Theriot Super Food Markets Inc.

THERIOT SUPER FOOD MARKETS, INC . 259 THERIOT SIIPER FOOD MARKETS INC. and AMALOAMATED MEAT CuTTEns AND BUTCHER WORKMEN OF NORTH AMERICA, LOCAL 264, AFL, PETITIONER. Case No. 15-RC-788. November 7, 1952 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 Caso March, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prej- udicial 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 [Chairman Herzog and Members Styles and Peterson]. 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 Employer is engaged in the business of operating seven grocery stores in Lake Charles, Louisiana. In each store there is a meat market which is operated, for the most part, independently of the rest of the store. In charge of each market is the meat market manager, a butcher. Above him in the managerial ladder is the assistant general manager of the meat department, who is also market manager in store No. 1, and above the assistant general manager is the general manager of operations for all departments in the seven stores. The Petitioner here seeks only the employees in the meat markets, including the meat market managers whom the Employer contends should be excluded as supervisors. There are normally seven meat market managers-one for each store. They are experienced butchers and spend most of their time waiting on customers and cutting meat. They are also responsible for running their markets and must see that the market is kept clean, that the correct prices are displayed, and that adequate supplies of meat are kept on hand. However, except in rare instances, the mana- gers cannot determine prices but must follow those issued by the main office; neither can they independently purchase meat but must order it through Webb, the assistant general manager, who periodically makes inquiries to take such orders. Furthermore, Webb normally inspects the various markets daily, making such suggestions as to the management of the market or the cutting of meat as he deems necessary. 101 NLRB No. 54. 242305-53--18 260 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD In four of the markets the manager has only part-time helpers, usually high school students, who work on week ends. In the three other stores there are full-time helpers. The duties of all helpers are substantially the same-they wait on customers and aid in keeping the market clean. Some of the full-time helpers cut meat. It is the Employer's contention that the managers not only supervise their helpers but also possess the power effectively to recommend the trans- fer, hire, or discharge of such employees. Clearly the managers give orders to their helpers but such orders concern routine matters such as cleaning up the market or waiting on customers. Insofar as the hiring authority of the managers is concerned, the normal practice is for the manager to request Webb or the general manager to send him a helper, and in the usual course of events an employee he has never seen is sent to this market. On two occasions, however, a manager requested that a particular employee be transferred to his market from other departments in the stores and the main office com- plied with the requests. There was also evidence that if a market is short-handed, the manager can take on a part-time helper, but such employee does not enter on the payroll until his employment is ap- proved by the general manager. However, the single specific instance in the record of such hiring by a manager occurred only after the manager had been especially authorized by the main office to hire a helper for his market. In view of the foregoing, and upon the record as a whole, we find that the meat market managers are not supervisors within the meaning of the Act,' and we shall, therefore, include them in the Unit .2 Accordingly, 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 meat department employees, including meat market managers at the Employer's stores in Lake Charles, Louisiana, but excluding part-time employees,3 warehouse employees, truck drivers, all other employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this volume.] ' Puerto Rico Dairy Inc , 99 NLRB 1013; Mathews Lumber Company, 96 NLRB 322; Dodd Distributing Company, 94 NLRB 1185. The Employer , in support of its contention that the meat market managers are supervisors, introduced in evidence its "Manual of Standard Procedures , George Theriot's Super Food Marts." The duties of the man- agers as outlined in this manual would seem to include the power to select their assistants. However, none of the managers who testified at the hearing had ever read the manual and their actual authority and duties clearly vary substantially from those set forth in the manual . Accordingly, we do not regard the manual as persuasive evidence of the supervisory status of the meat market managers. Y The market manager for store No. 1 is also , as indicated above, the assistant general manager for the Employer's meat department. It is clear from the record that he responsibly directs the market managers and exercises other supervisory functions. We shall, accordingly, exclude him from the unit. 8 The parties stipulated that the part-time employees should be excluded.