The Russel Co., 668 (1962)

THE RUSSEL COMPANY and LOCAL UNION NO. 891, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA,

AFL, Petitioner HATTIESBURG GROCERY COMPANY and LOCAL UNION NO.

891, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS,

CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, Petitioner THE RUSSEL COMPANY, INC. and TEAMSTERS LOCAL UNION NO. 5, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, Petitioner. Cases Nos. 15-RC-1002, 15-RC-1003, and 15-RC-1004. December 31, 1953

DECISION, ORDER, AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS Upon separate petitions duly filed' under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before John H. Immel, Jr., 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 consolidated proceeding, the Board finds:

1. The Employers are severally engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act, and we find that it will effectuate the policies of the Act to assert jurisdiction in these cases.! 2. The Petitioners claim to represent certain employees of the Employers.

3. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the representation of employees of the Employers named in Cases Nos. 15-RC-1002 and 15-RC-1003, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.

   No such question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of employees in Case No. 15-RC-1004, for the reasons set forth below.

4. The three Employers severally concerned in this consolidated proceeding are engaged in the wholesale grocery business . Their business operations are centered in warehouses where orders from customers are received and filled and from which goods are dispatched to their customers.

   Facilities for cash-and-carry operations, if afforded, are located at or near the warehouses. The operations of each Employer are closely integrated and subject to unified overall supervision and common labor and operational policies.

   Employees in the warehouses and cash departments are inter1 Tlh. several petitions were amended at the hearing to show the correct name of the Employer designated therein.

   2N. L. R. B v. Townsend. 185 F. 2d 378, 383 (C. A. 9); Huleston Drug Stores v. N. L. R. B , 187 F. 2d 418 (C A 9) 107 NLRB No 147 changed . Materials , received and stored by warehouse employees, are dispatched to cash outlets and customers by company trucks. These material -handling employees include, principally , warehousemen and truckdrivers , together with helpers, checkers , stock clerks, etc ., who perform the duties normally associated with such work classifications.

   The principal issues in the first two cases concern the inclusion in the proposed warehousemen -truckdriver unit of certain inside clerical workers, and of salesmen whose working interests are alleged to be clearly distinguishable from those of material handlers , as such. The issue in the third case concerns the extent of the appropriate unit.

   A. Case No. 15 -RC-1002, The Russel Company, ( Jackson, Mississippi).

   The Petitioner seeks to represent truckdrivers , helpers, and warehousemen at the Employer ' s warehouse at South Gallatin Street, Jackson, Mississippi, including repairmen and employees at its cash store on South State Street,' but excluding the stock clerk , the cashier , salesmen, office clerical employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act . 4 The Employer objects to the exclusion of the stock clerk and salesmen.

   The stock clerk , concerning whose unit placement the parties disagree , is a warehouse employee who works in close cooperation with the Employer ' s 3 buyers. Engaged in maintaining current inventory of stock, he spends 5 or 6 hours per day in the warehouse proper , counting stock and making entries on inventory cards, and the remainder of his time in the warehouse office, transferring this information from the cards to office...