The Interstate Co.

746 DECISIONS . OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD The Interstate Company 1 and Hotel & Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case No. 9-RC-f979. July 18,1957 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 Rosemary S. Macke and Harold V. Williams, hearing officers. The hearing officers' rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.2 Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Members Murdock, Rodgers, and Bean]. 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em- ployees of t1ie 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 a unit of all full-time and all regular part-time employees at the Employer's Beckley Glass House Restaurant and the Bluestone and Morton snack bars 3 on the West Virginia Turnpike, excluding on-call employees, guards, the book- keeper, the musician, the Beckley assistant manager, the Bluestone and Morton managers, the night managers at the three establishments, the overall manager, and all other supervisors as defined in the Act. In the event the Board finds this unit inappropriate, the Petitioner's first alternative request is for separate Beckley, Bluestone, and Mor- ton units. As its second alternative, the Petitioner would accept a single unit that would add the Employer's Charleston, West Virgina, Airport Restaurant, herein called Charleston, to its three Turnpike establishments4 The Employer contends that all four West Virginia 1 The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing. 2 The Petitioner, which sought by two subpoenas duces tecum to have the Employer pro- duce its wage records, objects in its brief to their revocation by one of the hearing officers on the ground that one subpena was unaccompanied by a tender of witness fees and mileage and the other required the production of records that were not limited to the 4 restaurants involved in the instant case. However , the Petitioner states that the record as it stands is sufficient for a determination of the unit issues herein without remanding the case. As we agree with the Petitioner that sufficient evidence has already been adduced upon which to base our unit findings , we do not deem it necessary to pass upon the Petitioner's con- tentions concerning the rev oxation of the subpenas. 3 Herein called Beckley, Bluestone, and ;Horton. i The Petitioner would exclude the manager -trainee at Charleston as a supervisor within the meaning of the Act. 118 NLRB No. 90. THE INTERSTATE COMPANY 747 establishments are closely integrated and therefore constitute the only appropriate unit. The Employer, which stipulated to the ex- clusion of the musician , the bookkeeper, and the overall manager, would include on -call employees and all managers other than the latter on the ground that they are not supervisors within the meaning of the Act. The Employer operates the 4 West Virginia restaurants under the direction of the overall manager, Mrs. Natalie Austin, who main- tains her office at Beckley, which provides the other 3 establish- ments with their menus and a large part of their food and other supplies.5 In addition to frequent telephone calls and visits from those in immediate charge of the four restaurants, Austin at least once a month holds management meetings at Beckley or Charleston where labor costs, overtime, treatment of employees, and operational prob- lems are discussed . She also regularly makes the rounds of the other establishments which are 24 to 58 miles from Beckley.6 Employee and payroll records for the 4 establishments are kept at the Beckley office by the bookkeeper who spends time at the other 3 restaurants, par- ticularly Charleston. It appears that wage rates are the same for all the establishments, except Charleston where they are on a somewhat ,different level as they are based on the rates prevailing in that area. Of the 4 establishments , only Charleston, which is closed at night, does not operate on a 24-hour basis. The Employer's vacation, insurance, and profit-sharing plans apply to all the employees involved herein. Seniority credit is given in connection with the transfers and frequent employee interchange which occur for the most part between Beckley and Charleston. In view of the foregoing , especially the uniform employee benefits, the seniority policy, frequent interchange , common supervision, and centralized control of personnel , we find that the four restaurants are so highly integrated as to warrant a finding that only a single overall unit is appropriate.'' There remains for consideration the unit placement of part-time employees and the supervisory status of certain disputed classifica- tions. The record discloses that the 4 restaurants have 13 part-time employees, 11 of whom are regularly scheduled and work 1 to 5 or 6 days a week. The other two, namely a Beckley porter and a Morton 6Austin is in turn under the general supervision of Lynn H . Moore who, from the Em- ployer's main office in Chicago , Illinois, heads the Employer's Turnpike Division which covers the Kentucky and Indiana Turnpikes as well as the four establishments in west Virginia. The record shows that the Charleston restaurant is administered as part of the Turnpike Division because of its proximity to the three establishments on the west Virginia Turnpike. 6 The Employer's establishment nearest to those in west Virginia is one located about 300 miles away in Richmond , Virginia. 7 Frank G . Shattuck Company, 106 NLRB 838, 839-840. 748 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD waitress, do not have a regular schedule and work only when they are called. We find that the 11 regular part-time employees have suffi- cient interest in common with the full-time employees to warrant their inclusion in the unit. However, as the record does not indicate how often the two on-call employees do work, we shall permit them to vote subject to challenge.' As indicated above, Austin has overall supervision of the approxi- mately 129 employees in the 4 establishments : 66 at Beckley, 34 at Charleston, 15 .at Bluestone, and 14 at Morton. In immediate charge are the Beckley assistant manager, the Charleston manager-trainee,' and the Bluestone and Morton managers, all of whom have the re- sponsibility of seeing to it that their establishments are run properly and the employees do their work. Besides performing some manual tasks, they direct employees, prepare work schedules, call in part-time employees, provide replacements for sick employees, recommend raises and promotions, handle minor grievances, and discipline em- ployees for minor infractions of the Employer's rules. Although major grievances and the more serious disciplinary problems are settled by Austin, who also has the final say as to work schedules, promotions, hiring, discharging, and laying off employees, the record shows that the four officials in question are usually consulted by Austin on these matters before a decision is made. Moreover, except for the Charleston manager-trainee, they attend monthly manage- ment meetings at Beckley or Charleston, where, as already noted, various personnel problems are discussed and they are held accountable for bringing labor costs down. Finally, their salaries are greater than the compensation received by hourly rated employees and, in con- trast to the latter, they have some discretion as to their own hours and the length of their workweek. Under all the circumstances, in- cluding the fact that a contrary conclusion would result in an un- usually high ratio of 1 supervisor, Austin, to 129 employees, we find that the Beckley assistant manager, the Charleston manager-trainee, and the Morton and Bluestone managers responsibly direct the em- ployees in their respective establishments and are supervisors within the meaning of the Act.10 We shall therefore exclude them from the unit. The night managers at Beckley, Bluestone, and Morton are con- siderably restricted in their direction of the 2 to 5 employees who work at night in their respective establishments. Except for the fact that they are salaried and apparently receive higher earnings than those of other employees, and see to it that the employees are kept 8 Cf. Jackson Jitney Jangle Stores, Inc., 115 NLRB 374, 378. ° However the authority of the Beckley assistant manager and the Charleston manager- trainee does not extend to the waitresses. 10 See Meyer Hammerman and Sol Hammerman., Partners, d./b/a Jolly Kid Togs, 117 NLRB 393; Colonial Shirt Corporation , 114 NLRB 1214, 1215. HECKETT ENGINEERING COMPANY 749 busy in the performance of their duties, the night managers, who themselves do varying amounts of cooking and other work, have no indicia of supervisory status. Thus, the record shows that the night managers are respectively responsible to the Beckley assistant man- ager and the Bluestone and Morton managers to whom they make regular reports. Unlike most of the latter officials, the night managers do not order supplies, do not attend management meetings, do not make recommendations as to hiring, discharging, or promotions, do not authorize replacements or extra help, do not apprise employees .of their benefits, do not grant employees time oft, and do not have the power to alter their own hours or the 6-day workweek which they share with full-time employees. Accordingly, we find that the powers of direction of the night managers are merely routine and that there- fore they are not supervisors as defined in the Act. We shall therefore include them in the unit." We find that the following employees of the Employer constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (h) of the Act : All full-time, regular part-time, and on-call employees at the Employer's Beckley, Bluestone, Morton, and Charleston establishments, including the Beckley, Bluestone, and Morton night managers, but excluding the bookkeeper, the musician, guards, the overall manager, the Beckley assistant manager, the Bluestone manager, the Morton manager, the Charleston manager- trainee, and all other supervisors as defined in the Act. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] 11 See Win. R. Whittaker Co., Ltd., 117 NLRB 339; Frank G. Shattuck Company, 106 NLRB 838. 841-844. Heckett Engineering Company and Operating Engineers, Local No. 3 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, AFL- CIO, Petitioner. Case No. 20-RC-39217. July 18,1957 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 Shirley N. Bingham, hear- ing 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 Rodgers, Bean, and Jenkins]. 1 In view of our disposition of this case , we do not find it necessary to pass on the hearing officer's refusal , on the ground of privilege, to compel the production of a letter from the Employer to its attorney. 118 NLRB No. 92.