The Kroger Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 12, 1973

204 N.L.R.B. 1055 (N.L.R.B. 1973)

THE KROGER CO.
The Kroger Co. and United Industrial Workers Union,
Drivers and Warehousemen Division , affiliated with
the Seafarers International Union , AFL-CIO. Case
9-RC-9912
July 12, 1973
DECISION ON REVIEW
BY CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS FANNING
AND PENELLO
On March 16, 1973, the Acting Regional Director
for Region 9 issued a Decision and Direction of Elec-
tion in the above-entitled proceeding wherein he
found a unit of plant clerical employees at the
Employer's Columbus, Ohio, facility to be appropri-
ate. Thereafter, in accordance with the National La-
bor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, Series 8,
as amended, the Employer filed a timely request for
review on the ground that, in failing to exclude, inter
alia, five mailroom clerks as office clerical employees
and two warehouse clericals as confidential employ-
ees, the Acting Regional Director made findings
which were erroneous and departed from reported
precedent.
On May 16, 1973, the National Labor Relations
Board, by telegraphic order, granted the request for
review with respect to the mailroom clerks and the
alleged confidential employees and stayed the elec-
tion pending decision on review.'
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au-
thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the entire record in this
case and makes the following findings:
At its Columbus, Ohio, operation, the Employer is
engaged in the warehousing and distribution of food
products. The Employer's facility there consists of
separate buildings for its meat processing operation
and its warehousing operation. A third building, at-
tached to the warehouse dock, is utilized for its trans-
portation and truck maintenance activities. The
Petitioner, which currently represents the Employer's
warehouse employees performing manual labor, now
seeks to represent a separate unit of certain plant
clerical employees in the meat plant, warehouse, and
transportation building.' The disputed mailroom em-
ployees and the alleged confidential employees all
work in the warehouse building.
1 The request for review was denied as to all other issues.
2 The production employees in the meat plant, the mechanics in the trans-
portation building, and the Employer's truckdrivers are represented in sepa-
rate units by three other labor organization.
1055
With respect to the layout of the warehouse build-
ing, the record discloses that the front office area is
separated from the mailroom area by a large produce
warehousing area . However, the mailroom is located
in an enclosed loft above the warehouse area.' Organi-
zationally, the mailroom operation is a part of the
accounting department and its employees are super-
vised by an accountant who also supervises other of-
fice clericals in the front office .4 All other employees
in the unit found appropriate by the Acting Regional
Director are located in the transportation building or
the warehouse area and are ultimately supervised by
the warehouse manager.
The primary function of the mailroom is to collect,
sort, and distribute mail at the Columbus facility.
However, the mailroom employees also have numer-
ous other responsibilities, most of which are integrat-
ed with responsibilities of front office personnel.
Thus, the mailroom employees maintain the records
storage area for the front office and they order and
maintain the supply of office materials used by the
front office. In addition, the front office produces
most of the material for mass duplication which is
performed by mailroom employees. Numerous ac-
counting functions with respect to trading stamps,
vendor coupons collected at retail stores, and payroll
checks are performed by the mailroom employees.
They also sort out incoming money and, after the
appropriate bank documents are prepared, they make
the bank deposits. Moreover, the timeclock and the
break area for the mailroom employees are located in
the front office rather than the warehouse.
Based on the foregoing and the entire record, we
find the mailroom employees are office clerical em-
ployees whose interests are more closely aligned with
the other employees working in the front office rather
than the plant clerical employees working in the ware-
house and transportation area. Absent agreement of
the parties, the Board does not join office and plant
clerical employees in a single unit. We perceive no
reason for departing from that rule in this case.' Ac-
cordingly, we shall exclude the mailroom employees
from the unit.
With respect to the warehouse clerical employees
alleged to be confidential employees, we have con-
cluded that the record is insufficient to permit a deter-
mination as to their status at this time. We shall
therefore permit them to vote subject to challenge.
Accordingly, the case is hereby remanded to the
3 In addition , there are two small offices in the warehouse area but they
are located on the ground floor One is utilized by the warehouse supervisors
and the other is the grocery order office.
There are approximately 75 unrepresented office clerical employees in
the front office The Petitioner does not seek to represent any of those
employeess
Fisher Controls Company, 192 NLRB 514, Weyerhaeuser Company, 173
NLRB 1170.
T
204 NLRB No. 140
1056 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Acting Regional Director for Region 9 for the pur-
pose of holding an election pursuant to his Decision
and Direction of Election, as amended herein .6
6 In order to assure that all eligible voters may have the opportunity to be
informed of the issues in the exercise of their statutory right to vote , all parties
to the election should have access to a list of voters and their addresses which
may be used to communicate with them . Excelsior Underwear Inc, 156
NLRB 1236; N.L R.B v. Wyman-Gordon Co, 394 U.S. 759. Accordingly, it
is hereby directed that an election eligibility list, containing the names and
addresses of all the eligible voters, must be filed by the Employer with the
Acting Regional Director for Region 9 within 7 days of the date of this
Decision on Review . The Acting Regional Director shall make the list avail-
able to all parties to the election No extension of time to file this list shall
be granted by the Acting Regional Director except in extraordinary circum-
stances. Failure to comply with this requirement shall be grounds for setting
aside the election whenever proper objections are filed.