Marshall Field & Co.

In the- Matter of MARSHALL FIELD & COMPANY and LOCAL 291, UNITED RETAIL, WHOLESALE AND DEPARTMENT STORE EMPLOYEES OF AMERICA (C. I. 0.) Case B4798 AMENDMENT TO DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES December 10, 1941- On October 4, 1941, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, issued its Decision and Direction of Election in the above-entitled proceedings.' Pursuant to the Direction of Election, an election by secret ballot was conducted on October 31, 1941, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Thir- teenth Region (Chicago, Illinois). On November 1, 1941, the Re- gional Director, acting pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, issued and duly served upon the parties an Election Report. As to the balloting and its results, the Regional Director reported as follows : Total on eligibility list------------------------------------- 173 Total ballots cast------------------------------------------- 168 Total ballots challenged------------------------------------- 21 Total blank ballots--------------- ------------------------ 1 Total void ballots---__ ------------------------------------------ 2 Total valid ballots cast-------------------------------------- 144 Ballots cast for the A F. of L union (International Brother- hood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, Local 743) -------------------------------------- 9 Ballots cast for the C I 0 union (Local 291, United Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Employees of America)-- 120 Ballots cast for neither-------------------------------------- 15 On or about November 8, 1941, Marshall Field & Company, herein called the Company, filed with the Regional Director and with 'the Board objections to the recommendation of the Regional Director that Local 291, United Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Ein- ployees of America, herein called'Local'291, be certified as the exclu- '35N L R B, No 214 37 N L. R. B., No. 77. 4€9 433257-42-voL 37-31 470 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD sive representative in the unit found appropriate in the Decision and Direction of Election referred to above, and a motion that the Board clarify the scope of the appropriate unit, together with a memorandum and an affidavit in support thereof. On November 18, 1941, Local 291- filed an answer to the objections and motion of the Company. On "November 25, 1941, the Regional Director issued and duly served on the parties his Report on Objections to Election Report. In our Decision and Direction of Election of October 4, 1941, we found that the appropriate unit consisted of "the employees in the four warehouses of the Company in Chicago, Illinois, exclusive of supervisory employees (other, than working foremen who do not have the power-to hire and discharge).and clerical employees (other than receiving clerks)," and directed that such employees, subject to qualifications not here material, "whose names appear on the Com- pany's pay roll immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election" should be eligible to vote. The Company asserts that the foregoing description of the appropriate unit is indefinite and, in consequence, collective bargaining negotiations will be burdened by uncertainty as to what employees are in, the unit. The Company has moved that the Board define in more detail the scope of the unit by amending the Decision to describe the appropriate unit as follows : All employees regularly employed in the four warehouses of the Company in Chicago, Illinois, whose names appear on the ware- house division of the company pay roll, exclusive of supervisory employees (other than working foremen spending in excess of twenty percent of their work week performing manual labor and who do not have the power to hire and discharge) and clerical employees (other than receiving clerks). Local 291 agrees that the description of the unit may be amended as proposed by the Company, except with respect to the suggested quali- fication on the inclusion or exclusion of working foremen depending upon whether they spend more or less than 20 percent of their work week performing manual labor.2 In support of its proposals, the Company points to the fact that 21 employees were challenged 3 at the election, a circumstance which the Company attributes to the alleged indefinite description of the unit and the consequent uncertainty as to eligibility to vote. Eight of the challenged voters are part of the so-called "operating general force," which is a large group of employees who do not work 2 Although requested to do so by the Regional Director, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, warehousemen and Helpers of America, Local 743, herein called the Teamsters, did not submit any statement with respect to its position 3In his Report on Objections to Election Report, the Regional Director stated that the challenges to the ballots of each of these 21 employees should be sustained. MARSHALL FIELD & COMPANY 471 regularly in any one location in the Chicago retail division but may be used in any part of the retail store or in the warehouses. They are not carried on the warehouse division pay roll , but were working in the warehouses at the time of the election . All of them were challenged by the Company ; Local 291' challenged 6, but in its answer to the Company 's objections states that employees not on the ware- house-division pay roll should be excluded . Eleven of the chal- lenged voters are regular employees , 6 classed as "opening and marking" and 5 as "merchandise stockroom ," listed on the retail- store division pay roll who , because of lack of space in the retail store during the Christmas season, were temporarily transferred to'the warehouses subsequent to the hearing . They perform the same work, in,the temporary location . Both the Company and Local 291, chal- lenged these employees and agree that they should be excluded from the unit. The Company further proposes that in addition to the .exclusion of supervisory employees, the unit be defined to exclude working foremen who spend less than 20 percent of their work week per- forming manual labor and who do not have the power to hire and discharge , in lieu of the present description which includes working foremen who do not have the power to hire and discharge. Local 291 opposes this proposal , asserting that it would confuse the issues and lead to controversy as to the percentage of time spent by certain working foremen in the performance of manual labor. It appears that two supervisory employees , J. Zahnen and E. Wuensche, voted in the election and were challenged by the - Company, Local 291, and the Teamsters. Zahnen is the only supervisory employee at the Fourteenth Street warehouse ; it does not appear whether he does any manual work . Wuensche is in full charge of the crating and ship- ping department, at the Merchandise Mart; he does very little work similar to that done by the employees he supervises . Both of them have power to recommend hiring and discharging , but neither has authority to hire or discharge , as that power resides in the heads of the personnel department. It was not the intent of the Board nor of the parties to include within the warehouse unit employees not regularly assigned to the warehouses who were not carried on the warehouse-division pay roll and who were performing retail -store division work but were tem- porarily located in the warehouses . However, the present description of the unit, by merely referring to employees "in the four ware- houses," is subject to the literal interpretation that such employees are in the unit. We shall amend the Decision to describe correctly the unit in order to remove any ambiguity as to these groups of em- ployees. Although we find that Zahnen and Wuensche are super- 472 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR - RELATIONS BOARD visory employees and not within the unit, we do not believe that the record warrants adopting the limitation regarding working foremen proposed by the Company. We therefore deny the Company's mo- tion in this respect. The Board hereby amends the Decision issued October 4, 1941, by striking from the last paragraph of Section V and from paragraph 2 of the Conclusions of Law the following words "employees in the four warehouses" and substituting therefor the words "employees regularly employed in the four warehouses." 4 CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES 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, Sections 8 and 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations- Series 2, as amended, IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Local 291, United Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Employees of America, affiliated with the Con- gress of Industrial Organizations, has been designated and selected by a majority of the employees regularly employed in the four ware- houses of Marshall Field & Company, Chicago, Illinois, exclusive of supervisory employees (other than working foremen who do not have the power to hire and discharge) and clerical employees (other than receiving clerks), as their representative for the purposes of collec- tive bargaining, and that, pursuant to Section 9 (a) of the Act, Local 291, United Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Employees of America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is the exclusive representative of all such employees for the purposes of collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of em- ployment, and other conditions of employment. 4 It is unnecessary to add the further qualification suggested by the Company , namely, \ that the names of such employees should appear upon the warehouse -division pay roll, inasmuch as such limitation is applicable only in defining eligibility to vote and since it appears that none of the employees regularly employed in the warehouses is not carried on the warehouse -division pay roll.