Sidney Blumenthal & Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 17, 1955

113 N.L.R.B. 791 (N.L.R.B. 1955)

SIDNEY BLUMENTHAL & CO., INC. 791
The Employer's entire chain of 16 stores are within a 40-mile radius
,of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Most of the -merchandise received by
these stores is shipped from the Employer's only warehouse in Pitts-
burgh. All the stores are controlled from the Employer's central office
in' Pittsburgh, and are under the supervision of the general superin-
tendent who is directly responsible to the owner of the stores. -There
is only 1 pricing and 1 operating policy for all the-stores. In addition,
the Employer maintains the same labor relations policy for all its
stores, and all bargaining- for the stores is done by the Employer's
representatives in Pittsburgh. Employees for the stores are hired
locally by interviewers sent from the Pittsburgh office. Employees
of the various stores in the_ same classification receive the same rate
of -pay,' work under the same-conditions of employment, receive the
same privileges and benefits, and are paid by check from the Pitts-
burgh office. Seniority is computed,on a companywide basis. It is
clear from the foregoing that the administration of Employer's op-
erations is centralized and covers all its stores.
The Board has frequently indicated that the appropriate collective-
-bargaining unit in the retail grocery trade- should embrace employees
of all stores located within an employer's administrative division or
geographical area.' As indicated, all Employer's stores are within the
same geographical area -and are centrally administered. Under these
circumstances, and in view of the history of bargaining on a multi-
store basis, we are of the opinion that the unit sought, confined to a
single store, is inappropriate. And as none: of the parties seeks an
election in the multistore unit currently represented by the Intervenor,
we shall dismiss the petition.
[The Board dismissed the petition.]
CHAIRMAN FARMER- took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Order.
s The Employer maintains 2 scales of pay ; 1 for the larger stores which is slightly
'higher, and 1 for the smaller stores.
4 Jewel Food Stores, 111 NLRB 1368 ; The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Conipany, 99
NLRB 1500 at 1502; Safeway Stores, Incorporated, 96 NLRB 998 at 1000.
Sidney Blumenthal & Co., Inc. (Caroniount and Wilson Divisions)
and Textile Workers Union of America, CIO, Petitioner. Case
No. 11-RC-763. August 17, 1955
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Robert Cohn, hearing officer.
113 NLRB No, 85. - - -
379288-56-vol. I13- ----51
792 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD -
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju-
dicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case,' the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.'
4. The parties were in agreement as to the scope of the requested
unit of production and maintenance employees at the Employer's
Rocky Mount and Wilson plants. They were also in agreement as to
the composition of the unit, except as indicated below.
Over-the-road truckdrivers: The Petitioner would exclude over-the-
road truckdrivers. The Employer contends they should be included
with the production and maintenance employees on the ground that
they have interests in common with its local truckdrivers as to whose
inclusion there is no dispute. The over-the-road drivers haul the Em-
ployer's finished products from Rocky Mount to the New York market
and return with yarns from, the Employer's spinning mills in New
England. The Employer also has local truckdrivers who haul refuse
at the Rocky Mount plant and shuttle materials between the Rocky
Mount and Wilson plants. All drivers are under the same supervision.
Although the over-the-road drivers, unlike the local drivers, are paid
on a mileage basis, all employees receive the same fringe benefits. In
the circumstances, especially in view of the disagreement as to their
unit placement and the fact that no labor organization is seeking to
represent them in a separate unit, we find that the over-the-road truck-
drivers are sufficiently related in interests to the other drivers and the
production and maintenance employees to warrant including them
in the unit. We shall include them.'
i Including the record in Case No. 11-RC-719 in 112 NLRB 579. In that case, Sidney
Blumenthal & Company, Inc. (Caromoirn t Division), the Petitioner requested a unit of
employees at the Employer's Rocky Mount, North Carolina, plant, 1 of the 2 plants in-
volved herein, and the Board dismissed the petition on the basis that the requested unit
was too narrow in scope to be appropriate
2In its brief, the Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the grounds, in substance,
that (1) the Petitioner, by confining its prior unit request to Rocky Mount employees,
had, in effect, disclaimed interest in representing employees at the Employer's Wilson,
North Carolina, plant, and may not now, absent good cause shown, repudiate such dis-
claimer by its new petition filed 6 days after the dismissal of the prior case, in view of
the Board's present policy of barring new petitions for a 6-month period after disclaimers ;
and (2) the Petitioner's showing of interest was not checked. We need not consider the
argument in support of the first ground for the motion, as we do not construe the Peti-
tioner's unit position in the prior case as a disclaimer of interest in Wilson employees.
As to the second ground, it is, well settled that showing of interest is an administrative
matter, not litigable by the parties. Moreover, we are satisfied, that the Petitioner's show-
ing of interest in the instant case is adequate., The motion to dismiss is hereby denied.
s Ozburn-Abston and Oo ., Inc., 112 NLRB 936; see Thomas Electronics , Inc., 107
NLRB 614. .
- SIDNEY BLUMENTHAL & Co., INC . 793
Leadmen and working foremen: The Petitioner contended that a
number of leadmen 4 and working foremen should be excluded as super-
visors. The Employer took the position that they were nonsupervisory
and should be included in the unit. The disputed categories at the
Rocky Mount plant were identified as Ferrell and Askew in the raw
goods storage department, Pope and two foreladies in the raw ex-
amination and mending department, Quincey in textile printing, the
lead electrician, the lead boiler operator, Moss and Whitehurst in the
shipping department; at the Wilson plant, only the inclusion of Boyd
in the machine shop was disputed. The parties agreed that the fore-
going employees should be treated alike for the purpose of resolving
the issue as to their status.
The record shows that all these employees work under department
heads and/or foremen who are admittedly supervisors as defined in the
Act. None of the contested employees have or exercise the authority
to make or effectively recommend changes in personnel status. It also
appears that their direction of other employees is of a routine nature
not involving the use of independent judgment. As the above-
identified leadmen and working foremen and foreladies are therefore
not supervisors as defined in the Act, we shall include them in the unit.
Mrs. Judy Sutton: The Petitioner contends that Mrs. Sutton, the
wife of the superintendent of weaving, is an office clerical employee,
and would therefore exclude her. Mrs. Sutton is 1 of 4 dispatch clerks
who work in an office enclosure within the production area of the
Wilson plant. The other dispatch clerks write up production tickets,
while Mrs. Sutton prepares summarizing reports based thereon. We
find that Mrs. Sutton is, like the other dispatch clerks, a plant clerical
employee, and as no other basis appears for excluding her, we shall
include her in the unit.
The time-study man: The Employer, contrary to the Petitioner,
would include the time-study man. This employee is a college gradu-
ate who has been trained by the Employer in his time-study duties.
He gets his work assignments directly from the manager of manu-
facturing and the superintendent of weaving, and he has an office
space for the compilation of his reports. He is paid on a salary basis
and receives higher compensation than production employees. We
find, on the whole, that the interests of the time-study man are diverse
from the production and maintenance employees; accordingly, we
shall exclude him from the unit.'
Watchmen and gatemen: The Employer would include its watch-
men and gatemen. The Petitioner contended that regularly assigned-
watchmen and gatemen are guards. The Employer has watchmen at
4 At the hearing in the prior case, Winstead was identified as leadman in the auto rug-
room.
The Firestone The and Rubber Company-Firestone Textiles Division, 112 NLRB 571.
794 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the Rocky Mount and Wilson plants' who make watch rounds on
nights and weekends, watching for fire, damage, or "anything that
may come up." In the course of their rounds, they punch clocks, and
between rounds, they may perform material-handling or cleanup
work. The Employer also has gatemen at the Rocky Mount plant
who check on strangers appearing at the plant gate. Although the
watchmen and gatemen are not deputized, armed, or uniformed, it
is evident that their function is, at least in part, to protect the Em-
ployer's property from ingress by unauthorized persons. As the
Employer's watchmen and gatemen come within the Board's definition
of guards, we shall exclude them from the unit.7
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: All production and main-
tenance employees engaged in the manufacturing processes at the
Employer's Rocky Mount and Wilson, North Carolina, plants,8 in-
cluding local and over-the-road truckdrivers, leadmen and working
foremen and foreladies, and plant clerical employees, but excluding
office clerical employees, professional employees, confidential em-
ployees, the time-study man, gatemen and watchmen, and all super-
visors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
CHAIRMAN FARMER took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.
e At the Wilson plant, the Employer occasionally selects at random one of the material
handlers to supplement his watchman group. No contention was made that any of these
supplemental employees performing sporadic watchman duties is a guard.
7 See Walterboro Manufacturing Corporation, 106 NLRB 1383.
8 The Petitioner expressed a willingness to include in the unit similar employees who
may be employed in the future at the Employer's Scotland Neck, North Carolina, plant,
which has not been developed and may not be until such employees are in fact employed.
As Boaid unit findings are based upon present operations, we do not consider this alter-
native unit proposal . Westinghouse Electric Corporation , 110 NLRB 475.
Boeing Airplane Company, Wichita Division and International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local No. 271 , AFL, Peti-
tioner. Case No. 17-RC-1997. August 17,1955
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Charles A. Fleming, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
113 NLRB No. 84.