Ritchie Grocer Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 12, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 285 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of RITCHIE GROCER COMPANY, EMPLOYER and INTER-
NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSE-
MEN & HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, TRUCK DRIVERS LOCAL UNION
568, PETITIONER
Case No. 15-RC-138.-Decided November 12, 1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a 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. At the hearing, the Employer moved to dismiss the petition
upon the ground that the Board does not have jurisdiction of the Em-
ployer's business, and also that the taking of jurisdiction by the Board
would not effectuate the purposes of the Act. For reasons hereinafter
discussed the motion is denied.
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 the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Ritchie Grocer Company, an Arkansas Corporation with its prin-
cipal place of business at El Dorado, Arkansas, is engaged in the
wholesale sale of groceries. It maintains branch warehouses in the
States of Arkansas and Louisiana. The only operation of the Em-
ployer involved in this proceeding is its branch warehouse located at
421 Walnut Street, Monroe, Louisiana. During 1947 the Monroe
branch purchased from outside the State of Louisiana merchandise
'Houston , Reynolds, and Murdock.
80 N. L. R. B., No. 59.
285
286 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
valued in excess of $75,000 and representing approximately 75 percent
of its total purchases. During the same period the Monroe branch
sold and delivered approximately $1,000 worth of groceries, or about
1 percent of its total goods sold, to purchasers outside the State of
Louisiana. On occasion one of the Monroe branch trucks delivers
goods to customers in Southeast Arkansas. The proposed unit in-
cludes approximately 34 employees.
Upon these facts, we find, that in the question of its Monroe branch
the Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.'
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization, claiming to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees at its Monroe, Louisiana,
branch until the Petitioner has been certified by the Board.
We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The following employees of the Employer constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the Act; drivers, warehousemen, dock hands,
helpers, and mechanics 2 based at the Employer's Monroe, Louisiana,
plant, excluding office employees, managers, sales managers, salesmen,
and specifically all other employees not based at the Monroe branch,
foremen,3 and all other supervisors as defined in the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Ritchie Grocer Company,
1 In Matter of Ritchie Grocer Company, 69 N. L . R. B. 471, where we took jurisdiction
of the Employer 's main office in El Dorado, Arkansas , it was clear that the operations of
the main office and the branches, both in Arkansas and in Louisiana , were closely inte-
grated. We are assuming that the same situation prevails in the instant case, since there
is no evidence to the contrary . See also Matter of Dixie Wholesale Company, Inc., 73
N. L. R. B. 1203.
2 Although one employee 's function is to see that the trucks are filled with gas and
water, the tires repaired , and to report major mechanical troubles rather than to perform
duties requiring technical skill , he is included in the category of mechanics.
8 In was stipulated at the hearing that the warehouse foreman was a supervisor and
should be excluded from the proposed unit.
RITCIUE GROCER COMPANY 287
Monroe, Louisiana, 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 Fifteenth Region, 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 unit found appropriate in
Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, 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 or not they desire to be represented,
for purposes of collective bargaining, by International Brotherhood
of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers of America, AFL,
Truck Drivers Local Union 568.