and the Union
agrees in its opposition thereto, that the question
raised herein is "whether the employer is subject to
such control by the State University of New York
(not an `employer' under the Act) that it would not
effectuate the policies of the Act for the Board to
assert jurisdiction." The entire submission by the
Employer and the Union, including the cases relied
upon to support their respective positions, raises the
basic issue of whether Section 2(2) of the Act pre-
cludes the assertion of jurisdiction-an issue which
does not fall within the intendment of the Board's
advisory opinion rules.4 We shall, therefore, dismiss
the petition herein.
Accordingly, it is hereby ordered that, for the rea-
sons set forth above, the petition for an advisory
opinion herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
2 Prior cases involving the same parties herein have been filed with this
Board . On August 22, 1974, the Union filed an 8(a)(I) and (5) charge, Case
29-CA-3982, against the Employer which was dismissed on the authority of
Servomation Mathias Pa., Inc., 200 NLRB 1063 (1972), in which the Board
held that the State University of New York retained a substantial degree of
control over the services and labor relations of the employer and dismissed
the complaint on jurisdictional grounds . On December 3, 1975, the Union
filed a petition , Case 29-RC-3235, seeking an election among the employees
(office clericals, cashiers , sales employees , buyers, shipping and receiving
clerks, and bookkeepers), of the Employer at the same location involved
herein . The petition was withdrawn because the Union was advised by the
Region that it intended to adhere to its decision in Case 29-CA-3982, and
dismiss.
3 Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (George Junior Republic), 215 NLRB
No. 55 (1974); Globe Security Systems, Inc., 209 NLRB 35 (1974); Robert C.
Coleman, et al., 180 NLRB 529 (1969): International Air Service, Inc. of San
Juan, Puerto Rico, 165 NLRB 584 (1967).
4 Ibid.
/Pages 801 through 806 have been intentionally omit-
ted from publication./
223 NLRB No. 114