Utter-McKinley Mortuaries

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 4, 1952

98 N.L.R.B. 450 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

450 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
UTTER-MCKINLEY MORTUARIES and MORTUARY EMPLOYEES UNION,
LOCAL No. 151, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF FIREMEN AND
OILERS, AFL, PETITIONER
FOREST LAWN MEMORIAL PARK ASSOCIATION , INC. and MORTUARY
EMPLOYEES UNION, LOCAL No. 151, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD
OF FIREMEN AND OILERS , AFL, PETITIONER
PIERCE BROTHERS MORTUARIES and MORTUARY EMPLOYEES UNION,
LOCAL No. 151, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF FIREMEN AND
OILERS, AFL, PETITIONER. Cases Nos . 01-RC-2183,1 21-RC-V25,
and 21-RC-f2226. March 4,1952
Decision and Order
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the
National Labor Labor Relations Act, hearings were held before Jerome
A. Reiner and Jack R. Berger, hearing officers. The hearing officers'
rulings made at the hearings 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 these cases to a three-
member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Styles].
Upon the entire records in these cases, the Board finds :
1. The Employers are engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.'
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent employees
of the Employers.
3. No questions affecting commerce exist concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employers within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the following
reasons:
The Petitioner seeks to represent separate units of licensed em-
balmers and registered apprentice embalmers employed by each of the
1 While these three cases involve separate Employers and were separately heard, they all
involve the same basic issues and the same Petitioner , and are therefore hereby consoli-
dated for purposes of decision.
2 The Board has heretofore asserted jurisdiction over two of the Employers involved
herein-Pierce Brothers Mortuaries (97 NLRB 317) and Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Association, Inc. (97 NLRB 309)-and, contrary to the contentions of these Employers,
we find no basis on the present records for reconsidering those decisions With respect to
the third Employer , Utter-McKinley Mortuaries , the parties stipulated that during the 12
months preceding the hearing the Employer received approximately $100,000 tor services
rendered in connection with bodies which were ultimately shipped out of the State of
California We therefore find that this Employer is engaged in commerce , and that it will
effectuate the purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction in that case . Hazen & Jaeger
Funeral Home, 95 NLRB 1034. The motion of the Employer in Case No. 21-RC-2225 to
reopen the record for the purpose of taking evidence regarding alleged changes in its
operations since January 1, 1952, is denied in view of our disposition of this case
98 NLRB No. 76.
UTTER-McKINLEY MORTUARIES 451
three Employers3 The Employers, contend that this unit is inappro-
priate and that only an over-all unit is appropriate . There is no
history of collective bargaining affecting any of the employees herein
involved.
Each of the Employers operates a mortuary business with several
branches in Los Angeles , California , and vicinity . The Employers
provide all mortuary services including making a "first call " to pick
up a corpse at the place where the deceased died, embalming and
otherwise preparing the corpse for burial , providing a casket, and
arranging and directing the funeral and burial services . In pro-
viding these services , the Employers employ, in addition to the em-
balmers and- embalmer apprentices south by the Petitioner herein,
funeral directors , assistant funeral directors , cosmeticians , hostesses,
arrangement men (or memorial counselors ), first-call men, drivers,
and musicians 4 With few exceptions , all of these employees have the
same supervision , benefits, and working conditions.
The Petitioner asserts that embalmers and their apprentices are
skilled craftsmen . These employees are responsible for the preser-
vation and sanitation of bodies by injecting chemical fluid into the
arteries or body cavities of corpses. Embalmers must be licensed by
the State of California , and State statutes I require , among other
things, a high school education , a 2-year apprenticeship during which
100 bodies are embalmed , 9 months' instruction in specified technical
subjects, and passing a State examination . Under all the circum-
stances, we agree with the Petitioner that these employees are highly
skilled .,' However, despite this fact, there is undisputed evidence
that in each of these three cases a majority of the working time of
these employees is spent performing duties which are not connected
e
3 The petition in Case No 21-RC-2153 requested a unit of licensed embalmers, registered
apprentices, funeral directors, and assistant funeral directors. This unit is discussed below
(footnote 7, snjra).
4In general, funeral directors make arrangements for and direct the funeral services
and also make first calls and, in some instances, attend to dressing, applying cosmetics,
and placing corpses in caskets, and drive hearses. Assistant funeral directors assist
funeral directors in all of their duties. Cosmeticians apply cosmetics and dress hair
of corpses; in most instances they also assist with funeral services. Hostesses act as
receptionists and in some cases assist with the funeral. Arrangement men make arrange-
ments for picking up corpses and for funeral services and occasionally make first calls.
First-call nien drive hearses and pick up corpses and generally assist in most of the
mortuary functions. Drivers drive hearses and also generally assist Musicians provide
music and in some instances assist with the funeral. Utter-McKinley has no employees
designated as arrangements men or drivers. Pierce Brothers employs no musicians.
Utter-McKinley employs 41 embalmers and apprentices and 37 other nonclerical em-
ployees. Forest Lawn employs 27 embalmers and apprentices and 60 other nonclerical
employees. Pierce Brothers employs 36 embalmers and apprentices and 31 other non-
clerical employees.
" California Stats. 1939 Ch. 39 Sec. 1 p. 416 ff ; as amended Stats 1947 Ch 1079 Sec 7
p. 2489.
'The Boaid found that similar embalmers are not professional employees, however, in
Xtivmside Memorial Chapel, Inc., 92 NLRB 1594.
452 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABQR RELATIONS BOARD
with their basic skill and which are also performed by other em-
ployees not sought to be included in the unit.
Thus in Utter-McKinley the embalmers and apprentices spend only
about 20 to 25 percent of their time performing embalming work;
the rest of their time they perform the functions of funeral directors,
assistant funeral directors, and cosmeticians, making first calls, and
otherwise assisting with funeral services. In Forest Lawn, the em-
balmers spend 25 to 331/3 percent of their time embalming, and the
remainder directing funeral services, making first calls, and doing
cosmetician work. In Pierce Brothers, embalming work occupies
30 to 40 percent of the time of embalmers and apprentices, the rest of
their time being spent in acting as funeral directors, assistant funeral
directors, cosmeticians, and first-call men. The record also shows
that some of the funeral directors, arrangements men, and cosme-
ticians of these Employers are also licensed embalmers and perform
this function in emergencies or upon special request.
In these circumstances the embalmers and assistant embalmers lack
the homogeneity and the separate identity of interest which is re-'
quired to constitute bargaining units apart from the other employees.
Such units could be established in these cases only by giving control-
ling effect to the extent of the Petitioner's organization. The Board
is, however, precluded by Section 9 (c) (5) of the amended Act from
basing a unit finding on extent of organization alone'
Therefore, without deciding whether in other circumstances em-
balmers and their apprentices may constitute a separate appropriate
unit, we find that the units requested by the Petitioner in these cases
are inappropriate.7 Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petitions.
Order
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petitions in Cases Nos. 21-RC-2183,
21-RC-2225, and 21-RC-2226 be, and they hereby are, dismissed.
s The unit originally sought by the Petitioner in Case No 21-RC-2183 , consisting of
embalmers , apprentices , funeral directors , and assistant funeral directors , is an even less
homogeneous group , and appears similarly to be based solely on extent of organization._
We therefore find that unit equally inappropriate The hearing officer denied the Peti-
tioner 's motion to amend this unit description to include only embalmers and apprentices,
on the ground that the Petitioner did ilot have a sufficient showing of interest in the
smaller unit In view of our decision herein, that a unit limited to embalmers and appren-
tice embalmers Is inappropriate in the circumstances of these cases , we need not pass on
the correctness of that ruling.
Under the circumstances present in these cases , over-all units of all nonclerical employees
of each Employer would be appropriate , but the Petitioner does not have sufficient showing
of interest in such a unit at any of the three companies involved herein to justify holding
an election.