Stanislaus Implement and Hardware Co., Ltd.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 3, 1950

91 N.L.R.B. 618 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of STANISLAUS IMPLEMENT AND HARDWARE COMPANY,
LIMITED,1 EMPLOYER and DISTRICT LODGE No. 41, INTERNATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, PETITIONER
Case No. 20-RC-1-068.-Decided October 3, 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 Nathan R. Berke,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged at Modesto, California, in the retail
sale of hardware, machinery, implements, and parts used principally
in connection with farming. In addition, the Employer services,
repairs, and fabricates farm machinery and equipment. During
1949, the Employer's over-all purchases amounted to $600,000. A
substantial part of its purchases consisted of merchandise produced
by national manufacturing concerns in other States and shipped to
distribution points of these concerns in California, whence they were
reshipped to the Employer. Thus, purchases from the International
Harvester Company of tractors manufactured in Illinois amounted
to $426,000, and from Fairbanks-Morse and Company of pumps man-
ufactured in Wisconsin amounted to $24,000. Orchard sprayers
valued at an undisclosed sum were purchased from a Michigan manu-
facturer, and other unspecified goods were purchased from an
Illinois concern.
The Employer's sales during 1949 were approximately $1,300,000,
of which 98 percent was made to customers within the State. The
remaining 2 percent, amounting in value to approximately $26,000,
consisted of shipments made to points outside the State.
We find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the Act. Without considering the amount and character
of the inflow, we further find, in view of the fact that the Employer's
1 The Employer 's name appears as amended at the hearing.
91 NLRB No. 116.
618
STANISLAUS IMPLEMENT AND HARDWARE COMPANY, LIMITED 619'
annual shipment of goods to points outside the State amounted in
value to more than $25,000, that it will effectuate the policies of the.
Act for this Board to assert jurisdiction. In future cases we will
exercise jurisdiction over employers which annually ship goods valued
at $25,000 or more out of a State.
2. The Petitioner is a labor organization claiming to represent.
certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen-
tation 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 to represent a unit consisting of all the
Employer's employees in the tractor,. welding, and implement and
pump shops, including the truck driver and janitors in these shops,
but excluding all employees in the parts department, including the
parts runner, all employees of the hardware department, floor sales-
men, outside salesmen, office-and clerical employees, assistant foremen,
and all other supervisors as defined in the Act. The Employer does
not oppose the composition of the unit, except that it would include
therein the employees of the parts and hardware departments, on
the ground that their interests are closely related to those of the
other employees in the unit and because of the functional integration
of its operations. The Employer also contends that assistant foremen
are not supervisors and should therefore be included in the unit.
There is no history of collective bargaining for these employees.
The Employer's operations are conducted in two main buildings 2
separated by an alley. One of these buildings contains a display
floor for farm machines and hardware items,3 the parts department,
and the tractor shop. To the rear of the display floor are the Em-
ployer's sales, credit, accounting, and other administrative offices.
The display room and the parts department are separated by a par-
tition which has an opening, and the tractor shop is separated from
the parts department by a cement wall. The other main building
consists of the implement and pump shop, the welding shop, and a
warehouse. Each of these is in a separately enclosed area. There
is also a small building used essentially as a paint shop which is
located behind the tractor shop.
The greater part of the employees sought to be represented by
the Petitioner appear to be highly skilled mechanics,,who repair, re-
build, assemble, install, and fabricate farm machines and equipment.
2 The Employer 's physical facilities also include several storage 'yards and a warehouse
building.
3 The record does not specifically indicate the location of the hardware department. We
conclude from the fact that hardware items are contained within the area of the display
floor, that this area also houses the hardware department.
620 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
There are 13 employees in the tractor shop, including a painter ana
janitor, supervised by a foreman, who repair tractors. In the imple-
ment and pump shop there are 17 employees, including a.truck driver
:and janitor, supervised by 2 foremen. These employees assemble new
machines before they are delivered to customers, rebuild and. recon-
dition old equipment, repair old pumps, and install new pumps on
customers' premises. The truck driver spends approximately 80 per-
cent of his time making deliveries to customers. The rest of his time
is spent in the implement and pump shop performing whatever duties
are assigned to him by one of the foremen in this shop. When load-
ing heavy equipment on his truck he is assisted by employees of this
shop. Five employees, including a janitor, work in the welding shop
under a foreman and spend most of their time fabricating farm ma-
chinery on special order from customers as well as certain stock
machines sold by the Employer under its own name. These machines
include scrapers, bulldozers, cultivators, and farm specialty tools.
There are nine employees in the parts department and seven em-
ployees in the hardware department ,4 who are essentially engaged in
making over-the-counter sales. and in filling requisitions for materials
used in the Employer's shops for repairs and fabrication. In addi-
tion, they unpack and store the merchandise received in their depart-
ments and keep stock inventories. Requisitions are prepared in the
shops by a parts department employee called a parts runner, who
presents the requisitions to the parts and hardware departments. The
requisitions are priced by the parts runner with the assistance of parts
,and hardware department employees. After the materials have been
issued they are delivered to the shops by the parts runner. Parts and
hardware department employees are each supervised by a separate.
department head.
In addition to the foregoing employees, there are eight office clerical
-employees, two floor salesmen, and eight outside salesmen. The floor
salesmen, as distinguished.from the parts and hardware department
employees, sell heavy equipment displayed on the floor such as tractors
and large pumps. The clerical employees are supervised by the office
manager and the salesmen by the sales manager.
All shop mechanics as well as the painter, truck driver, and the
janitors who work in the shops are hourly paid. All other employees
receive a monthly salary with no deductions from their salaries for
time lost because of illness or other excusable absences. Hourly paid
employees are compensated only for time actually worked. Working
4 There is also a janitor who is administratively in this department whose duties are
confined to the parts and hardware departments and to the administrative offices.
STANISLAUS IMPLEMENT AND HARDWARE COMPANY, LIMITED 621
hours for all employees are generally the same except that parts and.
hardware department employees, the office clerical employees, and
salesmen work a half day each Saturday, whereas shop employees work
only a 5-day week. Parts and hardware department employees are
never interchanged with shop employees. There has been some,
though very little, interchange between the shop departments. There
have also been a few permanent transfers from one shop to another.
As noted above shop employees are separately supervised, as are the
-parts and hardware department employees. Employee benefits, such
as vacations and insurance, are the same for all. employees.
The foregoing circumstances clearly indicate that the bulk of the
employees of the shop departments sought to be represented comprise
a distinct, homogeneous group of skilled mechanics whose duties, terms
of employment, supervision, and interests are different from those of
the parts and hardware department employees. We perceive insuffi
cient merit in the Employer's contention that the functions of the parts
and hardware department employees are so closely integrated with
those of the shop employees that only a single unit of these employees
is appropriate for representation. We have previously found, under
facts similar to those presented here, that a unit of employees, such as
that requested by the Petitioner, may appropriately constitute either
a separate bargaining unit or a part of a more comprehensive one.5
In the instant proceeding, no labor organization seeks to represent
the employees in the larger unit 'claimed to be appropriate by the
Employer. We conclude that the unit sought by the. Petitioner is
appropriate.
There remains the determination of the supervisory status 'of the
assistant foremen. The record discloses that there is one employee in
this category in each of the tractor, implement and pump, and welding
shops. In the absence of their foremen during vacation periods, be-
cause of sickness, or for other reasons, they take over their duties.
The Employer estimated that they spend 20 to 25 percent of their time
as supervisors, and spend the rest of their time performing the same
work as the other men in their shops. Only the shop foremen have
the right to hire and discharge employees, but the assistant foremen
may effectively recommend- such action to them. The assistant fore-
men receive a higher hourly rate than the other mechanics. We find,
contrary to the Employer's contention, in view of the frequent and
substantial time devoted by the assistant foremen to supervisory
duties that they are supervisors within the meaning of the Act. We
shall therefore exclude them from the unit.6
6 J. B. Cook Auto Machine Company, Inc., 73 NLRB 249.
6 East Tennessee Packing Company , 89 NLRB 535.
622 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We find that all employees at the Employer's place of business at
Modesto, California, who are employed in the tractor, welding, and
implement and pump shops, including the truck driver and janitors in
these shops, but excluding all other employees, assistant foremen, and
all other supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropri-
ate 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,]