Scholastic Magazines, Inc.

SCHOLASTIC MAGAZINES INC. Scholastic Magazines, Incorporated and International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Ware- housemen -& Helpers of America, Local No. 833, Petitioner. Case 17-RC-6485 July 30, 1971 DECISION ON REVIEW AND DIRECTION BY CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS JENKINS AND KENNEDY On December 31, 1970,'the Regional Director for Region 17 issued a Decision and Direction of Election in which he found appropriate the petitioned-for unit of warehouse and maintenance employees at the Employer's Jefferson City, Missouri, facility. There- after, in accordance with Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regula- tions and Statements of % procedure, Series 8, as amended, the Employer filed a timely Request for Review of the Regional Director's Decision, contend- ing that his unit determination was erroneous. The Board by telegraphic order dated January 29, 1971, granted the Request for Review. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the National Labor Relations Board has delegated its powers in.connection with this case to a three-member panel. The Board has considered the- entire record in this case with respect to the issues under review and makes the following findings: The Petitioner seeks a ,,unit limited to the warehouse and maintenance departments at, the Employer's Jefferson .City location. The Employer contends that the unit should also include all other employees engaged in - the order-filling process, as described below, because its Jefferson City location is a functionally integrated operation where employees of all departments enjoy identical wages, hours, and other conditions of • employment. The Regional Director, in agreement with the Petitioner, concluded that the employees of the warehouse and maintenance departments had interests sufficiently different from those of other employees so as to constitutela separate appropriate warehouse and maintenance unit. We disagree. The Employer manufactures and sells paperback books, primarily to students and teachers. The only facility involved in this proceeding is the Jefferson City plant which processes and ships orders within an area encompassing 19 States. Operations first began at Jefferson City in January 1968 , with only a warehouse department and a maintenance depart- ment. In February 1969 the Company began adding 192 NLRB No. 64 461 on the three additional departments which would enable it to both process and ship orders from this location. The facility has now reached its -expected size and consists of a -warehouse- building and an office building which are connected by 'a 25-foot corridor. There are presently five administrative departments: The cashiers department, the order processing department, the customer service, depart- ment, the warehouse department, and the mainte- nance department. - Employees-in all departments work directly from the customer's original order, a printed company form on which the customer himself computes the - total number of items and the total cost of the order. Order forms are received by mail and picked up -from the post' office by a driver from the maintenance department and delivered to the: cashiers department which has approximately 18 employees. Mail clerks open the mail;, processing clerks sort the orders according to the Company's five categories of books; and deposit clerks detach the check or money which must accompany the order and-prepare it for deposit. If' there are no problems with the order, it will be carried to the order processing department,-by the mail clerk (also an employee of the cashiers depart-, ment) -who carries all orders and other internal mail from one department to -another. The order processing department has approximate= ly 50 employees. Clerks check the order forms to be sure that the customer has correctly computed the total number of items and the-total cost-of his order and a checker then checks the clerk's-work. If the figures are correct, an order .processing clerk records the order and the customer's order form is transmitted by the mail clerk to the warehouse. ' - The warehouse department has approximately 140, employees,- and again the basic job classification is that of clerk. The warehouse order clerk or "picker" polls the books listed on -the order form ,and places them in a box on a conveyor line. While on the conveyor -line, the label is glued on the box; a checker makes a random check of the picker's accuracy; staffers fill in empty spaces in the box; sealing tape is applied; and the box is sorted as to destination, posted, and loaded on the trucks for delivery. The customer service department-which has ap- proximately 10 employees-receives any order requir- ing special attention. Clerks there handle orders which are not on the Company's printed order form or orders which do not include the customer's address, etc. if a customer is complaining,-of damaged or incomplete orders, a "book returns clerk" processes, picks, and prepares the correct order for shipment' directly from the separate stock of 10,000-to 15,000 books which is regularly kept in the customer service department for that purpose. 462 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD The maintenance department has approximately seven employees and performs the standard mainte- nance functions. While the office of the maintenance supervisor, is located in'.the warehouse area, mainte- nance department, employees work in, both the warehouse and office areas, and-unlike employees of the other four departments-are regularly -in contact with employees of all departments. Although employees of the cashiers department, the order processing department, and the customer service department are located in the office area of the Employee's complex, the level of skills and the conditions of employment for warehouse employees are substantially the same as those of employees of the three processing departments. The' basic job classifi- cation in all four departments is that of clerk and the clerks in all departments perform more or less routine functions;--'working directly from the customer's order form. In keeping with the similarity in the level of skills, clerks in all departments have approximately the same, minimum and maximum pay rates and the same eligibility requirement, for progression to a higher wage rate. Each of - the five departments is separately supervised and,, with the exception- of maintenance department employees and the , mail clerk from the cashiers department, there is normally no contact between employees of different depart- ments. during working hours. Employees,in all five departments enjoy the same on-site cafeteria and parking lot privileges, all-punch a timeclock, and all are hourly paid. All work thesame hours and are paid on the same day,,and the personnel department hires employees for all, five departments. - Each department has some classifications requiring, considerable skill and each has some classifications which require the ability to operate machinery. While some warehouse and maintenance employeesperform, heavier physical work, the warehouse department also has a , number of clerical positions such- as secretary, invoice clerks; stock records clerks, etc. The majority of, warehouse employees-the, warehouse order clerks-are not required to. do heavy lifting or moving. The Employer, in fact, looks upon the experienced warehouse order clerk as a trained and valued employee and, in order to receive the full benefit of his warehouse training, initially staffed the i Cf. Riker Laboratories, 156 NLRB 1099. 2 CL' 0. E. McIntyre Inc. 118 NLRB 1290. 3 We find ,the reliance of, the 'Regional Director on Garrett Supply Co., 165 NLRB 561, misplaced. Garrett represents a typical industrial warehouse operation' where warehouse employees were required to handle industrial tools and' supplies, whereas the excluded office employees exercised unrelated skills in that they dealt directly with customers by telephone and prepared , order forms and warehouse worksheets from an inventory of over 70,000 items. As noted' above, in the instant case, employees in all departments perform related functions in a 'more or less routine manner and exercise similar or related skills. - 41n agreement with the Regional Director and pursuant to the stipulation of the parties, employees of the personnel and accounting units three processing departments with warehouse em- ployees and has consistently maintained a policy of filling vacancies in the three processing departments by transferring experienced warehouse employees. Likewise, there is some functional similarity and interchange between the warehouse and maintenance departments and the three processing departments. Specifically, the book returns clerks in"the' customer service department regularly perform exactly the same function as warehouse order clerks, and, when work is short in their department, warehouse order clerks help the book returns clerks or assist clerks in the order processing department in preparing custom- er labels., Alternatively, the book returns clerk may occasionally be put to work in the warehouse. The mail clerk from the cashiers department regularly substitutes for the maintenance department driver and also takes the postage meters-all of which are located in the warehouse-infor recharging. In our view, the, Employer is engaged in a single highly integrated process, i.e., filling the customers' orders, and employees of the three processing depart- ments and warehouse employees participate equally and fully in this singleprocess. Accordingly, and-since employees in the three processing departments perform related functions and exercise skills similar to those of warehouse department employees,' and because- no substantial distinctions can be drawn between the warehouse and maintenance depart- ments and the three processing departments with respect to wages, level of skills, supervision, benefits, and other conditions of employment,2 we find, contrary to the Regional Directors that the appropri- ate unit must include, in addition to warehouse and maintenance employees, employees of the cashiers department, the order processing department; and the customer service department .4 Accordingly, we shall remand the case to the Regional Director in order that he,may, in,the event the Petitioner demonstrates to him within 10 days that it',has an adequate showing'of interest in the broader unit found appropriate herein, conduct an election in accordance , with his Decision and Direction, of Election, as modified herein,5 except that the eligibili- ty dated therefor,, shall be that immediately preceding - - the date below. are excluded from the unit herein found appropriate in that they `are supervisory, confidential, or technical employees. However, the cafeteria employees whom the Regional Director had excluded from the warehouse and maintenance unit will be included in the overall unit herein `found appropriate. These employees are administrative- ly part of ithe maintenance department and prepare and serve food to tall empioyeesl They are hourly paid, and receive the same benefits,as other e'mployees! included in the unit and, in keeping with normal Board policy for the ' unit placement of such employees will be included in the unit. Mead Atldnta Paper Company, 123 NLRB 306, 309. ^ ,BAs the unit found appropriate is broader than that requested, the Petitioner imay withdraw its petition without prejudice upon written notice SCHOLASTIC MAGAZINES INC. 463 DIRECTION The case, is hereby' remanded to the Regional Director for Region 17 for the purpose of conducting an election pursuant to his Decision and Direction of Election, as modified herein, subject to the Petition- er's presentation of an adequate showing of interest among the employees in the -appropriate unit. -The eligibility date shall be the payroll period immediately preceding the date of issuances to the Regional Director within 10 days from the date of this Decision on Review and Direction. 6 In order to assure that all eligible voters may have the opportunity to be informed of the issues in the exercise of their statutory right to vote, all parties to the election should have access to a list of voters and their addresses which may be used to communicate with them. Excelsior Underwear Inc., 156 NLRB 1236; N.LRB. v. Wyman-Gordon Co., 394 U.S. 759. Accordingly, it is hereby directed that an election eligibility list, containing the names and addresses of all the eligible voters, must be filed by the Employer with the Regional Director for Region 17 within 7 days of the date of this Decision on Review and Direction. The list may, initially be used by the Regional Director to assist in determining an adequate showing of interest. The Regional Director shall make the list available to all parties, to the election when he shall have determined that an adequate showing of interest ..mong the employees in thennit found appropriate has been established. No extension of time to file this list shall be granted by the Regional Director except in extraordinary circumstances. Failure to comply with this requirement shall be grounds for setting aside the elect ion whenever proper objections are filed.