Kraft Foods Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 22, 1950

92 N.L.R.B. 193 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of KRAFT FOODS COMPANY, EMPLOYER and BAKERY AND
FOOD DRIVERS, WAREHOUSEMEN & HELPERS, LOCAL No. 64, AFFILIATED
WITH INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS,
WAREHOUSEMEN & HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER
In the Matter of KRAFT FOODS COMPANY, EMPLOYER and ARTHUR H.
PERREAULT, PETITIONER and BAKERY AND FOOD DRIVERS, WAREHOUSE-
MEN & HELPERS, LOCAL No. 64, AFFILIATED WITH INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN & HELP-
ERS OF AMERICA, AFL, UNION
Cases Nos. 1-RC-1580 and 1-RD-67.Decided November 02,1950
DECTSIOIV AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon separate petitions duly filed, consolidated hearings 1 in the
above cases were held before Torbert H. Macdonald, hearing officer.
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearings are free from preju-
dicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
these cases to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Murdock and Styles].
Upon the entire record in these cases, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The Petitioner in'Case No. 1-RC=1580, Bakery and Food Drivers,
Warehousemen & Helpers, Local No. 64, International Brotherhood
of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers of America, AFL,
is- a labor orgai-uiz ,tion claiming -to represent certain. employees of
the Employer.
The Petitioner in Case No. 1-RD-67, an employee of the Employer,
asserts that Local. No. 64, the presently recognized bargaining agent,
is no longer the representative of certain employees of the Employer
as defined in Section 9 (a) of the Act.
I
I The original hearing' in these cases was held on June 27, 1950. On August 7, 1950, the
Board issued an Order reopening the record and remanding the cases for the purpose of
taking evidence on the existence of a question concerning representation and the duties
and working conditions of certain employees of the Employer. A subsequent hearing was
held, pursuant to this Order, on September 26, 1950.
92 NLRB No. 57.
193
194 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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. Local No. 64 has been the collective bargaining representative of
all salesmen, deliverymen, and warehousemen at, the Employer's
Providence, Rhode Island, branch since 19'37'.` ''T16 Petitioner in Case
No. 1-RD-67 requests that a decertification election be held in a unit
of all salesmen at the Providence branch, excluding drivers, ware-
housemen, promotion men, guards, professional employees, and super=
visors. In a separate petition, Local No. 64 requests certification as
the bargaining representative of a unit 'of all employees of the Em-
ployer at this branch, excluding office employees, guards, professional
employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
Until 1946, the bargaining, unit in the contracts between the Em-
ployer and Local 64 consisted of all employees including employees
in the classification of "driver-salesmen." In that year, however, the
Employer reorganized its personnel and created separate classifica-
tions of deliverymen and salesmen. Thereafter, at the Employer's
request, separate contracts for the salesmen and the remainder of the
branch personnel were negotiated. Following the expiration of the
most recent contracts on March 4, 1950, the present petitions were
filed. The Petitioner in Case No. 1-RD-67 contends that a separate
unit of salesmen is appropriate while Local 64 asserts that the only
appropriate unit for purposes of collective bargaining is one including
salesmen with all other employees.
The Employer is engaged in the business -of processing and dis-
tributing food products. Employees at the Providence branch are
generally. divided into three groups consisting. of. salesmen, delivery-
men, and warehousemen. Prior to the reorganization in 1946, the
duties of salesmen and deliverymen were executed by a driver-sales-
man. There are now five salesmen employed at the branch whose
duties consist generally of servicing the Employer's customers in an
assigned area by taking orders for merchandise, arranging displays,
checking inventories for overage merchandise, and generally creating
greater demand and sale of the Employer's products. Salesmen are
furnished automobiles owned by the Employer and have no set sched-
ule of working hours. They are paid salaries plus an incentive bonus
and are under the general supervision of the branch manager. Orders
for merchandise taken by the salesmen are transmitted through, the
branch office to the warehouse where they are filled from stock by
warehousemen- and delivered 4o the customer by .the,-.deliverymen.
Three warehousemen are employed by the Employer while four em-
ployees are in the classification of deliverymen. The warehousemen
receive, inspect, and store merchandise at the warehouse and assemble
KRAFT FOODS COMPANY. 195
it for delivery. Deliverymen then transport the merchandise to the
customer on company trucks, and receive either payment or a delivery
receipt. A deliveryman does not cover any specific route from week to
week and does not work in coordination with any one salesman. Both
the deliverymen and the warehousemen are under the supervision
of the branch manager, are on an hourly wage scale, and work a sched-
uled 8-hour day with overtime compensation.
As noted above, the Employer and Local 64 have executed separate
contracts for salesmen and the rest of the employees at this branch
since 1946.2 The record clearly shows that the Employer's salesmen
are a homogeneous group set apart from the remainder of the em-
ployees by diverse duties and conditions of employment.3 Contrary
to the contention of Local 64, we find under all the circumstances, in-
cluding the separate bargaining history, that all salesmen at the Em-
ployer's Providence, Rhode Island, branch, excluding drivers, ware-
housemen, promotion men, guards, professional employees, and
supervisors as defined in the Act constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9
(b) of the Act.
We also find that all employees of the Employer's Providence
branch including deliverymen and warehousemen but excluding sales-
men, office employees, guards, professional employees, and supervisors
as defined in the Act constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the
Act.' -
We shall direct that the questions concerning representation which
have arisen be resolved by separate elections by secret ballot among
employees in the separate units described below :
1. All salesmen at the Providence branch excluding supervisors as
defined in the Act.
2. All other employees. at the Providence branch excluding office
employees, guards, professional employees, and supervisors as defined
in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
2Local 64 contends that these contracts are jointly negotiated and are approved as a
unit by its membership. We do not believe, however, that these facts alone constitute
sufficient basis for finding that, for practical purposes, only one bargaining unit existed
herein. Cf. Beaumont City Lines. Inc., et al., 90 NLRB 1800.
3 See Kraft Foods -Company, 91 NLRB 525 ; and McKesson t Robbins, Inc., 63 NLRB
88. See also Flint Oil Company, 88 NLRB 634; Hannaford Bros. Co., 78 NLRB 869 ; and
Preferred Oil Coiny, 77 NLRB 770.
" Local 64 did not indicate at the hearing whether it wished to participate in an election
in a unit excluding the salesmen. In the event Local 64 desires to withdraw from the
ballot for voting group 2, it may do so by giving 10 days' notice of such intent to the
Regional Director.