Sidney Myers, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 16, 1950

92 N.L.R.B. 112 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of SIDNEY MYERS, INC., EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND
HELPERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 968, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 39-RC-228.-Decided November 16, 1950
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 Y. Latimer, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
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 Herzog and Members Reynolds and Murdock].
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
employees 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 Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all truck drivers, their
helpers, order fillers, such handlers as are prilnarily engaged in load-
ing and unloading merchandise,' and two motor operators, but
excluding packers, craters, wrappers, persons employed in salvage,
employees in .the coffee department, employees in the luncheon de-
partment, clerical employees, shipping and receiving clerks, grocery
checkers, guards, watchmen, professional employees, and supervisors
as defined in the Act. In the alternative, the Petitioner asks for a unit
of truck drivers and their helpers and persons engaged in loading
and unloading trucks, excluding other employees of the Company.
The Employer contends that the appropriate unit should include
all its employees, except for clerical employees, watchmen, profes-
1 Handlers not primarily engaged in loading and unloading merchandise , excluded by
implication , are discussed infra.
92 NLRB No. 33.
112
SIDNEY MYERS, INC. .113
sional employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act. In the alterna-
tive, the Employer maintains that the only appropriate unit would
be one composed of the truck drivers and their helpers.
The record discloses that on June 13, 1947, the Board issued a De-
cision .and Direction of Election 2 for all warehouse, packing service,
and clean-up employees of the Employer, including shipping and re-
ceiving clerks and truck drivers and their helpers, but excluding all
office clerical and supervisory employees. The only union involved
therein lost the election. Since that time, there has been no sub-
stantial change in the operations of the Company or in the duties of
the various classifications of employees. The Petitioner as noted
above, would exclude from the unit sought various groups included
by the Board in its 1947 determination of the unit.
Shipping and Receiving Clerks
Whether. or not shipping and receiving clerks act chiefly in a super-
visory capacity was the subject,of dispute in the 1947 hearings. It
is now contended by the Petitioner that these employees should be
considered office clerical workers and excluded from the unit. Their
job is primarily to check merchandise against invoices. Occasionally
this requires the physical handling of the merchandise, and some clerks
will use a towmotor at times to set aside pallets of goods if the regular
towmotor operator is off duty. No good cause has been shown to dis-
tinguish them from the other warehousemen. As the shipping and
receiving employees are more in the nature of plant clericals, we see
no basis for excluding them from a unit of warehouse employees .3
Packers, Wrappers, Craters, and Handlers
Order fillers, handlers, wrappers, craters, and packers, are desig-
nated by the Employer as general warehousemen. Their skills are
not substantially different from others having the same designation.
Handlers often perform duties of order fillers, whom the Petitioner
wishes to include. Some handlers are assigned as wrappers and
packers, while others store merchandise and perform janitorial duties.
A small number of handlers are regularly occupied in loading trailer
trucks and a few others unloading box cars. In view of the unspecial-
ized nature of their work, handlers are often shifted from department
to department within the warehouse or from duty to duty during the
course of the day. Under the circumstances, we can find no warrant
2 Sidney Myers, Inc., 74 NLRB 1.12.
s Allen-Bradley Company, 90 NLRB No. 51; Gastonia Weaving Company, 91 NLRB
899.
929979-51-vol. 92 9
1 14. DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
for excluding-from•.the requested unit,packers, wrappers, craters,..and
handlers performing functions similar. to those of other employees
within such unit 4
In. view of -the integrated character of the Employer's operations,
the lack of distinguishing skills on the part of the various groups
together with their frequent interchange and common supervision, we
believe that a unit including certain warehouse classifications but
excluding others not clearly distinguishable therefrom,b is inappro-
priate.6
On the other hand, as the record discloses no history of -collective
bargaining and it appears that truck drivers and their helpers are
not interchanged with other employees, we believe, in substantial
agreement with the Petitioner's alternative unit request and in ac-
cordance with precedent, that truck 7 drivers may constitute an ap-
propriate unit,
We find that truck drivers and their helpers employed by the Em-
ployer, excluding supervisors, constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9
(b) of the Act.
- [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
4 Eisner Grocery Co., 72 NLRB 721.
B Because the Petitioner has included a group of 'employees with duties similar to those
employees whom it wishes to exclude, it is not necessary to consider whether coffee depart-
ment employees , lunchroom employees , or salvage employees , all of whom the Petitioner
would exclude, perform duties distinguishable from those of the general warehousemen.
s Although the record indicates that the larger unit proposed by the Employer could be
appropriate ,- we shill not direct an election in such unit . To do so would require a major
modification of the Petitioner 's requested unit , unsupported by a sufficient showing of
interest on the part of the Petitioner . Cf. Electric Boat Company , 80 NLRB 16 ; Inter-
national harvester Co., 77 NLRB 520.
White-Washburne Co., Inc ., 91 NLRB 97.