Television Co. of Maryland, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 18, 1952

101 N.L.R.B. 355 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

TELEVISION COMPANY OF MARYLAND, INC. 355
TELEVISION COMPANY OF MARYLAND, INC. and LOCAL UNION No. 1446,
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, AFL, PETI-
TIONER. Case No. 5-RC-1150. November 18, 1952
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 Robert J. Wall, hear-
ing 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-member
panel [Members Houston, Styles, and Peterson].
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 seeks a unit confined to employees at the Employer's
Baltimore, Maryland, warehouse engaged in the service, installation,
and delivery of television and radio receivers, including parts men and
check-out men. The Employer asserts that, because of alleged inte-
gration of its operations, the unit should include all the employees
at its nine retail outlets and warehouse in Baltimore and vicinity, or,
in the alternative, all the employees at its warehouse with the excep-
tion of outside salesmen. There has been no history of bargaining
with respect to the Employer's employees.
The Employer is engaged in the retail sale and servicing of televi-
sion and radio receivers, deep freezers, refrigerators, and other
electrical appliances. Its operations are conducted through its ware-
house and nine retail outlets and all its personnel are on straight
weekly salary except salesmen, who are paid by drawing account
against commission. The personnel at the retail outlets consist of
salesmen, a few maintenance men, and part-time porters, who
apparently perform the usual duties of their classifications.
1 During the year ending February 28, 1952, Employer's total purchases were $1,543,385,
of which about $47,000 worth of merchandise was received directly from points outside
the State and approximately $1,000,000 worth was received indirectly from points outside
the State. We find, contrary to the Employer's contention, that it is engaged in commerce
and we shall assert jurisdiction herein. Dorn's House of Miracles, Inc, 91 NLRB 632.
101 NLRB No. 85
242305-53 -24
356 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The employees sought by Petitioner are employed in the warehouse,
which is separately located, in the service and delivery, and
service departments. These employees are under the supervision of
Parrish, vice president in charge of the service and delivery of all
appliances , and they consist of bench repair, road service, installation,
check-out, parts, and delivery men. The benchmen work on sets in
need of repair which are brought into the warehouse either by the
set owners or by other servicemen who are unable to make the repairs,
or the sets may be referred to them by the check-out men, discussed
below. While the henchmen are the most competent of the television
repairmen, they are not required to have previous television training
and no certificate or diploma is required. The check-out men take sets
out of crates, inspect them, see that they are in proper mechanical and
electronic order, and make necessary mechanical adjustments. They
have some previous radio knowledge, but their television experience
was picked up casually on the job. Road service men-12 in all-
-answer complaints at the homes of set owners. Each is equipped with
a truck and when it is necessary for the set to be taken to the ware-
house for attention, the road men may haul it themselves or arrange
for the delivery men to do so. The installation crews-2 crews of 2
men each-install television in the home and do outside antenna work.
They are the least skilled television men. The parts men, located in
the television stockroom, issue new parts to service personnel, maintain
records for same, keep the inventory in current order, and buy parts
as needed. The delivery men 2 are not assigned exclusively to radio
rind television delivery. Approximately one-half of the 14 delivery
men are currently engaged in television delivery and the others deliver
the other appliances sold by Employer. Since delivery tasks depend
on the volume of sale during a particular season, it is usual for all
delivery men to be assigned to general delivery as television sales
slacken.
Other employees working in or out of the warehouse and not sought
by Petitioner are : Appliance servicer.7en, clerical employees, 30 out-
side salesmen, 4 warehousemen, 4 advertising employees, 2 window
trimmers, and maintenance men.
The appliance-servicemen work under Parrish's supervision and
appear to repair appliances other than radio and television.
The clericals are under separate supervision and handle all records
of sales and service, as well as performing routine office and. book-
' Employer rents all but one of its trucks from a trucking concern. The remaining truck
is the property of delivery man De Paula who the Petitioner contends is an independent
contractor. The same rental terms apply to De Paula's truck as to the others. Drivers
and helpers , including De Paula , constituting the delivery force, are hired by Employer
and De Paula is subject to the same c^nditions of employment as the other delivery men
and receives a weekly salary. Contrary to Petitioner's contention, we find that De Paula
is not an independent contractor . Beeclawood Lumber company , 77 NLRB 1053.
TELEVISION COMPANY OF MARYLAND, INC. 357
keeping duties. Some take service calls and others handle service
contracts, checking expirations and renewals.
Of the outside salesmen, those engaged in promotin Employer's
food freezer plan are under separate supervision from the salesmen
selling all other appliances, who are under the supervision of Parrish.
As already indicated, the salesmen are paid on a different basis than
the other employees.
The warehousemen perform the usual heavy duty work of storing
and transporting to various departments the appliances handled by
Employer. These employees work in close contact with the delivery
men and the nature of the two jobs differs very little.
The duties of the advertising employees, who are under separate
supervision, window trimmers, and maintenance employees, while not
defined at the hearing, apparently are the usual tasks of their classi-
fications.
The Board has permitted radio and television repairmen to con-
stitute a separate unit where they were highly skilled and comprised
substantially a separate department.' In the present case, however,
the radio and television repairmen sought by the Petitioner are neither
highly skilled nor do they comprise a separate department. More-
over, the Petitioner seeks to include with these radio and television
repairmen such unskilled employees as delivery men, who deliver all
appliances, and parts men. We find, therefore, that the unit sought
by the Petitioner is inappropriate.4 However, we are of the opinion
that all manual employees at the Employer's warehouse constitute a
separate appropriate unit.5 We shall exclude from such unit not only
the salesmen, as requested by the Employer, but also the clerical em-
ployees, advertising employees, and window trimmers whose interests
are diverse from those of the warehouse manual workers.6
Accordingly, we find that all the employees' at the Employer's
Baltimore, Maryland, warehouse and service building, excluding re-
3 The Dayton Company , 94 NLRB 840 ; General Electric Supply Corpo + ation, 83 NLRB
1135
4 Dowd's Radio and Electric Company , 91 NLRB 640 ; cf. Montgomery Ward and Com-
pany, 99 NLRB 1490
6 See Dorn 's House of Miracles , Inc.. 91 NLRB 632; Jordan Marsh Company , 78 NLRB
1031. This unit is larger than that sought by Petitioner However, we have adminis-
tratively determined that Petitioner has an adequate showing of interest in the larger
group and we shall provide that an election be held among this group If the Petitioner
d-es not desire to participate in an election at this time , we shall permit it to withdraw
its petition without prejudice upon notice to the Regional Director within 5 days after
Issuance of this Decision and Direction of Election and shall thereupon vacate the direction
of election
See Colowial Fuel Co ., 99 NLRB No. 157; Jordon Marsh Company , supra ; Whitney's
Department Store, 73 NLRB 1245.
'The record is not clear as to whether cabinet , or woodwork , repairers are employed at
the warehouse If such employees are employed at Employer's warehouse and perform
the usual duties of their class! flea ti,n, they are included in the unit See Doon's House
of Miracles, Inc, supra
358 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tail outlet employees, salesmen, advertising employees, window trim-
mers, clerical employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
BONWIT TELLER & COMPANY and RETAIL CLERKS INTERNATIONAL
ASSOCIATION, LOCAL No. 1390, AFL, PETITIONER. Case No. 4-RC-
1669. November 18, 1952
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 Ramey Donovan, 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-member
panel [Members Houston, Murdock, and Styles].
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 Employer, a Pennsylvania corporation, is engaged in oper-
ating a specialty shop at its principal place of business in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, for the retail sale of women's wear and accessories, and
of men's and children's wear. The parties agree , with the exceptions
noted below, that a unit of all regular full-time and part-time selling
and nonselling employees is appropriate. There is no history of col-
lective bargaining affecting these employees.
"Contingent employees" and "extras": The Employer would include
and the Petitioner exclude the "contingent" employees. Among the
Employer's part-time employees are "contingent" selling and non-
selling employees who are not employed on a regular schedule, but
who are called to work as needed. The record reveals that they work
from 1 to 4 days each week for a period of from 6 to 7 months a year,
and that there is relatively little turnover among them. These em-
ployees perform the same duties and work under the same conditions
as do the regular and regular part-time selling and nonselling em-
101 NLRB No. 00