Goldblatt Brothers, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 23, 1946

67 N.L.R.B. 674 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of GOLDBLATT BROTHERS, INC. and RETAIL CLERKS IN-
TERNATIONAL PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION, A. F. OF L., LOCAL 1460, OF
LAKE COUNTY, INDIANA
Case No. 13-R-3362 .Decided April 93, 1946
Mr. Stanford Clinton, of Chicago, Ill., for the Company.
Messrs. S. G. Lippman and K . H. Rasmussen , of Chicago, Ill., and
Mr. Gale F. Murrin , of Gary, Ind., for the Union.
Mr. Herbert J. Nester, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Retail Clerks International Protective
Association, A. F. of L., Local 1460, of Lake County, Indiana, herein
called the Union, alleging that.a question affecting commerce had
arisen concerning the representation of employees of Goldblatt
Brothers, Inc., of Gary, Indiana, herein called the Company, the
National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice before Robert T. Drake, Trial Examiner. The hear-
ing was held at Gary, Indiana, on February 18, 1946, and at Chicago,
Illinois, on February 19, 1946. The Company and the Union appeared
and participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evi-
dence bearing on the issues. 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.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Company is an Illinois corporation having its principal office
in Chicago, Illinois, and operating several retail stores in Northern
Indiana and Illinois. The Company's store at Gary, Indiana, is alone
67 N. L. R B, No. 84.
674
GOLDBLATT BROTHERS , INC. 675
concerned in this proceeding. During the fiscal year ending January
31, 1946, the Company's Gary store purchased in excess of $1,000,000
worth of goods, 95 percent of which emanated from the Company's
warehouse in Chicago, Illinois. At least 63 percent of the goods re-
ceived from the Chicago warehouse originated from sources outside
tl1je State of Illinois.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Retail Clerks International Protective Association, Local 1460, of
Lake County, Indiana, is a labor organization affiliated with the A. F.
of L., admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as
exclusive bargaining representative of certain of its employees until
the Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union urges as an appropriate unit all employees at the Com-
pany's Gary store, including cashiers, receiving and checking em-
ployees, marking room employees, and alteration department em-
ployees, but excluding office employees, shoe repair employees, window
trimmers, butchers, all maintenance employees (elevator operators,
janitresses, porters, charwomen, dusters, cleaners, carpenter, painter,
and operating engineer), soda fountain and restaurant employees, tem-
porary employees, part-time employees, and all supervisory employees
with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise
effect changes in the status of employees or effectively recommend
such action. The Company is in substantial accord as to the com-
position of the unit, but would include all maintenance employees, i. e.,
elevator operators, janitresses, porters, charwomen, dusters and
cleaners, the painter, the carpenter, and the operating engineer, and
would also include soda fountain and restaurant employees.
' At the time of the hearing the Union submitted to the Trial Examiner 100 cards, bear-
ing the names of 61 employees listed on the Company 's pay roll of February 9, 1946.
There are approximately 209 employees in the alleged appropriate unit.
676 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The record discloses that the employees which the Union seeks to
represent are those who are directly engaged in the retail sale of
merchandise; that they have a close community of interest; and that
they constitute a distinct and identifiable group. The Union has
limited its organizational activities to these employees in a desire to
avoid any jurisdictional conflict with other similarly affiliated labor
organizations which accept for membership those employees whom
the Union would exclude.2 Under these circumstances, we shall ex-
clude the maintenance employees, the soda fountain employees and the
restaurant employees from the bargaining unit .3
We find that all employees of the Company's Gary, Indiana, store,
including cashiers, receiving and checking employees, marking room
employees and alteration department employees, but excluding office
employees, maintenance employees, soda fountain and restaurant em-
ployees, window trimmers, shoe repair employees, butchers, temporary
employees, part-time employees working less than 30 hours per week,
and 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 mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The record reveals that the Company employs numerous temporary
seasonal employees to handle the excessive business transacted during
the Christmas and Easter seasons. While these temporary employees
are engaged in the same type of work as the regular employees, their
tenure of employment is limited solely to the holiday seasons. The
Company and the Union are in accord that temporary employees do
not have sufficient interest to be included in the bargaining unit, and
in accordance with the agreement of the parties we shall exclude them.,
In addition to the temporary seasonal employees, the Company also
employs numerous part-time employees who work in the Company's
store on Thursday evenings and on Saturdays. The parties are like-
wise in agreement that these part-time employees who work less than
30 hours a week should be excluded from the unit, and in accordance
with this agreement we shall exclude them.-'
2 It is revealed that the carpenter and the painter are presently represented by another
bargaining agency and also that the soda fountain and restaurant employees are now being
organized by another labor organization
' See Matter of Monsanto Chemical Company, 53 N L R B 784 , Matter of Toinahauk
Kraft Paper Company , 55 N. L R . B. 215 ; Matter of Radio Corporation of America, 63
N. L R. B 235 ; cf. Matter of Erving Paper Mills, 64 N L R B 1509.
4 Matter of Detroit Creamery Co. Arctic Ice Cream, Plant, 58 N L R B. 125.
S Matter of Montgomery Ward ,& Company, 38 N L, R B 34O, Matter of American Prod-
nets Company , 62 N L R B. 351
GOLDBLATT BROTHERS, INC. 677
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among employees
in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein,
subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power 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, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Goldblatt Brothers,
Inc., Gary, Indiana, 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 Article
[II, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among em-
ployees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction, including employees who did not work during said
pay-roll period because they were ill 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 Retail
Clerks International Protective Association, A. F. of L., Local 1460,
of Lake County, Indiana, for the purposes of collective bargaining.