Gaytime

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 21, 1950

91 N.L.R.B. 357 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of GAYTIME SHOPS, INC., DOING BUSINESS UNDER THE
TRADE NAMES OF GAYTIME, GAYTIME SHOPS, YORK WOMEN'S APPAREL,
AND YORK, EMPLOYER and CHICAGO JOINT BOARD, RETAIL, WHOLE-
SALE, DEPARTMENT STORE UNION, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 13-.RC-1185.-Decided September 21, 1950
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 Max Haleff, hearing officer.'
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju-
dicial error and are hereby affirmed.2
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 Herzog and Members Houston and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act 3
2. The labor organizations involved claim' to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A 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.
4. The Petitioner requests a unit of selling and nonselling employees
at the Employer's retail store located at 201 South State Street, Chi-
cago, Illinois. The Employer contends that a unit limited to this
store alone is not appropriate for bargaining purposes, and urges that
the only unit appropriate for these employees is a unit including em-
ployees at all its 20 stores in the Chicago area.
The Employer's retail store at 201 South State. Street, Chicago,
Illinois, is a department store selling women's wearing apparel.. This
' The petition and other formal papers are amended to show the correct name of the
Employer.
2 During the hearing "Employer 's Exhibit No . 20" was reserved for a list of store to store
transfers of employees to be prepared by the Employer and served upon the parties to this
proceeding . The list so prepared and served is, by agreement of the parties , hereby incor-
porated in the official record of this proceeding.
8 Sun Ray Drug Company, $7 NLRB 208, and cases cited therein.
91 NLRB No. 46.
357
358 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
store has 4 selling floors and operates under the direct charge of a
store manager. Each selling floor is under the immediate supervision
of an assistant manager, who instructs and directs the clerks under her
charge. Employees at the store include approximately 52 sales clerks,
who display and sell merchandise to customers; 6 maids who sew on
buttons, clean merchandise, and press and hang dresses; 4 cashiers,
1 on each floor, who handle cash, wrap merchandise, and assist in
making sales reports; a financial clerk or bookkeeper; 2 porters; and
a window trimmer. The store is by far the largest of the 19 women's
apparel stores 4 operated by the Employer at various locations in
Chicago, under various trade names.5 The 201 South State Street
store and 1 other one-floor store are located in the Loop or downtown
district of Chicago.
The Employer operates approximately 12 other retail stores in
other States of the United States, among which is a store at Gary,
Indiana, which is deemed part of its Chicago area stores. Each store
owned or operated by the Employer, wherever located, receives its
merchandise by express or triici: directly from th3 Employer's buying
and.accounting headquarters in New York City, where the Employer
purchases and stores its goods, and where each item purchased for
resale is examined, inventoried, and.marked with a price ticket before
being dispatched to the individual stores for retail sale. All the
Employer's stores operate on a cash basis, delivery of the goods being
made directly to the customers of each store.'
All stores in Chicago are operated under the general supervision
of the Chicago area supervisor, who with two assistants, designated as
district managers, serves to carry out the over-all general policies of
the Employer's general offices. Each store is directly supervised by a
store manager, and maintains a manual of written instructions, con-
taining in a loose leaf binder the bulletins issued from time to time
by the Employer's New York City and Chicago offices. These matters
pertain generally to sales promotion and the handling of merchandise
to prevent waste and loss. From safes maintained in each store,
monies are collected from all but two stores in the Chicago area 8 by
* Of these 19 stores, 16 are Awned and operated by the Employer ; the remaining 3 stores
are owned , one each , by Wright Apparel Inc., Si-RO Inc., and 7212 Grand Avenue Corp.,
corporations all affiliated with the Employer.
5 These trade names include Gaytime, Gaytime Shops , York , and York Women 's Apparel.
6 The Employer's New York City office and stockroom is located at 370 7th Avenue, in
New York City. The Employer sells no merchandise in its New York City office, and
operates no retail store in the State of New York..
7 The possible exception is the lay-away purchase plan , wherein the customer makes a
partial payment and completes the payment of the article before merchandise is delivered
at the store . On occasion , at the request of the customer , the Employer wraps and mails
merchandise to an out-of-town address, the customer bearing the cost of mailing.
s No. 54 Grand Avenue, and No. 1 Lincoln Avenue.
GAYTIME,, GAYTIME' SHOPS, YORK WOMEN'S APPAREIL, AND YORK 359
Brinks' Express Service and deposited in the bank to the Employer's
account. The Chicago office and local warehouse supply window trim-
mers and pressing girls to all stores in the Chicago area. The need
for daily window changes required at the 201 South State Street store
with its larger number of windows is supplied directly by a window
trimmer carried on the store payroll, and subject to the store manager.
. It is true, as the Employer urges, that all stores in the Chicago area,
including the Employer's 201 South State Street store, are under the
area superintendent, who exercises over-all supervision of the Em-
ployer's retailing operations in the Chicago area.' But we do not
believe that the 201 South State Street store so lacks autonomy of
operations as to render its employees incapable of comprising an ap-
propriate bargaining unit apart from employees at the 19 other
Chicago area stores operating under various names. The store is
distinguished from all other stores by its very appreciably larger size to
It is the only store that maintains a window trimmer on its store pay-
roll and 2 porters; 11 its windows are changed daily by store employees;
although hire and discharge at the store are referred for confirmation
to the area supervisor in the Chicago office, the 201 South State Street
store manager is allowed more scope and independence than'the man-
ager of the smaller stores; and his assistants interview applicants for
work and direct that they report for work at specific times. There
is some interchange of merchandise among the several stores resulting
from the initial broad distribution of goods from a distant common
source and the need to control locally the inequalities of stock supplies.
There are some permanent transfers of employees from one store
to another 12 These transfers, however, are not so numerous as to
impair the clear identity of the employees who are upon the store
payrolls. There is no past bargaining history among these employees
and no union is seeking to represent them on a more comprehensive
basis. We therefore find that selling and nonselling employees at the
Employer's 201 South State Street store constitute an appropriate
bargaining unit apart from employees at other stores in the Chicago -
area.13
The Petitioner would exclude from the unit the assistant managers,
on'the ground that they are supervisory employees, and the financial
9 The store at Gary, Indiana, as noted above , Is considered part of the Employer ' s Chicago
area.
so All other stores in the Chicago area are limited to a single selling floor.
" Some stores share the services of a porter and all others are entirely dependent on the
services of the window trimmer sent out from the Chicago warehouse. .
12 During 1949,.seven transfers of employees were recorded on the 201 South State Street
store payroll.
13 Cf. Singer Sewing Machine Company, 87 NLRB 460, and cases cited therein ; Darling cE
Company. 87 NLRB 45.
360 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
clerk or bookkeeper on the ground that she is a confidential employee.
The Employer disagrees as to both positions. An assistant manager,
one on each selling floor, directs and instructs the salesgirls on her
floor. She assigns salesgirls to customers, reprimands for poor sales-
manship, interviews applicants for work, and makes effective recom-
mendations with respect to hire and discharge. The clerical em-
ployee, financial clerk, or bookkeeper, as she is variously named in the
record, makes up the store payroll, keeps the store records, and does
other clerical work. She does not handle correspondence or matters
dealing with labor relations. We find that the assistant store man-
agers are supervisors and shall exclude them from the unit. We find
that the financial clerk or bookkeeper is not a, confidential employee
within our definition of that term and shall include her in the store
unit.
We find that all selling and nonselling employees at the Employer's
201 South State Street store at Chicago, Illinois, including the finan-
cial clerk or bookkeeper, but excluding the store manager, the assistant
store managers, and all other supervisors, constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning.
of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
5. The Petitioner contends that all regular employees in the unit
who work on a part-time basis less than 15 hours per week should be
deemed ineligible to vote in the election. The Employer contends
that at least two regular part-time employees working 2 days each
week, or a minimum of 14 hours per week, have a substantial interest
in the selection of a bargaining representative and should be eligible
to vote. We agree with the Employer. We find that all regular part-
time employees who work 14 or more hours per week are eligible to
vote in the election. Other part-time employees are deemed ineligible
to vote.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]