The Kroger Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 27, 1948

77 N.L.R.B. 370 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of TILE KROGER COMPANY, EMPLOYER and AMALGAMATED
FOOD EMPLOYEES UNION, LOCAL 590, AMALGAMATED MEAT CUTTERS
ce, BUTCHER WORKMEN OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL , PETITIONER
In the Mattel' of THE KROGER COMPANY, EMPLOYER and RETAIL CLERKS
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION, A. F. L., PETITIONER
Cases Nos. 6-RC-8 and 6-RC-13, respectively. Decided April
27, 1948
Mr. Edward J. Kenney, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Employer.
Messrs. C. C. Caldwell and F. M. Nolan, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the
Amalgamated.
Mr. W. R. McGinnis and Mrs. Jean Redman, of Pittsburgh, Pa.,
for the Clerks,
DECISION
AND
DIRECTIONS OF ELECTIONS
Upon two petitions duly filed, hearing in the consolidated cases was
held at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , on January 12, 1948, before-W. G.
Stuart Sherman , 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 the case , the National Labor Relation,
Board ' makes the following .
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. TIIE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
The Kroger Company, an Ohio corporation, is engaged in the dis-
tribution of groceries, meats, and sundries. It operates warehouses
and retail food stores in various States of the United States. The
Employer's Pittsburgh Branch embraces approximately 100 stores in
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, and a warehouse in Pitts-
burgh, Pennsylvania. We are here concerned with 10 stores of the
Pittsburgh Branch, 7 of which are located in West Virginia, and 3
' 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 -man panel consist.
ing of the undersigned Board Members [Houston, Murdock , and Gray].
77 N. L. R. B., No 57.
370
THE KROGER COMPANY 371
in Ohio .2 During 1947 , the Employer purchased outside the Com-
monwealth of Pennsylvania approximately $10,000,000 worth of sup-
plies which were shipped to the Pittsburgh warehouse and distributed
from there to the stores of the Pittsburgh Branch.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
Within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. TILE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner in Case No. 6-RC-8, herein called the Amalgamated,
is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
The Petitioner in Case No. 6-RC-13, herein called the Clerks, is a
labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor,
claiming to rperesent employees of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer has refused to recognize either the Amalgamated or
the Clerks as the exclusive bargaining agent of its employees in the
absence of a Board certification.
We find that 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.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT ; TIIE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Amalgamated seeks a unit of all grocery and meat department
employees in the stores of the Pittsburgh Branch listed in "Schedule
A," including part-time employees, but excluding store managers.
These stores are the only ones in the Pittsburgh Branch as yet unor-
ganized. The Employer agrees with the Amalgamated as to both
the scope and composition of the unit. While the Clerks agrees to the
scope of the un it disagrees as to the unit's composition in that it
would represent the grocery department employees at these stores in
a separate unit.
Each store involved in this proceeding, like the remaining stores of
the Pittsburgh Branch, is divided into meat and grocery departments.
Conditions of work and employee benefits are similar for employees
of both departments. In addition virtually all employees 3 spend vary-
'Five of the stores are in Wheeling, West Virginia The others are located in Elm
Grove, West Virginia, Moundsville, West Virginia, Bridgeport, Ohio, Martins Ferry, Ohio,
and Barnesville , Ohio ; all these stores are within 20 miles of Wheeling , West Virginia.
I In large stores of the Employer there is a classification known as back room neat
uittei Employees in this classification do not serve customers.
372 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ing amounts of time serving customers and all are subject to the
immediate supervision of the store manager.
Although there is a degree of similarity, as above noted, there never-
theless exists considerable difference of function and skill between
grocery and meat department employees, and there is no interchange
of personnel except on rare occasions. Thus, employee classifications
in the grocery department include such categories as head grocery
clerk and grocery clerk, while those in the meat department consist
of head meat cutter,4 journeyman, and apprentice. In contrast to
the routine functions of the grocery department job classifications,
there is a definite progression of skill in the duties allotted to each
of the classifications in the meat department. The head meat cutter
is responsible for blocking, conditioning, cutting, and displaying the
meat. The journeyman is assigned such operations as blocking and
cutting the meat. Apprentices assist generally, qualifying as journey-
men only after they have been trained in this work for a period by
their respective head meat cutters. And while employees of one
department on rare occasions assist employees in the other depart-
ment, the assistance is confined to acting as counter clerks only.
There is no bargaining history affecting the 10 stores involved in
this proceeding. With respect to the remaining stores, which are
organized, the record discloses that the Amalgamated is currently
the recognized bargaining representative of the meat and grocery
department employees of about 75 of the Pittsburgh Branch stores,
and has a single collective bargaining contract with the Employer as
to these employees. It shows further that the Clerks is currently
the bargaining representative of only the grocery department em-
ployees in one store of the Branch. The bargaining history of the
remaining stores is not disclosed in the record.'
As to bargaining in this area, the Amalgamated has agreements
with the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company and the Union
Supply Company covering units which combine the employees of
the meat and grocery departments. The Clerks, on the other hand,
is the bargaining representative for only, grocery department em-
ployees in the P. H. Butler stores, Streamline Stores, Thorofare
Stores and another, smaller branch of the Great Atlantic and Pacific
Tea Company. The meat departments in these stores are repre-
sented by other locals of the Amalgamated. In addition, although
the Clerks asserts that it does not have jurisdiction of meat depart-
4 The parties agree, and we find, that head grocery clerks and head meat cutters are not
supervisors
6 The pattern of bargaining in the Pittsburgh Branch is not the result of any Board
action.
THE KROGER COMPANY 373
ment employees, it does represent them in several instances in combined
units.
Under all these circumstances, including the lack of consistency in
the bargaining history in the Pittsburgh Branch and in similar
stores in the area, as well as the difference in function and skill between
grocery department and meat department employees, we believe that
the employees of the 10 stores involved herein may function either
in one unit of both grocery department and meat department em-
ployees or in two separate units of grocery department employees
and meat department employees.6 We shall therefore not make any
final unit determination at this time, but shall, in part, be guided
by the desires of the employees themselves as expressed in the elections
directed hereinafter.
Accordingly, we shall direct that separate elections by secret ballot
be held among employees in each of the following voting groups in
the 10 stores listed in Schedule A, including part-time employees
but excluding store managers and supervisors :
1. All meat department employees.
2. All grocery department employees.
If at such elections, the employees in both voting groups select the
Amalgamated, they will be taken to have indicated a desire to consti-
tute a single bargaining unit; otherwise they will be taken to have
indicated a desire to constitute separate bargaining units.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS 8
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with The Kroger Company, Pitts-
burgh, Pennsylvania, elections by secret ballot shall be conducted as
early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from the date
of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional
Director for the Sixth Region, and subject to Sections 203.61 and
203.62, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
Series 5, among the employees in the voting groups described in Sec-
tion IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period imme-
diately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who
did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on
vacation or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who
u Matter of Union Premier Food Stores , 10 N. L R. B. 370
' These employees are for the most part high school students who work regularly about
20 hours per week after school hours In many instances they become full time employees.
We find , in agreement with the parties , that they should be included in the unit.
6 Any participant in the elections directed herein may , upon its prompt request to, and
approval thereof by , the Regional Director, have its name removed from the ballot.
788886-49-vol. 77-25
374 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired
or reinstated prior to the date of the elections, and also excluding em-
ployees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine
(a) whether or not employees in group 1 above desire to be represented
by Amalgamated Food Employees Union, Local 590, Amalgamated
Meat Cutters & Butcher Workmen of North America, AFL, for the
purposes of collective bargaining, and (b) whether employees in
group 2, above, desire to be represented by Amalgamated Food Em-
ployees Union, Local 590, Amalgamated Meat Cutters & Butcher
Workmen of North America, AFL, or by Retail Clerks International
Association, A. F. L., for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by
neither.
SCHEDULE A
Store at 16th & Jacobs St., Wheeling, West Virginia.
Store at Bethany Pike, Wheeling, West Virginia.
Store at 1044 Market St., Wheeling, West Virginia.
Store at 1911 Warwood Ave., Wheeling, West Virginia.
Store at 33rd & Eoff St., Wheeling, West Virginia.
Store at National Road, Elm Grove, West Virginia.
Store at 801-03 Lafayette St., Moundsville, West Virginia.
Store at 215 Lincoln Ave., Bridgeport, Ohio.
Store at 35 S. Fourth St., Martins Ferry, Ohio.
Store at 111 E. Main St., Barnesville, Ohio.