Sigman Food Stores

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 21, 1950

88 N.L.R.B. 1332 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of C. H. SIGMAN, L. V. SIGMAN, B. F. SIGMAN, J. O.'
CRANE, R. F. CUNNINGHAM AND C. R. CHAMBERS D/B/A SIGMAN
FOOD STORES, EMPLOYER and RETAIL CLERKS UNION, LOCAL No. 1612,
AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 36-RC-3M.Decided March 21, 1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before R. J. Wiener,
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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.2
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the representation
of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
(1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.3
, The petition and other papers were amended at the hearing to show the correct name
of the Employer.
2 In its motion to dismiss, the Intervenor, Local 900, International Brotherhood of
Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, AFL, contends that the
Employer is not engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act, or, if it is, that it
would not effectuate the policy of the Act to exercise jurisdiction because its relationship
to commerce is remote. We do not agree. Where an employer operates branches on a
multi-State basis, even though its business is local in character, the Board has, in order
to best effectuate the purposes of the Act, taken jurisdiction in cases involving either its
operations as a whole or any appropriate administrative section thereof. Mills Automatic
Merchandising Corp., 86 NLRB 1096 ; The Davey Tree Expert Company, Inc., 81 NLRB
1161. We have in the past exercised jurisdiction over the Employer in Case No. 19-RC-145
and in Case No. 19-RC-190, wherein consent elections were conducted by the Regional
Director.
3 Not only did timely notice of the Intervenor's desire to open its contract covering the
Pendleton store employees prevent the automatic renewal of that contract but the added
factor that the contract contained unauthorized union-security provisions precludes it from
serving as a bar to a determination of representatives for these employees at this time.
C. Sayer & Sons Hinge Manufacturing Company, 80 NLRB 163. The Intervenor has no
contact with the Employer covering the Hermiston store employees.
83 NLRB No. 229.
1332
SIGMAN FOOD STORE'S 1333
4. The Petitioner seeks a single unit of all retail store employees at
the Employer's Pendleton and Hermiston, Oregon, stores, excluding
meatcutters,4 truck drivers,5 bakers; office and clerical employees,
guards, managers, and other supervisors. The Intervenor contends
that the unit proposed is inappropriate, alleging the existence of a
multiemployer unit composed of all retail food store employers in
the Pendleton area, and identical contracts covering all such em-
ployees. The Employer takes no position.
The Intervenor submitted no evidence to support its alleged multi-
employer unit. A comparison of the Employer's contract with the
Intervenor and the contract of the Intervenor for the Pendleton store
of Safeway Stores, Inc., fails to disclose identical terms.
The Employer's stores at Pendleton and Hermiston, approximately
28 miles apart, are the only stores of the Employer located within
the State of Oregon. The Employer's remaining stores are in the
States of Washington and Idaho. The store managers of all these
stores are supervised by a general manager. There are virtually no
transfers of employees between the Employer's stores in Hermiston
and Pendleton. Local living conditions and the ability of employees
are primarily factors used by the Employer in determining wages and
working conditions at each location.
The two stores sought by the Petitioner do not comprise an ad-
ministrative subdivision of the Employer's operations, nor do they
appear to delineate a single appropriate bargaining unit on any other
basis.' The Intervenor has represented employees at the Pendleton
store under a store-wide contract. Employees at the Hermiston store
have hitherto not been represented. We find that employees at the
Pendleton and Hermiston stores, respectively, may constitute separate
appropriate units."
We find that all retail store employees 9 at the Employer's Pendleton
and Hermiston stores, respectively, excluding meatcutters, truck
4 The Employer 's meatcutters at the Pendleton and Hermiston stores are presently
represented by Amalgamated Meatcutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, AFL,
and are covered under a single contract.
5 The Employer 's truck drivers , wherever located , are presently covered by a contract
with the Spokane, Washington, Local of the Intervenor's International.
6 The Employer 's bakers at the Pendleton store are presently represented by Bakery and
Confectionery Workers Union , AFL. There are no bakers employed at the Hermiston store.
T The Petitioner presently represents the employees at some, but not at all , other stores of
the Employer . Two stores at Pasco and Kennewick , Washington ; are covered by a single
contract between the Employer and the Petitioner . The store in Walla Walla , Washington,
is covered by a contract between the Employer and the Petitioner . Five stores in Spokane,
Washington , are covered by a single contract between the same parties.
8 American Stores Company , 82 NLRB S82 ; Koppers Stores, 73 NLRB 504.
9 During the course of the hearing mention was made of the proper unit placement of
retail clerks in the bakers department . No evidence was introduced on this matter.
These employees may vote under challenge . If a resolution of these challenges is neces-
sary to determine the results of the election, we will make necessary findings upon the
issues raised.
1334 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
drivers, bakers, office and clerical employees, guards, managers, and
other supervisors, constitute separate units appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of
the Act 10
5. The Petitioner contends that the Intervenor's showing of repre-
sentation is insufficient."' The Intervenor has been the recognized rep-
resentative of the Pendleton store employees under a recent contract.
However, the Intervenor has not previously represented the Hermiston
store employees and has submitted no showing of representation among
them. We shall not provide for its participation in the latter election.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, separate elec-
tions by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not
later than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction
and supervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this
case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees
in the units described below, who were employed during the payroll
period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Elections,
including employees who did not work during said payroll period
because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but exclud-
ing those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause
and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the elec-
tions, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to
reinstatement, to determine:
(a) Whether Pendleton store employees in the unit found appropri-
ate in paragraph 4, above, desire to be represented, for the purposes
of collective bargaining, by Retail Clerks Union, Local No. 1612, AFL,
or by International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Ware-
housemen and Helpers of America, Local 900, AFL, or by neither; and
(b) Whether or not Hermiston store employees in the unit found
appropriate in paragraph 4, above, desire to be represented, for the
purposes of collective bargaining, by Retail Clerks Union, Local No.
1612, AFL.
10 See Safeway Stores, Inc., 88 NLRB 1335.
11 Penick cE Ford, Ltd., Inc ., 86 NLRB 659 ; Stokely Foods, Inc., 78 NLRB 842.