Alfred M. Lewis, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board

Alfred M. Lewis, Inc. (Company) petitions for review of an order of the National Labor Relations Board (Board), and the Board by cross-application seeks enforcement of its order. This court has jurisdiction under sections 10(e) and (f) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA or Act), 29 U.S.C. § 160 (e)-(f), since the underlying unfair labor practices occurred in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Company operates four wholesale grocery warehouses, including one located in Phoenix. The warehouse and trucking employees at the Phoenix warehouse are represented by Transport and Local Delivery Drivers, Warehousemen and Helpers, Local 104 (Union). In its warehouses the Company employs “order runners” who drive lift trucks through the warehouse aisles, collecting merchandise listed on an order and depositing the items at a loading dock for delivery to the Company’s customers. For several years, order runners at the Phoenix warehouse have achieved lower production rates than order runners at the Company’s other warehouses. In early 1975 the Company began what it designated an “informal” program of employee counseling in an effort to improve production. In March, 1975, after this procedure had…