St Louis MO Warehousing and Distribution

" FARMERS HOME ADMINISTRATION FINANCE
OFFICE, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI
Respondent

Circumstances Relating to Union Access to Bargaining Unit Members

With the exception of about 14 bargaining unit employees, bargaining unit members work in an office building located at 1520 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri (Tr. 36, 88). /12/ The small group of 14 is located in a warehouse facility in Granite City, Illinois, a community situated within the St. Louis metropolitan area (Tr. 88). The Market Street address is a four story building controlled by the General Services Administration. The first three floors are utilized to house Respondent’s employees (Tr. 89). Other federal agencies maintain offices on the fourth floor (Tr. 89). The building has two exits and two entrances (Tr. 37). Most of the employees utilize a single main entrance (Tr. 37, 89). Most of Respondent's employees work at desks in an office environment (Tr. 89). Upper levels of the building are reached by elevators and stairs (Tr. 89). It is a common practice for the Union to pass out literature at building entrances and at other locations inside the building (Tr. 37-38).

The officers and members of the Union who are Employees of the Employer may make personal distribution of their newsletter and other Union publications in the working areas of the Finance Office during non-duty hours of the Employees involved.

The quoted language of the agreement gives the Union the right to utilize ""desk drops"" for the purpose of communicating with bargaining unit members. All bargaining unit members may be reached through the use of this means of communication, which has in the past involved the deposit of newsletters and other Union publications on the desks of employees during non-duty time (Tr. 81-82). The Charging Party contended that messages left in this manner were not protected, and could easily be intercepted by supervisors and non-bargaining unit members (Tr. 84-85). It was also claimed that it would not be possible to ascertain which desks were assigned to bargaining unit employees (Tr. 84-85). Nevertheless, the record did establish that newsletters were distributed through ""desk drops"" for the purpose of soliciting the opinions of bargaining unit members despite the fact that newsletters and ""desk drops"" were considered inappropriate formats for the dissemination of confidential information, or for ""any sort of detailed solicitation of employee views on detailed bargaining positions"" (Tr. 27-28).

"The Union contended that """"desk drops"""" interfered with employee duties, and that a large percentage of the messages left were discarded (Tr. 84, 87-88). However, the record was quite clear that despite the possibility of work disruption, the Respondent allowed this method of communication during non-duty time under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. Further, there was no evidence that a direct mailing would have evoked a greater employee response; and claims that a mailing would be more effective, or more confidential in nature were purely speculative in nature as no evidence was introduced to establish either premises. /14/ The record reflected no basis for finding that a wide distribution to all bargaining unit members by mail would produce a greater degree of confidentiality than a similar distribution accomplished through a desk drop. Moreover, information received through """"desk drops"""" might be studied at home by employees (Tr. 104), or during non-duty time, thus refuting contentions that in the absence of mailings to home addresses employees would be precluded from thoroughly studying information distributed.""

Credits

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