V. J. Elmore 5 cent, 10 cent and $1.00 Stores, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 30, 1952

99 N.L.R.B. 1505 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

V.J. ELMORE 50, 10¢ AND $1.00 STORES , INCORPORATED 1505-
V. J. ELMORE 5¢, 100 AND $1.00 STORES, INCORPORATED (STORE No. 60)
and RETAIL CLERKS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION, A. F. or L.,
PETITIONER . Case No. 10-RC-1819. Jwne 30, 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 John S. Patton, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
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
employees 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 Petitioner seeks a single unit of employees at the Employer's
Sheffield, Alabama, store (Store No. 60), including part-time em-
ployees. The Employer opposes this unit, contending that these em-
ployees may be represented only ill a I5roadei' unit coextensive with
all of the stores in its Tennessee Valley district; in any event, it would
exclude the part-time employees.
Of the Employer's 61 stores, 18 comprise the Tennessee Valley dis-
trict, with 4 in Mississippi and 14, including the Sheffield store here
.ought by the Petitioner, in Alabama. The district is run by a single
supervisor, located at Russellville, Alabama, about 20 miles from
Sheffield. He has complete authority over all 18 stores with respect
to inventories, hiring and firing, and establishment of wage rates and
hours of work.
In turn, there is a store manager in charge of each store. Although
wages are generally uniform throughout the district, hours of work
vary from one store to another, as they depend upon custom in the
local community. The local store managers cannot grant wage in-
creases, but they do recommend such increases to the district super-
visor. The local managers are also authorized to hire, and do hire,
part-time employees. There is almost no interchange of clerks from
store to store within the district, and seniority is on an individual store,
i The Employer operates at chain of retail stores, 57 in the State of Alabama and 4 in
the State of Mississippi This proceeding involves only its Sheffield, Alabama, store,
known as Slore No. 60 As the Employer is a multistate enterprise, we find, contrary
to the Employer 's contention , that it will effectuate the policies of the Act to assert juris-
diction in this case Belks Deparment Stoic of Savannah, Ga., Inc ., 93 NLRB 729
99 NLRB No. 163.
1506 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
rather than a district-wide, basis. Store No. 60 is the only one in
Sheffield, Alabama. So far as appears in the record, the nearest store
is 20 miles away. In the past there has been no collective bargaining
among any of the Employer's employees.
On these facts, and because no labor organization now seeks to repre-
sent employees of the Employer on other than this single-store basis,
we find that a unit comprised of the employees of Store No. 60 is1
appropriate 2
Like all other employees in the store, the part-time employees, ap-
proximately five in number, perform selling duties. They are chosen
from a separate payroll of part-time employees kept by the Employer,
and average approximately 91/2 hours of work per week. All em-
ployees, including the part-time workers, are hourly paid. On the
foregoing facts, and upon the entire record, we find that these five em-
ployees are regular part-time workers, and, in accordance with Board
policy, we shall include them in the unit .3
Accordingly, we find that all employees at the Employer's Store
No. 60, Sheffield, Alabama, including regular part-time employees and
the head saleslady,4 but excluding all supervisors as defined in the Act,
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
2 The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, 85 NLRB 680; Safeway Stores, Inc., 88
NLRB 1335. To the extent that our decision herein is inconsistent with the Board's
decision in Grand Unuon Company, 81 NLRB 1016 , that earlier decision is hereby overruled.
3II.'B. Church Truck Service C6mp'any, 95 NLRB No. 192.
4 The head saleslady does some clerical work in addition to her regular selling duties.
She has no authority to hire or discharge , and has never recommended such action. She
-exercises no discretion in assigning work or making up orders , but merely relays the
orders and assignments from the store manager to the other employees . In agreement
with the Employer 's contention , which the Petitioner does not dispute , we find that the
head saleslady is not a supervisor as defined in the Act.
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