Montgomery Ward & Co.

DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Montgomery Ward & Co. Incorporated and Team- sters Union Local 348, affiliated with International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Ware- housemen and Helpers of America, Petitioner. Case 8-RC-10441 June 22, 1977 DECISION ON REVIEW BY CHAIRMAN FANNING AND MEMBERS JENKINS AND MURPHY On June 23, 1976, the Regional Director for Region 8 issued a Decision and Direction of Election 1 in the above-entitled proceeding in which he found appropriate the Petitioner's requested unit of warehouse employees, including retail bargain store employees, but excluding employees in the central repair service and drapery departments, all located at the Employer's Gilchrist Road, Akron, Ohio, facility. Thereafter, in accordance with Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, the Employer filed a timely request for review of the Regional Director's decision on the ground, inter alia, that he erred in failing to find that the only appropriate unit comprises all employees at the Gilchrist Road facility. By telegraphic order dated July 26, 1976, the request for review was granted and the election stayed pending decision on 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 authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel. The Board has considered the entire record in this case with respect to the issues under review and hereby affirms the Regional Director for the follow- ing reasons: The Employer contends that in finding appropriate the requested unit of warehouse and retail bargain store employees the Regional Director minimized the community of interest shared by all employees at the facility, particularly the high degree of functional integration of the operations there carried on, and that on the facts herein only a facilitywide unit is appropriate. We disagree. The Gilchrist Road facility serves the Employer's five retail stores in the vicinity of Akron and Canton, Ohio, and handles mainly "big-ticket" merchandise, such as furniture, lawn and garden equipment, campers, and major appliances. The facility is functionally divided into three principal depart- ' The relevant portion thereof is attached hereto as an appendix. 2 There are separate shops for refrigeration, TV, laundry and range, and lawn mower repairs. 230 NLRB No. 33 ments: the warehouse operation, the central repair service, and the drapery workroom, each having its own manager who reports directly to the district manager. The Regional Director found, and the record shows, that each department has its own budget and that its manager has final authority over hiring for his department. The facility is divided into two sections by a fire wall running east-west. The north section, which is much the larger of the two sections, houses the warehouse storage area, shipping and receiving docks, and the delivery office. The south section contains the warehouse office, the repair service areas,2 the service parts department, the service office, furniture refinishing room, the drapery work- room, the retail bargain store, restrooms, and the employees' lunchroom. The warehouse, which is under the supervision of Warehouse Manager Clark, has approximately 19 employees classified as warehousemen, order pickers, dockmen, delivery clerks, in-stock control clerks, invoice records clerks, and furniture refinishers; it performs such general warehouse functions as ordering, receiving, and shipping merchandise, and processing the accompanying paperwork. The vari- ous clerical functions, such as inventory control and bookkeeping, are performed in the warehouse office which is adjacent to the repair service area. Furniture refinishing is performed by two employees working in a room which is also adjacent to the repair service area. Such work involves the repairing of scratched merchandise, such as TV and stereo equipment having wood cabinets, attaching hardware, and polishing furniture prior to delivery. The retail bargain store, located in the southwest corner of the facility, is administratively part of the warehouse operation under Clark's supervision. Damaged and overstocked items, as well as drapery remnants and rejected custommade draperies, are sold there. The repair service department is engaged both in preparing certain types of merchandise for sale and in repairing merchandise sold by the five area retail stores. The repair work is performed both in the warehouse and in customers' homes. Approximately half of the 54 repair service employees comprise the field crew. Field crew employees spend about half of their working time visiting customers' homes to effect repairs. The other repair service employees work at the facility: some make shop repairs on merchandise which is returned for service both by customers3 and by the retail stores; some, in the parts department, provide parts to the service employees and make 3 The field crew also brings to the shops those items which cannot be repaired in customers' homes. 366 MONTGOMERY WARD & CO. parts sales to customers; some perform service clerical functions; and a few part-time employees sell service contracts to customers by telephone. The Regional Director found, and the record confirms, that repair service department employees punch a separate timeclock and are paid on the basis of a different wage scale and method of wage computa- tion from other employees at the facility. The drapery workroom, which is situated adjacent to the retail bargain store and service department office, has nine employees who are engaged primarily in making draperies pursuant to the specifications of customers, through the Employer's interior decora- tors at the retail stores. Drapery workroom employ- ees also perform some upholstery work, such as making throw pillows and other similar items. An installer, who is part of the drapery workroom operation, delivers and hangs the finished draperies in customers' homes. The Regional Director found, and the record establishes, that the respective work stations of repair service department employees and drapery work- room employees are physically separate from the warehouse operation and that these employees perform distinctly different job functions and use different skills from those of employees engaged in warehousing functions. Contrary to the Employer's contention, the record establishes that contact between the warehouse and store employees on the one hand, and repair service and drapery employees on the other, is limited primarily to the routine movement of merchandise between the various departments within the facility. The record also supports the Regional Director's finding that the degree of interchange between the departments is minimal. Thus, there have been at most three permanent transfers between the repair service department and the warehouse operation, one of which involved a supervisory promotion. There have been no permanent transfers into or out of the drapery workroom. 4 In the circumstances of this case, we conclude, in accord with the Regional Director, that the ware- house and retail bargain store employees share a sufficiently distinct community of interest apart from other employees at the Gilchrist Road facility to warrant their representation in a separate unit.5 In reaching our conclusion, we rely particularly upon the lack of interchange between the employees in the requested warehouse unit and the repair service and drapery workroom employees, the separate supervi- sion for each group, the different work locations, lack of significant contacts between the groups, and the different work skills.6 While the record reveals a small degree of functional overlap between the duties of warehousemen and service employees,7 it is, in our opinion, insufficient to negate the separate communi- ty of interest shared by warehouse and retail bargain store employees. Also, no union is seeking to represent the employees herein on a broader basis. In view of the above, we find the following unit appropriate for collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act: All warehouse employees, including retail bargain store employees, furniture refinishers, and the maintenance man8 employed by the Employer at its warehouse located at 3081 Gilchrist Road, Akron, Ohio, but excluding all drapery depart- ment and central repair service department employees, office clerical employees and profes- sional employees, guards and supervisors as defined in the Act. Accordingly, as we have affirmed the Regional Director's unit finding, we shall remand the case to him in order that he may conduct the election pursuant to his Decision and Direction of Election, except that the payroll period for determining eligibility shall be that ending immediately before the date of this Decision on Review. [Excelsior footnote omitted from publication.] 4 The only instance of temporary transfer at the facility involved the drapery installer who apparently works in the warehouse for I to 3 weeks during the Christmas season and briefly at other times when the warehouse workload is high. 5 See H. P. Wasson Company, 153 NLRB 1499 (1965). 6 The Board has found appropriate units of employees of the type excluded herein. Thus, in Sears, Roebuck and Co., 160 NLRB 1435 (1966), a unit of service employees at a warehouse facility similar to the one herein involved was found appropriate; and seeJ. L Hudson Company, 103 NLRB 1378, 1382-84 (1953), where separate upholstery workroom and drapery workroom units were found appropriate. 7 There is evidence, for example, that furniture refinishers in the warehouse operation occasionally engage in prepping certain types of merchandise, together with repair service employees. s The Employer viewed the Regional Director's unit placement of the furniture refinishers and the maintenance man as ambiguous. Be that as it may, we conclude on the basis of their common supervision, and integrated functions, that they are properly included in the unit found appropriate. APPENDIX The unit sought by the Petitioner includes all warehouse employees including retail bargain store employees, employed by the Employer at the Gilchrist Road warehouse, excluding drapery depart- ment employees and central repair service depart- ment employees. The Employer asserts that the unit sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate and that the smallest appropriate unit must consist of all of the approximately 84 employees employed by it at the Gilchrist Road warehouse. The Gilchrist Road warehouse serves the Employ- er's retail bargain store located at the warehouse in addition to the five retail stores that are operated by the Employer in the greater Akron-Canton area. The Gilchrist Road warehouse operation is divided into 367 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD four basic functions which include the warehouse operation, the drapery department, the retail bargain store and the central repair service department. The warehouse is divided into a north area and a south area by a fire wall which runs from the east side of the warehouse to the west side of the warehouse. There are approximately 23 employees and six supervisors, including the warehouse manager, work- ing in the warehouse operation. The employees working in the warehouse operation are variously classified as warehousemen, order pickers, dockmen, in-stock control clerks, invoice record clerks, delivery clerks and furniture refinishers. The warehousemen, order pickers, dockmen and delivery clerks perform their work in the northern area of the warehouse which is referred to as the warehouse storage area. The in-stock control clerks and the invoice record clerks work in the general warehouse office located in the southern area of the warehouse. The furniture refinishers perform their duties in the furniture refinishing room located in the southern area of the warehouse. The furniture refinishers prepare wood items from the warehouse before they are delivered and repair damage to wood merchandise. The employees in the warehouse operation are under the direct supervision of the warehouse manager, Bernie Clark. Clark, who also supervises the two employees that work in the bargain store and the one mainte- nance man employed at the warehouse, reports to C. E. Hall, one of the Employer's district managers. There are approximately 54 employees, 3 supervi- sors and a manager working in the central repair service department located in the southern area of the warehouse adjacent to the furniture refinishing room and the general warehouse office. The service department provides customer repair services for the merchandise sold by the Employer in its Akron- Canton stores. Within the service department is a parts department which sells replacement parts directly to customers as well as provides parts to the service department personnel. Approximately one half of the service department employees are regular- ly engaged in servicing merchandise at the homes of customers. The remaining employees, excluding approximately 4 to 5 part-time service employees, service items at the warehouse which cannot be repaired at a customer's home. The 4 to 5 part-time employees call customers to solicit service contracts on merchandise which has been sold by the Employ- er. The manager of the service department reports directly to district manager Hall rather than to warehouse manager Clark. The service department occupies its own location in the southern area of the warehouse which is physically separated from other warehouse operations. The service department also has its own budget. The service department employees use a separate timeclock which is located within the service depart- ment. All of the other warehouse employees, except the bargain store employees who do not regularly use a timeclock, use a second timeclock located at the employees' entrance to the warehouse. The record reflects that there is no significant interchange of employees between the service department and the other warehouse operations. One of the two occa- sions when transfers into the service department have occurred involved the promotion of an employee to a supervisory position. There have been no temporary transfers into or out of the service department. The record discloses that the wage scale and method of wage computation used for the service department employees is different from that used for the other employees in the warehouse. Because they are engaged in repairing merchandise, the service depart- ment employees utilize skills different from those possessed by the other warehouse employees. The day-to-day contact between the service department and the warehouse is limited to the movement of merchandise into and out of the service department by employees working in the warehouse operation. Hiring for the service department, like that for all of the other warehouse operations, is initially handled by a personnel manager at the Employer's Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio retail store. This personnel manager maintains the personnel records for all the employees working at the warehouse. Although the initial screening of job applicants is performed by the personnel manager, the manager of the service department makes the final determination of whether an applicant will be hired in the service department. There are approximately 9 employees and a manager working in the drapery department, located in the drapery workroom in the southern area of the warehouse adjacent to the service department. The drapery department makes custom draperies for customers of the Employer's regular retail stores. Like the central repair service department manager, the drapery department manager reports directly to district manager Hall rather than to warehouse manager Clark. Similarly, the drapery department also has a separate budget. The record reveals no permanent employee transfers and only one tempo- rary transfer from the drapery department to ajob in the warehouse. The single incident of temporary transfer involved a drapery installer who was temporarily assigned to the warehouse during a slow period in the drapery department. The drapery manager, like the central repair service department manager, makes the final decision with respect to the hire of drapery department employees. The skills possessed by the drapery department employees are 368 MONTGOMERY WARD & CO. also markedly different from those possessed by the warehouse operation employees. Additionally, aside from some record keeping assistance provided to the drapery department clerk by a clerical in the warehouse operation, there is minimal day-to-day contact between the drapery department employees and the employees in the other warehouse opera- tions. The retail bargain store is located on the south side of the fire wall in the south east corner of the warehouse. In the bargain store, the Employer sells overstocked or damaged items at reduced prices. Two employees work in the retail bargain store and, as noted above, they are supervised by warehouse manager Clark. The merchandise sold in the retail bargain store is either delivered by the Employer or picked up by the customer. Deliveries are scheduled by the delivery clerks in the warehouse operation. Customer pick-ups are usually handled by the retail bargain store employees. However, if an item is heavy or bulky the retail bargain store employee receives loading help from employees in the ware- house operation. The record reflects that all employees share identical benefits and are governed by the same work rules and regulations. All employees use the same lunch room, parking lot, and rest rooms. Except for the retail bargain store employees, all employees use a common entrance to the warehouse. As noted above, except for the central repair service employees and the retail bargain store employees, all employees use a single timeclock located next to the employee entrance to the warehouse. There is only one central switchboard for the entire warehouse. The working hours of all the employees are for the most part 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. I find, on the basis of the above and the entire record, that the employees in the unit requested by the Petitioner possess a sufficiently separate commu- nity of employment interest to entitle them to separate representation notwithstanding the common conditions of employment noted above. As set forth above, all the employees, except those in the drapery department and central repair service department, share the common supervision of the warehouse manager, Bernie Clark. The drapery department and the central repair service department also have separate budgets. Furthermore, contact between the drapery department and central repair service de- partment employees and the employees in the warehouse operation is limited to the movement of merchandise and material into or out of the former departments. In addition there is substantially no interchange of employees, on either a temporary or permanent basis, between the drapery department, the central service department and the remaining warehouse operation including the retail bargain store. The job skills possessed by the employees in the drapery department and the central repair service department are quite distinct from those possessed by the employees in the remaining warehouse operation and retail bargain store. Although adjacent to the general warehouse office and the furniture refinishing room, the drapery department and the central repair department are physically separate from the warehouse operation. The Employer also maintains a separate wage scale and method of wage computation for employees in the central repair service department. The latter employees also use a separate timeclock. In view of the foregoing, I find that the drapery department and central repair service department are functionally distinct from the remaining warehouse operation and retail bargain store. Accordingly, I find that the unit of all warehouse employees, including retail bargain store employees, excluding drapery department and central repair service de- partment employees sought by the Petitioner is an appropriate unit for the purposes of collective bargaining. 369