Jordan Marsh Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 19, 1949

85 N.L.R.B. 1503 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter Of JORDAN MARSH COMPANY, EMPLOYER and RETAIL
CLERKS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION, LOCAL 1291, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No . 1-RC-1063.Decided September 19, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Leo J. Hal-
loran, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hear-
ing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.'
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Members Reynolds, Murdock, and
Gray].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees 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. The appropriate unit :
The Petitioner seeks to represent .a unit composed of all markers
employed by the Employer at its Boston, Massachusetts, department
store. The Employer contends that the petition should be dismissed as
the unit sought is inappropriate.
The employees in question here work in the receiving department
where they devote their entire time to the placing of price tags on
the various pieces -of merchandise. The markers work in close
proximity to, and are under the same supervision as, the receiving and
checking employees. They work in an area physically separated from
the selling departments.
I The hearing officer properly denied the oral motion to intervene by Local 82 , Inter-
national Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs , Warehousemen and Helpers of America,
AFL. Local 82 neither had a contract covering, nor produced any evidence of representa-
tionamong, the employees involved in this case.
85 N. L. R. B., No. 233.
1503
1504 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
In 1942, the Massachusetts Labor Relations Commission certified
the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehouse-
men and Helpers of America, AFL, as the collective bargaining rep-
resentative of a unit of receivers, checkers, markers, and drivers at
the Employer's store and warehouses. The markers at the main store,
those here involved, were excluded from that unit, and Local 25 of
the Teamsters, which has bargained for the receiving department
employees since 1942, has never represented the store markers nor
included them in contracts which have been consummated. Local 25
has disclaimed any interest in representing the store markers, and,
though notified, did not appear at the hearing. The Petitioner has
represented a unit of selling employees, excluding all receiving de-
partment employees, since 1945, and presently holds a contract cover-
ing this unit.
The markers are clearly not a craft group, and there is no other
basis on which we would ordinarily find them to constitute a separate
appropriate unit. The markers appropriately belong in the receiving
unit represented by Local 25 and not in the unit of selling employees
represented by the Petitioner. However, Local 25 does not want to
represent the markers whereas the Petitioner does. The markers are
a residual group of employees who have been unrepresented during
the years that all the other employees have enjoyed the benefits of
collective bargaining. The markers, therefore, will be without repre-
sentation unless they are found to constitute an appropriate bargain-
ing unit. Under these circumstances, we are of the opinion that the
principles of the Act will best be served by setting up the store markers
in a separate bargaining unit and giving them the privilege of decid-
ing whether or not they want the Petitioner to represent them?
We find that all markers 3 employed by the Employer at its Boston,
Massachusetts, department store, excluding all other employees and
supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of .the.Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
2 Matter of Afinneapo lis-Mo line Company, 85 N. L. R. B. 597; Matter of Cuntert
and Zimmerman Construction Division , Inc., at al., 81 N. L . R. B. 874 ; Matter of American
Security/ and Trust Co., etc., 78 N. L . R. B. 927.
a An employee in the frozen food department listed as a "checker , receiver , and marker,"
and an employee in the rug department listed as a "checker and marker " are excluded, by
agreement of the parties , from the unit herein found appropriate . These two employees
are covered by Local 25 's contract.
JORDAN MARSH COMPANY 1505
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and su-
pervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case
was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work
during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or
temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargain-
ing, by Retail Clerks International Association, Local 1291, AFL.