Levitz Furniture Co. of Santa Clara, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 12, 1971

192 N.L.R.B. 61 (N.L.R.B. 1971)

LEVITZ FURNITURE CO. OF SANTA CLARA, INC. 61
Levitz. Furniture -Company of Santa Clara, Inc. and
-Warehousemen's 'Union Local 17, International
-Longshoremen 's and Warehousemen's Union, Inde-
pendent, Petitioner.
Levitz Furniture Company of Santa Clara , Inc. and
Chauffeurs, Teamsters and Helpers Local 150,
International Brotherhood-of^ Teamsters,, Chauf-
feurs,',War'ehouseinen and ";Helpers of America,
Independent ,, Petitioner. Cases 20 - R
and"20'- RC = 9713 _
July 12, 1971
DECISION AND` ORDER
BY CHAIIWAN MILLER .AND MEMBERS
BROWN AND JENKINS
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section,
9(c)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act, as
amended, a consolidated hearing.was held before
Hearing Officer Stuart R.' Dvorin. Following the
hearing, pursuant to Section 102.87 of the, National
Labor, Relations Board,Rules and Regulations and
Statements of Procedure, Series 8, as amended, these
cases ' were transferred to-,the National Labor Rela-
tions,4Board ,for decision. Thereafter, the Employer
and the Petitioners filedbriefs, and the Employer filed
a reply brief, allof whichhave been duly considered.
Pursuant to the provisions, of Section 3,(b) of the,
National- Labor. Relations Act, as amended, the,
National Labor Relations Board, has delegated its
powers in connection with these cases to a three-
member panel.
The Board has reviewed, the Hearing Officer's
rulings made at the hearing and finds no prejudicial
error. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the, entire record in these cases, the Board
finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the, meaning of - the Act, - and it will' effectuate the,
purposes of the Act-to assertjurisdiction herein.,
2. The Petitioners are labor organizations claim-
ing to represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concern
ing the representation of employees of the Employer,
within the meaning of Sections 9(c)(1) and,2(6) and
(7) of the Act for the following reasons:
At Santa Clara, California, the Employer is engaged
in retail furniture store operations in a sin gle facility
known as the warehouse building, with approximately
105 employees. The Longshoremen seeks a'so-called
warehouse unit of certain of the Employer's nonsell-
ing employees in, the following categories: merchan-
disewarehousemen, ACD warehousemen, receivers,
pickers, and relocators, excluding all other employees.'
192 NLRB No. 13
The Teamsters seeks a. unit of truckdrivers and,
truckdriver helpers, excluding- all- other, employees.
Alternatively, the Longshoremen and the Teamsters
jointly seek a single unit which combines both of -the
aforementioned units, but excludes all other employ-
ees.- The Employer contends that, in view of the small
size and functional integration at its retail store, a
storewide unit is alone appropriate, and, that, as
neither the Longshoremen nor-the Teamsters desires -
to represent such a unit, both petitions should be
dismissed. There is no bargaining history at the
Employer's store.
Approximately one-third of the warehouse building,
which contains furniture and furniture accessories but
no appliances or, carpeting,, is used to display the
furniture. The other two-thirds, is used for storage,
offices, and shop space. Customers must enter the
warehouse portion of the building,, and proceed
approximately 200 feet in order -to -reach the show-
room. Between the showroom and the warehouse
storage area are the sales office; the ACD or accessory
office; and the ACD warehouse, which-is actually a
portion of the main warehouse in which accessory
items are stored; the merchandise display preparation.
area where furniture and accessory items are prepared ;
for display and later prepared for storage; the EDP, or
electronic data processing, office ; the main, or front,
office; the customer service offices; the.merchandis-
ing office; the buyers' office; the lounge; and the
steps.
The nonselling classifications sought by the Long-
shoremen are under the immediate supervision of._,
three supervisors and an assistant .-'Thus the merchan- ,
dise warehousemen are under the merchandise
manager; the ACD warehousemen are under the
ACD manager; and the receivers, 'pickers, and
relocators are under the warehouse manager and his
assistant. However, these immediate supervisors also
supervise .employees in other nonselling categories
whom the Longshoremen would exclude. The .mer-
chandise manager also supervises , buyers, merchan-
dise clerks, and an advertising man; the ACD
manager also supervises an -ACD clerk, maids,
trimmers, and helpers; and the warehouse manager
also supervises a warehouse clerk,'the truckdrivers
and truckdriver helpers whom the Teamsters would
represent, and janitors. In'summary, the Longshore-
men would include, in its unit 20 employees under the
merchandise manager,, the ACD manager, ' and the
warehouse manager and his assistant, , but would
exclude 25 employees, including the 4' truckdrivers
and 4 driver helpers soughtby'the Teamsters, who are
also under their supervision. The Longshoremen
would furthermore exclude the following additional
nonselling categories under `other immediate supervi-
sion, 10 clerks under the EDP manager and 7 cashiers
62 DECISIONS ^OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and, 2, clerks,,, under the front office manager. They
would additionally exclude the 32 salesmen under the
sales manager.
All employees enjoy, substantially the same benefits
and-'conditions of employment and are, hourly paid;'
except' for the' salesmen who receive a"guarantee plus
commission`. Selling'and' nonselling employees share
the same lounge, have `the same-coffeebreaks; punch
thesame-timeclocks,-and,,exceptfor the'truchdrivers,
have thesaineiunch'periods.
The entire store activities are devoted to all-phases
of selling merchandise. Individual sales' thus require
the close`cooperation of several sellingand nonselling
categories ; ,','-in the ' course " of such sales there' is
substantial 'contact between customers and most of
the selling", ate.;- nonselling employees, including
salesmen; EDP clerks,--, cashiers, warehouse clerks;
ACD , employees', except maids, truckdrivers, and
customer' service employees. There is likewise consid-
erable'movement'by :employees throughout the entire
building in the per'formanoe of their primary-duties, in
the course of 'which tionwarehouse" employees use
warehouse facilities, as, for example, salesmen, who,
in` obtaining ,,items -`from storage areas, use the
warehopsemen's jack stacker, a sophisticated `forkl'ft'
regularly" used ' `by- the warehouse employees to'
remove the items from, the 32-foot-high shelves. All
employees partieipat in taking inventory once a year
and, approximately every 6 weeks, all participate in
dockside sales, of surplus merchandise.
'During`the approximately 3 months which elapsed
between the"inception of the Employer's store and the
instant ` hearing, there- 'were 12 employee transfers.
Temporary interchanges of employees throughout the
store, 'including truckdr'ivers, are frequent and regu-
lar." Thus,' 'during` a sample 3-week'.penod, five
cashiers , a customern,'service clerk;'a personnel'and
insurance clerk, ,a maid, a servicemen, a warehouse
clerk, and a ' merchandise - warehousemen worked" as
salesmen. At'such ;times they attended sales meetings
and _wer"e` paid "spiff s;" or promotional money paid to
salcsnien°to promote one item over another. Similar`
interchanges' apply to truckdrivers, who normally
spend ^60'to°65 percent of their time- away from `the
plant Yand "the balance in the store or warehouse area.
on Sundays, or on their days off, or when not engaged
in"deliveries; they have performeda large'amount'of
will-call`rpicking.i `S`imilarly, "'o'ther -employees have
performed work regularly performedby truckdrivers
and 'their helpers: Thus;' s ervicemen, receivers, and
A random Rsampling during the ,iirst' 3 months of operations , shows, 45
instances of will-call picking by four different trackdnvers and their
helpers.
2 Cf. Sears, Roebuck and "Co.,..151 NLRB 1356, where the Board held
that warehouse : employees having . a degree ; of functional difference and
autonomy (including geographic and, supervisory separateness) within the
overall ooniplex 'of the employer's retail operations' 'clearly demonstrated a
pickers have" made -individual, deliveries in the delivey
trucks :-and' service vans, and, ; on -one occasioii, two
salesmen rented a truck to'make a delivery When- "'the
Employer's delivery schedule was filled.. Truckdrivers,
their helpers, and pickers all do loading and unload,
the course of which they use-storage` equipment '
such as the jack stacker: ACD men use,delivery `trucks
to haul trash, ' and pickers,` servicemen, and" receivers
have performed as truckdrivers. When -truckdnvers
are on vacation, anyone assigned,' as driveir will
perform their jobs. They require no special license or
driving test. At least three truckdrivers were asked to
sell on the sales floor. i
The Longshoremen contends that :Stern's, Paramus.
150 NLRB 799, is dispositive of the instant case,
inasmuch as in that-case the Board "carved out a
separate warehouse unit," in a facility whee the
warehousing and sales functions , as is true her, were
performed ' - under one `roof." We disagrees The
particular unit- found appropriate " in' Stern's was a unitt
not' of warehouse -,employees but of all -nonselling
employees in a large department `store, with ''a
different composition-'from that of the instant case,'
and without 'evidence of the cross-supervision and
interchange indicative of the highly integrated Qpera-'
tions of `the-instant' Employer' s store.'Furthermore' in-
view of the ' .ongshoremen's- above-stated -conten
tions, from which we deduce that it essentially seeks Ia
warehouse unit, we find, contrary to the Lo hore=`
men, that the decisions in A. Harris, &tCo.,116 14LRB
1628; Sears, Roebuck"& Co., 117 NLRB-133; Sears,
Roebuck & "Cti.; -180 NLRB No. 132; and 'ears,
Roebuck & Co., 182'NLRB No.121, involving s'niilar'
relatively small, integrated store operation, -are
clearly dispositive of the instant case. In all'o^ "these
decisions it is clearly stated that, in circumstances like
the present, the 'Board evil,' not permit a separate
warehouse- unit unless the following` three factors
pertain: (1) the employees are under separate supervi-
sion; (2) they perform substantially all their, work
tasks in, buildings geographically separated - from
those in which the bulk of the'remaining employees
work; and (3) they are not integrated, to any
substantial degree, with" employees in other diMisions
in" the performance off their ordinary duties. None of
these' factors 'is satisfied in the instant case.2 As an
additional reason` for not according the Longshore-
men the so-called warehouse `unifvit seeks, we find
that, by the exclusion of certain employee categories
engaged in warehouse duties, including warehouse
coma unity • of _ interest- among- the warehouse employees 'suffcientto
warrant placing them in a ,separate unit . rThis, principle was followed by the
Board `m Lovemas Joseph & Loeb Division of Cily Stores Company, Inc., 152
NLRB 719; J W Robinson"Co._153 NLRB' 989;` John's Barg'ain' Stores
Corp., 160 NLRB 1519. The present case is,' for reasons noted, infra clearly
distinguishable from these cases.
LEVITZ FURNITURE CO. OF SANTA CLARA, INC. 63
clerks, trimmers, janitors, and maids, the warehouse
unit it seeks is further 'defective, because it fails to
include all of the employees who perform warehouse
functions .3 For the same reason, we find inappropri-
ate the Longshoremen's and the Teamsters alterna-
tive unit.4
As to the. Teamsters,-original unit of truckdrivers
and truckdriver helpers, • they are under the same
common supervision as several_ of the store employ-
ees, as noted „above; -receive, substantially similar
benefits; work the same hours; and are paid on the
same basis as other employees. Their duties are
closely associated with the plant operations. Notwith-
standing that the truckdrivers spend a majority of
their time' away from the plant, there exists such
regular and frequent interchange with other employ-
ees in the store as to,warranta finding that they do not
constitute a separate identifiable unit. Thus, they
spend a substantial portion of their time working
3 Sears; Roebuck & Co., 182 NLRB No. 121.
4 Sears, Roebuck & Co., 182NLRB No. 321.
5 See Dura-Containers, Inc., 164 NLRB 293; Kalamazoo Paper Box`
Corporation, 136 NLRB 134 at 138 ; Clandge Logging Company, Inc., 164
alongside, or in close proximity with, other employ-
ees, and other employees also makeFtruck-deliveries.
In such circumstances , which tend to emphasize the
community of interest of all of, the employees at the
Employer's store, we find that the truckdrivers do not
constitute a functionally distinct group' with, special
interests sufficient to warrant their separate
representation3
Accordingly, we find that none of the units herein
sought constitutes a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9(b) of the Act, and we shall therefore dismiss the
instant petitions.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the instant petitions be, and
theyherebyare, dismissed.
NLRB 168; Boyden Logging I sc., 164 NLRB `1069. Compare 6. Fox & Co.,
155 NLRB 1080 ; J. L Brandeis & Sons, -Inc.,. 142 NLRB $25; Searss,
Roebuck & Co., 123 NLRB 942; Maas Brothers, Inc., 119 NLRB 568; Sears,,
Roebuck & Ca, 118 NLRB 277.