American Coat, Apron & Laundry Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 17, 1952

100 N.L.R.B. 258 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

258 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
achieved by Local 4692 or by United Construction Workers.3 As a.
result, the Board is presented with a situation in which- the Employer
seeks an election to resolve a question of representation where neither
the incumbent union nor the rival which challenges the incumbent
.union's representative status is in compliance. To pursue this inves-
tigation would obviously contravene the amended Act which provides,
in essence, that a noncomplying union shall not be the beneficiary
of any Board investigation.' We must therefore&dismiss the petition a
Order .
Upon the basis of the entire record in this case, it is hereby ordered
that the petition filed in the instant matter be, and it hereby is, dis-
missed.
2 It would appear from the position taken by Local 469 in this proceeding that it has no
present Intention of achieving compliance with the Act 's filing requirements.
8 Because of its . noncompliance status , United Construction Workers was denied Inter-
vention at the hearing.
A Herman Lowenstein, Inc., 75 NLRB 377; Staten Island Cleaners , Inc., 93 NLRB 396.
8 We accordingly find it unnecessary to pass upon any of the issues raised in this
proceeding.
AMERICAN COAT, APRON & LAUNDRY CO., INC. and LAUNDRY WORKERS
INTERNATIONAL UNION #88, AFL, PETITIONER . Case No. 3-RC-
i428. July 17,1952
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 Oscar Geltman, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed."
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 [Members Houston, Styles, and Peterson].
Upon the entire record" in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer,3 a New York corporation, is engaged in the laun-
dry and linen supply business. It maintains its office, plant, and
facilities in Schenectady, with a collection depot in South Glens Falls
and a store in Albany, New York. During the year 1951, the Em-
ployer purchased cotton goods, soaps, machinery, and equipment
^ The bearing officer referred to the Board the Employer's motion to dismiss the petition
on jurisdictional grounds. For the reasons stated in paragraph numbered 1, infra, this
motion Is denied.
7 After the close of the hearing, the Petitioner , by letter of May 14, 1952, requested
that the hearing be reopened to permit it to submit additional evidence . As the evidence
sought to be adduced would not alter our determination herein , the request is denied.
8 The name of the Employer appears in the caption as amended at the bearing.
100 NLRB No. 44.
AMERICAN COAT, APRON & LAUNDRY CO., INC. 259
valued at approximately $183,368, of which approximately 10 percent
represented shipments to it from outside the State of New York.
Sales in the amount of $460,000 were local. Of these sales, approxi-
mately $9,400 represented services to concerns engaged in interstate
commerce.
The Employer is entirely owned by the four daughters of its presi-
dent, Sam Spatt. Its officers are Spatt and his three sons-in-law, and
the directors are Spatt's wife and four daughters. Individuals of
this family group are also the sole officers, directors, stockholders, or
.partners of a group of six other companies engaged in, or closely con-
nected with, the laundry and linen business, some of which operate in
States other than New York .5
Each company operates separately under a local manager, main-
tains individual offices and plants, and in general services an area sur-
rounding only its facilities, which area is not contiguous to that of
other companies of the groups However, one company, U. S. Coat
& Apron Corp., is engaged only in the manufacture of cotton coats
and aprons and, except for an insubstantial portion of its business,
sells all its products to the other six companies.7 All the companies
use the services of the same methods analyst and efficiency engineer
who is separately paid by each company. Labor relations for each
company are handled separately by the same individual, Manfred
Meltzer, who is treasurer of each corporations While each manager
does his own buying, he confers with Spatt, the president of each cor-
poration, before purchasing any large equipment, and all the com-
panies jointly contribute to and utilize the services of Spatt Textile &
Trading Co., Jersey City, New Jersey, a partnership composed of four
members of the Spatt family, which conducts research work and makes
available to local managers information as to where the best values
in supplies can be obtained.
Although the Employer is a separate corporate entity, we believe
that, in view of the foregoing facts, it operates as part of a multi-
state enterprise. We find, contrary to the contention of the Employer
and the Intervenor (Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America,
CIO), that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the mean-
* These concerns Include the General Electric Company and General Ice Cream Company.
g The companies Include the Central Coat, Apron & Linen Service, Inc., New York,
New York ; Central Coat, Apron & Linen Service Inc., Providence , Rhode Island ; Central
Laundries Co. (a partnership ), Jersey City, New Jersey; S. & M. Laundry Co., Inc., Pater.
son, New Jersey ; Noxall & U . S. Coat, Apron & Linen Service Inc, Paterson , New Jersey ;
and U. S. Coat & Apron Corp, New York, New York.
All are separately located except S . & M. Laundry Co., Inc., and Noxall & U. S. Coat,
Apron & Linen Service Inc., which are situated on the same property. The S. & M. Laundry
Co., Inc., does all the laundry work for the latter company, its only customer.
7 The other companies also occasionally buy from other concerns , if better values are
available.
D However, different unions represent employees of the various concerns and the resulting
contracts have been dissimilar.
227260-53-vol. 100-18
260 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS' BOARD
ing of they Act and that it will effectuate the policies of the Act to
assert jurisdiction in this case.9
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain
employees 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 a unit confined generally to all drivers at
the Employer's Schenectady plant and South Glens Falls depot. The
Employer and the Intervenor contend that only a unit of inside em-
ployees and drivers, upon which basis bargaining has been conducted
since at least 1943, is appropriate. There is also a question as to the
unit placement of driver's helpers and housemen, discussed below.
The Employer employs 22 drivers. Of these, 5, classified as linen
supply drivers, are assigned to the South Glens Falls depot and 16, con-
sisting of 12 linen supply drivers, 1 household laundry driver, and
3 domestic laundry drivers, work out of the main plant in Schenec-
tady. The remaining driver operates a trailer truck between Sche-
nectady and South Glens Falls and a regular truck between Schenec-
tady and Albany.l°
The linen supply drivers deliver coats, aprons, towels, and linen to
business places; the household driver delivers packaged flatwork to
private homes; the domestic laundry drivers pick up soiled family
laundry and return it after laundering; and the trailer truck driver
-delivers clean linen to the Employer's depot in South Glens Falls, for
distribution to its drivers operating from that depot, and delivers
linen directly to the Hotel Ten Eyck in Albany. The drivers operate
the Employer's vehicles over assigned routes covering specific geo-
graphical areas. Each day the drivers leave the plant or depot with
clean linen and after completing their routes, they return, unload the
soiled work, turn in their collections, and load the truck in readiness
for departure the next morning. In addition to servicing customers,
they are required to solicit new business. During busy seasons, driv-
ers also perform some work in the plant and some drivers wash trucks
on Saturdays. However such work is not part of their primary func-
tion, but is performed after concluding their regular duties and con-
stitutes overtime for which they receive additional pay.
All employees receive the same holidays, sick leave, vacations, and
insurance. However, unlike the inside employees, the drivers gen-
erally do not punch time clocks, work a 48-hour week," serve under
9 Belk's Department Store of Savannah , Ga, Inc., 93 NLRB 729. Cf. Gifford-Hill & Com-
pany, Inc., at at, 90 NLRB 428.
10 There are no drivers assigned to the Employer 's store in Albany.
11 While the basic workweek of the drivers is 48 hours, they actually work only those
hours needed to complete their routes They do not have a set time to report to work
or to return to the plant or depot after completing their routes.
AMERICAN COAT, APRON & LAUNDRY CO ., INC. 261
the separate immediate supervision of the sales manager, and spend
most of their time away from the plant or depot. While the inside
employees are hourly paid, almost all the drivers receive a weekly
wage, plus commission at least on new business .112 There is no inter-
change of drivers and inside employees , and permanent transfers
are infrequent 13
We are of the opinion that the drivers are clearly identifiable and
severable from the inside employees and may constitute a separate
unit, notwithstanding the past history of bargaining on a more com-
prehensive basis.14 However, they may also remain part of the ex-
isting unit of drivers and inside employees. Accordingly, we shall
not make any final unit determination until we have first ascertained
the desires of the employees in the voting group described below.
There remains for disposition the placement of helpers and house-
men in the voting group.
Helpers: There are two helpers involved. One, whom the Peti-
tioner would include , spends all his time assisting a driver in loading
and unloading his truck and accompanying the driver on his route.
The other helper, whom the Petitioner would exclude,15 aids the
trailer truck driver, in loading and unloading his truck and, although
the helper does not accompany the driver on trips to the South Glens
Falls depot, he accompanies the driver on the daily trips to the Hotel
Ten Eyck in Albany. Approximately one-third of the latter helper's
time is spent in the plant and the remainder is devoted to assisting the
trailer truck driver as described above. We find that the interests of
the helpers are closely related to those of the drivers and we shall
therefore include them in the voting group 16
Housemen: There are four individuals classified as housemen, one
attached to the South Glens Falls depot and the others attached to the
Schenectady plant, whom the Employer and Intervenor would include
in the voting group and the Petitioner would exclude as supervisors.
The housemen spend from 10 to 50 percent of their time inside the
plant or depot assisting the inside workers in setting up routes and
checking merchandise taken out and returned by the drivers. They
are on hand each morning to see that all drivers report for work and
they check in the drivers each afternoon. The balance of their time is
spent on the road. In this connection, they substitute for drivers in
>z The trailer truck driver is the only driver required to punch a time clock and is hourly
paid.
1' The last such transfer occurred in 1950.
14 Caskey Bakery Company, 80 NLRB 374. Cf. Memphis Steam Laundry-Cleaner, Inc .
86 NLRB 1094. Neither the drivers' occasional performing of inside work nor the Peti-
tioner's organizational activities in other plants on a more comprehensive basis, renders
inappropriate the requested unit of drivers in this case . See General Box Company, 93
NLRB 789 ; The Schaible Company, 88 NLRB 733.
1a The Employer and the Intervenor take no position as to the placement of these
employees.
11 Foremost Dairies, Inc., 80 NLRB 764.
262 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the latter's absence because of illness or vacation. They frequently
accompany drivers on their routes to take inventory of the Employer's
linen on each customer's premises, check complaints of customers, and
make necessary adjustments. While accompanying the drivers they,
like the drivers, are under the supervision of the sales manager. Also,
like the drivers, they are paid on a salary basis, do not punch time
clocks, and work a 48-hour week 17 Although they may recommend
changes in routes when such routes have become larger than average,
the housemen do not have the authority to effect such changes or effec-
tively to recommend the hire or discharge of drivers. Housemen ap-
parently have been excluded from the bargaining unit in the past.
However, we are of the opinion that they are not supervisors as defined
in the Act and, in view of the substantial portion of their time regu-
larly devoted to duties analogous to those of the drivers, we shall
include them in the voting group.
Accordingly, we shall direct an election in the following voting
group : All drivers of the Employer at its plant in Schenectady and
depot in South Glens Falls, New York, including drivers' helpers and
housemen, but excluding office and clerical employees, guards, and
supervisors as defined in the Act.
If a majority vote for the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indi-
cated their desire to constitute a separate appropriate unit, and the
Regional Director conducting the election directed herein is instructed
to issue a certification of representatives to the Petitioner for the unit
as described above, which the Board, under such circumstances, finds
to be appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. In the
event a majority vote for the Intervenor, the Board finds the existing
unit to be appropriate and the Regional Director will issue a certificate
of results of election to such effect.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
17 However , housemen frequently work more than 48 hours a week and receive no
overtime pay.
OAKLAND SCAVENGER COMPANY and SCRAP IRON AND METAL SALVAGE
AND WASTE MATERIAL WORKERS' LOCAL No. 1088, AFL, PETITIONER.
Case No. f0-RC-16,4V. July 18,1952
Supplemental Decision and Order
On May 16, 1952, pursuant to the Board's Decision and Direction
of Election herein, dated April 29, 1952,1 an election by secret ballot
1 98 NLRB 1318.
100 NLRB No. 49.