Scholastic Magazines, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 30, 1971

192 N.L.R.B. 461 (N.L.R.B. 1971)

SCHOLASTIC MAGAZINES INC.
Scholastic Magazines , Incorporated and International
Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Ware-
housemen -& Helpers of America, Local No. 833,
Petitioner. Case 17-RC-6485
July 30, 1971
DECISION ON REVIEW AND
DIRECTION
BY CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS JENKINS
AND KENNEDY
On December 31, 1970,'the Regional Director for
Region 17 issued a Decision and Direction of Election
in which he found appropriate the petitioned-for unit
of warehouse and maintenance employees at the
Employer's Jefferson City, Missouri, facility. There-
after, in accordance with Section 102.67 of the
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regula-
tions and Statements of % procedure, Series 8, as
amended, the Employer filed a timely Request for
Review of the Regional Director's Decision, contend-
ing that his unit determination was erroneous.
The Board by telegraphic order dated January 29,
1971, granted the Request for Review.
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 this case to a three-member
panel.
The Board has considered the- entire record in this
case with respect to the issues under review and makes
the following findings:
The Petitioner seeks a ,,unit limited to the warehouse
and maintenance departments at, the Employer's
Jefferson .City location. The Employer contends that
the unit should also include all other employees
engaged in - the order-filling process, as described
below, because its Jefferson City location is a
functionally integrated operation where employees of
all departments enjoy identical wages, hours, and
other conditions of • employment. The Regional
Director, in agreement with the Petitioner, concluded
that the employees of the warehouse and maintenance
departments had interests sufficiently different from
those of other employees so as to constitutela separate
appropriate warehouse and maintenance unit. We
disagree.
The Employer manufactures and sells paperback
books, primarily to students and teachers. The only
facility involved in this proceeding is the Jefferson
City plant which processes and ships orders within an
area encompassing 19 States. Operations first began
at Jefferson City in January 1968 , with only a
warehouse department and a maintenance depart-
ment. In February 1969 the Company began adding
192 NLRB No. 64
461
on the three additional departments which would
enable it to both process and ship orders from this
location. The facility has now reached its -expected
size and consists of a -warehouse- building and an
office building which are connected by 'a 25-foot
corridor. There are presently five administrative
departments: The cashiers department, the order
processing department, the customer service, depart-
ment, the warehouse department, and the mainte-
nance department. -
Employees-in all departments work directly from the
customer's original order, a printed company form on
which the customer himself computes the - total
number of items and the total cost of the order. Order
forms are received by mail and picked up -from the
post' office by a driver from the maintenance
department and delivered to the: cashiers department
which has approximately 18 employees. Mail clerks
open the mail;, processing clerks sort the orders
according to the Company's five categories of books;
and deposit clerks detach the check or money which
must accompany the order and-prepare it for deposit.
If' there are no problems with the order, it will be
carried to the order processing department,-by the
mail clerk (also an employee of the cashiers depart-,
ment) -who carries all orders and other internal mail
from one department to -another.
The order processing department has approximate=
ly 50 employees. Clerks check the order forms to be
sure that the customer has correctly computed the
total number of items and the-total cost-of his order
and a checker then checks the clerk's-work. If the
figures are correct, an order .processing clerk records
the order and the customer's order form is transmitted
by the mail clerk to the warehouse. ' -
The warehouse department has approximately 140,
employees,- and again the basic job classification is
that of clerk. The warehouse order clerk or "picker"
polls the books listed on -the order form ,and places
them in a box on a conveyor line. While on the
conveyor -line, the label is glued on the box; a checker
makes a random check of the picker's accuracy;
staffers fill in empty spaces in the box; sealing tape is
applied; and the box is sorted as to destination,
posted, and loaded on the trucks for delivery.
The customer service department-which has ap-
proximately 10 employees-receives any order requir-
ing special attention. Clerks there handle orders
which are not on the Company's printed order form or
orders which do not include the customer's address,
etc. if a customer is complaining,-of damaged or
incomplete orders, a "book returns clerk" processes,
picks, and prepares the correct order for shipment'
directly from the separate stock of 10,000-to 15,000
books which is regularly kept in the customer service
department for that purpose.
462 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The maintenance department has approximately
seven employees and performs the standard mainte-
nance functions . While the office of the maintenance
supervisor, is located in'.the warehouse area, mainte-
nance department, employees work in, both the
warehouse and office areas, and-unlike employees
of the other four departments-are regularly -in
contact with employees of all departments.
Although employees of the cashiers department, the
order processing department, and the customer
service department are located in the office area of the
Employee's complex, the level of skills and the
conditions of employment for warehouse employees
are substantially the same as those of employees of the
three processing departments. The' basic job classifi-
cation in all four departments is that of clerk and the
clerks in all departments perform more or less routine
functions;--'working directly from the customer's order
form. In keeping with the similarity in the level of
skills, clerks in all departments have approximately
the same, minimum and maximum pay rates and the
same eligibility requirement, for progression to a
higher wage rate. Each of - the five departments is
separately supervised and,, with the exception- of
maintenance department employees and the , mail
clerk from the cashiers department, there is normally
no contact between employees of different depart-
ments. during working hours. Employees,in all five
departments enjoy the same on-site cafeteria and
parking lot privileges, all-punch a timeclock, and all
are hourly paid. All work thesame hours and are paid
on the same day,,and the personnel department hires
employees for all, five departments. -
Each department has some classifications requiring,
considerable skill and each has some classifications
which require the ability to operate machinery. While
some warehouse and maintenance employeesperform,
heavier physical work, the warehouse department also
has a , number of clerical positions such- as secretary,
invoice clerks; stock records clerks, etc. The majority
of, warehouse employees-the, warehouse order
clerks-are not required to. do heavy lifting or
moving. The Employer, in fact, looks upon the
experienced warehouse order clerk as a trained and
valued employee and, in order to receive the full
benefit of his warehouse training, initially staffed the
i Cf. Riker Laboratories, 156 NLRB 1099.
2 CL' 0. E. McIntyre Inc. 118 NLRB 1290.
3 We find ,the reliance of, the 'Regional Director on Garrett Supply Co.,
165 NLRB 561, misplaced. Garrett represents a typical industrial
warehouse operation' where warehouse employees were required to handle
industrial tools and' supplies, whereas the excluded office employees
exercised unrelated skills in that they dealt directly with customers by
telephone and prepared , order forms and warehouse worksheets from an
inventory of over 70,000 items. As noted' above, in the instant case,
employees in all departments perform related functions in a 'more or less
routine manner and exercise similar or related skills. -
41n agreement with the Regional Director and pursuant to the
stipulation of the parties , employees of the personnel and accounting units
three processing departments with warehouse em-
ployees and has consistently maintained a policy of
filling vacancies in the three processing departments
by transferring experienced warehouse employees.
Likewise, there is some functional similarity and
interchange between the warehouse and maintenance
departments and the three processing departments.
Specifically, the book returns clerks in"the' customer
service department regularly perform exactly the
same function as warehouse order clerks, and, when
work is short in their department, warehouse order
clerks help the book returns clerks or assist clerks in
the order processing department in preparing custom-
er labels., Alternatively, the book returns clerk may
occasionally be put to work in the warehouse. The
mail clerk from the cashiers department regularly
substitutes for the maintenance department driver
and also takes the postage meters-all of which are
located in the warehouse-infor recharging.
In our view, the, Employer is engaged in a single
highly integrated process, i.e., filling the customers'
orders, and employees of the three processing depart-
ments and warehouse employees participate equally
and fully in this singleprocess. Accordingly, and-since
employees in the three processing departments
perform related functions and exercise skills similar to
those of warehouse department employees,' and
because- no substantial distinctions can be drawn
between the warehouse and maintenance depart-
ments and the three processing departments with
respect to wages, level of skills, supervision, benefits,
and other conditions of employment,2 we find,
contrary to the Regional Directors that the appropri-
ate unit must include, in addition to warehouse and
maintenance employees, employees of the cashiers
department, the order processing department; and the
customer service department .4
Accordingly, we shall remand the case to the
Regional Director in order that he,may, in,the event
the Petitioner demonstrates to him within 10 days that
it', has an adequate showing'of interest in the broader
unit found appropriate herein, conduct an election in
accordance , with his Decision and Direction, of
Election, as modified herein,5 except that the eligibili-
ty dated therefor,, shall be that immediately preceding
- -the date below.
are excluded from the unit herein found appropriate in that they `are
supervisory, confidential , or technical employees.
However, the cafeteria employees whom the Regional Director had
excluded from the warehouse and maintenance unit will be included in the
overall unit herein `found appropriate. These employees are administrative-
ly part of ithe maintenance department and prepare and serve food to tall
empioyeesl They are hourly paid, and receive the same benefits,as other
e'mployees! included in the unit and, in keeping with normal Board policy
for the ' unit placement of such employees will be included in the unit.
Mead Atldnta Paper Company, 123 NLRB 306, 309.
^ ,BAs the unit found appropriate is broader than that requested, the
Petitioner i may withdraw its petition without prejudice upon written notice
SCHOLASTIC MAGAZINES INC. 463
DIRECTION
The case, is hereby' remanded to the Regional
Director for Region 17 for the purpose of conducting
an election pursuant to his Decision and Direction of
Election, as modified herein, subject to the Petition-
er's presentation of an adequate showing of interest
among the employees in the -appropriate unit. -The
eligibility date shall be the payroll period immediately
preceding the date of issuances
to the Regional Director within 10 days from the date of this Decision on
Review and Direction.
6 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.LRB. 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
by the Employer with the Regional Director for Region 17 within 7 days of
the date of this Decision on Review and Direction . The list may, initially be
used by the Regional Director to assist in determining an adequate
showing of interest . The Regional Director shall make the list available to
all parties, to the election when he shall have determined that an adequate
showing of interest ..mong the employees in thennit found appropriate has
been established . 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 elect
ion whenever proper objections are filed.