Sears, Roebuck and Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 22, 1971

191 N.L.R.B. 398 (N.L.R.B. 1971)

398 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Sears, Roebuck and Co., Employer-Petitioner and In-
ternational Association of Machinists and Aero-
space Workers , AFL-CIO, District Lodge No. 95,
Local Lodge No. 1178 , Petitioner and Retail Clerks
Union , Local # 1532 Retail Clerks International As-
sociation , AFL-CIO, Petitioner and General Truck
Drivers, Warehousemen & Helpers Union, Local
No. 980, Petitioner. Case 20-RM-1305, 20-RC-
9493, 20-RC-9496, and 20-RC-9518
June 22, 1971
DECISION AND ORDER
BY MEMBERS FANNING, JENKINS, AND KENNEDY
Upon petitions duly filed under Section 9(c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a con-
solidated hearing was held before Lawrence Gentile,
III, Hearing Officer. Following the hearing, pursuant
to Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations and Statements of Proce-
dure, Series 8, as amended, these cases were transferred
to the National Labor Relations Board for decision.
Thereafter, briefs were filed by the Employer, Machin-
ists, and Retail Clerks, which have been duly consid-
ered.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board has delegated, its powers
in connection with this proceeding to a three-member
panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's rulings
made at the hearing and finds no prejudicial error. The
rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in these cases, 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 jurisdiction herein.
2. The Petitioners are labor organizations claiming
to represent certain employees of the Employer-Peti-
tioner.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning
the representation of certain employees of the Em-
ployer within the meaning of Sections 9(c)(1) and 2(6)
and (7) of the Act.
4. Factual Background
The Employer is engaged in the operation of a retail
store, service station, and warehouse at Santa Rosa,
California. The Machinists seeks a unit of seven service
station employees, including five installers and two
part-time installers. Excluded are five salesmen and one
part-time partsman also working at the service station.
The Teamsters seeks a unit of all employees at the
warehouse which includes 7 warehousemen, 2 drivers,
2 helpers, 2 parts department employees, 18 service-
191 NLRB No. 84
men, and about 8 clericals. Also sought by the Team-
sters are five shipping and receiving employees, four
full-time and two part-time markers, one stockman,
and one clerical working in the dock area at the retail
store. This unit totals approximately 50 employees. The
Retail Clerks seeks a unit of primarily the store's 160
salesmen, 55 clericals, and 5 maintenance employees,
about 220 employees in all. This figure excludes the
store's dock area employees and includes the service
station's salesmen and partsman. Thus, of the Em-
ployer's approximately 260 selling, nonselling, clerical
and maintenance employees at the service station,
warehouse, and retail store, all would be represented by
one of the Petitioners with guards, confidential and
managerial employees, and supervisors excluded from
the three units. Contrary to these requests, the Em-
ployer filed a petition contending that the 260 em-
ployees can only be properly represented on the basis
of a single unit.
There is no collective-bargaining history' for any of
the employees in issue at the Santa Rosa Sears,' and no
labor organization is seeking to represent these em-
ployees in single storewide unit.2 However, the Team-
sters and Retail Clerks stated that they would proceed
with an election notwithstanding a Board finding of
their requested units appropriate only as modified by
the inclusion or exclusion of fringe job classifications.
The Sears Santa Rosa establishment consists of a
three-floor retail store, a service station located about
70 feet away on the same parking lot as the store, and
a warehouse 1 mile distant from both. Although not the
largest size Sears outlet, the store carries a full line of
Sears merchandise, includes a catalog' order depart-
ment, and is complemented by the service station
which sells and installs automotive parts and accesso-
ries and performs certain kinds of automotive repairs.
The warehouse also, in addition to a stock storage func-
tion, sells some items and provides various services
directly to Sears customers. The store and service sta-
tion are open identical hours Monday through Friday
and on Sunday. The warehouse has different hours
Monday through Saturday.
Top level management for the entire Santa Rosa
operation consists of a store manager working with an
assistant store manager, auditor/controller, two mer-
chandise managers (for hardline and softline goods),
and a credit manager, all of whom report directly to the
store manager. There is also a personnel manager re-
porting to the store manager and his assistant. The next
management level consists of division and department
' In 1953 the Teamsters and Retail Clerks sought warehouse and store
units at this facility which the Board (106 NLRB 242) rejected in favor of
an overall unit.
2 For this reason, the Employer requests that its petition in Case 20-RM-
1305 be dismissed, but it does not abandon its view as to the appropriateness
of an overall unit.
SEARS , ROEBUCK AND CO. 399
managers. Ten division managers are in charge of about
50 selling divisions. They report directly to their re-
spective merchandise managers and to the assistant and
store managers. The catalog order department is in-
cluded as a selling division but its manager reports to
the assistant and store managers only. The service sta-
tion and warehouse are also supervised by division
managers. Fourteen department managers head the
same number of nonselling departments and report to
the store and assistant store managers. The parties
stipulated that all of these positions are managerial or
supervisory, but that the position of assistant division
or department manager is nonsupervisory. The service
station has one assistant division manager who helps
direct installers, and the warehouse has one assistant
for warehousemen and one for servicemen. The record
does not disclose the exact number of assistants at the
retail store.
The Employer's total nonsupervisory work force av-
erages 150 full-time and 110 part-time employees, with
seasonal fluctuations. All are permanently assigned to
either the store, service station, or warehouse and
punch timeclocks at their respective locations. Al-
though warehouse employees have their own lunch-
room, service station employees eat at the store's lunch-
room. Pay is uniformly calculated in one of three ways,
salesmen receive a regular commission or a salary plus
1 percent commission. Nonselling employees are paid
a straight salary with the possibility of receiving an
additional amount (referred to as a "PM") earned by
selling or assisting in the sale of a particular item. Such
fringe benefits as vacations, paid holidays, and insur-
ance are provided for all full-time employees, wherever
located, on the same basis, and all part-time employees
receive some of these benefits irrespective of location.
The service ' station has two part-time installers, and
three store dock area shipping and receiving employees
work at the service station on a weekly part-time basis.
The warehouse has one part-time warehouseman, and
a part-time employee is employed twice a year for spe-
cial projects. All other part-time employees are as-
signed to the store.
Hiring procedures are carried out by the store's per-
sonnel office and all applicants must appear there to fill
in an application form. Applications are received by the
personnel manager and, if satisfactory, the applicant is
interviewed, tested,,and graded by that office. When a
position is available, the appropriate division or depart-
ment manager interviews approved candidates. The
store manager and his assistant also interview some,
but not all, potential employees. On the other hand,
part-time employees may only be interviewed by per-
sonnel. If the concluding interview is favorable, a com-
pany physical examination is required. The final deci-
sion to hire is made by the store and assistant store
managers. The yearly turnover rate for full-time em-
ployees is 15-20 percent; for part-time employees it is
50 percent.
Terminations are subject to companywide regula-
tions. If the employee in question has been employed 10
years or more, final discharge approval rests with the
Sears Pacific Coast territorial vice president. If it is an
employee with 4 or more years of service, the territorial
personnel department must approve. For an employee
of less than 4 years, the assistant and store managers
are ultimately responsible. As opposed to this, disci-
pline for minor rule infractions is handled by division
and department managers with employees on a daily
verbal basis. If repeated or major misconduct is in issue,
a rating review will be written by the manager. When
the misconduct develops as a serious problem, a defi-
ciency review will be given. This involves an interview
with the employee by his division or department
manager and a member of the store staff. A memoran-
dum of the session is prepared, then read and signed by
the employee. A 30-day "punch up" period follows
during which the employee is expected,to correct the
problem. Employees are generally afforded three defi-
ciency reviews before termination, unless the miscon-
duct is theft.
Apart from these special rating reviews, division and
department managers prepare annual rating reviews
for all employees. These are checked by the merchan-
dise managers for selling employees, and by the person-
nel manager and assistant store manager for all em-
ployees, for fairness. The review result is reported to
the individual employee by his division or department
manager and, in cases where the review is exceptional,
a store staff 'member may also be present during the
report. Annual reviews form the basis for promotions,
pay raises, and transfers, with final action, authority
residing in the store and assistant store managers. But
merchandise managers also participate in final deci-
sions as to promotion and transfer of selling employees.
Figures for all permanent transfers from 1950 to, 1970
show 106 moves involving 76 employees. A majority of
these transfers, 86, were between the three' requested
units.
All new employees participate in an orientation pro-
gram and continued training in certain areas is required
periodically of regular employees. For example, service
station installers and warehouse servicemen meet to
learn selling techniques. Salesmen, from the service sta-
tion and store, have weekly and monthly meetings
within their divisions. All employees attend a combined
monthly meeting. There are also special sales events
about four times a year in which all employees with
customer contact, sales and supporting, participate.
The supporting employees, regardless of location, are
teamed with store and service station salesmen for pur-
poses of effecting sales. They engage in such activities
as sending cards to, and calling, potential customers,
400 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
always directing them to buy from their teammate
salesman . At least once a year a complete store inven-
tory is taken with all facilities closed for part of a day
and with all employees working side by side at this task
at any location where needed.
Service Station
In addition to the service station's primary functions
of selling and installing automotive parts and accesso-
ries, and performing repair work, a process known as
"deluxing" is also carried out there, as well as shipping
and receiving, maintenance , and clerical work. Super-
vison of all functions is delegated to a division manager,
aided by an assistant manager for installation. The as-
sistant store manager takes an active part in station
affairs, however, visiting daily and sometimes as often
as four times a day. The station is divided into three
main areas : sales, shop, and tire and parts stock. Cus-
tomers have access to the sales and shop areas.
Service station sales are primarily the responsibility
of five salesmen, regularly rotated with salesmen in the
store's automotive parts, accessories, and tires selling
division. Their main job is to sell parts at the station,
which are also available at the store, and to sell service.
Station salesmen generally do not engage in mechanical
work, although 5 percent or less of their time may be
spent looking at a customer's car or installing a battery.
They are never sent to school to learn mechanical skills.
Less than 5 percent of their time is also occupied with
deluxing. This involves uncrating, assembling, and ser-
vicing merchandise to be sold in a finished and ready-
to-use condition. Another minus 5 percent of their job
consists of helping with the station's shipping and re-
ceiving function, and they also help with the station's
weekly inventory.
Five installers and two part-time installers perform
the installation and repair activities of the service sta-
tion. Applicants for installer are not required to have
mechanical experience or special training but, although
no prehire tests are given, persons with mechanical
ability are favored for this position. On-the-job training
is necessary, however, and this consists of a minimum
of 1 day to learn tire and battery installation, to a
maximum of 1 year to 18 months for mastery of engine
work. Installers are sent to schools for training in me-
chanical skills though the assistant store manager tes-
tified that, presently, he would consider only one in-
staller to be a qualified mechanic. The installer's
primary job is to put in new-car parts or accessories and
replace old but, in terms of what is normally considered
to be repair or maintenance work, they also perform
such services as lubrication, oil change, front-end align-
ment, and wheel balancing. Thus, they do service cus-
tomers' automobiles without the sale of parts involved.
When parts are necessary, they are usually sold to
customers at the store or service station by salesmen.
In practice, if the part, wherever sold, is to be installed
at the station, the initial sales check for the part and
service is presented to the installer who personally ob-
tains the part from the station parts stockroom or from
the store's stock of parts, and completes its installation.
Aside from this procedure, additional parts and service
are often "sold" by the installer himself. After looking
at a customer's car, he may see the need for additional
parts or service, in which case, the customer, if availa-
ble, will be approached directly by the installer. When
not available, the installer will contact the salesman
who then relays the message to the customer. If this
customer buys the part or service, the salesman is cred-
ited with his regular commission (whether personally
contacted by the installer or not) and the installer re-
ceives a PM. Most of these sales involve additional
parts or service directly connected with the original job
contracted for, although they may relate to an entirely
different automotive problem. In any event, should a
customer approach an installer at the outset about a
sale, he will be referred to a salesman by the installer
and, as this amounts to an initial sale, no PM is earned.
About 10 to 15 percent of the installers' time is spent
on sales, with PM's only a small percentage of their
total wage. However, installers are given, from time to
time, special sales training.
Along with the station' s salesmen, less than 5 percent
of installers' time is spent deluxing merchandise. In-
stallers, as well as salesmen, also help with the station's
shipping and receiving function. Weekly shipments of
tires, batteries, and other automotive supplies are deliv-
ered directly to the service station and installers spend
about 5 percent of their time unloading. Because in-
stallers do 50 percent of all station unloading work,
trucks are held until they have completed their installa-
tion jobs, which take priority. The station's salesmen
perform 10 to 15 percent of the unloading and the rest
is done by the store's dock shipping and receiving em-
ployees.
Installers also engage in several kinds of mainte-
nance work. While 50 percent of the station's daily
cleanup work is taken care of by the store's mainte-
nance crew, the remainder is done by the installers.
Once or twice a week, on a rotated basis among the
installers, they help the store's maintenance crew clean
the parking lot. Finally, during the station's slack peri-
ods they go, in rotation, to the store to help with
maintenance. This happens about twice yearly. In addi-
tion to the foregoing duties, installers participate in the
station's weekly inventory count.
Overall, though the regular work station for install-
ers is the service station and though they never go to
the warehouse, the store's dock area, or to the store for
work as salesmen, they are to be found daily at the store
SEARS, ROEBUCK AND CO. 401
obtaining installation parts, occasionally for mainte-
nance jobs, and with fair regularity in connection with
PM sales.
The service station stocks automotive parts usually
installed there, although some parts are stocked in the
retail store only. Station parts are available for sale
directly to customers, as well as for the installers' con-
venience. One part-time partsman works 20 to 24 hours
a week spending 70 percent of this time selling parts
and services at the station, in addition to selling at the
store. Most of his store selling is performed in the
automotive division, but he also sells in other divisions
such as sporting goods, paint, and hardware. For the
remaining 30 percent of his time, he works as an in-
staller at the station, being paid the installers' hourly
rate and earning PM's. The partsman does not, how-
ever, do all of these activities every day.
There are no clericals assigned to the service station
and its clerical work is handled by employees assigned
to the store. The daily station report, a compilation of
parts and service sales, is tallied by the store's PBX
operator from sales checks written up by salesmen and
installers. The station's parts inventory records, aside
from the weekly count, are maintained by the store's
unit buying control office.
Warehouse
Warehouse functions include more than warehous-
ing goods which, in itself, involves receiving, marking,
storing, and delivering merchandise to the store by
shuttle truck and to customers by delivery trucks and
through commercial shipments. The repair and service
of Sears merchandise is also carried out by warehouse
personnel, as well as the sale of merchandise, parts, and
maintenance agreements directly to customers. Delux-
ing, gasing of Sears service and delivery trucks, mainte-
nance, and clerical work are also performed at the
warehouse. A warehouse division manager and two
assistants, one directing warehousemen and one direct-
ing servicemen, and a parts department division
manager supervise these functions. Store staff em-
ployees also participate, with the assistant and store
managers visiting the warehouse one to three times a
week; the personnel manager once a week; the mer-
chandise managers once aweek; the auditor/controller
two to three times a month; and the credit manager one
to two times a month. Several times a week, the ware-
house division manager is in contact with the store
regarding inventory matters such as irregularities,
shortages, and pricing of merchandise.
Almost all of the activities surrounding the ware-
housing function are primarily performed by seven
warehousemen and one clerical. Warehousemen spend
25 percent of their, time unloading railway and truck
shipments, and 10 percent moving goods into the ware-
house, marking, and storing. All cartons are marked,
but warehousemen also individually string-tag toys and
items to be sent directly to the store or to a customer.
The shipping and receiving clerk handles all freight
bills and receiving records and has daily contact with
store personnel in connection with such problems as
sorting out items misdirected to either the warehouse
or store. Once a day, usually a warehouseman drives a
shuttle truck between the warehouse and store. This job
includes going to the customer service office at the store
for sales checks and picking up mail and orders at the
unit buying control office. The warehousemen will also
help with the truck loading and unloading if needed.
All warehousemen help out with warehouse merchan-
dise and part sales if they are in that area of the ware-
house. A substantial portion of their time is spent
deluxing, for they perform 20 to 30 percent of all ware-
house deluxing, and the warehouse is responsible for
deluxing all major appliances, in addition to 30 or 40
percent of the deluxing required by the service station.
The delivery aspect of warehouse operations is cov-
ered by two drivers and two helpers. For any item sold
at the store or warehouse to be delivered, the sales
check is sent to the customer service office at the store
and scheduled for delivery. After these checks have
been brought to the warehouse on the shuttle truck,
drivers make up delivery routes, pull merchandise from
storage, and load the trucks. At least two or three times
a month, drivers go to the store to remove an item
directly off the selling floor for delivery. Drivers do not,
at any time, sell merchandise. Their trucks are fueled
at the warehouse and serviced by the dealer. Drivers
and helpers also perform 5 to 10 percent of warehouse
deluxing.
Repair and service of all Sears merchandise sold to
customers is performed by 18 servicemen, of which 15
are television technicians and 13 are mechanical techni-
cians with 2 assigned to the warehouse gas motor shop,
and 11 assigned to the repair shop and to daily cus-
tomer routes. Six plant clericals coordinate repair and
service operations, although schedules for mechanical
technicians are set up by the store customer service
office. Service trucks are fueled at the warehouse and
serviced by the installers at the station. Servicemen
regularly perform a selling function when making re-
pair calls to customers' homes by carrying such items
as repair parts, maintenance service agreements, and
detergents on their trucks. They receive PM's for these
sales, and this accounts for 3 to 10 percent of their
income. They also do about 5 percent of warehouse
deluxing. Servicemen engage in store repair work, for
example, on display television sets and on the store's
public address system and refrigerators.
In addition to the parts department division
manager, two clericals help with the warehouse's part
sales function. Their activities in connection with parts
402 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
include ordering , storing , disbursing to servicemen,
and selling directly to customers at the warehouse.
Items sold are mechanical and electronic repair parts
and extra bulky items more conveniently stored at the
warehouse. Many of these articles are also sold at the
store, and a customer may have in fact purchased it
there and come to the warehouse to pick it up. Often,
as in the case of something like fencing , an original sale
may be made at the store , with the customer coming
directly to the warehouse to purchase more. Almost
any warehouse employee will help with part sales if he
is by the pickup desk and a customer is waiting for
service.
Three warehouse clericals sell maintenance agree-
ments for Sears merchandise. Their activities include
telephone and mail sales, and recordkeeping, with some
time spent as parts department relief, both as to clerical
duties and for sales . They also help type load sheets and
service orders . All maintenance agreement records are
located at the warehouse where over 10,000 are on file.
Agreements are sold by other employees, salesmen usu-
ally sell one along with the original purchase of the item
to be serviced, while warehouse clericals handle renew-
als. Servicemen also personally sell agreements to cus-
tomers in the course of service calls to their homes.
Both the store's catalog order department and cus-
tomer service office also sell maintenance agreements.
Salesmen and servicemen receive their respective com-
missions or PM's for agreements sold. Warehouse cleri-
cals do not earn PM's for this, but they do for the sale
of television antennas and detergent. Overall, about
$500,000 worth of business is transacted annually by
warehouse personnel through the sale of parts, mainte-
nance agreements , and other items.
Notwithstanding all the clerical activities mentioned
in connection with the foregoing warehouse functions,
inventory keeping is not performed there. Store divi-
sions, through sales personnel , maintain separate in-
ventory records for each division's merchandise, re-
gardless of where it is held. Weekly and monthly
physical counts are made by division managers who go
to the warehouse for this purpose. Salesmen, too, visit
the warehouse for stock verification purposes. Division
inventory records are cross-checked by the store's unit
buying control,office which records items coming in
and logs sales checks as items go out.
Store Dock Area
At the store dock area, merchandise is unloaded
from trucks, marked, sent to store selling and stock-
areas, deluxed, and delivered.to customers as required.
Certain maintenance and clerical functions also take
place. All, activities are supervised by a department
manager and performed,by five shipping and receiving
employees , four full-time and two part-time markers,
one stockman , and one clerical.
The shipping and receiving employees unload trucks
and transfer goods to the store's sales and stock areas
after marking. They also handle merchandise-receipt
paperwork. There is a customer delivery counter near
the dock, and these employees cover the counter.
About once a week, one to three shipping and receiving
employees go to the service station to help with ship-
ment unloading. This worktime is not charged to the
station although the men are under station supervision.
Less than 5 percent of their time at the dock is spent
deluxing.
Markers are responsible for string-tagging merchan-
dise as it arrives at the dock. They also go to selling
departments to record markups and markdowns on
items previously prepared for sale. They transmit dock
receiving papers to various store offices, primarily unit
buying control and auditing, and some of them are used
daily for sales work. One is regularly scheduled for
lunch relief sales work at the snackbar and candy de-
partment. For others, up to 10 or 15 percent of their
time may be spent working the cash register in small-
item selling divisions when customer demand requires
additional sales help. Markers engaged in sales work
continue at their regular hourly pay rate with no com-
mission . Although they must report all sales work over
15 minutes for bookkeeping purposes, they are under
the supervision of the particular selling division
manager during all selling time spent in his division.
The stockman helps, as needed, with almost all dock
area activities . Receiving and marking consume 20 to
25 percent of his time; deluxing accounts for 3 to 4
percent; maintenance, including daily care of the dock,
weekly jobs in store stock areas , and periodic store
painting, accounts for 5 to 10 percent. The remaining
time is spent moving merchandise from the dock to
store stock areas . He performs no selling functions.
The dock area clerical is concerned with receiving
papers, purchase orders, requisitions, transportation
claims, shortages , irregularities, and markup and
markdown forms. In connection with this paperwork,
the clerical goes daily to the dock receiving area and
also to the store's auditing office. Marking is performed
by the clerical on a regular basis as vacation relief, and
as daily requirements demand additional marking help.
Retail Store
The biggest single function of the retail store is sell-
ing, This is carried out by approximately 160 salesmen.
Almost,all oftheir time is spent with .sal6sj but they do
engage in - such sales-supporting tasks as-putting mer-
chandise away in store stock areas, checking-inventory
(possibly at the warehouse), working with dock area
employees to get needed items to the selling floor,
deluxing, and personal delivery of merchandise to cus-
tomers ' homes, particularly when demonstration as to
SEARS, ROEBUCK AND CO.
the item's use is necessary. About 30 of these salesmen
are employed in the catalog order department where
there is a retail counter, telephone room, and receiving
area. Every item offered by Sears may be ordered and
received at this location. These employees also work
elsewhere in the store as required, regularly as relief for
teletype and PBX operators. No salesmen are em-
ployed in the commerical sales division which is staffed
by a manager and one clerical. They handle quantity
sales and the sale of particular business-type items.
Approximately 55 clericals are scattered throughout
the store's nonselling departments. These include cus-
tomer service, credit, cashier, display, advertising, unit
buying control, auditing, personnel, timekeeping, sup-
ply, and PBX. In some of these departments there is
direct and/or indirect customer contact, and clericals
may help with regular sales and participate in special
sales events. These employees also deal closely with
service station, warehouse, and store dock area em-
ployees as noted in the preceding sections dealing with
the functions of those parts of the Sears Santa Rosa
operation.
The store maintenance crew consists of a department
manager and five employees. They work at the store
and parking lot, the warehouse, and service station.
Store jobs are daily and involve all cleaning operations,
heavy maintenance, and repair work. Every 3 months,
the crew does major cleaning at the warehouse, and,
while daily station cleanup is handled by installers,
weekly cleanup is delegated to the store maintenance
crew. Some members of the maintenance crew also help
out occasionally with shipping and receiving work at
the store's dock area.
Contentions of the Parties
Employer: At the outset, the Employer contends
that, because the Board previously held that only an
overall unit was appropriate at the Santa Rosa opera-
tion (see fn. 1, supra), and because the character of this
operation has not changed since the original decision
nor do subsequent Board decisions as to appropriate
retail store collective-bargaining units require a differ-
ent result, no basis presently exists for the designation
of a less than overall unit herein.
With respect to the Machinists petition for a unit of
service station employees, the Employer urges that it is
inappropriate on two grounds. First, the unit sought
doe¬ include salesmen assigned to the station, as in
prior Board cases,.' Second, even if salesmen were in-
cluded, the unit would not be appropriate because such
employees are administratively and functionally inte-
grated, with all other Santa Rosa employees. Station
' Sears, Roebuck & 'C6.-/St- Paul, Minn.], 184 NLRB No 36, and Sears,
Roebuck and Co. [Livonia, Mich.], 182.NLRB No., 100
403
salesmen do not comprise a quasi-craft group by virtue
of possessing any distinctive skills or experience, they
perform functions elsewhere duplicated and otherwise
enjoy conditions of employment in common with other
employees at Santa Rosa. They commonly work with
other employees to accomplish a common goal and, in
so doing, spend significant portions of their time out-
side of their regular assigned duty.
With respect to the Teamsters petition for a unit of
warehouse and store dock area employees, the Em-
ployer urges that it is inappropriate because the Board,
having had occasion to pass on this type of unit,4 has
determined that warehouse type employees working at
a retail store are not appropriate for separate represen-
tation in combination with warehouse employees work-
ing at a detached warehouse. Moreover, the facts in this
case preclude separate representation of warehouse em-
ployees on any other basis for they indicate that, in
terms of supervision and functions, the warehouse is so
closely integrated with the store's retail operation as to
render it unlike the traditional warehousing unit con-
templated by the Board in A. Harris & Co., 116 NLRB
1628.
With respect to the Retail Clerks petition for a unit
of store selling, clerical, and maintenance employees
(including the service station's salesmen and partsman,
and excluding the store's dock area employees), the
Employer urges that it is inappropriate because it does
not meet any of the representation standards estab-
lished thus far by the Board for the retail industry.
Furthermore, as it constitutes a unit administratively
and functionally related to and integrated with the
other units sought by Petitioners in this proceeding, it
stands as an arbitrary grouping only.
The Employer asserts that the cases presented by the
Board in Stern's, Paramus, 150 NLRB 799; Lord &
Taylor, 150 NLRB 812; and Arnold Constable, 150
NLRB 788, are neither helpful nor controlling for, in
those cases, there was evidence of distinct compartmen-
talization between the respective selling, nonselling,
and clerical units. The instant unit is absorbed in a
smaller retail operation not approaching the size nor
possessing the formal classifications or functional so-
phistication found in the above cases , as well as in other
retailing situations. It is rather to be compared with the
retail operation found in Sears, Roebuck & Co. [Nat-
chez, Miss], 182 NLRB: No. 121. In that case, a peti-
tion for a unit =of nonselling employees was dismissed
by the Board as inappropriate in light of the integration
of 'all', store functions and the arbitrary exclusion of
some 'nonselling employees.
° Montgomery Ward & Co., Incorporated 181 NLRB No. 179, andSears,
Roebuck & Co. [Hayward Calif], 180 NLRB No. 132.
404 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Machinists: The Machinists contends that service
station installers constitute an appropriate collective-
bargaining unit because the job they perform and the
skills it requires are scarcely definable from those of the
mechanical trade. It is only the Employer's preference
for the term "installer" which prevents their being
called "mechanic." The installers' work station is sepa-
rate and apart from other areas of the store, and no
other employees duplicate their installation duties. Any
additional activities which installers engage in are inci-
dental and some, in fact, are only performed when
installation work is not available.
The Machinists further argues that the salesmen
working at the station are properly excluded from the
unit because, although there are five salesmen at the
station, they are not necessarily the same five individual
employees on a regular basis. Salesmen are rotated be-
tween the station and store, making their work station,
properly speaking, the service station and store sales
areas. When at the service station, salesmen perform a
minimal amount of simple installation work, clearly
not enough to justify inclusion in the installers' unit.
The service station partsman is primarily engaged in
selling at both the station and store, and is rarely in-
volved with installations. He, too, does not qualify for
the unit sought by the Machinists.
Teamsters. The Teamsters, in seeking a unit of em-
ployees located at the detached warehouse and the
dock area of the store, is apparently combining, for
collective-bargaining purposes, all of the Sears Santa
Rosa employees commonly engaged in warehousing
activities regardless of where these activities take place.
Retail Clerks: The Retail Clerks contends that store
and service station salesmen, store clericals, and
maintenance employees constitute an appropriate col-
lective-bargaining unit because it includes all of the
Employer's selling and nonselling employees remaining
outside of the appropriate Machinists unit and the ap-
propriate Teamsters unit. Moreover, standing on its
own, the unit is appropriate because the employees
sought have a common work station, common job func-
tions, and an overall community of interest. Both in-
stallers and warehousing employees are proper exclu-
sions from this unit because their skills, work stations,
and job objectives differ from those of the Retail Clerks
proposed unit.
The Retail Clerks also argues that the 1953 Board
decision (106 NLRB 242) to dismiss petitions seeking
separate units at the Sears Santa Rosa location is not
controlling. First, although the record in the 1953 pro-
ceeding persuaded the Board that the degree of integra-
tion, similarity of functions, and number of transfers
were sufficient to destroy the appropriateness of the
units sought, the record in the present case with regard
to these factors supports the contrary conclusion. Sec-
ond, when the 1953 case was decided, the Board held
the view that only overall units in retail stores could be
appropriate. Subsequently, the Board abandoned this
position and it now, consistent with Section 9(b) of the
Act, determines unit appropriateness in light of all the
facts in each case, without applying special rules for
particular industries. The three units now being sought
at Sears' Santa Rosa location are appropriate as they
combine employees with a community of interest based
on work location, method of pay, skills, and all of the
other traditional criteria looked at by the Board.
We agree with the Employer's contention that the
only appropriate unit should consist of all employees of
the service station, warehouse, and retail store. Section
9(c) of the Act directs the Board to make appropriate
unit determinations which will "assure to employees
the fullest freedom in exercising the rights" of self-
organization and collective bargaining. The record in
this case indicates that throughout the Santa Rosa,
California, Sears location there is a strong community
of interest among all selling, nonselling, clerical, and
maintenance employees at the service station, ware-
house, and retail store based upon common and direct
supervision, uniform working conditions, substantial
integration of operations, and overlapping job func-
tions. In,light of this, we conclude that these employees
can only exercise their rights to self-organization and
collective bargaining to the fullest extent by means of
a single overall unit.
Santa Rosa Sears, while far from being a local de-
partment store, is not among the largest of retail opera-
tions, even within the Sears complex. It must be clas-
sified as intermediate-providing many of the goods
and services expected of large retail outlets, but retain-
ing attributes of small, single location, compact, and
self-contained business enterprises. According to the
Employer, in order to make this kind of retail operation
viable, a high degree of compartmentalization cannot
be utilized. To the contrary, in all phases of the opera-
tion, there must be a direct line of communication and
supervision, coupled with flexibility of job functions in
support of a sole objective. For the most part, the evi-
dence presented to the Board supports this contention
without contradiction.
Supervision is set up to provide fairly direct control
by the store manager and his assistant over almost all
phases of activities at the service station, warehouse,
and retail store. The second supervisory level (for ex-
ample, the merchandise managers and personnel
manager) also extends control over all merchandise
and employees, wherever located. Finally, immediate
supervision of selling, nonselling, clerical, and mainte-
nance employees at each facility comes from division
and department managers who report directly to top
level management. Although their authority is over a
particular selling division (or the service station or
warehouse), or over a nonselling department, em-
SEARS, ROEBUCK AND CO. 405
ployees not regularly assigned to but temporarily per-
forming the work of a particular division or department
are controlled by its supervisor.
Hiring procedures, terminations, discipline, promo-
tions, pay raises, and transfers are centrally directed
and uniformly applied to all employees. Essentially,
final decisions as to these matters rest with the assistant
and store managers, with immediate supervisors fulfill-
ing a recommendation capacity. Employment hours
are the same for service station and store employees,
although individually worked on staggered schedules.
Warehouse hours are slightly different, with its em-
ployees also working staggered schedules. Pay is uni-
formly calculated by one of three methods for all em-
ployees irrespective of location. Fringe benefits are the
same for all full-time employees and, though not as
many, the same for all part-time employees. New em-
ployee orientation, and special training for regular em-
ployees, singled out by job classification and notwith-
standing work station, is periodically given, as well as
regularly scheduled meetings for all salesmen and a
monthly meeting for all employees. Selling events are
conducted in which all selling and nonselling em-
ployees at the service station, warehouse, and store
participate.
But, over and above the foregoing evidence of direct
and uniform supervision and working conditions, fac-
tors not uncommonly found in other circumstances
wherein the Board has nonetheless found a less-than-
overall unit to be appropriate, the most significant as-
pects of this retail business favoring a single unit are the
substantial integration of operations between the ser-
vice station, warehouse, and retail store, highlighted by
the overlapping of employee job functions.
Service station employees engage in two primary ac-
tivities, automotive installation and repair work, and
automotive parts and accessories sales. For the most
part, the installers (who exclusively make up the Ma-
chinists unit) perform installation and repair work, and
the station salesmen and partsman (included in the
Retail Clerks unit) perform the sales work. However,
installers work closely with the station salesmen and
partsman, and also with the retail store automotive
salesmen because most sales are not successfully con-
summated until there has benn a successful installation
of the item sold. Subsequently, while the work station
for installers is the service station, they frequent the
store to secure parts in stock there and to discuss instal-
lation matters with store salesmen and customers. At
the station, installers also engage in some selling of
their own. On the other hand, station salesmen assist
installers with some aspects of installation work, and
the partsman spends 30 percent of his time installing.
Station salesmen, although assigned to the station, are
there on rotation with store salesmen so that, individu-
ally, there is a continual turnover of salesmen between
the store and station. The partsman is specifically as-
signed to work a portion of his time at the store as a
salesman.
All station employees are engaged, in some measure,
with the station's weekly inventory and with deluxing,
an activity performed by employees in a variety of job
classifications throughout the Santa Rosa Sears loca-
tion. All station employees help with truck unloading
at the station and, in this work, they are regularly
assisted by shipping and receiving employees (included
in the Teamsters unit) from the store's dock area. Ser-
vice station maintenance work is performed in part by
installers, with the remainder handled by the store's
maintenance crew (included in the Retail Clerks unit).
Installers likewise regularly assist the maintenance
crew with parking lot cleaning and, on occasion, in-
stallers go to the store to help them with maintenance
jobs there.
Finally in connection with the Machinists requested
unit limited to service station installers, we reject the
argument that they comprise a nucleus of craft em-
ployees. The Employer has not established any formal
training requirement for the position, and the record
shows that on-the-job training of a fairly short and
limited duration is sufficient for the acquisition of mini-
mum skill and proficiency to handle the variety of ser-
vices performed.
Warehousing functions are carried out at the de-
tached warehouse and at the dock area of the retail
store. Warehousemen (included in the Teamsters unit)
at the warehouse, while primarily responsible for these
functions' there, also perform other duties. For exam-
ple, they help sell merchandise and parts directly to
customers who come to the warehouse, they deluxe all
major appliances wherever sold and 30 to 40 percent of
the items needed by the service station, and they oper-
ate a daily shuttle truck between the warehouse and
store, in the process personally delivering paperwork to
and from store department offices. Shipping and receiv-
ing employees (included in the Teamsters unit) perform
some of the warehousing functions at the store. They
are responsible for unloading dock truck shipments and
moving goods to designated store stock 'areas. But,
while warehousemen price mark items, this is done by
markers (included in the Teamsters unit) at the store.
Shipping and receiving employees also regularly un-
load truck shipments at the service station, working
with station employees (included in both the Machin-
ists and Retail Clerks units) and under station super-
vision. Other dock area duties assigned to shipping and
receiving employees, and similar to those performed by
warehousemen, include delivery of merchandise di-
rectly to customers who come to the dock pickup coun-
ter and deluxing.
406 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
A large number of functions, apart from warehous-
ing, take place at the detached warehouse. Its drivers
and helpers (included in the Teamsters unit) deliver
merchandise to customers by Sears trucks according to
delivery orders processed by store clericals (included in
the Retail Clerks unit). Drivers and helpers are specifi-
cally responsible for securing and unloading items to be
delivered and, with certain monthly regularity they
have to go directly to the store selling floor for mer-
chandise. These warehouse employees also help with
deluxing. Service and repair work is another major
warehouse activity, and it is handled by servicemen
(included in the Teamsters unit). Much of this work is
done in customers' homes, scheduled by store clerical
personnel (included in the Retail Clerks unit). While
there, servicemen engage in a substantial amount of
part and maintenance agreement selling . Some service
and repair work is done at the retail store on items for
sale there and on store equipment. Deluxing, too, is a
serviceman's job. Apart from sale by servicemen,
maintenance agreements are sold in a variety of other
ways. Warehouse clericals (included in the Teamsters
unit) sell these agreements, particularly renewals of
initial agreements sold by store salesmen (included in
the Retail Clerks unit) when the item involved was
purchased. Personnel in the store's catalog order and
customer service departments (included in the Retail
Clerks unit) also sell maintenance agreements. How-
ever, the records for all agreements sold and renewed
are kept by the warehouse clericals.
Nonwarehousing functions are also performed by
store dock employees. Markers work in store selling
departments repricing items and also as salesmen when
needed. They are regularly assigned for sales work in
the store snackbar and candy department as lunch re-
lief. Markers again have frequent contact with store
personnel (included, in the Retail Clerks unit) when
they carry dock receiving papers to various store
offices. The dock stockman helps with all dock activi-
ties when necessary, as well as performing maintenance
for the dock area and in store stock areas. On occasion,
he works in conjunction with the maintenance crew
(included in the Retail Clerks unit) on store painting
projects. The dock area clerical (included in the Team-
sters unit), in addition to close personal association
with store clericals in terms of paperwork, regularly
performs marking duties on a relief basis.
Finally, we note in connection with the Teamsters
unit request for warehousing employees at the ware-
house and store dock area that, as well as having sepa-
rate work stations and working hours, each employee
group is under different immediate supervision. It is
also significant that in terms of the control of merchan-
dise inventory, an activity commonly associated with
warehouses, the record reveals that this is handled en-
tirely at the retail store by its clerical and sales person-
nel.
The foregoing summary of the nature and integra-
tion of service station, warehouse, and store dock area
functions and job classification activities with each
other, and with those of the retail store, leaves little to
be said independently about the functions and job clas-
sification activities of the remaining store selling, non-
selling, clerical, and maintenance employees sought by
the Retail. Clerks. This helps substantiate the proposi-
tion that, for all practical purposes, all of these facilities
operate as a single entity. Thus, it has been shown that
store salesmen work both at the store and at the service
station in a selling capacity. They help supply and store
their own department stock, often in conjunction with
store dock area employees. They deluxe, they person-
ally deliver merchandise to customers' homes, and they
are responsible for inventory records which at times
require them to go to the warehouse for actual counting
purposes . A few salesmen regularly relieve nonselling
employees from their jobs.
Store nonselling employees and clericals have been
shown to handle a variety of tasks directly related to
service station, warehouse, and store dock area opera-
tions. They, too, engage in selling, especially during
periodic selling events. The store maintenance crew has
been shown to care for cleanup and repair problems,
not just at the store but also at the service station and
warehouse as well. Moreover, crew employees occa-
sionally aid store dock area shipping and receiving em-
ployees (included in the Teamsters unit) with dock
unloading.
Upon the entire record in this case, we conclude that
employees of the service station, warehouse, store dock
area, and retail store at the Employer's Santa Rosa,
California, location constitute a homogenous grouping
whose common supervision, uniform working condi-
tions, and overlapping job functions within the frame-
work of a substantially integrated set of operations re-
quire that they all be included together in a single
bargaining unit. Therefore, we shall dismiss the three
petitions. We also grant the Employer's request to
withdraw its petition as no labor organization seeks to
represent the overall unit.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petitions herein be, and
they hereby are, dismissed.