The Kroger Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 20, 1950

88 N.L.R.B. 243 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of THE KROGER Co.,' EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, LODGE No. 1368, PETITIONER
Case No. 5-RC-395.-Decided January 20,1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Charles B.
Slaughter, 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 Reynolds].
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. 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 Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of all automotive me-
chanics and their helpers, washers, and greasers in the Employer's
Roanoke, Virginia, garage. The Intervenor 2 opposes the inclusion
of washers and greasers in the. proposed unit, contending that they
are part of its existing warehouse unit. The Employer is neutral.
The Employer operates a large chain of retail grocery stores, in
connection with which it also operates in Roanoke a warehouse and a
service garage. In 1944, the Intervenor was certified as the collective
bargaining representative of the Employer's drivers, car gang, salvage
operator, assemblers, stop man, banana room attendant, washer, and
1 The Employer's name appears as amended at the hearing.
2 International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of
America, A. F. of L., Local No. 171.
88 NLRB No. 69. .
243.
882191-51-17
4
244 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
greaser. At the same time, the Employer voluntarily recognized the
Petitioner as the representative of its garage mechanics and helpers.
Since then, both labor organizations have had separate collective bar-
gaining agreements 3 with the Employer covering their respective
bargaining units.
Until April 1949, the warehouse and garage were housed in a single
building. In that month, as a result of expanded warehouse opera-
tions, the Employer moved its garage to a separate building, five blocks
from the warehouse. The Employer's trucks are kept in the warehouse
when they are not on the road, but they are taken to the garage for
necessary maintenance and repair work.
The car washer and the greaser work in the garage, together with
the garage mechanics under the supervision of the garage superin-
tendent. The washer does all his work in the garage. The greaser
does all but about 5 percent of his work there. There is no inter-
change or transfer among garage and warehouse employees. At such
times as the greaser and washer do not have their own duties to per-
form, they help the mechanics. Although the turn-over in the garage
is negligible, the Employer testified that, if a vacancy should occur
in the mechanic or helper classifications, a greaser or washer would be
trained to fill it.
We find no merit in the Intervenor's contention that the bargaining
history in the Employer's warehouse and garage precludes severance
of the greaser and washer from the unit of warehouse employees.
Although we place great weight on collective bargaining history, we
will not make it the determinative factor in deciding the unit issue
where, as here, since the date of the Intervenor's 1944 certification, a
sufficiently significant change in the Employer's organization has oc-
curred to dictate a different result.' At the present time, the interests
of the washer and the greaser are more intimately related to those of
the mechanics with whom they work than to those of the warehouse
employees, who are now located in a separate building and who work
under separate supervision. Together with the mechanics, the washer
and greaser comprise a separate department, performing work which
is functionally different from that of the remaining employees of the
Employer. We believe, therefore, that the bargaining history devel-
oped under conditions not now prevailing, is not controlling, and that
3 The Intervenor' s current contract was signed on September 7, 1949, effective from July
31, 1949 (the termination date of the last contract) to July 30, 1950 ; the Petitioner's
current contractwas.signed on September 16, 1949, effective from July 31, 1949 to July 30,
1950. As the petitioif herein was filed on August 12, 1949,.after the Intervenor ' s 1948-49
contract had expired and before the current contract was signed , that contract is not a bar
to this proceeding.
4 Fruehauf Trailer Company, 87 NLRB 589 ; General Electric Company (Medford
Plant ), 85 NLRB 150.
THE KROGER COMPANY 245
all employees in the Employer's garage may constitute a separate
appropriate unit.
Accordingly, we find that all automotive mechanics and their help-
ers, washers, and greasers in the Employer's garage in Roanoke, Vir-
ginia, excluding supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION'S
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer , an election 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 super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case waa
heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations , among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were
employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Election , including employees who did not work
during said payroll period because they were ill or on vacation or
temporarily laid off , but excluding those ' employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein-
stated prior to the date of the election , and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement , to determine whether
they desire to be represented , for purposes of collective bargaining, by
International Association of Machinists , Lodge No. 1368 , or by Inter-
national Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs , Warehousemen and
Helpers of America, A. F. of L., Local No. 171, or by neither.
G Any participant in the election directed herein may , upon its prompt request to, and
approval thereof by , the Regional Director, have its name removed from the ballot.