Colonial Stores, Inc.

In the Matter of COLONIAL STORES, INCORPORATED, EMPLOYER Clad RETAIL CLERKS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION, LOCAL UNION No. 1063, AFL, PETITIONER Case No. 10-RC-468.-Decided June 27,1949 DECISION AY D DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Leroy W. C. Mather, 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. Colonial Stores, Incorporated, a Virginia corporation, operates a series of retail chain grocery stores in the States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, and Georgia. There are 42 stores involved in the instant petition, all of which are located in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, and its environs. The Employer annually purchases for use in its Atlanta stores $5,000,000 worth of goods, of which in excess of $2,500,000 originates outside the State of Georgia and are shipped in interstate commerce to its Atlanta warehouse. Its annual sales in the city of Atlanta and the greater Atlanta area exceed $5,000,000 annually. We find that the Em- ployer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Labor Man- agement Relations Act.' 2. The labor organization named below claims to represent certain employees 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 2 1 Matter of Providence Public Market Company, 79 N L R B 1482 ; Matter of American Stores, Inc, 80 N L R B 126 2 The Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that the Petitioner has not made a proper showing of interest , and that its claim of representation should be proved at the hearing. As the Board 's authority to conduct an investigation under Section 9 (c) 84 N. L R. B , No 67. 558 COLONIAL STORES, INCORPORATED '559 4. The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit consisting essentially of employees in the grocery and produce departments of the Employer's stores in the greater Atlanta area. The Employer contends that any unit found appropriate by the Board should also include the meat market employees 3 The Employer would exclude, and the Petitioner .include, the Employer's assistant managers and the bookkeepers. Meat market employees.-The record discloses that the Employer conducts a special training course in meat preparation and selling, in which most of the meat market employees have received training. All of them are required to be qualified for their work by reason of experi- ence and knowledge of meats, and are under the separate supervision of a meat market manager. The Board has frequently found that grocery department and meat department employees may constitute separate appropriate units.' We shall exclude them from the unit in this proceeding. Assistant managers.-Employees in this classification perform pri- marily the duties of first-class clerks. They also assume the duties of the managers for short periods of time, but, even while acting as such, they do not have the right to hire or discharge, and their direction of other employees is limited to the arrangement of merchandise on shelves. The assistant managers do not participate in any incentive compensation plan as do the store and produce managers. We find that, they are not supervisors as defined in the Act and shall include them in the unit. Bookkeepers.-The Petitioner seeks the exclusion of "head book- keepers." The Employer contends there is no such classification in its employ. The record discloses, however,, that a , class of clerk is em- ployed whose duty is aiding the managers to-maintain the books. These employees, who are employed only in the supermarkets, spend 60 or 65 percent of their time at keeping books. The remainder of their duties consists of checking purchases at the checking counter. As they do not possess any supervisory authority, we shall include the book- keepers in the unit .5 of the Act is in nowise dependent upon the Petitioner's showing, we have frequently held that the Petitioner's showing is an administrative matter and not subject to litigation at the hearing The Employer's- motion is therefore denied Matter of Lion Oil Co., 76 N L R. B. 565 ; cf. Matter of 0 D. Jennings & Co., 68 N L R B 516 3 The record discloses that the Petitioner does not seek to represent the meat market employees because they are under the jurisdiction of another labor organization affiliated with the same parent body as the Petitioner Matter of Tilly Varnish Co., 53 N. L R B. 1203 Matter of Montsanto Chemical Co ., 53 N L R B. 784 * See, for example, Matter of The Kroger Company, 77 N. L. It. B. 370. 5 Matter of Florsheim Retail Boot Shop, 80 N L R. B 1312. 560 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD We find that the following employees of the Employer constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act : All employees at the Employer's retail stores in the greater Atlanta area (Atlanta, College Park, Hapesville, East Point, Decatur, and Buckhead), including bookkeepers, checkers, food clerks, stock men, produce clerks,, assistant managers, and regular part-time employees, but excluding meat market employees, store and produce managers, package boys, and all supervisors as defined in the Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur- poses 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 was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the' pay-roll period immediately p 'receding the date of this Direction of Election, 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 have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Retail Clerks International Association, Local Union No. 1063, AFL.