McLeod v. SECURITY GUARDS & WATCHMEN LOCAL U. NO. 802

• Decision Date: 05 November 1971
• Docket Number: No. 71 Civ. 4762.,71 Civ. 4762.
• Citation: 333 F. Supp. 768
• Parties: Ivan C. McLEOD, Regional Director of the Second Region of the National Labor Relations Board, For and on Behalf of the NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner, v. SECURITY GUARDS AND WATCHMEN LOCAL UNION NO. 803, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, affiliated with Joint Council No. 16, I. B. of T., Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

333 F. Supp. 768

Ivan C. McLEOD, Regional Director of the Second Region of the National Labor Relations Board, For and on Behalf of the NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner, v. SECURITY GUARDS AND WATCHMEN LOCAL UNION NO. 803, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, affiliated with Joint Council No. 16, I. B. of T., Respondent.

No. 71 Civ. 4762.

United States District Court, S. D. New York.

November 5, 1971.

Edwin H. Bennett, N.L.R.B. Region 2, New York City, for petitioner.

Howard Lichtenstein, Proskauer, Rose, Goetz & Mendelsohn, New York City, for Bloomingdales.

Eugene S. Friedman, Cohen, Weiss & Simon, New York City, for respondent.

MEMORANDUM

BRIEANT, District Judge.

Petitioner, on behalf of the National Labor Relations Board ("N.L.R.B.") has applied for an injunction restraining respondent, pending final disposition of the matter currently before the N.L.R.B., from picketing the premises of Bloomingdales, a department store, at its branch at 59th Street in Manhattan or at any other location, where an object of such picketing is to force or require Bloomingdales to recognize or bargain with respondent as the representative of its security employees or to force or require Bloomingdales employees to accept or select respondent as their collective bargaining representative, unless and until respondent is certified as the representative of such employees pursuant to the provisions of Section 9 of the National Labor Relations Act 29 U.S.C. § 158(b) (7).

A temporary restraining order was also sought but withheld in the discretion of the Court, conditioned on a prompt hearing of the motion.

This application may be granted upon a showing that there is reasonable cause to believe that respondent has engaged in the unfair labor practices charged, and that a complaint of the Board based on the charges will likely issue. Under such circumstances, petitioner is required by Section 10(l) of the Act to petition the Court for a temporary injunction against the continuation of the unfair labor practice until the Board has determined the matter.

There is no substantial issue of fact which must be determined in order to dispose of this application. The respondent has advised this Court that it has authorization cards signed by all or substantially all of the persons, numbering approximately 80 employees, whom it wishes to represent at Bloomingdales. It commenced recognitional picketing at the store on October 22, 1971. Such picketing continues to date, and will continue unless the injunction is granted. After the instant application was made to this Court, respondent filed a petition for certification with N.L.R.B. on November 1, 1971, in which it sought to include "all store detectives, checkers, guards and watchmen" in the bargaining unit.

We are advised that since commencement of the picketing on October 22nd, there have been no deliveries of inventory to this large retail store at which 4,000 other persons are employed, (most of them represented by a different union which has been certified as their collective bargaining representative). In addition, about 95% of the goods sold are required to be delivered and carriers of such goods, presumably also affiliated with the teamsters, have refused to cross the picket lines.

It seems undisputed that if the picketing continues, the store must close and the 4,000 other employees must be laid off. Obviously, such occurrence would result in substantial and irreparable injury to the charging party. Issuance of a temporary injunction until the Board may act, will, on the other hand, work little, if any, hardship upon respondent.

The claim of "unfair labor practice" presently before the N.L.R.B. pursuant to a charge filed by Bloomingdales and accepted by the petitioner in his capacity as Regional Director, is pending a hearing before a board examiner, and petitioner avers that there is a substantial likelihood that upon the report of such examiner a determination will be made by the Board that the respondent is engaging and has engaged in unfair labor practices within the meaning of Section 8(b) (7) (C) of the Act. This charge is based upon the assertion that the bargaining unit which respondent seeks to represent consists of 10 uniform guards, 21 plainclothes detectives, 12 watchmen and 39 fitting room checkers. Fitting room checkers have previously been held by N.L.R.B. to be "guards" within the provisions of Section 9(b) (3) of the Act. Lord & Taylor, 150 N.L.R.B. 812, 817 (1965). By letter dated October 4, 1971 addressed to the President of Bloomingdales, asserting majority representation of these employees, respondent, in effect, concedes that the individuals are "security guards at your stores." If all of said individuals are not guards, then we are confronted with the situation of a mixed unit of guards and non-guards, also within the statute.

The statute provides as follows:

(b) The Board shall decide in each case whether, in order to assure to employees the

...