Sears, Roebuck and Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 28, 1966

160 N.L.R.B. 1435 (N.L.R.B. 1966)

SEARS, ROEBUCK AND CO. 1435
3. By discharging Donald E. Meredith on July 9, 1965 , the Respondent has
engaged in and is engaging in an unfair labor practice within the meaning of Sec-
tion 8 ( 3) and (1) of the Act.
4. The aforesaid unfair labor practice affects commerce within the meaning of
Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
THE REMEDY
Having found that the Respondent has engaged in an unfair labor practice, I
shall recommend that it cease and desist therefrom , and that it take certain affirm-
ative action which is necessary to effectuate the purposes of the Act.
It shall be recommended that the Respondent offer Donald E. Meredith immedi-
ate and full reinstatement to his former or substantially equivalent position without
prejudice to his seniority or other rights and privileges and that Respondent
make him whole for any loss of pay he may have suffered by reason of the dis-
crimination against him, by payment to him of a sum of money equal to that which
he normally would have earned from the date of the discrimination against him
to the date of Respondent 's offer of reinstatement , less net earnings. Loss of pay
shall be computed in accordance with the formula set forth in F. W. Woolworth
Company, 90 NLRB 289, and shall bear interest at the rate of six percent per
annum, as set forth in Isis Plumbing & Heating Co., 138 NLRB 716.
[Recommended Order omitted from publication.]
Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Chauffeurs , Teamsters and Helpers
"General" Local No. 200 , I.B.T., Petitioner . Case 30-IBC-/19.
September 28, 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 F. Jacobs. The I-Tearing 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 National Labor
Relations Act, as amended, the National Labor Relations Board has
delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Members Fanning, 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
cuiployces of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of certain employees of the Employer within the meaning of
Sections 9 (c) (1) and 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Employer operates six major retail store units and a service
center in the Milwaukee area. The instant case involves only the Serv-
ice Center, which is housed in a single building consisting of two
160 NLRB No. 118.
1436 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
floors. The Center serves the six stores by performing such basic
warehouse operations as ordering, receiving, and shipping of "big
ticket" merchandise; i.e., radio and TV sets, appliances, sewing
machines, plumbing and heating items, building materials, and furni-
ture. It also engages in the servicing of this merchandise prior to and
after delivery to the retail store or directly to customers. About 190
nonsupervisory employees are employed at the Center to perform
these various functions.
Petitioner seeks to represent a unit comprised of service repairmen
but is willing to participate in an election in any unit the Board may
find appropriate that includes these employees. Employer contends
that the smallest unit which the Board may find appropriate consists
of all the employees working at the Center, including service repair-
men, warehousemen, parts employees, drapery workroom employees,
installation employees, maintenance employees, and clericals.
While the Board has regarded a single comprehensive unit in retail
establishments as "basically appropriate" or the "optimum" unit, it
has held that this is not necessarily the only appropriate unit in such
an establishment.1 Recently, in recognizing the separate interests of
warehouse employees, the Board excluded from a warehouse unit all
employees engaged in furniture, appliance, and television and radio
repair at the warehouse building inasmuch as these employees were
not performing "typical" warehouse functions.2 And other cases have
made it clear that, under the Act, a unit of less than all the employ-
ees in a mercantile operation may be appropriate.3 Such cases have
applied the long-established principles that the appropriate unit for
self-organization among the employees of a given employer is gen-
erally based upon a community of interest in their occupation as
manifested, inter alia, by their common experiences, duties, organiza-
tion, supervision, and conditions of employment.
In the instant matter, the record shows that the Center is function-
ally divided into several departments : auditing, installation, drapery,
operating, and service, each having its own supervisor who reports
directly to a manager of the entire Center. The issue in this case con-
,cerns the propriety of a unit limited to some or all of the employees
in the service department. Engaged in the Center's service functions
are about SO service repairmen, 7 parts employees, and 25 clericals.
Many of the service repairmen are outside men who perform repair
work on Sears merchandise in customers' homes. Inside servicemen
do similar work on merchandise which has been returned to the Cen-
i Stern's, Paramus, 150 NLRB 799, 803
2 The May Department Stores Company, 153 NLRB 341
s Arnold Constable Corporation, 150 NLRB 788 ; Lord & Taylor, Division of Associated
Dry Goods Corp, 150 NLRB 812
SEARS, ROEBUCK AND CO. 1437
ter for repairs. Their daily work is delegated to them by a dispatcher,
and transcribed onto route sheets by clericals. The assignment to each
serviceman is based on the special type of repair work each performs,
and, in the case of outside servicemen, the location of the job.
The record reveals that although the manager of the entire Center,
Washburn, oversees all operations, the day-to-day administration is
carried out on a departmental basis. Thus, the service department
supervisor, Hilligoss, interviews applicants for employment and effec-
tively recommends their hiring, promotions, and wage increases. In
hiring employees for service positions, an effort is made to find appli-
cants with experience and skill in the various lines of repair. Special
aptitude tests are given to these applicants, which are not required
of those seeking positions in warehousing. Although all the employ-
ees at the Center receive 3 days of indoctrination, only servicemen 4
undergo a formal training program.5
There are also significant differences in conditions of employment
between employees in the service department and the others in the
Center. Thus, while the wage structure and benefits are basically the
the same for all employees at the Center, the rates of servicemen are
generally "slightly higher" than those engaged in other functions.
Further, servicemen wear special uniforms which are laundered free
of charge. Outside servicemen spend most of their workday away
from the Center, repairing merchandise in customers' homes, and the
inside servicemen work in designated areas separate and apart from
other activities in the Center. There is little transfer of employees
between departments, and interchange occurs only on an irregular
basis. Furthermore, employees in other departments at the Center
engage in job duties, such as drapery work, installation and inspec-
tion, maintenance, and the shipping, receiving, and movement of
inventory, which are unrelated to those found in the service
department. -
Finally, although there is some degree of contact between employ-
ees of the different departments ' and there is some minimal over-
4 These servicemen receive a 1-week course in "Basic Electricity ," as well as subsequent
"school" and on-the-job training using various technical manuals in the service specialty
to which they will be assigned, and take tests to measure their progress and proficiency.
They also receive training in customer relations , which is not required of the other
employees as they have little or no contact with the public . In general, it takes about
1 to 3 years ' training for a serviceman to become sufficiently competent in his line of
repair work. In addition , Sears has established a national training school in Chicago to
which its servicemen are sent for additional training.
5 The record reveals that of the approximately 50 warehousemen at the Center, a few
engage in some furniture refinishing, a job requiring substantial skill and training But
these few are clearly not representative of the skill and training possessed by most em-
ployees in the warehouse operation.
6 Thus, employees all eat together and take their coffee breaks in the Center ' s cafeteria.
In addition , all employees in the building share common washroom and sanitary facilities.
1438 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
lapping of functions ,° the evidence is not sufficient to reveal a degree
of integration that might require the rejection of a request for an
identifiably distinct unit. Moreover, there is no history of collective
bargaining and no labor organization seeks to represent a more com-
prehensive unit.
In light of the above, including the Center's operational division,
separate supervision, the differences in functions, skills, and working
conditions, and the separate community of interest fostered thereby,
we conclude that the employees engaged in service operations form a
homogenous and functionally distinct departmental unite Accord-
ingly, we find that a unit of service department employees is appro-
priate. However, Petitioner contends that parts employees and cleri-
cals should be excluded from the requested unit. Thus, there remains
for consideration the unit placement of the parts employees, and the
service and parts clericals.
Parts employees work at the parts sales counter receiving merchan-
dise brought in by customers for repairs, writing up service orders
for repairs, tagging merchandise, and taking the tagged items to
storage areas to await repair. They receive telephone calls from cus-
tomers inquiring about the status of merchandise previously left for
repairs. They unpack and store parts, and,in this connection occasion-
ally receive assistance from warehouse employees. Also, they "pull"
parts for customers, servicemen, or stores upon request in accordance
with route sheets. Thus, the work of parts employees is primarily
connected with the Center's service function. They work closely with
the servicemen and, like the servicemen, wear company-provided uni-
forms and have substantial contact with customers. Finally, as already
noted, they are within the service department and are under the serv-
ice department supervisor.° Under these circumstances, we shall
include the parts employees within the departmental unit.
Service clericals, including telephone service clericals, take service
orders over the phone for repairs of merchandise which will either be
brought into the service center or which will necessitate the sending
of a serviceman to a customer's home. They type out the route sheets
for the servicemen from service orders and in this connection work
closely with the parts employees. They also check to see that the out-
7 The record reveals that warehouse employees may assist servicemen or parts em-
ployees in moving merchandise to particular areas for repair. Warehousemen also engage
in "deluxingi" or the preparation of merchandise for shipment. While this may involve
some minor mechanical modification in connection with certain appliances and furniture,
the skill and experience required of the warehousemen is clearly less than that of the
servicemen.
8 See Cal-Sample Printers, Inc., 156 NLRB 543; Central Valley National Bank, 154
NLRB 995 ; J. C. Penney Company, 151 NLRB 53
8 Thus, Gazdecki, the immediate supervisor of the parts employees, is directly responsible
to Hilligoss.
SEARS, ROEBUCK AND CO. 1439
side servicemen fill out their copies of the job route sheets correctly
and then may inform them of errors the following morning at the
checkout area. During the day they may have reason to contact out-
side servicemen if there are sudden changes in their routes or to
assign them additional work. They also contact inside servicemen at
the latters' work area to discuss questions on particular service orders.
Part clericals engage in customer contact, and clerical paperwork
as it pertains to parts, ordering and disbursing parts, and completion
of service orders. They work closely with service clericals on orders
for parts to be used in servicing merchandise.
Thus, the record reveals that these clericals work in close proximity
to, and in association with, servicemen and parts employees. They
keep and maintain records relating to the work of service employees
and their overall duties are primarily part of the Center's service
function and not its warehouse operation. They are under the same
supervision as other employees within the service department,1° and
have a community of interest with the other service employees. Upon
these facts, it is manifest that these employees are plant clericals.
Therefore, we shall include them in the departmental unit."'
Accordingly, we find that the following employees of the Employer
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act:
All Service Department employees 12 employed at the Employ-
er's 6001 West State Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, premises,
including service repairmen, parts employees, service and parts
clericals, but excluding office clerical employees, guards, profes-
sional employees, supervisors as defined in the Act, and all other
employees 13
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] 14
to While Shone is the immediate supervisor of a substantial number of the clerical em-
ployees, she, like other supervisors within the service department , reports directly to
Hilligoss.
11 See, Texaco , Inc, 148 NLRB 1188.
12As no contention has been made , and the evidence does not show , that Ray Charney
the dispatcher , is a supervisor , we shall include him within the departmental unit.
13 The record indicates that drapery room employees and installation employees have
substantial skill and contact with customers But as noted previously these employees
work in separate departments, each having a supervisor who reports directly to Washburn,
the Center 's manager . Accordingly , they are excluded from the unit found appropriate
herein
"An election eligibility list, containing the names and addresses of all the eligible
voteis, must be filed by the Employer with the Regional Director for Region 30 within
7 days after the date of this Decision and Direction of Election . The Regional Director
shall make the list available to all parties to the election No extension of time to file this
list shall be granted by the Regional Director except in extraordinaiy circumstances.
Failure to comply with this requirement shall be grounds for setting aside the election
whenever proper objections are filed. Excelsior Underwear Inc., 156 NLRB 1236.