Lever Brothers Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 25, 1950

89 N.L.R.B. 1647 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

in the Matter of LEVER BROTHERS COMPANY, EMPLOYER and DISTIL-
LERY, RECTIFYING AND WINE WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION OF
AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 2-RC-1881.-Decided May 25,1950
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 William T. Little, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
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-mem-
ber panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and Murdock].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain
employees 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 appropriate unit :
The Petitioner seeks a unit limited to 42 soap and "Spry" salesmen,
also referred to herein as grocery group salesmen, in the Employer's
New York Division. The Employer contends that the appropriate
unit is a unit of all salesmen who have administrative headquarters at
the New York Division; such a unit would include in addition to the
soap and "Spry" salesmen, the 9 salesmen of bulk shortening, also
known as bulk group salesmen, and the 13 salesmen of soap and toilet-
ries, also known as drug group salesmen or Pepsodent line salesmen.
Both parties agree that the Employer's cosmetic and the margarine
salesmen should be excluded from the unit found appropriate. The
cosmetic group has a separate New York headquarters and the mar-
garine group does not function in New York.
89 NLRB No. 133.
1647
1648 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Employer is a Maine corporation , having its executive offices;
in New York City and 6 factories located in 6 States where it is
engaged in the manufacture , distribution , and sale of soap, edible
glycerin, and pharmaceutical products and cosmetics . The Employer
employs approximately 6,600 employees . The Employer manufac-
tures and sells 5 principal lines of products : ( 1) Soap products,
such as toilet soaps, washing and scouring powders; (2) cooking:
shortenings ; ( 3) toiletries , such as tooth pastes and shaving creams,.
shampoos , antiseptics , and home permanent kits; ( 4) margarine; and
(5) cosmetics . These are sold by 5 different sales groups, which
do not exactly conform to the above sales lines : ( 1) The grocery group
sells soap products and the shortening "Spry" in household packaging
to retail grocery stores; (2) the bulk group sells bulk packaged short-
enings similar but not identical to Spry under different trade names.
to bakeries and manufacturers ; (3) the drug group sells soap prod-
ucts and toiletries primarily to drug stores , (4) the cosmetic and (5)
margarine groups sell cosmetics and margarine exclusively.
Geographically the Employer's sales operations are divided into,
4 regions .consisting of 16 divisions. In all, the Employer employs
approximately 795 salesmen throughout the United States.
Prior to January 1, 1950, the Employer was organized into four
autonomous divisions. One division manufactured and sold both soap
products and shortening, the other three separately manufactured and
sold the other three sales lines . Each division had a separate person-
nel director and separate division head who reported directly to the
Employer 's president . Under this organizational plan, the margarine
and cosmetic groups were under their respective division heads, and
the drug group was under the head of the toiletries division. The
sales functions of the soap products and shortening division were un-
der the supervision of a common vice president and a general sales
manager. Below the general sales manager, the line of authority
diverged and there were in turn separate national sales managers,
regional sales managers , and division sales managers for (a) the
grocery group and (b) the bulk group.
Since January 1, 1950, the separate divisions have been abolished
for most purposes . Thus, one vice president was placed in charge of
administration for all employees of the Employer and a sales person-
nel administrator was placed in charge of personnel administration
for all sales groups . Similarly manufacturing , traffic, purchasing,
and technical research for all lines were consolidated under cormnon
managing officials. However, the marketing function consisting of
sales and advertising was not integrated and sales organizations con-
LEVER BROTHERS COMPANY 1649
tinued under the separate division organizational plant that had ob-
tained prior to January 1, 1950.
The present organization of the New York Division presents a
hybrid pattern. For purposes of administrative detail the grocery,
bulk, and drug groups constitute a single New York Division. The
physical headquarters of the three groups is in the same office which
is termed the New York Division Office and all three groups are
serviced by the same clerical force under the Division Office Adminis-
trator. This office force maintains personnel and payroll records
and passes on credit for all three sales groups . However, for pur-
poses of sales control there is a separate New York Division for each
sales group. There are separate division sales managers for each
sales group and there is no common division sales manager to whom
all groups are responsible . Instead each divisional sales manager
is responsible to a regional sales manager of his particular sales
group; and the regional sales manager in turn is responsible to the
national sales manager of that sales group. While the national sales
managers of the grocery and bulk groups have a common general sales
manager and a vice president in charge of sales , the national sales
manager of the drug group is independent of these two officials.
Similarly , the sales areas for the sales groups differ . Thus, while
the sales area of New York Division grocery and bulk groups is
limited to portions of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, the
sales area of the New York Division drug group includes all the States
of New England as well.
The administrative headquarters of the grocery , bulk, and drug
groups is the same, but the grocery - group salesmen do not actually
report to the division headquarters. Instead they report to several
subheadquarters located throughout the New York City area. Most
of their reporting is done by phone, although they actually visit the
subheadquarters about once every 2 weeks for the purpose of picking
up sales material and attending sales meetings of the salesmen at-
tached to the particular subheadquarters . In addition there is a sales
meeting of all 42 employees of the grocery group every 3 months.
The salesmen of the other sales groups do not report to the subhead-
quarters used by the grocery group or attend the grocery group's sales
meetings.
The Employer 's personnel director establishes personnel policies
and standards for all the employees of the Employer. Below him,
the sales personnel administrator and division office administrator
apply those policies to all sales employees and all employees of the
particular division office, respectively . However, the division office
administrator appears to have no discretion in personnel matters
1650 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
affecting salesmen, but is limited to mathematically applying the
standards established by higher authority. Actual hiring is done by
the division sales manager of the particular sales group involved. As
to discharges, wage increases, or other changes in working conditions,
the division manager of each sales group has authority to make recom-
mendations. His recommendations would be given great weight,
though they would have to be approved by the personnel department
and in the case of discharges by the head of the particular sales group
as well.
All sales groups are paid a salary, work a 5-day week, have the
same holidays, and enjoy the same leave benefits, sick benefits, insur-
ance and pension plans. Personnel and payroll records are identical
and are maintained by the same employees. In matters of wages,
hours, and working conditions there are variances, some substantial
among the sales groups. In addition to their salary, for some time
past salesmen in the drug group have been paid a bonus based on sales.
On March 1, 1950, a bonus plan similar but not identical to that of the
drug group was established for the grocery group. The bulk group
is not paid a bonus. Bulk group salesmen average $98 per week
:salary; drug group salesmen average $66 salary plus a $12 bonus; and
-the grocery group salesmen average $72 salary plus an estimated $12
bonus. Because the bonus plan is a recent innovation for the grocery
group, the grocery group salesmen had not received their first bonus
at the time of the hearing. Because of custom peculiar to the drug
trade, the drug group works 1 hour less per day and has approximately
.1 week more vacation per year than the other two groups. There
is no competition of any type between the groups.
There is no temporary interchange of personnel between the various
:sales groups. The Employer's available records show that since 1935
throughout the country there have been approximately 23 permanent
transfers between the 3 sales groups here concerned. Eighteen of
these transfers occurred when the Employer purchased the Pepso-
dent Company in 1945 and the drug salesmen who had previously
functioned as part of the grocery group were transferred to the
newly established drug group. The remaining transfers occurred
-throughout the 15-year period. Although the Employer could not
.establish how many transfers were attributable to the New York
Division Office, there is testimony indicating that 3 of the 18 trans-
fers in 1945 involved New York Division personnel.
The record establishes clearly that the grocery group salesmen
have little if any contact or even acquaintanceship with the salesmen
of the other groups. Though each sales group is served adminis-
tratively by a central office, each group is set up to constitute a
LEVER BROTHERS COMPANY 1651
nearly autonomous division with ultimate supervisory responsibility
meeting only at the top of the hierarchy of the Employer. Plainly,
each sales group division functions separate and apart from each
other, with no common purpose or common interest. The one quality
which is common to all the sales groups is ability to sell. Even here,
not only are the products sold of different type (though there is par-
tial overlap as to drug salesmen), but the type of customer is different.
Each sales group is noncompeting with the others and each has a
separate clientele. There is no consistency as to wages between any
of the three groups ; three different average wages are paid. There is
no true interchange of employees; most transfers were made only be-
cause a new product was acquired. Sales operations and methods
are different, promotional campaigns follow different lines, and sales
control remains totally separated.
On the basis of these facts and on the entire record in the case,
including the absence of any bargaining history, we find that the
following employees constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act:'
All soap products and "Spry" salesmen in the Employer's New
York Division, excluding bulk, edible, and Pepsodent line salesmen,
office employees, any other nonsales employees, and all supervisors
as defined in the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to acertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30
days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was
heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in
the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who
were employed during the payroll period immediately preceding
the date of this Direction of Election, including employees who did
not work during said payroll period because they were ill or on
vacation or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who
have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been re-
hired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding
employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to deter-
mine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of
collective bargaining, by Distillery, Rectifying and Wine Workers
International Union of American, AFL.
Cf. Winthrop Chemical Company, Inc., 59 NLRB 1550.
889227-51-vol. 89-105