Cohen Brothers

gn the Matter of ST. JAMES REALTY & DEPARTMENT STORE COMPANY TRADING AND D/B/A COHEN BROTHERS, EMPLOYER and TRUCK DRIVERS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS LOCAL 512, AFFILIATED WITH INTERNA- TIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN & HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL,1 PETITIONER Case No. 10-RC-712.-Decided December 16, 1949 DECISION AND ORDER Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Gilbert Cohen, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.2 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 Reynolds and Gray]. 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 organization involved claims to represent certain em- ployees of the Employer. 3. No 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, for the following reasons: The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of drivers, drivers' helpers, garage employees, and warehouse employees, excluding supervisors. The Employer contends that employees at its store having the same classifications as employees located at the warehouses should also be included in the unit. The Employer operates a single large department store in Jackson- ville, Florida. In addition to its store building, it has two warehouses 1 The name of the Petitioner appears as corrected at the hearing. The Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the ground, among others, that the unit sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate. For the reasons set forth in Section 3, the motion is hereby granted. 87 NLRB No. 128. 1059 1060 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD and a small garage within a 2-mile radius of the store. There is no, history of collective bargaining for any of the employees. The unit requested by the Petitioner would include only the em- ployees, approximately 37 in number, in the following departments:: outside delivery, garage,, inside delivery, and warehouse. These de- partments are all under the general supervision of the manager. of operations, who also has supervision over receiving, shipping; and delivery employees in the store, whom the Petitioner would exclude from the unit. In the outside delivery department, there are five package drivers,. four furniture drivers, five drivers' helpers, a shuttle-truck driver, a shuttle-truck helper, a rug driver, and two appliance service men. These employees deliver merchandise from the store or warehouses to customers, or transport it between the store and warehouses. They are the only employees who drive trucks. Like the employees in the inside delivery department,' discussed below, they are under the imme- diate supervision of a supervisor of inside delivery. In the garage, there are two garage service men, under the imme- diate supervision of a garage supervisor. They wash, grease, and gas the Employer's trucks, snake minor adjustments on them, and do tire repair work. There are no other employees having similar duties. In the inside delivery department, there are a shipping clerk, 2 wrappers, a shipping typist, and' an inside delivery sorter. These employees, like those in the outside delivery department, are under the immediate supervision of the supervisor of inside delivery.' The shipping clerk and wrappers do the same work as a shipping clerk and 20 wrappers and packers in the store, none of whom the Petitioner seeks to include in the unit. The shipping typist and sorter have no counterparts in the store; however, the sorter works with packages received from wrappers and packers in the store as well as from wrap- pers in his own department. . In the warehouse department, there are 2 furniture refinishers, a fur- niture crater, a receiving clerk, 5 stock clerks, and 3 porters. All except the receiving clerk are under the immediate supervision of a ware-. house manager; the receiving clerk is under the manager of the re- ceiving and marking department in the store. ' The receiving clerk, stock clerks, and porters have the salve duties as 38 receiving clerks and markers, 20 stock clerks, and 25 porters and maids employed in the store, all of whom the Petitioner excludes from the unit it seeks 4 3 The entire delivery department was formerly located in the store, but was moved to the warehouse approximately 6 weeks before the hearing because of lack of space in the store. t In the store , the receiving clerks and markers are under the immediate supervision of the manager of the receiving and marking department : the stock clerks. under a head of stock : and the porters and maids, under a porter boss. COHEN BROTHERS 1061 'There are no furniture refinishers and craters located in the store; however, the furniture refinishers do some work on merchandise in the store, and the work of the crater is similar to that of the packers in the store. . All the Employer's employees are carried on the same pay roll, and have the same employee benefits, working hours, and pay rate schedule. 'Those in similar job classifications in the warehouse and store are fre- quently interchanged, .and are under the same over-all supervision. Furthermore, all the employees in the unit sought by the Petitioner and those in similar classifications in the store,5 will, within a year, be located in a single large warehouse. It is clear from these facts and from the record as a whole that the Employer's warehouse activities are closely integrated with those .of the store ; that employees at the warehouses perform duties similar to those of store employees; and that the interests of both groups with respect to wages, hours, and other conditions of employment are closely related. We believe, therefore, that the proposed unit is too limited in scope to constitute a separate bargaining unit.6 Accordingly, we find that the unit sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate for collective bargaining purposes.. We shall therefore dismiss the petition. ORDER IT Is IIEREt3Y ORDERED that the petition filed herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed. 6I. c., the shipping clerk, wrappers and packers , receiving clerks and markers, stock clerks , and porters and maids. 6 Connell & Chaffin, Inc., 85 NLRB 887; Bonwit Teller, Inc., S4 NLRB 414 ; J. L. Brandeis & Sons, 82 NLRB 806 ; Louis Pizitz Dry Goods Company, 80 NLRB 1442 ; Mont- gomery Ward & Co., Incorporated, 77 NLRB 1363.