Nuturn Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 25, 1978

235 N.L.R.B. 1139 (N.L.R.B. 1978)

NUTURN CORPORATION
Nuturn Corporation and International Union, United
Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement
Workers of America, UAW, Petitioner. Case 26-
RC-5624
April 25, 1978
DECISION ON REVIEW AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
BY CHAIRMAN FANNING AND MEMBERS
JENKINS AND MURPHY
On November 3, 1977, the Acting Regional Direc-
tor for Region 26 issued a Decision and Order
dismissing the petition in the above-entitled proceed-
ing. Thereafter, in accordance with Section 102.67 of
the National Labor Relations Board's Rules and
Regulations, Series 8, as amended, the Petitioner
filed a timely request for review of the Acting
Regional Director's decision on the grounds, inter
alia, that, in including the Employer's customer
service clerks, accounting clerks, materials control
clerks, and truckdrivers in the warehouse-type unit
sought, the Acting Regional Director made errone-
ous factual findings and departed from officially
reported precedent.' The Employer filed a motion to
strike and a statement in opposition thereto, con-
tending that Petitioner's request for review failed to
identify asserted facts by page citations and relied on
facts not contained in the transcript.
On December 30, 1977, the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, by telegraphic order, granted the Peti-
tioner's request for review.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the entire record in this
proceeding with respect to the issues under review
and makes the following findings:
The Employer, a Delaware corporation, is engaged
in the distribution of replacement parts for heavy-
duty trucks and buses from its warehouse facility in
Nashville, Tennessee. The Union seeks to represent a
unit consisting of approximately 17 warehouse em-
ployees in the Employer's receiving, shipping, pack-
aging, picking, and packing departments.
The Employer's warehouse facility is located at an
industrial warehouse complex whose space is leased
by approximately 15 or 20 tenants. A partition
separates Nuturn's facility from the space leased by
other tenants.
I In its request for review, Petitioner contends that the Acting Regional
Director's decision "incorrectly classifies" transportation employees by
concluding that truckdrivers and forklift operators are the same. However,
235 NLRB No. 147
Nuturn's warehouse is rectangular in shape. A
loading dock is located at the front of the building.
Warehouse employees work behind the loading dock
in a one-story area which is approximately 25 feet in
depth. They are supervised by Distribution Manager
Bob Ramsey. An enclosed two-story office area is
located in one corner of the facility. The office area is
referred to in the record as a "clean area" which is
free of dirt and dust; apparently it is air-conditioned.
The office area has stairways on both the inside and
outside and has its own restrooms.
After replacement parts are delivered to the ware-
house, employees in Nuturn's receiving, packaging,
picking, packing, and shipping departments prepare
them for shipment to customers in several stages.
Receiving department employees unload, weigh, and
count merchandise and complete a receiving report
concerning each shipment. The merchandise is then
placed in bulk overstock. As the level of demand
requires, replacement parts are removed from bulk
storage and are packaged by warehouse employees.
The packaged parts are then forwarded to the
packing area. Packers prepare the goods for ship-
ment. They are then moved to the dock area and are
shipped to customers.
The customer service, accounting, and materials
control clerks work in the two-story office area.
Employees who are admittedly outside the appropri-
ate unit as office clericals also work in the office area.
Four customer service clerks, who are supervised
by the sales operation manager, Al Sloan, work at
desks on the first floor of the office area. They are
primarily responsible for taking customer orders by
telephone. However, when immediate delivery of a
replacement part is requested, a customer service
clerk goes into the warehouse, obtains the part, and
brings it to a warehouse employee, who packs and
ships the item. This occurs approximately once a
week.
Three accounting clerks, who perform a data
control function and are supervised by the Employ-
er's controller, work on the second floor of the office
area. They audit receiving documents to ensure that
the invoices of suppliers accurately reflect the num-
ber of replacement parts actually received. Addition-
ally, they check computer records to verify the
number of parts received and shipped, the accuracy
of accounts receivable and accounts payable, and the
location of replacement parts in the warehouse. At
the end of the month, the accounting clerks update
their computer records and, under the direction of
the controller, publish a "financial package" con-
cerning the availability and location of replacement
in his decision the Acting Regional Director simply held that "four
transportation employees who operate forklifts" should be included in the
unit. The decision does not mention truckdrivers.
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DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
parts. If a problem arises concerning the accuracy of
their computer records, an accounting clerk may
telephone a warehouse employee to resolve the
discrepancy. If the problem cannot be resolved by
telephone, Steve Hughes, the inventory control su-
pervisor, will go into the warehouse and attempt to
resolve the problem. 2
Three materials control clerks work on the second
floor of the office area. They are supervised by
Materials Manager Dave Rex and by Inventory
Control Supervisor Steve Hughes. Like the account-
ing clerks, materials control clerks attempt to resolve
discrepancies between their computer records and
reports concerning inventory submitted by ware-
house employees. Additionally, materials control
clerks are responsible for controlling the flow of
inventory through the warehouse. Under the direc-
tion of Steve Hughes, materials control clerks com-
plete work orders directing that replacement parts be
moved from bulk storage to individual packs. Two or
three times a day, a materials control clerk delivers
work orders to the leadman in packaging. When
replacement parts are delivered to the loading dock,
the leadman in receiving telephones to materials
control to inform the clerks of the delivery.
In his decision, the Regional Director concluded
that the customer service, accounting, and materials
control clerks are plant clericals and should be
included in the bargaining unit. On the basis of the
record as a whole and for the reasons stated below,
we find that the customer service, accounting, and
materials control clerks are office clericals and
should be excluded from the unit.
Our conclusion that the warehouse employees and
the clerks in question should not be included in the
same unit is based in part on the pronounced
differences in the working conditions of the two
groups. Except for one warehouse employee who
works from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., all warehouse
employees work on either the 7:15 to 3:45 p.m. or the
4 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. shift. Approximately one-half of
all warehouse employees work on the second shift.
2 The testimony of Robert Steinmetz, the Employer's general manager,
indicated he believed there are occasions when accounting clerks will leave
the office area and will contact the leadman in receiving, the leadman in
packaging, or the second-shift supervisor in checking the accuracy of their
computer records. However, James Tracy, the leadman in receiving, testified
that it is Hughes, the inventory control supervisor, who goes onto the
warehouse floor to investigate conflicting records concerning inventory. As
Tracy has a far greater opportunity to observe the day-to-day operations of
the warehouse than does Steinmetz, we view his testimony on this issue as
more accurate than that of Steinmetz.
3 The Board's decisions in Sears, Roebuck and Co., 220 NLRB 1224
(1975) (Sears 1), and Sears, Roebuck and Co., 222 NLRB 476 (1976) (Sears
I/), are distinguishable. The warehouse clerks and inventory control clerks
in Sears I worked in the same office, adjacent to the "staging area," and
received the same pay and fringe benefits as the warehousemen. While
General Manager Steinmetz testified that clerks and warehousemen re-
ceived comparable fringe benefits, the Employer's attorney repeatedly
refused to permit testimony concerning specific fringe benefits, thus
Warehouse employees punch a timeclock, are paid
weekly, and receive one-half hour for lunch. They are
not paid when absent because of illness or personal
reasons. They dress casually in a shirt and jeans.
The responsibilities and terms of employment of
the customer service, accounting, and materials
control clerks differ markedly from those of ware-
house employees. The record reveals that the clerks
spend the bulk of their day working at desks in the
office area. Their primary responsibility is the prepa-
ration and verification of written documents and
records. Except for one part-time clerk and one clerk
who works on the 7:15 a.m. shift, the customer
service, accounting, and materials control clerks all
work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. None works on the
second shift. The clerks are paid every 2 weeks, use
timeslips to account for their time, and are paid when
absent from work. They dress in a manner which is
appropriate for office employees.
The limited extent of the contact between ware-
house employees and the customer service, account-
ing, and materials control clerks, described above,
contributes to our conclusion that these clerks are
actually office, rather than plant, clericals. They have
little face-to-face contact with warehouse employees
and interchange is nonexistent.
In view of the foregoing and the record as a whole,
we find, contrary to the Acting Regional Director,
that the customer service, accounting, and materials
control clerks are essentially office clericals and
should be excluded from the bargaining unit.3
The Acting Regional Director concluded that "four
transportation employees who operate forklifts . . .
in the warehouse" should be included in the bargain-
ing unit, noting that their wages, benefits, and
conditions of employment are comparable to those
of admitted unit employees and that their supervision
is the same. We assume from this finding and the
record that these employees function as forklift
operators rather than as truckdrivers and we include
them in the unit.4
preventing a true comparison. The merchandise control clerks, receiving
clericals, and delivery-office clericals in Sears II had frequent and daily
contact with warehouse employees.
4 The record does not contain any evidence concerning the number of
truckdrivers employed by Nuturn. Further, it does not reveal whether or not
any forklift operators also function as truckdrivers. Petitioner does not seek
to include truckdrivers in the unit, asserting in its request for review that
truckdrivers are paid on a different basis and have little contact with
warehouse employees. Employer contests this assertion procedurally, with-
out denying its truth. In these circumstances, and as representation
proceedings are nonadversary, we accept Petitioner's assertion at face value.
Accordingly, we shall exclude truckdrivers from the warehouse unit. See E.
H. Koester Bakery Co., Inc., 136 NLRB 1006 (1962), where the Board
discontinued its policy of automatically including truckdrivers in production
and maintenance units where the parties disagreed as to their placement and
they are not sought separately. In the event that any forklift operators are
truckdrivers or function as such, they shall be permitted to vote subject to
challenge.
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NUTURN CORPORATION
We find that the following employees of the
Employer constitute a unit appropriate for the
purpose of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9(b) of the Act:
All employees who work in the receiving, ship-
ping, packaging, picking, and packing areas and
all forklift operators employed by the Employer
at its warehouse facility in Nashville, Tennessee,
but excluding all customer service clerks, ac-
counting clerks, materials control clerks, office
clerical employees, truckdrivers, managerial em-
ployees, guards and supervisors as defined in the
Act.
[Direction of Election and Excelsior footnote omit-
ted from publication.]
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