Griffin Grocery Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsFeb 28, 1946

66 N.L.R.B. 167 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of GRIFFIN GROCERY COMPANY and CHAUFFEURS, TEAMSTERS & HELPERS, LOCAL UNION 516, AFL Case No. 16-R-1487.-Decided February 28, 1946 Mueller & Mueller, by Mr. Karl Mueller, of Fort Worth, Tex., for the Company. Mr. C. TV. Jenkins, of Muskogee , Okla., Mr. Floyd Webb, of Jop- lin, Mo ., for the Union. Mr. Julius Topol, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon an amended petition duly filed by Chauffeurs, Teamsters & Helpers, Local Union 516, AFL, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre- sentation of employees of Griffin Grocery Company, Muskogee, Oklahoma, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Elmer Davis, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Muskogee, Oklahoma, on November 14, 1945. The Company and the Union appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full oppor- tunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Griffin Grocery Company is an Oklahoma corporation with its offices and principal place of business in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and with branch houses at McAlester, Antlers, Seminole, Oklahoma City, Lawton, Okmulgee, and Pryor, Oklahoma; Fort Smith, Arkansas; 66 N. L . R. B., No. 13. 167 168 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Denison and Dallas, Texas; and Joplin, Missouri. It is engaged in the wholesale grocery business in the course of which it annually buys and sells merchandise in an aggregate value exceeding $1,000,000; it also manufactures, processes, packs, sells, and dis- tributes goods and merchandise, such as coffee, syrup, candy, and canned goods. A substantial portion of the grocery merchandise bought and sold, and of the other goods manufactured, processed, and packed by it is transported in interstate commerce, and a sub- stantial part of the raw materials used in its operations is received in interstate and foreign commerce. The Company admits that its business affects commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED Chauffeurs, Teamsters & Helpers, Local Union 516, is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, 'admitting to membership employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Company has refused to grant the Union's request for recog- nition as bargaining agent of certain of the Company's employees. A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.' We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Union seeks a unit of all employees at the Company's opera- tions in Muskogee, Oklahoma, excluding office and clerical employees, canning department employees, maintenance machinists, and all i The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 28 authorization cards bearing apparently genuine signatures , and that, based on estimates supplied by the petitioner, there were approximately 45 employees In the proposed unit. It was disclosed at the hearing that there are approximately 75 employees in the alleged appropriate unit. The Company objected to the introduction of the Field Examiner ' s report on the grounds that ( 1) it is an ex parts statement of the Field Examiner setting forth conclusions with respect to which the Company has had no opportunity to examine or inquire ; ( 2) the information in the report is incompetent and affords no basis for predicating any finding, conclusion, or order. The Trial Examiner overruled this objection and his ruling Is hereby upheld . The purpose of the showing of interest and of the Field Examiner's report has been made abundantly clear in previous cases. See Matter of Syracuse Chilled Plow Co., Inc., 61 N. L. R. B. 717. GRIFFIN GROCERY COMPANY 169 supervisory employees within the meaning of the Board's usual defi- nition. The sole disagreement between the parties relates to the maintenance machinists, whom the Company would include in the unit. The Company employs three maintenance machinists, Leslie Jones, Walter Christian, and Tom Murray, all of whom the Union would exclude from the unit in order to avoid a jurisdictional dispute with a local of the International Association of Machinists. Jones and Christian are employed in the garage, while Murray works in the plant. Jones spends more than 50 percent of his time repairing mechanical parts of trucks used by the Company, and Christian devotes more than 50 percent of his time to the repair and mainte- nance of the bodies of these trucks. Murray is engaged principally in the maintenance of plant machinery. All three employees use the tools which are traditional in the machinist trade. Their work requires a higher degree of skill than, and is clearly distinguishable from, that of the employees whom the parties agree to include in the unit. We are of the opinion that the vital interests of these employees lie in their trade rather than in the industry which they serve. Accordingly, we shall exclude them from the unit. Accordingly, we find that all employees at the Company's opera- tions in Muskogee, Oklahoma, excluding maintenance machinists, office and clerical employees, canning department employees, and any or all supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We shall direct that the question concerning representation which has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction. DIRECTION OF ELECTION By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela- tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby 170 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa- tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Griffin Grocery Company, Muskogee, Oklahoma, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Sixteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Chauffeurs, Teamsters & Helpers, Local Union 516, AFL, for the purposes of collective bargaining.