The Dayton Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 24, 1951

94 N.L.R.B. 840 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

840: DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
employees at the Employer's warehousing and whiskey bottling plant
at Large, Pennsylvania, excluding professional and confidential em-
ployees and supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
THE DAYTON COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELEC-
TRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL No. 292, A. F. OF L., PETITIONER. Case No.
18-1C-975. May 24, 1951
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9' (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Clarence A. Meter,
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 this case to a three-mem-
her panel. [Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Mur-
dock].
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 organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit :
The Petitioner desired to be certified as the bargaining representa-
tive of a unit composed of all employees of the Employer engaged in
the installation, service, and repair of radio and television receivers,
excluding office clerical employees, professional employees, guards,
and supervisors. The Employer declines to recognize the Petitioner
until it is certified by the Board, apparently contending that it is
improper to allow the requested unit without including therein the
employees in the major appliance service and repair department.
The Employer operates a department store in downtown Minne-
apolis. In addition, the Employer has three warehouses : The Currie
Avenue warehouse, the Third Avenue warehouse, and the Olson Ave-
nue service garage, which are located, respectively, 8 blocks, 29 blocks,
and 16 blocks from the department store. The unit which the Pe-
titioner wishes to. represent is located in the Currie Avenue ware-
94 NLRB No 127.
THE DAYTON COMPANY .841
house. Other departments established in this warehouse are furni-
ture finishing, upholstering, and the cabinet shop. The major ap-
pliance service and repair department is located in the Third Avenue
warehouse. Although this building is primarily used for warehous-
ing operations, the rug carpeting department also is housed there.
The proposed unit is composed of 20 employees, all but 1 of whom
are classified as radio and television repairmen.1 Their duties are
to make sure that radio and television repair sets are in working,order
before they are delivered to purchasers, to install sets and aerials in
customers' homes, and to make service and repair calls after the sets
are installed. These employees possess distinctive and highly techni-
cal skills, as a qualified television repairman must necessarily possess
a knowledge of electronics.2 Although there is one instance of an em-
ployee transferring to the radio and television repair department from
the major appliance service department,' the transfer took place only
after the employee had a television course at a technical school; there
is no real interchange of personnel between the departments. The
employees here concerned have never been covered by any bargaining
history.
From the foregoing f acts and upon the entire record, it is apparent
that the Employer's radio and television repairmen comprise a func-
tionally coherent, clearly defined, homogeneous group whose establish-
ment as a separate collective bargaining unit is feasible.4
We find that all employees engaged in the installation, service, and
repair of radio and television receivers at the Employer's Currie Ave-
nue warehouse in Minneapolis, excluding office clerical employees,
professional employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act,
constitute a unit appropriate for collective bargaining purposes
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
1 One of the employees in this department is a clerk , and one is a department head
who works along with the other employees The Petitioner does not seek to include the
clerk in the unit, and both parties agree that the department head is a supervisor and
should be excluded from the unit.
2 Most of the employees are recruited from vocational schools in the area.
3 The employees in this department service and repair gas ranges, gas dryers, refrigera-
tors, washing machines , and mangle type ironers.
4 Emerson Television Service Corporation, 88 NLRB 55 ; General Electric Supply
Corporation, 83 NLRB 1135 Cf. Liberty Music Shops, Inc, Te NLRB 178; Dowd's Radio
and Electric Company, 01 NLRB 640.