J. Weingarten, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 14, 1971

191 N.L.R.B. 149 (N.L.R.B. 1971)

J. WEINGARTEN, INC.
J. Weingarten, Inc. and General Drivers, Warehouse-
men and Helpers Local Union No. 968 , affiliated
with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters,
Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of
America , Petitioner . Case 23-RC-3542
June 14, 1971
DECISION ON REVIEW AND ORDER
By MEMBERS FANNING, JENKINS, AND KENNEDY
On February 5, 1971, the Regional Director for Re-
gion 23 issued a Decision and Direction of Election in
the above-entitled proceeding in which he found appro-
priate a unit limited to the print shop and display de-
partment employees at the Employer's Houston, Texas,
general office and warehouse facility. Thereafter, in ac-
cordance with the National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations, the Employer filed a timely
Request for Review of the Regional Director's Deci-
sion on the grounds that, in reaching his unit determin-
ation, the Regional Director departed from established
Board policy and made findings of fact which are
clearly erroneous.
On April 27, 1971, the National Labor Relations
Board, by telegraphic order, granted the Request for
Review and stayed the election directed by the Re-
gional Director pending Decision on Review.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its powers
in connection with this case to a three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the entire record in the case
with respect to the issued under review and makes the
following findings:
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all of the Employer's
print shop, mailroom, and display department em-
ployees. In the alternative, it would accept any unit or
units of the aforementioned groups of employees. The
Regional Director, as above indicated, found appropri-
ate a unit of print shop and display department em-
ployees,excluding mailroom employees and other gen-
eral office employees.' The Employer contends that the
only appropriate unit consists of all its Houston office
employees, with the customary exclusions, and that, in
any event, the unit of print shop and display depart-
ment employees is inappropriate because the interests
of the former are more closely aligned with the ac-
counting clericals and the interests of the latter are
more closely aligned with the advertising employees.
' No Request for Review was filed concerning the Regional Director's
determination that the mailroom employees should not be included in the
unit he found appropriate
191 NLRB No. 35
149
The Employer operates a chain of retail grocery
stores in several cities in the States of Texas, Louisiana,
and Arkansas. The general offices and warehousing
operation of the Employer are located in a five-building
complex on Lockwood Drive in Houston. The print
shop is located in the basement of the building housing
the general offices; the display department is in a sepa-
rate building about 100 yards away. The Employer's
warehousemen and bakery employees working at this
facility are currently represented by the Petitioner and
another labor organization, respectively. Other em-
ployees at the Lockwood Drive facility have no history
of collective bargaining.
In the print shop there are four employees perform-
ing reproduction services for the Employer's entire op-
eration, e.g., printing miscellaneous office and store
forms, invoice forms, order books, accounting state-
ments, and merchandising instructions. These em-
ployees utilize two multiliths, two mimeographs, a
multigraph (used only infrequently), a ditto machine,
a collator, and a cutting machine.
Three employees in the print shop work primarily on
the mutiliths and mimeographs while a fourth em-
ployee works primarily on the mimeographs and the
collator. Occasionally, an office clerical employee from
another department will help perform the collating op-
eration. The mats used on both the multiliths and
mimeographs are prepared by office clericals in several
other departments.
The print shop is supervised by the manager of stores
accounting, one of two subdivisions of the accounting
division which is under the direction of the vice presi-
dent and controller.
The display department has seven employees who
are responsible for the preparation and printing of
cardboard signs, streamers, and banners utilized
primarily in the retail stores in conjunction with the
Employer's newspaper advertising. Their equipment is
comprised of three Line-O-Scribe machines used in
conjunction with a multilith to produce printed card-
board signs, a silk screen device used to produce the
streamers and banners, and the necessary equipment
and materials used for the hand painting of signs.
Two display department employees set cold type,
utilizing the Line-O-Scribe machines, in the prepara-
tion of mats which are used on the multilith in that
department. These same two employees, as well as
another employee, operate the multilith in printing
cardboard signs. Another employee lays out and cuts
the stencils used in the silk screen process, oversees the
operation of the silk screen and hand paints some signs.
Two other employees adhere the stencil to the silk
screen, print the streamers and banners, and clean the
screen. The remaining employee is engaged primarily
in the hand painting of signs.
150 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The display department , which has its own super-
visor , operates as an adjunct to the advertising depart-
ment in the retail division . The supervisor of the display
department receives instructions concerning the types
of displays to prepare from his immediate supervisor,
the advertising director, once the weekly merchandis-
ing plan has been established.
There is no formal training or apprenticeship pro-
gram in either the print shop or the display department.
Multilith operators with 1 to 2 years' experience are
regarded as experienced operators in the print shop.
Employees in the display department can achieve a
reasonable degree of proficiency in the cardboard sign
printing process in 2 years . It takes 1 to 6 months to
learn the operation of the silk screen.
None of the work produced by the print shop or
display department is sold to the public . Circulars and
handbills distributed to the public are prepared by com-
mercial printing shops because the Employer 's equip-
ment is not capable of performing such work . Overflow
work in the print shop is also performed in commercial
shops. Color plates are not used in either the print shop
or display department.
There is only minimal contact between print shop
and display department employees . In the past, two
employees have transferred from the print shop to the
display- department. Another employee , currently in
the display department, was formerly a messenger.
The Employer maintains a uniform benefit program.
Pay rates for employees in the print shop and display
department are comparable with the rates of ex-
perienced accounting clerks and advertising layout em-
ployees.'
3 Only two specific pay rates are given A multilith operator in the print
shop with over 2 years ' experience testified that his rate is $3 per hour An
From the foregoing , we are unable to conclude that
the employees sought by the Petitioner constitute a
traditional lithographic production unit or that any
basis exists for finding any unit , or units , of the re-
quested employees to be appropriate. Thus, these em-
ployees acquire the skills and proficiency required to
operate the equipment utilized by the Employer in a
relatively short period . The print shop and display de-
partment each performs a distinctive type of work. The
employees of each have minimal contact and render
little assistance to one another . Furthermore , these two
groups of employees are located in different buildings
and have different supervision . Indeed , it appears that
the interests of print shop employees are closely aligned
with other employees in the Employer 's accounting
operation on the basis of their supervision , contacts,
location , and type of work and , for similar reasons, the
interests of employees in the display department are
closely aligned with those of employees in the advertis-
ing department . In our opinion, the employees sought
are an arbitrary segment of employees at the Em-
ployer's general office and, as the Petitioner does not
seek to represent a broader unit, we shall dismiss the
petition.;
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition herein be, and
it hereby is, dismissed.
employee engaged in the mechanical printing of cardboard signs in the
display department with 17 years ' experience testified his rate is $ 3.4375 per
hour. Other witnesses testified the display department and print shop pay
rates are comparable to the advertising layout employees and the ex-
perienced accounting clerks, respectively.
' United Pacific Insurance Company, 190 NLRB No . 39; General Motors
Corporation, GM Photographic Engineering Center, 143 NLRB 647. Bank
ofAmerica, 174 NLRB No. 51, and the other cases relied on by the Regional
Director and the Petitioner are factually distinguishable