Louis Pizitz Dry Goods Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 28, 1952

99 N.L.R.B. 380 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

380 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
each Separate calendar quarter or portion thereof during the period from the
Respondent's discriminatory action to the date of reinstatement or a proper
offer of reinstatement. The quarterly periods, herein called quarters, shall begin
with the first day of January, April, July, and October. Loss of pay shall be
determined by deducting from a sum equal to that which they normally would
have earned for each quarter or portion thereof, their net earnings , if any, in
other employment during that period. Earnings in one particular quarter shall
have no effect upon the back-pay liability for any other quarter. It will be recom-
mended that the Respondent, upon reasonable request, make available to the
Board and its agents all records pertinent to an analysis of the amounts due as
back pay.2'
On the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and upon the entire record in the
case, I make the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAM
1. American Bottling Company, in its operations, is engaged in trade, traffic,
and commerce among the several States, within the meaning of Section 2 (6)
and (7) of the Act.
2. Federal Labor Union, No. 24730, is a labor organization within the meaning
of Section 2 (5) of the Act.
3. By interfering with, restraining, and coercing its employees with respect to
their union and concerted activities, the Respondent has engaged in and is en-
gaging in unfair labor practices within the meaning of Section 8 (a) (1) of
the Act.
4. By discriminating in regard to the hire and tenure of Roberto Martinez,
Alberto C. Vasquez, Mike Salinas, Pedro Alvarez, Pedro Pena, and Gilberto Saenz,
Jr., the Respondent has engaged in and is engaging in unfair labor practices
within the meaning of Section 8 (a) (3) of the Act.
5. The aforesaid unfair labor practices affect commerce within the meaning
of Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
[Recommendations omitted from publication in this volume.]
xa All testimony or other proof in this case, unless specifically referred to herein as a
finding of fact, Is either (1) found Incredible; (2) disregarded as being of so little weight
as to be immaterial; or (3) not considered because it Is irrelevant or incompetent.
Louis Plzrrz DRY GOODS COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD
OF TEAMSTERS , CHAUFFEURS , WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF
AMERICA, LOCAL UNION 612, A. F. of L., PETITIONER . Case No. 10-
RC-1816. May 08,1952
Decision and Order
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Paul L. Harper,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
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 [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Murdock].
99 NLRB No. 69.
LOUIS PIZITZ DRY GOODS COMPANY 381
Upon the entire record'in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
Act.,
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. No 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, for the following rea-
sons:
The Petitioner seeks a unit of delivery and warehouse employees at
the Employer's First Avenue warehouse, including stockmen, pack-
age routers, drivers, helpers, and porters. The Employer contends
that the appropriate unit is the more comprehensive one, previously
established by the Board,2 including substantially all employes at
both its store and its warehouses. There is no prior history of collec-
tive bargaining.
The Employer operates a large department store in Birmingham,
Alabama, and in connection therewith maintains 3 warehouses. The
warehouse at 1605-11 First Avenue North is used for the storage
of bulky articles such as, furniture, appliances, radios, television
sets, rugs, etc., and in addition houses a radio, television, and appliance
service department and a furniture finishing department. The 14th
Street warehouse stores supplies, fixtures, and Christmas toys. The
third warehouse, located on the seventh floor of the department store
itself, is devoted to the storage of soft goods such as piece goods, boys'
furnishings, and ready-to-wear apparel. All the employees sought
by the Petitioner operate from the First Avenue warehouse and
service the 14th Street warehouse as wells In addition to these em-
ployees, -there are at First Avenue approximately 15 employees in
the radio, television, and appliance service department and in the
furniture finishing department. On occasion they do warehouse work
and drive trucks, but the Petitioner is not seeking to represent them.
Further, at the seventh floor warehouse, there are other employees
such as stockmen, checkers, and markers, whose duties with respect to
the merchandise stored therein are substantially the same.as those
of employees at the other warehouses. But they too are not sought by
the Petitioner. Moreover, departmental stock employees in the store
regularly go to the warehouses to obtain stock sold through their
respective departments, and other store employees are sent to the
warehouses to work during warehouse sales. Although the outside
I dtanislaus Implement and Hardware Company, Limited, 91 NLRB 618; Louis Pizits
Dry Goods Company, 71 NLRB 579, and 80 NLRB 1442.
2 Louis Pizitz Dry Goods Company, 71 NLRB 579.
8 There are no employees regularly assigned to the 14th Street warehouse.
382 DECISIONS 'OF'•NATIONAL LABOR 'RELATIONS BOARD
and store warehouses have' separate immediate supervision, there is
one central personnel office for warehouse and store employees, and
all employees enjoy the same vacation and holiday plans, group in-
surance, and other benefits. -
In Louis Pizitz Dry Goods Company,4 the Board dismissed a peti-
tion filed by another labor organization seeking substantially the same
unit of this Employer's warehousemen as is being sought by the Peti-
tioner herein. The Board there stated :
In view of the integration between the warehouse activities and
those of the store, the fact that work performed by the ware-
housemen is the same as that of some store employees and for the
reason that only one of the three warehouses is sought by the
Petitioner, although the work of all warehouse employees appears
to be substantially the same and under the same ultimate super-
vision, we believe that the proposed unit is too limited to consti-
tute a separate appropriate unit.
The present record does not indicate any change in the Employer's
operations sufficient to warrant modifying our earlier decision. Ac-
cordingly, we find that the unit requested by the Petitioner is in-
appropriate for collective bargaining purposes .5 We therefore grant
the Employer's motion to dismiss the petition.
Order,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition herein be, and it hereby is,
dismissed.
4 80 NLRB 1442.
See Marshall Field cE Company, 96 NLRB 1 , and 97 NLRB 7.
GOODYEAR SYNTHETIC RUBBER CORPORATION and INTERNATIONAL UNION
OF OPERATING ENGINEERS, LOCAL 347, PETITIONER. Case No. 39-RC-
429. May 28,1952
Supplemental Decision and Amended Direction of Elections
On May 1, 1952, the Board issued a Decision and Direction of Elec
tion in the above-entitled case,' finding that all employees in the
Employer's Houston, Texas, synthetic rubber plant engaged in pro-
duction, maintenance, and as utility, employees, including checkers,
loaders, and material handlers in the receiving and' shipping depart-
ments, laboratory testers, technicians and, samplers; the oiler group,
labor group, carpenters, painters, and sheet metal workers, but ex-
1 Not reported in printed volumes of Board decisions.
99 NLRB No. 61.