Sears, Roebuck and Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 1, 1946

65 N.L.R.B. 751 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of SEARS, ROEBUCK AND Co. and INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL UNION No. B-1272
Case No. 16-R-1501.-Decided February 1, 1946
Mr. Dale M. Race, of Chicago, Ill., and Mr. E. W. Hagenbaumer,
of Dallas, Tex., for the Company.
Messrs. W. J. Cox and F. C. Ford, both of Dallas, Tex., for the
Union.
Mr. Donald B. Brady, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by International Brotherhood of Elec-
trical Workers, Local Union No. B-1272, herein called the Union,
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning
the representation of employees of Sears, Roebuck and Co., Dallas,
Texas, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board
provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Glenn
L. Moller, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Dallas, Texas,
on November 16, 1945. The Company and the Union appeared and
participated. 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 opportunity io file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Sears, Roebuck and Co., a New York corporation, maintains 595
retail stores in 47 States, 10' mail-order houses, and 20 factories. The
Company maintains in Dallas, Texas, a repair shop where it repairs
electrical units and appliances for various of its stores located in the
States of Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado,
65 N. L. R. B., No. 123.
679100-46-vol . 65-49 751
752 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
New Mexico, and Missouri. Of the work done at the unit repair shop,
approximately 10 percent represents work done on items shipped to
the shop from points outside the State of Texas, all of which items so
received are returned to their points of origin. The repair shop does
,an annual gross business amounting to in excess of $100,000.
The Company admits, for the purposes of this proceeding, that it is
engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor
Relations Act and we so find.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Brotherhood of Electiical Workers, Local Union No.
B-1272, is a labor organization , affiliated with the American Federa-
tion of Labor , admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. TILE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of its Unit Repair Shop employees
until the Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate
unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
IV. Ti IF. APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union contends that the appropriate unit should consist of all
employees in the Unit Repair Shop of the Company at 3800 Clarendon
Avenue, Dallas, Texas, excluding office and shop clerical employees,
foremen, and all other supervisory employees. The Company agrees
that the unit proposed by the Union is appropriate, but contends that
employees classified by it as extra employees should be excluded,
whereas the Union contends that such employees should be included.
Extra employees are employees who have not completed either 6
four-week periods or 720 hours of employment. Since there is no
showing that extra employees will not in all probability become per-
manent employees, we find no basis for excluding them.2
We find that all employees in the Company's Unit Repair Shop at
3800 Clarendon Avenue, Dallas, Texas, including extra employees, but
excluding office and shop clerical employees, foremen, and all other
supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge,
discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or
' The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 27 cards bearing the names
of 27 employees listed on the Company's pay roll of August 1945, and that there are ap-
proximately 50 employees In the appropriate unit
' Matter of The Dayton Rubber Manufacturing Company, 57 N L. R. B. 888; Matter
of Sears, Roebuck and Company, 62 N. L R. B. 674.
SEARS, ROEBUCK AND CO. 753
effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section-
9 (b) of the Act.
V. TI-1 L DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among employees
in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election 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 Relations
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 Sears, Roebuck
and Co., Dallas, Texas, 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
Director for the Sixteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for
the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sec-
tions 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees
in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were em-
ployed 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 State's
who present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding those em-
ployees who have since quit,or been discharged for cause and have
not been rdhired or reinstated prior-to the date of the election, to deter-
mine whether or not they desire to be represented by International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union No. B-1272, affiliated
with the American Federation of Labor, for the purposes of collective
bargaining.