93 N.L.R.B. 1293 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

B. F. Goodrich Co. Stores

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsApr 9, 1951

93 N.L.R.B. 1293 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

B. F. GOODRICH COMPANY STORES 1293 . 1. All machinists at the Employer's Waterville and Defiance, Ohio, plants. 2. All electricians at the Employer's Waterville and Defiance, Ohio, plants. . 3. All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's Waterville and Defiance, Ohio, plants, but excluding the employees in groups 1 and 2, office employees, technical engineers, and technicians. MESA desires to participate only in the elections involving em- ployees in the first two voting groups. GBBA desires to participate in all elections. If a majority of employees in voting groups 1 and 2 cast ballots for the labor organization seeking to represent such em- ployees in separate bargaining units, they will be taken to have indi- cated their desire to constitute separate units for bargaining purposes.. [Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this volume.] B. F. GOODRICH COMPANY STORES and LOCAL UNION No. 299, INTER- NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSE- MEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL,, PETITIONER B. F. GOODRICH COMPANY WAREHOUSE and LOCAL UNION No. 299, IN- TERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WARE- HOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER B. F. GOODRICH COMPANY RECAPPING PLANT and LOCAL UNION No. 299, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER. Cases Nos. 7-RC-1176, 7-RC-1177, and 7-RC-1178. April 9, 1951 Decision and Direction of Election Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the Na- tional Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before W. A. Reinke, 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 these cases to a three- member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Styles]. Upon the entire record in these cases the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. 2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em- ployees of the Employer. 3 Herein called the Teamsters. 93 NLRB No. 232. 1294 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL' LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, 3. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the representa- tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 90 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The Teamsters seeks three units : The first to be composed of all junior and senior servicemen in the five retail stores of the Employer located at Detroit and Dearborn, Michigan; the second to consist of all employees in its Detroit warehouse, excluding officeand clerical employees, guards, watchmen, and supervisors as defined in the Act; and the third to contain all employees at its Detroit recapping plant, excluding office and clerical employees, guards, watchmen, profes- sional employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act. The'Em- ployer agrees with the Teamsters as to the appropriateness of the warehouse and recapping plant units. However, the Employer con- tends that only separate units of servicemen for each of the stores are appropriate.2 The Employer manufactures automobile tires and tubes and operates approximately 550 retail tire and automobile supply stores through- out the country. For administrative purposes, the Employer has divided the country into 5 divisions which include 30 districts. The Detroit district contains 20 stores and is one of the 6 districts in the central division. As already noted, the 5 stores involved herein are situated in metropolitan Detroit : 4 in Detroit itself and 1 in Dear- born, a suburb of Detroit. The remaining stores in the Detroit dis- trict are, with the exception of 2 in Ohio, distributed in other parts of Michigan. Their distance from Detroit ranges from 12 to 85 miles. There is normally no interchange of employees among any of the Employer's stores. A district manager is in charge of the Detroit district. The stores, which perform varying amounts of service work, are each under the supervision of a store manager. Although certain conditions of em- ployment and price policy are established at the top management level, the store manager has considerable discretion in the operation ofthe individual stores. He has the authority to hire and discharge service- men and to determine hours of employment and vacations. In addi- tion, he handles grievances and recommends wage increases and pro- motions. The store manager has some leeway to decide rates within the salary scale, which is fixed by the Employer in accordance with community market requirements. The store manager is also given considerable latitude as to changing prices in order to meet competi- tion within the area. There is no evidence of collective bargaining history for the stores involved herein. ' The parties stipulated that whatever the Board 's finding regarding the stores, the unit or units found appropriate should be confined to junior and senior servicemen and should exclude all other store employees such as salesmen , sales clerks, office and clerical employees , guards, watchmen, and supervisors as defined in the Act. FARM TOOLS, INC. 1295 In a similar case involving another district in the Employer's cen- tral division, the Board found appropriate a metropolitan multistore unit based upon geographical factors .3 Although certain of the fac- tors noted above indicate the appropriateness of single store units, they do not compel the conclusion that only such units are appropriate. In view of the proximity to each other of the five stores in metropoli- tan Detroit, and their geographical separation from the other stores in the Detroit district, and in view of the Employer's policy to inte- grate the operation of its stores with the economic life of the commu- nity in which such stores are located, we find that a unit comprising servicemen of the five stores in metropolitan Detroit is an appropriate unit for collective bargaining. We find the following units appropriate for the purposes of collec- tive bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act : (1) In Case No. 7-RC-1176-All junior and senior servicemen in the Employer's stores at Detroit and Dearborn, Michigan, excluding salesmen, sales clerks, office and clerical employees, guards, watchmen, and supervisors as defined in the Act. (2) In Case No. 7-RC-1177-All employees at the Employer's Detroit, Michigan, warehouse, excluding office and clerical employees, guards, watchmen, and supervisors as defined in the Act. ('3) In Case No. 7-RC-1178-All employees at the Employer's Detroit, Michigan, recapping plant, excluding office and clerical em- ployees, guards, watchmen, professional employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act. [Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this volume.] 8 B. F. Goodrich Company, 87 NLRB 1355, wherein the Board found appropriate a servicemen 's unit restricted to the Employer 's stores in metropolitan Cincinnati. See also The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, 85 NLRB 680; American Stores Company, 82 NLRB 882. FARM TOOLS, INC. and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER. Case No. 8-RC-602. April 9, 1951 Second Supplemental Decision and Certification of Representatives On November 17,1950, pursuant to a Supplemental Decision, Order, and Second Direction of Election issued by the Board," an election by secret ballot was conducted under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Eighth Region, among the employees 1 91 NLRB No. 179. 93 NLRB No. 228.