Georg Jensen, Inc.

16 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Order IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition filed herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed. GEORG JENSEN, INC., AND FREDERIK LUNNING, INC. and LOCAL 721, RETAIL, WHOLESALE AND DEPARTMENT STORE UNION, CIO, ALSO KNOWN AS RETAIL MENSWEAR, SPORTING GOODS AND ACCESORIES EMPLOYEES UNION, LOCAL 721, AFFILIATED w1TH RETAIL, WHOLE- SALE AND DEPARTMENT STORE UNION, CIO, PETITIONER. Case No. 2-RC-3164. April 05, 1951 Decision and Direction of Election Upon a petition duly filed. under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Thomas A. Ricci, 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 Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and Styles]. - Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act.2 2. The labor organization involved claims 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.3 4. The Employer, with 216 employees, is engaged in importing and selling, at wholesale and retail, silverware, china, and household fur- nishings at its New York City department store and warehouse. 1 The petition and other formal papers were amended at the hearing to reflect the name of the Petitioner. 2 Georg Jensen, Inc , and Frederik Lonning, Inc, engaged in a common enterprise, with mutual officer and a common labor policy, constitute a joint employer, within the meaning of the Act. Launderepair Company, 90 NLRB 778. 3 The Employer contends that the instant petition should be dismissed , because the Petitioner has allegedly failed to comply with Section 9 (f) of the Act. In support of its contention, the Employer urges that, notwithstanding the Board' s established policy holding that compliance is not subject to collateral attack, an exception should be made in the instant case where, it alleges, the record on its face shows noncompliance. We find no merit in this contention. Whatever may be the import of the testimony to which the Employer refers, it does not affect our administrative determination that the Petitioner is in compliance with the filing requirements of the Act. The Employer's request for leave to file a supplemental statement relative to the other Issues in this case is denied. 94 NLRB No. 10. GEORG JENSEN, INC., AND FREDERIK LUNNING, INC. 17 The Employer and the Petitioner agree that all regular full-time and part-time employees at the Employer's store and warehouse, ex- cluding department heads,4 engineers, executives, watchmen, and supervisors, constitute an appropriate collective bargaining unit. The parties disagree with respect to the unit placement of the watch re- pairinan, selling section heads, payroll clerks, secretaries to executives, and personnel department employees, whom the Employer would include and the Petitioner would exclude. With respect to certain other categories, noted below, the Petitioner seeks the Board's deter- mination as to whether or not they are supervisors within the meaning of the Act. The watch, repairman, whom the Petitioner would exclude as a craft employee, is a highly skilled workman who adjusts and repairs watches sold by the Employer. Although he works alone, he is subject to the same conditions of employment as other store employees. Because the question of this employee's separate representation, as a craft em- ployee, is not in issue, and because no other labor organization sepa- rately seeks to represent him, we shall, in accordance with our usual policy in such situations, include him in the unit herein found appro- priate.5 Selling section heads, who the Petitioner contends are supervisors, include 10 persons who spend 80 percent of their time with sales employees selling merchandise and the balance in drafting purchase orders for department heads, keeping the latter informed of the gen- eral condition of their sections, and recommending, within fixed price limits, purchases of articles for resale by their sections. Selling section heads have essentially the same working conditions as sales employees, do not hire or discharge employees or recommend changes in their status, and do not assign, instruct, or direct them. Unlike sales employees, 3 of the selling section heads on occasion work 6 days a week without extra pay. Although 8 selling section heads are paid more than sales employees, the reverse is true of other selling section heads. Although selling' section heads can approve customers' checks for sales up to $25, this privilege is also granted to certain of the sales and other employees. We therefore find that selling section heads are not supervisors, within the meaning of the Act, and shall include them in the unit herein found appropriate. Payroll clerks, who the Petitioner contends are confidential em- ployees, calculate, record, and prepare the Employer's payroll; their work is entirely unrelated to the establishment or execution of the Employer's labor, policies. Executive secretaries, who the Petitioner also contends are confidential employees, include the secretaries to s Also known as "buyers." 5 Boeing Ant plane Company, 186 NLRB 368, Air Metals, Inc., 83 NLRB 945. 953841-52-vol 94-3 18 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD the Employer's president, general manager, and chief importing officer, respectively. The secretaries to the president and the gen=e eral manager handle matters directly related to the Employer's labor policies, in contrast to the secretary to the chief importing officer. We therefore find that payroll clerks and the secretary to the chief importing officer are not confidential employees and shall include them in the unit. We further find that the secretaries to the presi- dent and the general manager are confidential employees and shall therefore exclude them from the units Other categories include the warehouse head clerk, who regularly i akes the place of the warehouse manager during the latter's absence from the warehouse and at such times responsibly directs warehouse employees and reports on infractions of working rules; and the heact stenographer, who effectively recommends wage increases and job transfers for other stenographers. The warehouse manager, who is also in charge of the receiving department in the store, divides his, time between the two locations. We find that the warehouse head clerk and the head stenographer are supervisors, within the meaning of the Act, and shall exclude them from the unit. We further find that the head receiving clerk, the senior cashier, the head telephone operator, the head file clerk, and the window display clerk possess no supervisory authority and are not supervisors, within the mean- ing of the Act; ' accordingly, we shall include them in the unit." We find that all regular full-time and part-time employees at the Employer's New York, New York, department store and warehouse, including the watch repairman, selling section heads, payroll clerks, the secretary to the chief importing officer, the head receiving clerk, the senior cashier, the head telephone operator, the head file clerk, and the window display clerk, but excluding the secretaries to the president and the general manager, department heads, engineers,. executives, watchmen, and the warehouse head clerk, the head stenog- rapher, and other supervisors, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act s 5. The Petitioner's request that its name appear on the ballot -in the election herein as Local 721 Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union, CIO, is granted. e Poole Dry Goods Company, 89 NLRB 1442; Bonwit Teller, Inc., 84 NLRB 414. 7 Although ,these more experienced employees are higher paid than those with whom they work, their responsibilities for the work performed by those employees and their powers of direction over them are routine in nature. Bonwit Teller, Inc., supra. 8 We find it unnecessary to determine the confidential status of personnel department employees, because, of the two persons in this department, one is excluded as a department head and the other is not a regular full-time employee. 9 We make no unit determination with respect to protection department employees, detectives, and trainers, as no persons in these categories are currently in the Employer's employ. LONE STAR BOAT MFG. CO. 19 [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this volume.] R. W. MCDONNELL AND E. M. BISFIOP D/B/A LONE STAR BOAT MFG. Co.' and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE , AIRCRAFT & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA (UAW-CIO), PETITIONER . Case No. 16-RC-696. April 25, 1951 Decision and Direction of Election Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before H. Carnie Russell, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and hereby affirmed. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-- member panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and Styles]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. 2. The labor organization involved 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. 4. The parties are in general agreement as to the appropriateness: of a production and maintenance unit. However, the Petitioner would exclude from the unit the ap proxi- mately 35 men on the night shift who are on active duty in the United States Navy and stationed at the Grand Prairie Naval Base,, Texas. These men regularly work for the Employer from 6 to 7 hours per night on an average of 3 to 5 nights each week, and per- form the same duties as employees who work full time. As our unit finding is based upon occupational categories, all employees working: at jobs within the unit are necessarily, with respect to such jobs, within the unit, irrespective of the number of hours of employment.2 Moreover, as these regular part-time employees perform work which is the same as that performed by the full-time employees in the same- job classifications and are subject to substantially the same general. working conditions as the other employees, we shall, in accordance, 1 The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing. 2J. C. Penney Company, 86 NLRB 920. 94 NLRB No. 13.