Liggett Drug Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 7, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 1099 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of LIGGETr DRUG COMPANY , INC., EMPLOYER and RETAIL,
WHOLESALE & DEPARTMENT STORE UNION , CIO, PETITIONER
Case Nos. 1-RC-433 and 1-RC-458. -Decided December 7,1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon separate petitions duly filed, a consolidated hearing was held
before a hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board. 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer, a chain drug company operating in many States,
is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor
Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations named below claim to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the representation
of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks to represent two different groups of the Em-
ployer's employees in separate district-wide units In Case No. 1-
RC-433, it seeks to represent all employees in the Employer's stores
in District No. 5, including sales clerks, department heads, non-regis-
tered assistant store managers, soda managers, and all other employees
in the soda department, kitchen help, receiving clerks, stockroom
clerks, porters, and cleaners, but excluding prescription department
*Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Gray.
'The Employer 's stores are divided into districts . There are two districts in the Greater
Boston Area , each represented for collective bargaining purposes by Retail Pharmacists
Guild, Local 593, of the Retail Clerks International Association , AFL, herein called the
Intervenor . The units which the Intervenor represents in those two districts are of the
same type as the units which are now sought by the Petitioner in the Employer's
District No. 5.
80 N. L. R. B., No. 169.
1099
1100 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
managers, registered pharmacists, assistant registered pharmacists,
assistant store managers-registered pharmacists, assistant store
pharmacists, assistant store managers-assistant registered pharmacists,
professional employees, window trimmers, demonstrators, inventory
crew, guards, and all supervisors.
In Case No. 1-RC-458, the Petitioner seeks to represent all assist-
ant store managers-registered pharmacists, assistant store managers-
assistant registered pharmacists, prescription department managers,
registered pharmacists, and assistant registered pharmacists in the
Employer's stores in District No. 5, excluding all other employees and
supervisors. The parties are in agreement as to the composition of the
units sought, with the exception of the following job classifications
which the Petitioner would include in the unit, and the Employer
would exclude therefrom :
Assistant store managers are in full charge of the stores during
the absence of the store managers. This constitutes approximately
50 to 80 percent of their time. They participate in the Employer's
bonus plan from which non-supervisory employees are excluded 2
They train and supervise employees, and have power to hire, discharge,
and discipline them. We find that assistant store managers are super-
visors. We shall, therefore, exclude them from the unit.
Soda department managers and assistant soda department managers
are responsible to the Employer's vice president in charge of soda
goods. The soda department managers participate in the Employer's
bonus plan. They have power to hire and discipline, and effectively
to recommend the discharge of soda department employees. Assistant
soda department managers assume the duties of the managers during
the latter's absence, and are in sole charge of the department about
50 percent of their time. At such times they have authority to hire,
discipline and effectively recommend the discharge of soda depart-
ment employees. We find that soda department managers and assist-
ant soda department managers are supervisors. Accordingly, we
shall exclude them from the unit.
Upon the basis of the entire record we find the following units
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act :
(1) All employees of the Employer's stores in District No. 5,
including sales clerks, department heads, soda department employees,
kitchen help, receiving clerks, stockroom clerks, porters, and cleaners,
but excluding assistant store managers (whether registered or non-
registered), soda department managers, assistant soda department
2 The bonus plan is exclusively for the store managers , assistant store managers , and soda
department managers.
*LIGGETT DRUG COMPANY, INC. 1101
managers, prescription department managers, registered pharmacists,
assistant registered pharmacists, professional employees, window
trimmers, demonstrators, inventory crew, guards, and all supervisors.
(2) All prescription department managers, registered pharmacists,
and assistant registered pharmacists in the Employer's stores in
District No. 5, excluding all store managers-registered pharmacists,
assistant store managers-assistant registered pharmacists, and super-
visors.
DIRECTION OFELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, separate elec-
tions 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 supervision 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-Series 5, as amended,
among the employees in the units found appropriate in paragraph
numbered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Elections, includ-
ing employees who did not work during said pay-roll 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 rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election,
and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to rein-
statement, to determine whether they desire to be represented, for pur-
poses of collective bargaining, by Retail, Wholesale & Department
Store Union, CIO, or by Retail Pharmacists Guild, Local 593, of the
Retail Clerks International Association, AFL, or by neither.