National Tea Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 10, 1950

89 N.L.R.B. 1239 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of NATIONAL TEA CO., EMPLOYER and RETAIL CLERKS
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION, A F. L., PETITIONER
Case No. 13-RC-897.-Decided May 10, 1950
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Edward T.
Maslanka, 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Members Reynolds, Murdock,
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. Retail Clerks International Association, A. F. L., hereinafter
called the Petitioner, is a labor organization claiming to represent
employees of the Employer.
3. The Petitioner seeks a unit of all store managers in the Employ-
er's Chicago and Chicago suburban area stores. The Employer con=
tends that this unit is inappropriate on the grounds that the store
managers are supervisors within the meaning of the Act.'
1 Section 2 (11) of the Act provides that :
The term "supervisor" means any individual having authority, in the interest of the
employer , to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge , assign, reward,
or discipline other employees , or responsibly to direct them, or to adjust their griev-
ances, or effectively to recommend such action, if in connection with the foregoing the
exercise of such authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature but requires the
use of independent judgment.
Section 14 (a) provides that:
Nothing herein shall prohibit any individual employed as a supervisor from becoming
or remaining a member of a labor organization , but no employer subject to this Act
shall be compelled to deem individuals defined herein as supervisors as employees for
the purpose of any law, either national or local, relating to collective bargaining..
89 NLRB No. 148.
1239
1240 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
There are approximately 300 stores of the Employer in the geo-
graphical area covered by the petition. A branch manager has over-
all and final responsibility for the successful operation of all the stores.
There are then 3 superintendents, each having a geographical territory
encompassing about 100 stores and each directly responsible to the
branch manager. In turn the superintendent's territory is divided into
6 or 7 districts. Each district has about 15 stores and is headed by a
district sales manager who is responsible to the superintendent. Each
separate store is operated by a store manager. The number of em-
ployees in a store ranges from a low of 3 in one of the Employer's stores
to about 40 in the largest of the stores, the average being 11 employees
per store.
In opposition to the Employer's contention that the store managers
are supervisors, the Petitioner takes the position that the store man-
agers are employees who act merely as conduits through whom the
branch manager, superintendents, and district sales managers channel
directions and instructions to the clerks in each store. The record,
including evidence introduced by the Petitioner, does not, however,
show that the store managers occupy such passive roles in the operation
of the stores. Even in the smaller of the Employer's stores, the store
managers, although spending most of their time on duties similar to
those performed by the clerks, have complete charge of their respective
stores and have the immediate responsibility for their operation,
profits, payrolls, and maintenance, as well as for the instruction of,
and the assignment of duties to, the clerks. These same managers
direct the work of the clerks, set their working hours, make up their
vacation schedules, and effectively recommend wage increases, trans-
fers, and promotions for them. Although there is some dispute as
to the right of some managers to hire and discharge full-time clerks, it
is clear-and this is of prime importance 2-that all managers can and
do hire and discharge part-time clerks.3 In view of the foregoing
facts, we find that the store managers are supervisors within the mean-
ing of the Act .4 Accordingly, as no question of representation of
employees of the Employer exists, we shall dismiss the petition.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition for investigation and certifi-
cation of representatives filed herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
2 Charles Livingston & Sons, Inc ., 86 NLRB 30.
a See the Livingston case, supra, where we found that an individual who regularly and
frequently hired and discharged nonregular employees was a supervisor.
° The Kroger Grocery & Baking Company, 60 NLRB 722, 724, and cases cited ; and Shop-
well Foods , Inc., et at ., 87 NLRB 1112 . See The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company,
86 NLRB 61.