Montgomery Ward & Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 18, 1950

89 N.L.R.B. 528 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of MONTGOMERY WARD & Co., INCORPORATED, EMPLOYER.
and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS,.
WAREIIOUSEl1EN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL No. 57, A. F. L.,,
EUGENE, OREGON, PETITIONER
Case No. 36-RC-378.-Decided April 18, 1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Robert E.
Tillman, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the
hearing are free front 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-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members.
Houston and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen-
tation 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 of all warehouse employees at the Em--
ployer's Eugene, Oregon, warehouses, including shipping and receiv-
ing clerks and trucks drivers and helpers. The Employer objects to
the unit, contending that its warehouses constitute an integral part of
its Eugene retail store and that the appropriate unit should include all
employees at both its stores and warehouses . There is no prior his-
tory of collective bargaining.
The Employer is engaged in retail merchandising. Its two Eugene,.
Oregon, stores, include a main store and a farm store, located about a
block away . Warehouse No. 1 is housed on the second and third floors.
89 NLRB No. 70.
528
MONTGOMERY WARD & CO., INCORPORATED 529
of the farm store, and Warehouse No. 3 in the basement of the main
store building. Warehouse No. 2 is in a separate building, located
several blocks from either store.
The 12 employees sought by the Petitioner include a department
head, comparable to a chief receiving clerk, who works with his assist-
ant in Warehouse No. 3 in the main store. This department head is
responsible for the remaining 11 employees in the proposed unit.
Two warehousemen work in Warehouse No. 1, 1 warehouseman works
in Warehouse No. 2, and 3 female receiving employees work with the
department head in Warehouse No. 3 in the main store. The Em-
ployer has 4 trucks, 2 of which are general delivery trucks. Normally,
each of the latter trucks has a driver and a helper. The 4 truck drivers
and helpers, when not making deliveries, assist in warehouse activity.
As noted, there is a warehouse department head responsible for all
warehouse activities. Both selling and nonselling employees are hired
through a central personnel office located in the main store, work
the same number of hours, and receive the same lunch and rest
periods. Nonselling employees receive a straight weekly salary; sell-
ing employees receive a fixed weekly wage, plus commissions. Selling
employees may, during slack periods, assist in warehouse work, but
warehouse employees never assist in any selling activities.
There is no regular interchange between warehouse employees, truck
drivers and helpers, and store selling employees. No other employ-
ees in the store regularly perform work comparable to that done in
the warehouses.
The Employer contends that the unit sought is inappropriate be-
cause its warehouse operations are integrated with its store operations
and, further, because working conditions, hours of employment, and
personnel policies are the same with respect to both warehouse
and store selling employees. While the Board has considered
these factors in determining whether warehouse employees should
constitute a separate unit or should be included in a larger one,1 no
labor organization is seeking a broader voting group. Moreover,
it is well established that warehouse employees may constitute an ap-
propriate unit.2 Indeed a similar unit now exists in another store
of the Employer.3 The employees sought herein are separated from
the selling operations of the store, are under separate supervision, do
not regularly interchange with, or come in contact with, store em-
ployees, receive a different rate of pay from selling employees, and
' Stern Brothers, 81 NLRB 1386.
2 Scars, Roebuck and Co., 82 NLRB 985: Thalhimer Brothers Incorporated, 77 NLRB
1249; Dohrmann Hotel Supply Company, 71 NLRB 699.
3 Montgomery bard & Company, 85 NLRB 976.
530 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
perform a different type of work. Under these circumstances we find
that warehouse employees and truck drivers and helpers at the Em-
ployer's Eugene , Oregon, store , excluding supervisors , constitute a
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within
the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes 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
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 , 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 rehired or
reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding em-
ployees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement , to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented , for purposes of collec-
tive bargaining, by International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauf-
feurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America , Local No. 57 , A. F. L.