Sears, Roebuck and Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 21, 1966

157 N.L.R.B. 32 (N.L.R.B. 1966)

32 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Sears, Roebuck and Co . and International Union of Operating
Engineers , Local 6-6A-6B , AFL-CIO, Petitioner . Case No. 17-
RC-4863. February 21,1966
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, as amended, a hearing was held before Hearing Offi-
cer William H. Bruckner of the National Labor Relations Board.
The Hearing Officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. The Employer and the
Petitioner have filed briefs.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-
member panel [Chairman McCulloch and Members Brown and
Zagoria].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act and it will effectuate the purposes of the Act to assert juris-
diction herein.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of certain employees of the Employer within the meaning of
Section 9(c) (1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks a unit of building maintenance employees
employed at the Employer's Kansas City, Missouri, mail-order cata-
logue plant and at an annex located in North Kansas City, Missouri,
including powerhouse employees, carpenters, painters, elevator me-
chanics, business machine repairmen, electricians, the general me-
chanic, conveyor belt and pneumatic tube mechanics, the plumber, the
sprinkler fitter, and maintenance mechanics in the annex. The Em-
ployer contends that the proposed unit is inappropriate on the grounds
that (a) the powerhouse employees whom the Petitioner would in-
clude in the unit are guards within the meaning of the Act, and, as
the Petitioner admits to membership employees other than guards, it
is therefore precluded by Section 9 (b) (3) of the Act from certification
as the representative of these employees; and (b) the proposed unit,
to be appropriate, should include, in addition to the employees sought
by the Petitioner, merchandise repairmen, porters, matrons, parts
employees, and stockmen. There is no relevant bargaining history:
The Employer is engaged in retail department store operations in
Kansas City, Missouri. Attached to the retail store is the Employer's
mail-order catalogue plant where, except for the two maintenance
employees who work in the annex, the employees involved are located.
157 NLRB No: 1.
SEARS, ROEBUCK AND CO. 33
The seven powerhouse employees work in the powerhouse on rotat-
ing 8-hour shifts. They are required by city ordinance to take com-
prehensive examinations and to obtain special licenses to operate the
powerhouse equipment. Among other things, they check gauges, the
condition of the fire in the boiler, and the functioning of auxiliaries
and of the fire pump which controls the main building's sprinkler
system. In addition to their regular engineering duties, the power-
house employees on the two evening shifts are also required to report
each hour on the Employer's ADT alarm system located in the power-
house. Merchandise valued at approximately $200,000 is stored in un-
used areas of the powerhouse where the Employer formerly generated
its own electricity. The Employer contends that as the powerhouse
employees punch the ADT clock, are responsible for the security of
the merchandise stored in the powerhouse, and are charged with the
responsibility of keeping unauthorized persons out of the powerhouse,
they are guards within the meaning of the Act. We do not agree.
The powerhouse employees are not uniformed, deputized, nor armed
and they are not authorized to arrest anyone. In fact, they have been
advised not to place themselves in jeopardy, and to attempt only to
detain an intruder if it can be done without placing themselves in dan-
ger. The evidence does not establish that the powerhouse employees
are employed as guards to enforce against employees and other per-
sons rules to protect property of the Employer or to protect the safety
of persons on the Employer's premises, but, rather, that they are en-
gaged predominantly in powerhouse work, with additional duties
resembling only incidentally those of a watchman or guard.'
The record shows that the other employees sought by the Petitioner,
except for the business machine repairmen, discussed below, are en-
gaged primarily in the repair and maintenance of the Employer's
equipment and physical facilities. Thus, while the carpenters spend
a part of their time making crates for the shipment of customer mer-
chandise, or repairing merchandise returned by customers, they spend
the majority of their time in such building maintenance duties as the
construction and repair of bins, floors, and windows in the merchandis-
ing departments of the main store. The painters also paint such cus-
tomer merchandise as concrete mixers, cabinets, and furniture, but
this work is done only when they are free from their regular building
maintenance duties. The elevator mechanics repair and maintain the
operation of the store's elevators. The electricians replace bulbs
throughout the store, repair motors, and perform other electrical
maintenance work. The general mechanic makes repairs involving
machine work, welding, lathe work, nut and bolt work, or other re-
pairs having to do with metal. The conveyor belt and pneumatic tube
1 Je88e Jones Sausage Company and Jones Abattoir Company, 131 NLRB 370, 381.
34 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
mechanics work throughout the store maintaining the operation of
the conveyor belt and the pneumatic tube equipment. The plumber
performs plumbing repair and maintenance work. The sprinkler
fitter is responsible for maintaining the sprinkler fire prevention sys-
tem throughout the operation; does some pipefitting maintenance
work; and spends approximately 5 percent of his time conducting
training sessions among other employees in the prevention of fires.
The two maintenance mechanics in the annex maintain the boilers and
the refrigeration and conveying equipment in the annex. All of these
employees are considered by the Employer to be part of its building
maintenance force, and, except for the sprinkler fitter,' all of them
work under the supervision of H. W. Shaffer, the construction and
maintenance manager, and his assistant.
We are satisfied, upon the entire record in this case, that although
the Employer's operations are to some extent integrated, the employees
described above constitute a readily identifiable building maintenance
group whose related functions, skills, and conditions of employment
establish their community of interest. Moreover, as indicated above,
there is no history of collective bargaining, and no labor organization
seeks to represent a more comprehensive unit. Accordingly, we find
that a unit of building maintenance employees is appropriate.3 How-
ever, there remains for consideration the unit placement of the fol-
lowing categories of employees.
The business machine repairmen, whom the Petitioner would in-
clude, are engaged in the repair of typewriters, Addressograph ma-
chines, and other office equipment sold to customers of the Employer
as well as such equipment used by the Employer. We find that they
are primarily engaged in equipment repair rather than building main-
tenance, and therefore shall exclude them.
Similarly, the merchandise repairmen in the annex, parts employ-
ees, and stockmen, whom the Employer would include but the Peti-
tioner would exclude, are engaged principally in work other than
building maintenance. The merchandise repairmen repair merchan-
dise returned by customers and any item brought into the plant for
repair, covering the entire range of merchandise sold by the Em-
ployer, including radios, television sets, and their components. The
parts employees, working in close conjunction with the merchandise
repairmen in the annex, receive, stock, and maintain approximately 98
different sets of parts which the Employer either ships out or uses in
2 Although Enderle, the sprinkler fitter, works under the supervision of Woodward, the
guard supervisor, and occasionally has substituted for guards while they were on vacation,
we find without merit the Employer's contention that he is a guard within the meaning
of the Act. Cities Service Oil Company Lake Charles, La, Operations, 145 NLRB 467, 472
8 Thalhimer Brothers, Incorporated, 83 NLRB 664; The Bailey Department Stores
Company, 85 NLRB 312; see also Warner-Lambert Pharmaceutical Company, Inc. (Warner-
Chilcott Laboratories Division), 131 NLRB 1441, American Cyanamid Company, 131
NLRB 909.
SAMSONITE CORPORATION, INC. 35,
the repair of merchandise brought into the plant. The stockman, who
is the counterpart of the parts employees in the annex but is located in
the basement of the main building, takes care of maintenance and
stock there, and spends a considerable part of his time loading and
unloading stock. As it is apparent that these employees are not in-
volved primarily in the performance of building maintenance duties,
we shall exclude them from the unit.
On the other hand, the porters and matrons, who are engaged in
cleaning the Employer's premises, are basically maintenance employ-
ees 4 and we shall therefore, in accord with the Employer's contention,,
include them in the unit.
Accordingly, we find that the following employees of the Employer
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining-
within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act: 5
All building maintenance employees at the Employer's Kansas City,
Missouri, catalogue plant and annex, including powerhouse employees,
carpenters, painters, elevator mechanics, electricians, general me-
chanics, conveyor belt and pneumatic tube mechanics, plumbers,
sprinkler fitters, porters, and matrons, but excluding office clerical
employees, business machine repairmen, merchandise repairmen, parts
employees, stockmen, professional employees, all other employees,,
guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
* See Heublein, Inc., 119 NLRB 1337, 1339.
:The Employer's motion to dismiss the petition on the ground of the inappropriate.
ness of the unit sought is hereby denied.
Samsonite Corporation , Inc. and United Rubber, Cork , Linoleum
and Plastic Workers of America , AFL-CIO. Case No. 26-CA-
92027. February 23,1966
DECISION AND ORDER
On September 27, 1965, Trial Examiner Jerry B. Stone issued his
Decision in the above-entitled proceeding, finding that the Respondent
has engaged in and is engaging in certain unfair labor practices
alleged in the complaint and recommending that it cease and desist
therefrom and take certain affirmative action, as set forth in the at-
tached Trial Examiner's Decision. The Trial Examiner also found
that the Respondent had not engaged in certain other unfair labor
practices, as to which he recommended that the complaint be dis-
missed. Thereafter, the Respondent filed exceptions to the Trial
Examiner's Decision and a supporting brief.
157 NLRB No. 5.
221-374-66-vol. 157-4