Jacob Ash Co., Inc

74 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Jacob Ash Co , Inc and General Warehousemen and Employees Union Local 636, a /w International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehouse- men and Helpers of America, Petitioner. Case 6- RC-7304 May 24, 1976 DECISION ON REVIEW BY CHAIRMAN MURPHY AND MEMBERS FANNING AND JENKINS On December 16, 1975, the Regional Director for Region 6 issued a Decision and Direction of Election in the above-entitled proceeding in which he found appropriate the Petitioner's requested unit of all warehousemen/order pickers (hereinafter ware- housemen) employed by the Employer at its Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania, facility Thereafter, in accor- dance with Section 102 67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, the Employer filed a timely request for re- view of the Regional Director's decision on the grounds, inter alga, that in excluding the warehouse clerical employees (hereinafter clerical employees) from the unit found appropriate he made findings of fact which are clearly erroneous and departed from officially reported Board precedent On January 19, 1976, the National Labor Rela- tions Board, by telegraphic order, granted the Employer's request for review with respect to the aforementioned clerical employees and stayed the election pending decision on review I Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na- tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au- thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel The Board has reviewed the entire record in this proceeding with respect to the issue under review and makes the following findings The Employer is a Pennsylvania corporation en- gaged in the wholesale distribution of gloves, hats, boots, rainwear, candy, and other items At the Employer's Pittsburgh warehouse facility, involved herein, orders for stored items are received and filled, and merchandise is packed for shipment to custom- ers 2 Employed at the warehouse are, among others, four full-time and six regular part-time warehouse- men and the three clerical employees whose unit placement is here in dispute There is no history of collective bargaining for any of the employees in- volved herein The warehouse facility consists of a three-story building with a basement The first floor is essentially one large room comprised of an office area, a sepa- rate office for the Employer's president, Alfred Ash, and a warehouse area primarily used for preparing orders There is a 5-foot-high partition screening the public from the employees in the warehouse There is also a restroom located at the rear of the first floor which is used by all the employees The basement and second and third floors of the warehouse contain stockroom areas Alfred Ash, his sister, and his mother together own approximately 35 percent, 25 percent, and 40 percent of the Employer's stock, respectively Ash is respon- sible for the overall and immediate day-to-day super- vision of the Employer's operation The sole issue presented herein is the unit place- ment of the three clerical employees The Regional Director found that these employees do not possess such a community of interest with employees in the requested unit as to require their inclusion therein Essentially, the Employer contends the disputed em- ployees are plant clerical employees and should, therefore, be included in the requested unit of ware- housemen For the following reasons, we find merit in the Employer's contention The record reveals that the three disputed clerical employees work in an open office area of the first floor of the warehouse They are primarily responsi- ble for receiving incoming mail and telephone orders for the Employer's products 3 When an order is re- ceived, the clerical receiving the order first checks the Employer's inventory control book to determine whether the Employer has the necessary amount of merchandise in stock If so, the clerical checks the customer's credit to insure that the account is cur- rent, enters the order in the inventory control book, prepares an invoice for the ordered merchandise, and places it in a box located at the rear of the office area A warehouseman then picks up the invoice, ob- tains the merchandise, and prepares it for shipment The record discloses that in the course of perform- ing their duties, the clericals have regular contact with the warehousemen Thus, the clerical employees give warehousemen invoices for merchandise in the office area itself or, often, in the warehouse area of the first floor of the Employer's facility Further, on a daily basis, clerical employees and warehousemen re- solve questions which arise regarding customers' or- ders Warehousemen also frequently use a voicebox, i The request for review was denied in all other respects 3 Orders for the Employers merchandise are received by telephone or 2 The Employer also maintains a small auxiliary warehouse for storage mail through two salesmen employed by the Employer and from customers purposes However, no employees permanently work there coming into the warehouse 224 NLRB No 15 JACOB ASH CO located in the office area, to communicate with em- ployees in other areas of the warehouse In addition, at the end of the day, the clerical employees pick up certain invoices from the warehouse area of the first floor of the Employer's facility The record further discloses that the most senior clerical employee, Louise Good, has picked orders and put them together on a "fairly regular" basis Additionally, there is testimony indicating that three or four times per week she checks to insure that or- ders have been properly filled by the warehousemen before they are packed for shipment and that she delivers orders to customers through the use of the Employer's station wagon Another clerical has pre- pared light orders for customers walking into the Employer's warehouse Regarding wages and fringe benefits received by employees in the warehouse, the record discloses that the three clerical employees earn $2 50, $3 25, and $4 37 per hour, respectively The hourly rate for full- time warehousemen order pickers is from $2 20 to $2 60 per hour All employees have the same holidays and are eligible for the Employer's profit-sharing pension plan On the basis of the foregoing and the record as a whole, we find that the clerical employees perform tasks which are more closely akin to those performed by plant clerical than those performed by office cleri- cal employees Thus, the clerical employees have reg- ular contact with warehousemen in various areas of the first floor of the warehouse, work in an area which is proximate to the areas utilized by them, and 75 share common immediate supervision with the em- ployees in the unit requested by the Petitioner 4 We also note that two of the clerical employees prepare orders for customers, and one of the clerical employ- ees checks orders prepared by warehousemen, albeit to a limited extent In these circumstances, we find, contrary to the Regional Director, that the appropri- ate unit herein should include the clerical employ- ees 5 Accordingly, as the Petitioner indicated a willing- ness to proceed to an election in any unit found ap- propriate,' the case is remanded to the Regional Di- rector for the purpose of conducting an election pursuant to his Decision and Direction of Election, as modified herein, except that the payroll period for determining eligibility shall be that ending immedi- ately preceding the issuance date of this Decision on Review [Excelsior footnote omitted from publica- tion ] 4 The Regional Director did not rule on the supervisory status of two coordinator checkers at the warehouse finding the record to be silent as to whether or not certain instructions rendered by them required the use of independent judgment, or were merely activities of individuals with greater experience and tenure than possessed by other employees in the unit We agree that the record is insufficient to enable the Board to determine wheth er the coordinator checkers are supervisors as defined in the Act according ly we shall permit them to Note subject to challenge Member Jenkins views the assertion regarding the supervisory status of these two individuals as conclusions rather than facts and would include them in the unit 5 See Sears, Roebuck and Co 222 NLRB 476 (1976) and Sears Roebuck and Co, 220 NLRB 1224 (1975) 6 As the unit found appropriate is broader than that originally requested by the Petitioner the Regional Director shall determine whether Petitioner s showing of interest is sufficient before proceeding with the election