Montgomery Ward & Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 27, 1947

72 N.L.R.B. 1418 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter Of MONTGOMERY WARD & CO., INCORPORATED, EMPLOYER
and BUILDING SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION, LOCAL
No. 49, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 19-R-1870.-Decided March 27, 1947
Mr. William W. Ward, Jr., of Oakland, Calif., for the Employer.
Mr. Herbert B. Galton, of Portland, Oreg., for the Petitioner.
Mr. Herbert C. Kane, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Portland,
Oregon, on October 22, 1946, before Eugene M. Purver, hearing officer.
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju-
dicial error and are hereby-affirmed. After the close of the hearing,
the Petitioner moved to amend its petition to provide alternatively
for separate units of retail store and mail order house employees.
Inasmuch as no objection to the motion has been filed by the Em-
ployer and the alternative unit position set forth in the motion was
adequately litigated at the hearing, the motion is hereby granted.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
'FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Montgomery Ward & Co., Incorporated, an Illinois corporation
having its principal office in Chicago, Illinois, is engaged in the sale
and distribution of merchandise through its own mail order houses
and retail stores in various parts of the United States. We are con-
cerned here solely with its mail order house and retail store located in
Portland, Oregon. About 90 percent of the merchandise sold by the
Portland mail order house and retail store is shipped to Portland from
outside the State of Oregon. Sales of the mail order house amount
to about $13,000,000 annually, of which approximately 60 percent
represents sales to customers living outside the State. Sales of the
retail store amount to approximately $3,000,000 annually, of which
about one-half of 1 percent represents sales to customers living outside
the State.
72 N. L R. B, No 259.
1418
MONTGOMERY WARD & CO., INCORPORATED 1419
The Employer admits for the purpose of this proceeding, and we
find, that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Em-
ployer.
111. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Petitioner seeks a single unit comprising all porters, maids,
and matrons in the Employer's Portland mail order house and retail
store, excluding supervisory employees, or, in the alternative, separate
units of store and mail order house employees. The Employer objects
to both of the proposed alternatives. It suggests that porters, maids,
and matrons should be included in the more inclusive separate units
already existing in the retail store and the mail order house.
The mail order house and the retail store are located in a single
nine-story building owned by the mail order house. The retail store
occupies about 15 percent of the total space in the building and pays
rent to the mail order house as a tenant. The retail store is in charge
of one manager and the mail order house of another. The store
manager has complete supervision and authority over the employees
in the retail store and the mail order house manager has similar
authority and supervision over the mail order house employees.
Neither has any authority over the other. The store and the mail
order house have separate personnel departments. There is no inter-
change of employees between the store and the mail order house. The
store is part of the Employer's retail store division and is under the
general supervision of one vice president; the mail order house is part
of the mail order division and is supervised by a different vice presi-
dent.
In 1940, following an election, the Board certified Warehousemen's
Union, Local No. 206, I. B. of T. C. S. & H. of A., AFL, herein called
the Warehousemen, as bargaining representative of a unit of mail
1420 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
order house employees, including porters? No mention of matrons
or maids was made in the Board's unit determination. Subsequently,
the Warehousemen and the Employer entered into collective bar-
gaining agreements, the most recent of which is dated January IT,
1946, and is for a 1-year term, covering employees in the unit found
appropriate by the Board. Without certification, the Employer nab
also recognized Retail Clerks, Local Union No. 1257, R. C. I. P. A.,
AFL, herein called the Retail Clerks, as bargaining representative of
certain retail store employees, excluding, however, porters, maids, and
matrons.
On June 5, 1946, after the-filing of the instant petition, the Ware-
housemen sent a letter-to the Regional Director stating that it had no
interest in or jurisdiction over maids, matrons, and porters, in the mail
order house and the retail store. About 2 weeks after this letter, the
Employer and the Warehousemen executed a supplementary wage
agreement which included wage provisions for porters and, for the
first time, matrons as well.2 However, the Warehousemen has never
repudiated its disclaimer of interest in or jurisdiction over porters
and matrons. The Retail Clerks is not a party to this proceeding and
has not indicated any interest in the employees involved herein.
The porters, maids, and matrons, whether in the store or the mail
order house, have similar janitorial duties. Although this fact and the
additional circumstances that they work for the same employer in the
same building support the Petitioner's view that a single unit should be
established for porters, maids, and matrons in both the store and the
mail order house, other circumstances, such as the fact that the mail
order division and the retail store division are operated as practically
separate organizations under separate supervision, support the alterna-
tive position that there should be two units corresponding to the divi-
sional breakdown of the Employer's business. We are of the opinion
that we shall best effectuate the policies of the Act in this case by
establishing separate units to conform to the Employer's organizational
set-up.
As.to the Employer's contention that the porters, maids, and matrons
should be included in the units already existing, we find no merit in it.
The Warehousemen although certified as bargaining representative of
porters has specifically disclaimed interest in these employees as well
as in the others involved herein.3 So far as appears from the record,
the Retail Clerks also has no interest in porters, maids, and matrons.
I Matter of Montgomery Ward & Company, 26 N. L R B 489
2 The mail order house employs porters and matrons but no maids ; the retail store
employs porters and maids but no matrons.
3 We do not regard the fact that the Warehousemen , subsequent to the mailing of its dis-
claimer letter, negotiated wages for porters and matrons as a repudiation of the'disclaimer.
The Petitioner stated that in negotiating wage rates for porters and matrons the Ware-
housemen was acting as its agent . This statement has not been contradicted.
MONTGOMERY WARD & CO., INCORPORATED 1421
Under these circumstances, separate units of porters, maids, and
matrons are appropriate.
We find that the following units, excluding all supervisory employees
with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise
effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such
action, are appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within
the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
1. Porters and maids in the Employer's Portland, Oregon, retail
store;
2. Porters and matrons in the Employer's Portland, Oregon, mail
order house.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Montgomery Ward & Co., In-
corporated, Portland, Oregon, elections 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 Nineteenth Region, acting in this matter as
agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections
203.55 and 203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Reg-
ulations-Series 4, among the employees in each of the units 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 Building Service Employees International
Union, Local No. 49, AFL, for the purposes of collective bargaining.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Elections.