Elliot Grocery Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 11, 1944

59 N.L.R.B. 196 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of N. R. ELLIOTT and MRS. N. R . ELLIOTT, DOING BUSINESS
AS ELLIOTT GROCERY COMPANY and UNITED WHOLESALE & WAREHOUSE.
EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 261, CIO
Case No. 10-R-1311.Decided November 11, 1944
Mr. J. A. Simpson, of Birmingham, Ala., for the Company.
Mr. C. B. St. John, of Birmingham, Ala., for the Union.
Mr. Sidney Grossman, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon an amended petition duly filed by United Wholesale & Ware-
house Employees, Local 261, CIO, herein called the Union, alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of N. R. Elliott and Mrs. N. R. Elliott, doing
business as Elliott Grocery Company, Bessemer, Alabama, herein
called the Company,' the National Labor Relations Board provided
for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Louis Plost, Trial
Examiner. Said hearing was held at Birmingham, Alabama, on.
October 7, 1944. The Company and the Union appeared and par-
ticipated. All parties were afforded full opportunity 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 an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following::
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Company, under the proprietorship of N. R. Elliott and Mrs..
N. R. Elliott, doing business as Elliott Grocery Company, at Bessemer,
' At the hearing, the petition and all other formal papers in this proceeding were
amended so that the name of the Company would read "N. R. Elliott and Mrs. N. R. Elliott,
doing business as Elliott Grocery Company."
59 N. L. R. B., No. 40.
196
ELLIOTT GROCERY COMPANY 197
Alabama, is a wholesale enterprise engaged in selling grocery products
to retail merchants within the State of Alabama. The annual sales of
the Company aggregate in excess of $1,000,000. Its annual purchases
of grocery products are approximately $1,000,000, of which from 10,
to 25 percent is secured from sources outside the State of Alabama.
The balance of the Company's purchases are secured in carload or
case lots through brokers in Alabama, a major portion of which origi-
nate outside the State of Alabama, and approximately 25 percent there-
of is shipped directly to the Company from points outside the State
of Alabama.
We find, contrary to the Company's contention, that it is engaged
in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.-
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Wholesale & Warehouse Employees, Local 261, affiliated
with-the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization-
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The parties stipulated that on September 5, 1944,. a representative
of the Union informed the Company by telephone that the Union
represented a majority of its employees and requested that a confer-
ence be held. The Company refused to grant recognition to the Union.
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
In substantial accordance with a stipulation of the parties, we
find that all production and maintenance employees of the Company,
at Bessemer, Alabama, including shipping, cleaning, and delivering
employees, truck drivers and helpers, but excluding office employees,
clerical workers, shipping clerks, and 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 collectivP-
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
2 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 27 authorization cards, oP-
which 23 were dated in August 1944, and 4 in September 1944, and that there are 25
employees in the alleged appropriate unit. No pay roll was submitted by the Company_
198 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 the em-
ployees 3 in the appropriate unit who, were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion 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 Relations
Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with N. R. Elliott and
Mrs. N. R. Elliott, doing business as Elliott Grocery Company, Besse-
mer, Alabama, 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 Direc-
tor for the Tenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the Na-
tional 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 de-.
termine whether or not they desire to be represented by United Whole-
sale & Warehouse Employees, Local 261, affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, for the purposes of collective bargaining.
8 In accordance with an agreement of the parties, employees who devote more than 50
percent of their time to clerical work, shall be excluded from the group of eligible employees
referred to in Section IV, above.