Sears, Roebuck and Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 20, 1976

222 N.L.R.B. 476 (N.L.R.B. 1976)

476
2
DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Transport and Local De-
livery Drivers, Warehousemen and Helpers, Local
Union 104, an Affiliate of the International Broth-
erhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs, Warehousemen
and Helpers of America, Petitioner. Case
28-RC-3024
January 20, 1976
DECISION ON REVIEW
BY CHAIRMAN MURPHY AND MEMBERS FANNING
AND PENELLO
On September 23, 1975, the Regional Director for
Region 28 issued a Decision and Direction of Elec-
tion in the above-entitled proceeding in which he
found appropriate the Petitioner's requested unit
comprised of all warehousemen at the Employer's
1402 East Buckeye Road Phoenix, Arizona, distribu-
tion center.' Thereafter, in accordance with the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations,
Series 8, as amended, the Employer filed a timely
request for review of the Regional Director's decision
on the grounds, inter alia, that in finding delivery
office clericals, receiving clericals, and merchandise
control office clericals to be office clerical employees
and thus excluded from the unit found appropriate,
he made erroneous factual findings and departed
from officially reported precedent. The Petitioner
filed an opposition thereto.
On November 5, 1975, the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, by telegraphic order, granted the
Employer's request for review with respect to the
aforementioned clerical employees and stayed the
election pending decision on review?
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 au-
thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the entire record in this
case with respect to the issue under review and
makes the following findings:
The Employer is a New York corporation engaged
in the business of retail department store and mail-
order sales. At its Phoenix, Arizona, distribution cen-
ter merchandise such as appliances and furniture is
received and reshipped to the Employer's retail stores
in Arizona, or directly to customers. The distribution
i The unit found appropriate consists of "All warehousemen, including
janitors , furniture detailers , deluxers , appliance technicians and retail outlet
store employees; excluding office clerical employees, watchmen, guards,
and supervisors as defined in the Act "
2 The request for review was denied in all other respects. The Board thus
adopted the findings that installation department clericals and audit cleri-
cals should be excluded as office clerical employees
center employs approximately 27 warehousemen and
approximately 21 clerical employees, including the 6
merchandise control clericals, 2 receiving clericals,
and 3 delivery office clericals whose unit placement
is here in dispute.
The distribution center is a two-story building
which contains office areas, warehouse space, and
deluxing areas on both floors, as well as loading and
unloading docks, an installation staging area, and a
retail outlet store located on the first floor. The time-
clock, which all employees use, is located on the first
floor. There is a lunchroom and meeting room avail-
able to all employees on the second floor.
The operations of the distribution center are con-
ducted under the day-to-day supervision of the distri-
bution center manager. Reporting to him are, among
others, the controller, a merchandise control manag-
er, the audit supervisor, an installation manager, the
warehouse foreman, and the receiving and shipping
supervisor .3
The parties do not dispute the appropriateness of a
unit limited in scope to employees at the distribution
center. The only issue herein is the inclusion or ex-
clusion of the above-mentioned clerical classifica-
tions. The Petitioner asserts, and the Regional Direc-
tor found, that these employees are office clerical
employees and must be excluded from the unit. Es-
sentially, the Employer contends the disputed em-
ployees are plant clerical employees and should,
therefore, be included in the requested unit of ware-
house employees. We agree with the Employer.
Merchandise control office clericals: The record dis-
closes that there are six clerical employees who work
in the merchandise control office which is located on
the second floor of the distribution center. These em-
ployees are under the overall supervision of the mer-
chandise control manager and the immediate super-
vision of the merchandise control supervisor.
Essentially, the merchandise control clericals are res-
ponsible for the keeping of inventory records relating
to merchandise which is entering or leaving the ware-
house, as well as merchandise on order. They also
perform paperwork relating to sales checks and re-
quisitions for merchandise sent from the retail stores.
Each of the merchandise control clericals is as-
signed the recordkeeping responsibility for particular
types of merchandise. Similarly, certain warehouse-
men are responsible for the movement of particular
types of merchandise on the warehouse floor. Thus,
in the performance of their duties, merchandise con-
trol clericals come into personal or telephone contact
with their counterparts in the warehouse area .4 This
3 The parties stipulated that these individuals are supervisors as defined in
the Act and therefore excluded from the unit.
4 Personal contact between warehousemen and merchandise control cleri-
cals occurs on the ,arehouse floor as well as in the merchandise control
222 NLRB No. 65
SEARS, ROEBUCK AND CO.
contact occurs when merchandise control clericals
prepare spot checks of their inventory recordkeeping
cards, which checks are actually carried out by the
warehousemen.5 In addition, on a daily basis, ware-
housemen report out-of-stock, damaged, or returned
merchandise to the merchandise control clericals.
Receiving clericals: There are two receiving cleri-
cals in the receiving office which is located on the
first floor of the distribution center. These employees
work under the supervision of the shipping-receiving
supervisor, who also supervises shippers, receivers,
and other warehouse employees. The receiving cleri-
cals are responsible for the paperwork relating to the
receipt of merchandise. They prepare freight bills,
match them with the invoices, and forward them to
the audit department. In the performance of their
duties, the receiving clericals have regular contact
with warehouse employees. Thus, two or three times
per week, receiving clericals verify store irregularity
reports with a shipper or warehouseman to determine
whether merchandise was actually loaded. Receiving
clericals also have daily personal or telephone con-
tact with the receivers to obtain information relating
to the paperwork which is necessary to unload
trucks.
Delivery office clericals: There are three clerical
employees who work in the delivery office which is
located near the center of the first floor of the distri-
bution center. There is also an individual in the deliv-
ery office, referred to by the Employer as a "working
supervisor," who directs the work of the delivery of-
fice clerical employees; he also directs deluxers, a
service technician, and furniture refinishers.6 Deliv-
ery office clericals carry mailbags containing sales
checks and requisitions sent from the retail stores to
the merchandise control office located on the second
floor. There, the delivery office clericals open the
bags and sort their contents according to merchan-
dise and zone of delivery,. After the merchandise con-
trol clericals perform paperwork relating to the sales
checks and requisitions, the mail is returned to the
delivery office where it is re-sorted by the delivery
office Thus, the record discloses that almost daily one of the merchandise
control clericals visits a deluxer on the warehouse floor to check inventory
or give him a requisition or sales check.
s The record discloses that spot checks of the record-inventory-keeping
cards are carried out three or four times per month.
6 Although the Regional Director found that the "working supervisor" of
the delivery office directs the work of the employees assigned to him and
that he attends supervisory meetings at which supervisors are present, he did
not rule on his supervisory status as it was not clear from the record whether
his work in directing other employees is routine in nature , or requires inde-
pendent judgment . We agree that the record is insufficient to enable the
Board to determine whether the "working supervisor" is a supervisor as
defined in the Act, accordingly , we too, shall permit him to vote subject to
challenge
477
office clericals, taken by them to the warehouse floor,
and either handed to a warehouseman or placed in a
pigeon hole for a warehouseman to pick up. Like the
receiving office and merchandise control clericals,
delivery office clericals have regular contact with the
warehouse employees. Thus, delivery office clericals
page warehousemen to pull merchandise for custom-
er pickup. If a problem arises with "respect to an in-
correct stock number, or an item out of stock, the
warehouseman goes to the delivery office, or the de-
livery office clerical goes to the warehouse floor, to
resolve the situation. The record reveals that these
situations arise daily.
On the basis of the foregoing and the record as a
whole, we find that the delivery office, receiving, and
merchandise control clericals perform duties which
are directly related to and integrated with the func-
tional operation of the distribution center. These
clerical employees have regular contact with ware-
house employees in ensuring accurate recordkeeping
relating to the movement, condition, and availability
of merchandise located at the distribution center;
work in areas which are proximate to the warehous-
ing and deluxing areas utilized by the warehouse em-
ployees; and, in the case of delivery office and re-
ceiving clericals, share common supervision with
employees in the unit requested by the Petitioner.
In these circumstances, we find that the disputed
clerical employees are plant clerical employees whose
interests are closely related to those of other distribu-
tion center employees and we shall include them in
the unit? We conclude, therefore, that the appropri-
ate unit is as follows:
All warehousemen, including janitors, furniture
detailers, deluxers, appliance technicians, retail
outlet store employees and plant clerical em-
ployees, employed at the Employer's distribu-
tion center at 1402 East Buckeye Road, Phoenix,
Arizona; excluding office clerical employees,
watchmen, guards, and supervisors as defined in
the Act .8
Accordingly, as the Petitioner indicated a willingness
to proceed to an election in any unit found appropri-
ate, the case is remanded to the Regional Director
for the purpose of conducting an election pursuant to
his Decision and Direction of Election, as modified
herein, except that the payroll period for determining
eligibility shall be that immediately preceding the is-
suance date of this decision. [Excelsior footnote omit-
ted from publication.]
7 Sears, Roebuck and Co, 220 NLRB No. 191 (1975); Sears, Roebuck and
Co, 152 NLRB 45, 49 (1963).
8 As the unit found appropriate is broader than that originally requested
by the Petitioner , the Regional Director shall determine whether Petitioner's
showing of interest is sufficient before proceeding with the election.