Sears, Roebuck & Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 21, 1970

180 N.L.R.B. 862 (N.L.R.B. 1970)

862 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Warehousemen 's Union,
Local No. 853 affiliated with Teamsters,
Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of
America, Petitioner. Case 20-RC-8397
January 21, 1970
DECISION AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS
BROWN AND JENKINS
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was • held before Edward E. McDaniel,
Hearing Officer. Following the hearing, pursuant to
Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations and Statements of
Procedure , Series 8, as amended, this case was
transferred to the National Labor Relations Board
for decision. Thereafter, briefs were filed by the
Employer and the Petitioner, which have been duly
considered.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
powers in connection with this case to a
three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's
rulings made at the hearing and finds no prejudicial
error. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board
finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act, and it will effectuate the
purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The Petitioner is a labor organization claiming
to represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists
concerning the representation of employees of the
Employer within the meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and
2(6) and (7) of the Act for the following reasons:
The Employer is engaged in the operation of a
retail department store in Hayward, California, with
about 500 employees equally divided between 53
selling divisions and 12-15 nonselling departments.
The Petitioner seeks a unit of nonselling employees
engaged in the flow of merchandise through the
store. The specific classifications sought by the
Petitioner are shipping and receiving employees,
warehousemen (described in the record and
hereinafter as stockmen), and markers. The
Employer contends that the proposed unit is
inappropriate either on the ground that the work of
these employees is closely integrated with that of
other employees in the store not sought by the
Petitioner, or that it does not meet the standards for
a separate warehouse unit enunciated by the Board
in A. Harris & Co., 116 NLRB 1628. There is no
history of collective bargaining at the store.
The record shows that the operations of the store,
both selling and nonselling, are conducted in a
single-story and basement building, except for a
separately located automobile service station not
involved in this proceeding. The street level of the
store is comprised of selling areas, with adjacent
stock bins, and it also has a customer service
department where customers pick up lay-away and
will-call items which are stored in the main
stockroom located in the basement. The basement
main stock room is connected to a car pickup area
where customers drive up to receive merchandise
purchased in the store or through a catalogue sales
counter located in the basement. Also located in the
basement are a smaller selling area, general offices,
credit department, training room, and a
communications booth where orders are relayed by
an undisclosed number of employees from the
selling areas, customer service department, or
catalogue sales counter to the main stockroom.
All activities of the store are under the overall
supervision of the store manager, directly under
whom is an operating superintendent responsible for
all of the nonselling departments of the store.
Reporting to the operating superintendent are
separate supervisors for (1) the car pickup and
catalogue sales, (2) customer service employees, (3)
maintenance employees and, (4) shipping and
receiving employees, including shippers, receivers,
markers, receiving clericals, communication booth
employees, and stockmen.
The shippers and receivers perform the normal
duties associated with their respective classifications.
In addition, they also work with other store
employees in taking inventory, and shippers, more
so than receivers, also deliver merchandise to the
selling floor and car pickup area. The basic function
of the stock men is to transport merchandise from
the marking line to designated stock areas on the
selling floor. In addition, they work with car pickup
employees two or three times a week, at which time
they are under the supervisor over car pickup and
catalogue sales . The catalogue sales employees also
work in the car pickup area, and employees from
both the car pickup area and catalogue sales move
merchandise from the basement stockroom to their
respective areas. The stock men also work
side-by-side with sales employees in annual and
other periodic inventories both on the sales floor
and in stock areas, and they have daily contact with
the sales employees in the course of replenishing
back-up storage areas adjacent to the various selling
divisions. Selling employees also make daily trips to
the main stockroom at the beginning of and during
the day to replenish their merchandise. The stock
men also assist markers in repricing merchandise
either in the stockroom area or on the selling floor,
The markers have the primary function of opening
cartons and pricing each item of merchandise. They
also engage in repricing on the selling floor, at
which time they are assisted by sales employees, as
180 NLRB No. 132
SEARS, ROEBUCK & CO. 863
they are in making monthly reconciliations of
merchandise on the selling floors. One of the eight
markers works under the supervision of the selling
division fashion manager. In addition to the
foregoing, receiving clerical employees in an office
located in the basement main stockroom handle all
paper work affecting merchandise received at the
store. Finally, as noted above, there is a
communications booth in the basement, where
employees relay orders to the stockroom from the
selling employees, catalogue counter, or customer
service department, as the case may be.
The store has central hiring, under which all
employees take the same prehire employment
examination, and all employees receive the same
benefits, including discounts, holiday pay, insurance,
and profit sharing.
It is clear from the record and briefs that the
petition is based on the theory that the unit sought
constitutes, or is equivalent to, a unit of
warehousing employees which is appropriate under
A. Harris & Co., supra, wherein the Board
approved a warehousing unit (1) geographically
separated from retail store operations, (2) under
separate supervision, and (3) not substantially
integrated with other store functions. At the hearing,
the Petitioner disclaimed any interest in the car
pickup and catalogue sales counter employees.' The
Petitioner also disclaimed any interest in the
receiving clerks, and took no position with respect
to the communications booth employees.
In view of the foregoing, we are persuaded that
the unit sought by the Petitioner is not the type of
warehouse unit contemplated in A. Harris & Co.,
supra. Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petition.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition filed herein
be, and it hereby is dismissed.
' In its brief, however, the Petitioner would include the employees in both
of these classifications