The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 8, 1957

117 N.L.R.B. 554 (N.L.R.B. 1957)

,554 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company and Amalgamated
Meat Cutters & Butcher Workmen of North America, AFL-
CIO, Petitioner
The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company and Retail Clerks
Local Union 203, Retail Clerks International Association, AFL-
CIO, Petitioner . Cases Nos. 11-RC-914 and 11-RC-915. March 8,
1957
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before
Lewis Wolberg, 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 these cases, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim 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 appropriate units :
The Petitioner in Case No. 11-RC-914, Amalgamated Meat Cutters
.R Butcher Workmen of North America, AFL-CIO, herein called the
Meat Cutters, seeks to represent a unit of all employees engaged in
handling, cutting, selling, displaying, processing, or wrapping meat,
poultry, or fish at the Employer's stores at 221 Commerce Place, 907
W. Lee, 944 Summit Avenue, 2113 Walker Avenue, and 110 Ashburn
Street in Greensboro, North Carolina, including the head meatcutters
and meat department heads, but excluding grocery clerks, produce
clerks, dairy clerks, head cashiers (bookkeepers), store managers, as-
sistant store managers, and all other supervisors as defined in the Act.
The Petitioner in Case No. 11-RC-915, Retail Clerks Local Union 203,
Retail Clerks International Association, AFL-CIO, herein called the
Retail Clerks, seeks a unit of all retail food clerks employed at the Em-
ployer's aforementioned stores in Greensboro, North Carolina, exclud-
ing all meat department employees, office clerical employees, watch-
-men, guards, and all supervisors as defined in the Act. The Employer
generally agrees that the units requested are appropriate. However,
the Employer contends that the heads of the produce departments and
the head cashiers should be excluded from the Retail Clerks unit on
the ground that they are supervisors. Alternatively, the Employer
surges that the head cashiers should be excluded on the ground that they
117 NLRB No. 83.
THE -GREAT • ATLANTIC AND.-PACIFIC TEA COMPANY 555
are office, clerical employees. The Retail, Clerks contends that these
individuals should be included. The Employer further contends that
.the meat department heads 1 should be excluded from the Meat Cutters
-unit because they are supervisors. The Meat Cutters urges their in-
clusion. So far as appears on the record, there is no history of collec-
tive bargaining covering the employees here sought.
The meat, department heads are responsible for ordering meat prod-
ucts for the department, properly displaying the products, taking
periodic inventories of supplies, and insuring that the department
is operated on a profitable basis. In addition, they work along with
the meatcutters in their departments in cutting and trimming meats.
The record discloses that the meat department heads possess the
authority to grant time off as well as effectively to recommend the
hire and discharge of employees under them. In view of the fore-
going, we find that the meat department heads are supervisors within
the meaning of the Act.2 We shall, therefore, exclude them from the
unit sought by the Meat Cutters.
The produce department heads, like their meat department counter-
parts, order, receive, and display produce in their departments. They
are responsible for maintaining their departments on a profitable basis.
They possess the authority to discipline employees under them and ef-
fectively to recommend the hiring and discharge of employees in their
departments. Under the circumstances, we find that the produce de-
partment heads are supervisors. We shall, therefore, exclude them
from the Retail Clerks unit.
The head cashiers maintain the store records, compute invoices and
,employees' timecards, make up bank deposit slips, check cash register
receipts, and prepare payrolls. During the absence of the store man-
agers or assistant store managers, the head cashiers are authorized to
approve the cashing of customers' checks. Once a week, head cashiers
may spend part of the day in the store checking out purchases. The
vast majority of their time, however, is spent in the store offices. As
the record fails to disclose that the head cashiers possess any of the
indicia of supervisory authority, we find that they are not supervisors.
However, in view of the duties of the head cashiers, we conclude that
they are essentially office clerical employees. Inasmuch as the Retail
Clerks would exclude office clerical employees from its requested unit,
we shall exclude the head cashiers on the ground that they are office
clerical employees.
We find, in accordance with the foregoing, that the following groups
of employees at the Employer's retail stores at 221 Commerce Place,
907 W. Lee, 944 Summit Avenue, 2113 Walker Avenue, and 110 Ash-
burn Street, Greensboro, North Carolina, constitute separate-uriits•ap-
1 It does not appear that the Employer employs any head meatcutters.
2 See The Kroger Company, 93 NLRB 274, 276, footnote 4.
556 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
(a) All employees engaged in handling, cutting, selling, displaying,
processing or wrapping meat, poultry, or fish, including regular part-
time,employees,3 excluding grocery clerks, produce clerks, dairy clerks,
head cashiers (bookkeepers), watchmen, guards, meat department
heads, store managers, assistant store managers, and all other super-
visors as defined in the Act.
(b) All retail food clerks, including regular part-time employees,'
but excluding all meat department employees, head cashiers and other
office clerical employees, watchmen, guards, the produce department
heads, store managers, assistant store managers, and all other super-
visors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
' The parties stipulated that only those part-time employees who have performed part-
time duties each week for 18 weeks immediately prior to the issuance of notice of election
should be included in the unit and permitted to vote As the Employer also employs cas-
uals, we construe the foregoing stipulation to include all regular part-time employees who
have a reasonable expectancy of continued employment with the Employer . We shall,
therefore, in comformance with the stipulation, include them in the unit and find that they
are eligible to vote See Giant Markets , Inc, 107 NLRB 10, 12; Food Pair Stores, 83
NLRB 852, 854
4 Ibid.
Hargrun Corp . and International Association of Machinists,
AFL-CIO, Auto Mechanics Lodge 1053, Petitioner . Case Nor.
3-RC-1772. March 8, 1957
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
tipon. a petition duly filed under Section 9, (c) of the. National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before-John M.