Duval Jewelry Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 13, 1959

122 N.L.R.B. 1425 (N.L.R.B. 1959)

DUVAL JEWELRY COMPANY 1425
Accordingly, we find that the following employees of the Employer
constitute units appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act:'
1. All employees of the Employer's Area Operation Division for-
merly known as the Central District of the Connecticut Power Com-
pany engaged in electrical operations, including all linemen, ground-
men, electricians, substation maintenance men, cable splicers, meter-
men and servicemen-electric, stockmen, janitors, building mainte-
nance men, and automobile mechanics, but excluding employees in the
electrical production department at the Middletown generating sta-
tion, executives, office clerical employees, professional employees,
guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
2. All employees in that part of the Employer's Area Operating
Division formerly known as the Farmington and Torrington Divi-
sions of the Northwest District of the Connecticut Power Company
engaged in electrical operations, including linemen, groundmen,
electricians, substation maintenance men, meter and servicemen-elec-
tric, stockmen, janitors, building maintenance men, automobile me-
chanics, and station operators-hydro, and all employees engaged in
gas production and distribution at the Employer's Torrington, Con-
necticut, gas operations, but excluding all electric operation employees
in the former Housatonic Division, all electric production employees
at the Falls Village generating station, transmission crews, executives,
office clerical employees, professional employees, guards, and super-
visors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
a The Employer contends that certain employees at generating stations should be in-
cluded in the units requested by the Petitioners . There are two such stations involved
here-one at Middletown in the area covered by Local 1419 's requested unit , and one at
Falls Village in the area covered by Local 383 ' s unit. The generating station employees
are concerned primarily with the production of electricity and not, as are the electrical
operation employees with its distribution , and thus , they perform to a considerable extent
different ' kinds of work . Furthermore , the generating station employees are under a
supervisory organization wholly separate from that of the electric operations employees.
Accordingly, we find that the generating station employees may not properly be included
in the requested units, and we shall exclude then.
Duval Jewelry Company and/or Duval Jewelry Company of
Miami , Inc. and Retail Clerks International Association, Local
No. 1625, AFL-CIO, Petitioner . Case No. 12-RC-1 (formerly
10-RC-3333). February 13, 1959
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before H. C. Thompson,
122 NLRB No. 171.
505395-59-vol. 122 91
1426 DECISIONS OF ;NATIONAL LABOR. RELATIONS BOARD
Jr., hearing officer.' The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing
are. free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed .2
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the Act, the-Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-
member panel [Members Rodgers, Jenkins, and Fanning].
-.Tjpon..the entire record in the case, the Board finds:
:1.: In support of its motion to dismiss the Employer argues, in
substance;,:that the, record does not show that the operations, of
Duval Jewelry Company of Miami, Inc., affect commerce within the
meaning of the Act, or that its relationship with other companies
mentioned in the, record is such as to permit assertion of jurisdiction
on the basis of the total commerce of all or any of the companies.
. Duval Jewelry Company of Miami, Inc., hereinafter referred to
as Miami, is a Florida Corporation, and is engaged in the operation
of a single retail jewelry store in Miami, Florida. Its gross sales.
during the fiscal year ending July 31, 1958, amounted to $318,000.
Oliver A. Jenkins is president of Miami, and his .two brothers hold
the offices of vice president and treasurer. A Miss Keenist holds the
office of secretary. All of Miami's outstanding common stock is
owned by Jenkins Jewelry Company, which also owns 110 of the
170 outstanding shares of preferred stock. Oliver A. Jenkins owns
50 shares, and a J. R. West owns 10 shares of preferred stock. Oliver
A.' Jenkins, his two brothers, and Miss Keenist are also the officers
of Jenkins Jewelry Company. In addition these same 4 individuals
are officers of 16 other Florida corporations,' each of which is en-
i This matter was initiated by the filing of a petition on November 22, 1955, which, as
amended, named as the Employer , Duval Jewelry Company, and/or Duval Jewelry Company
of Miami, Inc ., and/or Jenkins & Sons Inc ., and/or Jenkins Jewelry Company . Hearings
were held on December 20, 1955, and February 2, 1956 , at which the companies named
as the Employer refused to furnish relevant and material information as to their business
operations during the fiscal year preceding the hearing , either voluntarily or in response
to duly issued and outstanding subpenas . A long delay then ensued , as the Board sought
enforcement of its subpenas . On October 31, 1958 , the United States District Court for
the Southern District of Florida, Miami Division , ordered the companies named above, and
Oliver A. Jenkins , individually and as president of Duval Jewelry Co., to comply with
the subpenas . Additional subpenas seeking information as to the business operations of
the above -named companies during the fiscal year August 1, 1957, through July 31, 1958,
were duly issued and complied with . Thereupon , the instant hearing was scheduled for,
and held in December 1958. We reject such of the Employer 's procedural objections to
this proceeding as are predicated upon lack of formal notice to Jenkins Jewelry Company,
and other corporations as listed in footnote 3, infra.
2 The hearing officer referred to the Board the Employer 's motion to dismiss the peti-
tion . The motion, as expressed at the hearing and as elaborated in a formal motion to
dismiss petition filed with the Board after the hearing, is denied for the reasons indicated
in paragraph 1, infra. The hearing officer correctly denied the Employer 's motion to
strike Board Exhibits Nos. 3 and 4 from the record.
8 The names of these corporations are as follows : Jenkins & Sons , Inc. ; Duval Jewelry
Company ; Duval Jewelry Company of Coral Cables ; Duval Jewelry Company at 8th &
Main;. Duval Jewelry Company of Tallahassee ; Duval Jewelry Company of DeLand ;
Duval Jewelry Company of Ocala ; Duval Jewelry Company of Fort Lauderdale ; Duval
Jewelry Company of Daytona Beach ; Duval Jewelry Company of Gainesville ,; Duval
Jewelry Company of West Palm Beach ; Duval Jewelry Company of Orlando , Inc. ; Duval
Jewelry Company of Tampa , Inc. ; Duval Jewelry Company of St. Petersburg, Inc. ;
Duval Jewelry Company at Five Points ; and Duval Jewelry Company at Colonial Plaza.
DUVAL JEWELRY- COMPANY 1427
gaged in the operation of a single retail jewelry store. Oliver
Jenkins is president of all these corporations.
The principal offices of Miami, Jenkins Jewelry Company, and of
each of the other corporations named herein are located in a central
office in Jacksonville, Florida. This office maintains all corporate
records of the various corporations, under the supervision of the
comptroller of all the corporations, W. E. Harrison. Payroll records
are maintained in the central office, and payroll checks are issued
therefrom. Miss Keenist, who is the personnel manager of each of
the corporations, maintains her offices in Jacksonville. She is in
charge of the manager trainee program and the selection and super-
vision of store managers and credit managers. Store managers have
control of hiring and discharge of employees, and enjoy some lati-
tude in the establishment of wage rates. However, group hospitali-
zation benefits, and vacation benefits are standard for all of the
corporations and were initially determined by Oliver A. Jenkins and
his brothers. Additionally, the same manager trainee program is in
effect for all corporations, and managers and manager trainees are
subject to transfer from store to store. All advertising is decided
upon in the Jacksonville office. Moreover, although ostensibly there
is no central purchasing of goods, the record reveals that, apart from
miscellaneous items, each of the corporations purchases almost all of
its supplies from Jenkins Jewelry Company. Of Miami's total pur-
chases of $142,183.50 during fiscal year ending July 31, 1958, $139,-
533.82 were made from Jenkins Jewelry Company. The total pur-
chases'of all the corporations, exclusive of Jenkins Jewelry Company
during the same period amounted to $1,387,384.51, of which $1,354,-
065.57 were made from Jenkins Jewelry Company. From this we
infer that Jenkins Jewelry Company, described on the record by
Oliver A. Jenkins, as the parent corporation of the others,4 is the
central purchasing agent of all of the corporations, and purchases
goods for the purpose of resale through the medium of such other
corporations.
The foregoing makes it abundantly clear that the various Duval
and Jenkins corporations named herein, are but separate parts of
a ,jingle, integrated enterprise, operated under centralized control and
management. In these circumstances we find that Miami, Jenkins
Jewelry Company, and the other corporations named above consti-
tute a single employer for jurisdictional purposes.5 As the record
reveals that Jenkins Jewelry Company makes purchases in substan-
tial amounts from such out-of-State enterprises as Eastman Kodak
Co.; General Electric Co.; Dormeyer Corporation; Elgin National
+ The record does not disclose the amount of this corporation 's stock holdings in the
other corporations.
6 See Orkin Exterminating Company, Inc., 115 NLRB 622.
1428 DECISIONS OF` NATIONAL LABOR 1#$LATIONS BOARD
Watch Co.; Hamilton Watch Co.; Polaroid Corporation; Philco
Corporation; and West Bend Aluminum Co., to name but a few, we
find contrary to the Employer, that its operations affect commerce
within the meaning of the Act. As the total gross volume of business
of these corporations exceeds the Board's $500,000 minimal require-
ment for assertion of jurisdiction over retail enterprises,e we find
that it will effectuate the policies of the Act to assert jurisdiction
over the Employer, and accordingly, we deny the Employer's motion
to dismiss.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9(c) (1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. In accordance with the stipulation of the parties; we find that
the following employees employed at the Employer's store, located
at 226 East Fragler Street, Miami, Florida, constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the Act: All employees, excluding" store manager,
credit manager, temporary casual peak season employees, guards,
watchmen, professional employees, and supervisors' as defined in
the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
$ Carolina Supplies and Cement Co., 122 NLRB 88.
C. M. Gifford & Sons and General Truck Drivers , Warehouse-
men and Helpers Union, Local 542. Case No! .21-CA-2889.
February 16, 1959
DECISION AND ORDER'
On May 12, 1958,,Trial Examiner Wallace E. Royster issued his
Intermediate Report in the above-entitled proceeding, finding that
the Respondent had engaged in and was engaging in certain unfair
labor practices and recommending that it cease and desist therefrom
and take certain affirmative action, as set forth in the copy of the
Intermediate Report attached hereto. Thereafter, the Respondent
and the General Counsel filed exceptions to the Intermediate Report,
and supporting briefs.'
1 The General Counsel excepted to the Trial Examiner's inadvertent failure to provide
in his Recommended Order for reinstatement of the discharged employees . As we, like
the Trial Examiner , find that Price, Rosas , Gomez, and Dobbs were discriminatorily dis-
charged and are entitled to reinstatement , we shall correct the Order accordingly.
122 NLRB No. 172.