Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 21, 1942

42 N.L.R.B. 660 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of ZION'S COOPERATIVE MERCANTILE INSTITUTION anlf'
WAREIIOUSE AND DISTRIBUTING UNION C I O
Case No R-3941-Decided July 21, 1942
Jurisdiction . ding wholesaling and retailing industry. i t
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : dis-
agreemnent between union and Company with respect to the appropriate unit,
election necessaiy
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining - all warehouse employees in the
Company's 'wholesale diug division at Salt Lake City, including stock clerks,
order pickets, order fllleis, the ieceiving clerk and his assistant, the packer
and shipper, the parcel post and eiiand boy, the odd fob man, and laboratory
employees, but excluding the manager and the assistant manager, office and
elerical employees, buyers, the working shop foreman, and a ceitarn chemist;
two employees excluded from unit despite sole union's desne tor the inclusion
of one, where they held compai able positions, the functions of which were
outside the scope of the unit
Mr. Louis H Callister, of Salt Lake City, Utah, foi the Company
Mr. Charles Duarte, of Salt Lake-City, Utah, foi the Union
Mrs Augusta Spaulding, of counsel to the Boaid
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATLMENT OF TEE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Warehouse and Distributing Union,
C I. 0 , herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution,'' Salt Lake City, Utah,
herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board pro-
vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Paul S
Kuelthau, Trial Examiner Said hearing was held at Salt Lake City,
Utah, on June 10, 1942 The Company and the Union appealed, par-
ticipated, and were affoided full opportunity to be heard, to examine
and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the
issues The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and ale hereby affirmed On July 3, 1942, the
Company filed a brief, which the Board has considered
'The petition and other formal papers were amended at the hearing to disclose the
correct name of the Company
42NLRB,No134
- 660
ZION'S COOPERATIVE MERCANTILE INSTITUTION 661
Upon the entree record in the case, the Boaid makes the following
FINDINGS OF FACT
I THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution is engaged in the pui chase,
sale, and distribution; at wholesale and retail,- of drugs, wares,
and merchandise The Company operates wholesale branches at Salt
Lake City, Ogden, Provo,' and Price, Utah, and Twin Falls, Idaho
Falls, and Pocatello, Idaho It also operates a wholesale hardware
division, a wholesale drug division, a wholesale dry goods division, a
small clothing factory, a ietail department store, and a retail drug
store at Salt Lake City, Utah During 1941 the Company's total sales
exceeded $13,000,000, of which more than 6 percent represented sales
made to points outside Utah .. Dining the same period approximately
65 percent of the goods sold by the Company were purchased and
shipped to Salt;Lake City from points outside Utah , 3
The Company's -wholesale' ch ug -division at Salt Lake City is the
only division of the Company's operations do ectly involved in this
proceeding - During 1941 the Company purchased for this wholesale
drug division materials valued'at approximately $479,600, of which
about 90 percent were purchased and brought to the plant from points
outside Utah During the'same period the Company sold through its
wholesale drug division drugs and other merchandise valued at ap'-
proxunately $550,793, of which about 10 percent was sold and shipped
to points outside Utah - r
II THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Warehouse and Disti ibutipg Union is a labor organization affiliated
with the International Longshoiemen's and Warehousemen's, Union
and with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to mem-
bership employees of the Company
III THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On March 31, 1942, the Union wrote a letter to the Company, alleg-
ing that it represented a majority of the Company's warehouse em-
ployees in the wholesale drug division at Salt Lake City, and request-
ing recognition and a bargaining conference On April 2, 1942, the
Union filed its petition in this proceeding On April 29, 1942, at a
conference between representatives of the Company and the Union in
the Regional Director's office, the Company and the Union disagreed
with respect to the appropriate bargaining unit
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662
ANVaWOD SSRxa NOLSROH
DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
A statement prepared by the Regional Director and introduced into
evidence at the hearing indicates that the Union represents a substan-
tial number of employees in the appropriate unit 2
We find that a question affecting commeice has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act
IV TIIE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Company and the Union agree that ( 1) stock clerks, order
pickers, and order fillers , who check stock, select items from stock
to fill orders, and check such items against orders , ( 2) a receiving
clerk and his assistants ; ( 3) a packer and shipper ; ( 4) a parcel post
and errand boy, who assists the packer and care ies messages between
the warehouse and the main store, (5) an odd job man, and (6)
laboratory employees , who fill and label bottles and packages , should
be included in the bargaining unit of warehouse employees
The Union would exclude , and the Company would include, six
office clerks Two office clerks take orders over the telephone and
are listed as pricers on the pay roll They place the unit price on
items for sale and forward their paper work to the billing clerk Four
other clerks , including two stenographers , the billing clerk who runs
the comptometer , and the catalog clerk who makes price lists and routes
order tickets , complete the office staff
The Company urges that the present ciowded working conditions
at the warehouse and the small number of employees in the division
make it necessaiy for office and warehouse employees to work side by
side and share each other 's work , All employees , including the man-
ager, assist in filling ordeis when work is heavy. The Company
admits that under more adequate accommodations it would physically
separate its office and warehouse employees Since the petitioning
union does not as a matter of policy include office employees in the
same bargaining unit with waiehouse employees, we shall exclude
office employees from the bargaining unit composed piiinarily of
warehouse employees who spend their time,in physical ,work
The Company and the Union agree that the manager and the man-
ager's assistant should be excluded from the bargaining unit The
Union and the Company disagree with respect to the inclusion of
Granville Simmons, Eugene Johnson, Edwin Ciacroft, and John
Kohnhorst
Simmons and Johnson aie buyers Simmons is the buyer of patent
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ZION'S COOPERATIVE MERCANTILE INSTITUTION 663
Simmons spends about 5 percent of his time taking care of priorities;
he spends 50 pen cent of his time as a buyer ; and he spends the remain-
ing part of his time looking over sheets from manufacturers and
deciding what items aie desirable to buy His work is largely paper
work. Simmons sometimes fills orders in an emergency. Johnson
is the sundiy buyer He buys novelties and Christmas merchandise
He does not hire or discharge employees or recommend their hire or
discharge He spends about 50 percent of his time in buying and
about-10 percent of his 'tine filling -oi ders During the ° i emaining
pait of his time he selects merchandise to be brought up from the
basement stoi ei oom Simmons' wages are $15 per month higher than
Johnson's The Union would exclude Simons and iliclude Johnson.
The Company contends that the positions of the two men are com-
parable and that both should be included in the unit. Since it appears
that both men aie primarily buyers, we shall exclude both as such
fiom the bai ga ining unit composed primarily of warehouse
employees.
Edwin Ciacroft is the woiking shop foreman He spends practi-
cally all his time filling oideis About 10 waiehouse employees work
under his immediate direction Althaugh he does not hire of dischaige,
he i epoi is any man whose work is not satisfactory. Since he is
the immediate supervisor of warehouse employees who would be in-
cluded in the bargaining unit, and the only labor organization involved
desiies his exclusion, we shall exclude Cracroft as working shop fore-
man from the bargaining unit
John Kohnhoist is a chemist He is iegularly employed in the
chemistry department at the university During the summer he works
full time for the Company During the winter he works at the
laboratory on Saturdays and is otherwise subject to call. Kohnhorst's
work is to check the Company's merchandise to see that it is kept up
to standard Kohnhorst and the division manager are licensed phar-
macists The Union would exclude Kohnhorst; the Company would
include him Since it clearly appears that Kohnhorst's training and
responsibilities widely differ from those of the warehouse employees
whom the par ties"-would include in the bargaining unit, we shall
exclude Kohnhorst from the unit
We find that all warehouse employees in the Company's wholesale
drug division at Salt Lake City, including stock clerks, order pickers,
order fillers, the i eceiving clerk and his assistant, the packer and
shipper, the parcel post and errand boy, the odd job man, and labora-
tory employees, but excluding the manager and the assistant manager,
3 f i
664 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among employees
in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of our Direction of Election,
subject to the limitations and additions set forth therein.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act,
49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Zion's Cooperative
Mercantile Institution, Salt Lake City, Utah, an' election 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 Twenty-second Region,
acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board,
and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations,
among all employees of the Company within the unit found appro-
priate in Section IV, above, including employees who did not work
during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation,or in
the active military service or training of the United States, or tempo-
rarily laid off, but excluding employees who have since quit or been
discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be
represented by Warehouse and Distributing Union, C. I 0, for the
purposes of collective bargaining ,
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