Hygela Coca-Cola Bottling Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 27, 1971

192 N.L.R.B. 1127 (N.L.R.B. 1971)

HYGEIA COCA-COLA BOTTLING 1127
Hygeia Coca-Cola Bottling Company and Retail,
Wholesale & Department Store Union , AFL-CIO,
Local 102-A. Case 15-RC-4652
August 27, 1971
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF
ELECTION
receiving employees, warehousemen, mechanics,
trucks drivers, driver-salesmen, , and helper employ-
ees, employed at the four plants- and facilities of the
Employer. However, they differ on the question of
the inclusion or exclusion of four "key salesmen," -
three individuals who are part of a group called
middle management,' office clericals, and temporary
employees.
BY MEMBERS FANNING, BROWN, AND
KENNEDY
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was', held before Hearing Officer G. Phil
Shuler. Following the hearing and pursuant to
Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations and Statements of
Procedure, Series 8, as amended, by direction of the
Regional Director for Region 15, the case was
transferred'to' the Board for decision. The Employer
filed a brief with the Board.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connec-
tion with this, case to a' three-member panel.
The Board, has reviewed the Hearing Officer's
rulings made of the hearing and finds that they are
free from prejudicial error. They are hereby affirmed.
Upon the - entire record in this case, the Board
finds:
1. The Employer, a ' Florida corporation with
facilities located in Pensacola, Florida; Niceville,
Florida; ` De Funiak Springs, Florida; and Atmore,
Alabama, is engaged in the production and distribu-
tion of coke and allied products. During the last 12
months, a representative period, the Employer
received at its Pensacola, Florida, facility goods
valued in excess of $50,000 from sources located
outside the State of, Florida. The parties stipulated,
and we find, that' the Employer is engaged in
commerce within the meaning of the Act and that it
will effectuate the policies of the Act to assert
jurisdiction herein.
2. The labor organization involvea claims to
represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concern-
ing representation 'of employees of the Employer
within the meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and Section
2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The parties are in general agreement on the
appropriateness of a single unit of all production and
maintenance . employees, including shipping and
r Eugene Blanck, Moms Edwards, and Thomas MR.
2 The only difference is that one of the four 'key salesmen, Travis Head,
attends morning sides meetings of the cold bottle route salesmen . At these
meetings, he, on occasion, relays instructions from his supervisor to the
salesmen and may give them some instruction with regard to a current
192 NLRB No. 169
Key Salesmen
The parties agree that the duties and responsibili-
ties of key salesmen are essentially alike and, they
should, be included or excluded as _a- group., The
Petitioner takes the position that the key salesmen
are supervisors -within the meaning of the Act, 'arid,',
therefore, should be - excluded. There are two key
salesmen at the Pensacola facility, one in De Funiak
Springs, and one in Niceville."Each key salesman is
under, the direction and active supervision of a sales
manager or assistant sales manager, who"Is'is an
acknowledged supervisor.
The key salesmen's duties are much the same as
those of route salesmen.2 Thus key salesmen spend
up to half of their time substituting for regular- route
salesmen who are sick or for those on vacation.
When substituting for route salesmen, they wear the
same uniform as that worn by route salesmen. Key
salesmen are paid a base salary plus a 'commission
calculated on total' plant sales, unlike the driver's
commission, which is based on the sales of his route:
At the hearing, the Employer explained that- the
different basis' for the key salesmen's commission is
due to the fact that they have no regular route
assignment . Key salesmen's-pay exceeds that of some
route salesmen and 'is less than that of others. "In
addition, on the instruction of theirsupervisors, they
will work on setting up their displays, ride-with new -
drivers for the purpose of showing them the route, or
make special deliveries of products. It is important to
note that, although the key salesmen ride with
drivers, actual training is done by the assistant sales
manager in charge of the route or the sales manager
in charge of the facility.
The record establishes' that key salesmen do not
have the authority to hire, fire, or effectively
recommend the hiring or firing of `route- salesmen or
other employees. -Although there is evidence that on
occasion a key salesmen- has reprimanded an
employee for missing a stop on a route, such action is
rare. Normally the key salesman merely reports' the
situation to the sales manager or assistant- sales
promotion. He also attends the meeting to determine if he must fill in for an
absent salesman. We find that while conducting this meeting -he is acting as
a conduit 'for hisasupervisor or leadman, and that these activities are 'not
sufficient to make himfa supervisor.
1128 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
manager who first investigates the matter and, if in
his, opinion the investigation calls for some ° action,,
speaks with' the salesman involved. There is no
evidence that the key salesman's report is accompa
nied by a, recommendation for disciplinary action or
that the report is given any weight by management.
There is evidence that key - salesmen occasionally
attend meetings of so-called middle management
employees, some of whom are concededly supervi-
sors. But, insofar as the record shows, such meetings
do not involve a discussion of supervisory problems,
but nsuallyconcern themselves with such matters'as
sales , progress' and promotions. The fact that key
salesmen have on occasion 'been directed to investi-
gate' `customer complaints, or,, like middle manage-
ment employees; are assigned late duty'at the plants,
does not of itself 'establish supervisory status. On the
record as a whole, we find that key salesmen are not
supervisors within the meaning of the,Act. In view of
the similarity of their work to that of route ' salesmen,
we find that they have a community of interest with
these employees and we shall "include them in this
unit.
Eugene Blanck, Morris `Edwards, and
Thomas H4'-I' '
The. Petitioner contends if - these, employees are
supervisors or are managerial, employees and should
be excluded from the unit. The three, employees are
part of a group referred to as- middle management,
some of -whom, as,, noted,, are supervisors. They are
paid a base salary plus a commission, on the, total
sales , at the Pensacola plant, and, as with. key
salesmen, . ;their compensation exceeds that of some
route salesmen and is'less than that of others. Fringe
benefits are identical, to those of unit employees, with
the exception that each,of these, individuals has a
company vehicle at his disposal and enjoys the
privilege of driving the car to and from work. Each
one; zhowever, has, certain specific duties assigned to
him.
Eugene Blanck is the Assistant .Sales Manager in
Charge of Youth Market and, Special Events. His
duties consist of soliciting and conducting, special
events, atwhich the Employer's beverages will be
sold, calling on, schools to arrange programs,and_plan
tours for the. -students, and arranging to have, the
Employer, sponsorsummer baseball teams.- Working
with Blanck is an employee, Ken Divine, whose work
hel° directs. Usually Blanck will discuss upcoming
events with Divine, explain what must be done, and
direct Divine to take charge of the event.' At, times,
the two 1 men work together on a project, but at other
times, when Blanck is busy, Divine will take charge
of an event without any formal instructions. Occa-
sionally other employees will help Blanck and Divine
on an, event; for example," the route salesman, of the
dealer who is having the event will work with them.
Although it does not appear that Blanck hired
Divine or has any authority to hire or discharge
employees, he does have authority to grant overtime
or time off and'recommend disciplinary action and
has overall responsibility for the proper performance
of the work. In view of this authority, we find that he
is a supervisor within the meaning , of the Act.
Accordingly, we shall exclude' him from the unit.
Morris Edwards is the Assistant, Sales Manager in
Charge of Cooler Sales and Collections. His duties
consist mainly of the sale, bf coolers, the collection of
those accounts, 'and the- occasional'" delivery and
repossession of coolers. He does not have authority'
to extend credit of the' Employer,. Although he is in
charge 'f appraising prices of old coolers, he does so
within the limits of an appraisal table which is based
on the age of the cooler: Furthermore, he admits-that
90 percent of the cooler sales contracts are scruti-
nized by his supervisor who has the final authority
for' the sale. He-has no employees under him and,,
therefore, has no authority over any employees.
In view of these' facts, we find, contrary, to the
Petitioner's contentions, that Edwards ` is , not 'a
supervisor nor do `we regard"his; exercise °of ' duties
with respect to `the appraisal of coolers sufficient to
classify him as a managerial employee. Accordingly,
we shall include him in the unit.
Thomas Hill is Sales Market Representative and is
in charge of the sales , in° the black areas of Pensacola.
He does, some' work in finding _new dealers and
selling 'coolers, but most of his time is devoted to',
promotion and sales, some of the same' duties
performed by ,route salesmen. In 'fact, he spends
about 35 percent of his time delivering product, on
routes. ^ He has no employees under him. In view of
these facts, we find that he is neither, supervisor nor
a managerial employee 'and,,-accor^gly,, we shall
include him in'the, unit.
Office Clerical Employees
Petitioner would exclude five employees whom the
Employer classified as office clericals located at; the
Pensacola' facility (cashier, switchboard operator,
secretary, office assistant , and, bookkeeper), two
located , at, =De Funiak Springs (office ;manager and
part-time, worker), and, _ two , located -at - Niceville
(office employee aud_part-timer). These employees
spend about 80 percent of their time in an enclosed
office under the supervision of`the office, manager.
They perform such routine clerical duties, as typing
and filing. Their work ` brings them` into only-
occasional contact with the route salesmen and
HYGEIA COCA-COLA BOTTLING
almost never in contact with production employees.
Although the clerks are hourly paid, punch a
timeclock, and share the fringe benefits which are
common to other employees, nonetheless, in view of
the nature of their duties, we find that the employees
in question are essentially office clerical employees
whom the Board customarily excludes from pro-
duction and maintenance units. Accordingly, we shall
exclude the office clerical employees from the unit.
Temporary Employees
The Employer employs a number of students
during the summer. At the hearing, the parties
stipulated that certain of the summer employees
employed at De Funiak Springs and Pensacola
should be excluded. The Employer apparently would
exclude all summer students, but the Petitioner
declined to take a position with regard to others. All
of the summer employees were hired with the
understanding that it would be for one summer only
and none has any expectancy of permanent employ-
ment . They do not participate in any fringe benefits.
3 In order to assure that all eligible voters may have the opportunity to
be informed of the issues in the exercise of their statutory right to vote, all
parties to the election should have access to a list of voters and their
addresses which may be used to communicate with them . Excelsior
Underwear, Inc., 156 NLRB 1236; N.L.R.B. v. Wyman-Gordon Co., 394 U.S.
759. Accordingly, it is hereby directed that an election eligibility list,
containing the names and addresses of all the eligible voters , must be filed
1129
In view of their different conditions of employment
and the absence of any expectancy of permanent
employment, we find that the summer students do
not share a community of interest with any of the
unit employees. We shall, therefore, exclude them
from the unit.
In view of the above, we find that the following
employees constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9(b) of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees,
including shipping and receiving employees,
warehousemen, mechanics, truck drivers, driver-
salesmen , helpers, key salesmen, the Assistant
Sales Manager in Charge of Cooler Sales and
Collections, and the Sales Market Representative;
but excluding office clerical employees, temporary
summer employees, guards, the Assistant Sales
Manager in Charge of Youth Market and Special
Events, and all other supervisors within the
meaning of the Act.
[Direction of Election3 omitted from publication.]
by the Employer with the Regional Director for Region 15 within 7 days of
the date of this Decision and Direction of Election . The Regional Director
shall make the list available to all parties to the election . No extension of
time to file this list shall be granted by the Regional Director except in
extraordinary circumstances. Failure to comply with this requirement shall
be grounds for setting aside the election whenever proper objections are
filed.