G. C. Murphy Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 6, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 1072 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of G. C. MURPHY COMPANY, EMPLOYER and INTERNA-
TIONAL BROTHEPHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN
AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL UNION No. 505, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 9-RC-200.-Decided December 6, 1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
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 organizations named below claim to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. The question concerning representation :
Retail Clerks International Association, hereinafter called the In-
tervenor, claims that its present contract with the Employer is a
bar to this proceeding. Inasmuch as this contract on its face pur-
ports to recognize the Intervenor as the exclusive bargaining repre-
sentative for its members only, it cannot be a bar to a representation
proceeding, even though the contracting parties may have intended
it to cover all the Employer's employees, and so administered it .2
Accordingly, we find that a question affecting commerce exists
concerning the representation of employees of the Employer within
•Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Gray.
1 Matter of May Department Stores Company, 71 N. L. R. B. 1214. The two stores
involved in this case are part of a chain of retail variety stores operating in 13 States.
2 Matter of Dortcli Stove Works, Inc., 79 N. L. R. B. 126&
80 N. L. R. B., No. 164.
1072
C. C. MURPHY COMPANY 1073
the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the
Act.'
4. The appropriate unit :
The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all retail sales personnel,
and stockroom and warehouse employees, employed by the Company
in stores known as 194 and 107 located in Logan, West Virginia, ex-
cluding all office and clerical employees, watchmen or guards, pro-
fessional employees, and supervisors. The Company and Intervenor
agree that a unit composed of employees in both stores is appropriate,
but the Company contends that the office and clerical employees should
be included in the unit. Neither the Petitioner nor the Intervenor
takes any position with respect to the inclusion of the office and
clerical employees.
The record shows that the duties of these employees consist of clear-
ing invoices , filing price lists, collecting and checking receipts from
the cash registers, and, in emergencies, substituting as sales girls. No
special training is required of them and they are usually recruited from
the ranks of the sales employees. Although they are physically
located apart from the sales and stockroom employees, their interests
and those of the sales personnel, for bargaining purposes, are mutual.4
We are of the opinion, therefore, that the office and clerical employees
should be included in the unit.
We find that all retail sales personnel, stockroom 5 employees, and
office and clerical employees employed by the Company in stores known
as 194 and 107 located in Logan, West Virginia, excluding watch-
men or guards, professional employees, male and female assistants,6
and all other supervisors, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses 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
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 super-
IIn view of our finding that the contract is no bar to a current representation pro-
ceeding it is unnecessary to consider the Petitioner ' s contention that the Intervenor's
Local 795 is a defunct labor organization.
4 Matter of Denver Dry Goods Company, 74 N. L R . B 1167, 1170.
5 According to the record, there is no warehouse as such, and the employees referred
to by the Petitioner as "warehouse employees " are, in fact , included in the classification of
stockroom employees.
° We shall exclude, in accordance with the agreement of the parties, the male and
female assistants inasmuch as the record shows that they exercise supervisory functions
within the meaning of Section 2 ( 11) of the amended Act.
1074 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
vision 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-Series 5, as amended, 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 re-
hired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding
employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to deter-
mine whether they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective
bargaining, by International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs,
Warehousemen and Helpers of America, Local Union No. 505, AFL,
or by Retail Clerks International Union, AFL, or by neither.