Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution

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 -1ilag aogiiZ li3uoiltN jo `g uotloas `III aloicay of jurnsJnu puu •loy 699 662 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 mPrhrmpc rlipmiri lc )nrl cirri frnm + arn cnnnliac, TTo rlnoc nn+ l„ra -orpsrsnl sui glo uauissatd 0111 liun .iuiuiuZaiiq alrridoiddu ui alnl alVOa SNOI LV'IRH HOHV'I 'IVNOIZVN 3O SNOISIDEcI 899 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 , t/