93 N.L.R.B. 1572 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

The William Schluderberg-T. J. Kurdle Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsApr 18, 1951

93 N.L.R.B. 1572 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

1572 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD find that the regular part-time engineer is eligible to vote in such election." [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this- volume.] 11 Radio Industries , Inc., 91 NLRB No. 124; Ridson, Inc. Radio Station WDSM , footnote 10, supra. THE WILLIAM SCHLUDERBERG -T. J. KURDLE Co. and AMALGAMATED MEAT CUTTERS AND BUTCHER WORKMEN OF NORTH AMERICA, LOCAL, 149, AFL, PETITIONER . Case No. 5-RC-796. April 18, 1951 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 A. Lincoln Klaver, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. For the reasons set. forth in paragraph numbered 4, below, the Employer's motion to dis- miss the petition is denied. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Reynolds]. 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 em- ployees 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 to represent 4 office janitors employed in the Employer's Baltimore, Maryland, meat packing plant. It requests,. alternatively in order of preference, (1) that they be added to the existing over-all production and maintenance unit (approximately 1,000 employees now represented by the Petitioner), without any elec- tion, (2) that they be polled in a self-determination election for inclu- sion in that unit, or (3) that they be placed in a separate bargaining unit. The Employer opposes each of these requests, contending that. the office janitors do not have sufficiently distinctive interests to con- stitute a separate unit, and yet are too unlike the employees in the pro- duction and maintenance unit to be joined with them, 93 NLRB No. 266. THE WILLIAM SCHLUDERBERG-T. J. KURDLE' Co.. 1573 The office janitors work in and about the offices, performing such custodial tasks as cleaning the offices, emptying wastebaskets, and dust- ing desks. One of them works days and the other three at night. This same type of work is performed in the production areas and in the locker rooms by plant janitors and by night laborers. All these cleaning service employees are included in the plant's sanitation de- partment under supervision of a single foreman; they work under the same labor policies as all other employees in the plant and enjoy the same benefits, such as vacations and holidays. The office janitors have not been covered by the past collective bargaining contracts be- tween the Petitioner and the Employer, because, as the Petitioner's .attorney stated at the hearing, the Petitioner was not aware that such workers were employed in the offices.' We reject the Employer's contention that the office janitors may not be included in the existing plant-wide unit. As to their duties, they have exact counterparts in the production areas; in all other respects they work under substantially the same terms and conditions as all other employees in the plant. We therefore find that they may appro- priately be included in the existing production and maintenance unit. No question of representation exists at the present time in the larger unit of employees and therefore no election will be held among them. Because the office janitors have previously been excluded from the over-all unit, we shall, in accordance with established Board policy, not include them unless they indicate in a separate election that they desire to be a part of it.2 For the reasons stated in the Board's recent decision in Great Lakes Pipe Line Company,' we find no merit in the Employer's argument that no election may be held among the office janitors because they may not constitute an appropriate bargaining unit apart from the remaining employees. Accordingly, we shall direct an election among all Employees in the following voting group: All office janitors employed at the Em- ployer's plant in Baltimore, Maryland, excluding all other employees and all supervisors as defined in the Act. If a majority of the em- ployees in the voting group cast their ballot for the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to be a part of the exist- ing plant-wide production and maintenance unit, and the Petitioner may bargain for such employees as part of that unit. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this volume.] 1 The over-all unit specifically excludes office clerical employees. ' The Post Printing and Publishing Company, 91 NLRB No. 4. ' 92 NLRB 583.