The Rose Exterminator Co. of Northern California, Inc.

THE ROSE EXTERMINATOR CO. OF NORTHERN CALIF. 59 The Rose Exterminator Company of Northern California, Inc.' and Brotherhood of Teamsters & Auto Truck Drivers, Local 70, International Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs, Ware- housemen & Helpers of America, Petitioner Northern California Structural Pest Control Operators Associa- tion and Apartment, Motel, Hotel and Elevator Operators Union, Local 14, Building Service Employees International Union, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Cases Nos. 20-RC,-5274 and 20- RC-5302. June 25, 1963 DECISION, ORDER, AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon petitions 2 duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Natalie Allen, 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 these cases to a three- member panel [Chairman McCulloch and Members Leedom and Brown]. Upon the entire record in these cases, the Board finds : 1. The Employers are engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. 2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em- ployees of the Employers. 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 in Case No. 20-RC-5302, but no such question exists in Case No. 20-RC-5274 for the reasons set forth below. 4. The appropriate unit : Case No. 20-RC-5274: The Petitioner in this case, referred to herein as Teamsters,' seeks a unit of pest control employees employed by Rose Exterminator at its Oakland, California, branch. Rose Extermi- nator is a California corporation engaged in the sale of pest control ' The name of this Employer, referred to herein as Rose Exterminator , appears as amended at the hearing . The Employer in Case No . 20-RC-5302 is referred to herein as Northern California Association. 2 After the hearing on the petition in Case No 20-RC-5274 had closed , the petition in Case No 20-RC-5302 was filed. The record in the first case was thereupon reopened and the cases were consolidated for shearing. 3 The Petitioner in Case No. 20-RC-5302 is referred to herein as Building Service Each Petitioner has intervened in the other's case, and Industrial Carpenters Local 2565 , United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America , AFL-CIO, referred to herein as Carpenters, has intervened in Case No . 20-RC-5274 to protect its contractual interest in the termite control employees employed by employer -members of Northern California Association 143 NLRB No. 5. 60 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD services, employing termite control employees, who are represented by the Carpenters, and pest control employees. It has approximately 30 pest control employees. Of these, 13 are working out of the Oakland branch; 7 are at branches in San Mateo, San Jose, Mann County, and Santa Rosa; and the remainder are at the main establishment in San Francisco. Its pest control employees are unrepresented except for those in San Francisco, who are covered by a contract between Build- ing Service and United Pest Control Employers Association, herein called United Association. The Oakland branch sought by Teamsters is under the immediate supervision of a service manager, who makes the daily work assign- ments. The Oakland service manager is under the direction of the Company's assistant manager, who is stationed in San Francisco, but goes to the Oakland branch frequently and spends a large part of his time directly supervising the work of the Oakland pest control employees. The San Francisco office has general control over labor policies for all the branch operations, and the San Francisco manager and assistant manager conduct independent investigations of a branch service manager's recommendations affecting employee status. The employees at all branches have similar job duties and the same condi- tions of employment, which conform with the multiemployer agree- ment between United Association and Building Service covering the San Francisco employees. On the basis of the entire record, and particularly in view of the limited authority of the service manager at the Oakland branch, the substantial integration of the Oakland branch with other branches which are not sought, the identity of duties, functions, and benefits of all the pest control employees of this Employer, we find that the re- quested unit lacks sufficient separate identity and functional cohesive- ness to constitute an appropriate unit, and that it does not meet the tests of a residual unit. Accordingly, we find that the requested unit is inappropriate. We shall therefore grant the motion by Building Serv- ice to dismiss the petition in this case. Case No. 20-RC-5302: Building Service seeks a unit of pest control employees of all members of Northern California Association employ- ing such employees, excluding those in San Francisco who are already covered by its contract with United Association.4 Northern Cali- fornia Association, an informal association of 38 companies engaged in pest and termite control work, has bargained for several years with the Carpenters for the termite control employees of its members. * The six members of United Association are : American Marine Fumigating Company ; Crane Pest Control ; Montgomery Pest Control Company ; Paramount Pest Control Service ; Rose Exterminator Company ; and Terminix of Northern California, Inc. Neither American Marine nor Crane employs pest control employees outside of San Francisco. THE ROSE EXTERMINATOR CO. OF NORTHERN CALIF. 61 Seven of its members employ pest control employees; 1 four e employ them both in and outside of San Francisco, and three 7 only outside San Francisco. The unit sought by Building Service includes all the unrepresented pest control employees employed by members of Northern California Association. Building Service and Northern California Association agree on the appropriateness of bargaining on a multiemployer basis, and are in complete agreement as to the composition of the unit and in virtually complete agreement as to the scope of the unit.8 According- ly, on the basis of their agreement,9 of the fact that no union seeks to represent a smaller appropriate unit, and upon the entire record, we find that the following employees constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act :10 All pest control employees and shopmen employed by members of the Northern California Structural Pest Control Operators Associa- tion, excluding those pest control employees and shopmen covered in the agreement between United Pest Control Employers Association and Apartment, Motel, Hotel and Elevator Operators Union, Local 14, Building Service Employees International Union, AFL-CIO ; exclud- ing also all service employees performing termite control duties, sales- men, supervisors, inspectors, office clerical employees, tree sprayers, janitors, guards, and watchmen as defined in the Act." [The Board dismissed the petition in Case No. 20-RC-5274.] [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] 5 The seven members of Northern California Association employing pest control employees are: Ailing House Pest Service ; Gring Termite Control ; Montgomery Pest Control Com- pany ; Paramount Pest Control Service ; Rose Exterminator Company ; Terminix of North- ern California, Inc. ; and Western Exterminator Co. These members have not executed any formal authorization to Northern California Association to bargain for pest control employees, but have indicated their willingness generally to participate in multiemployer bargaining through this association. o Montgomery, Paramount, Rose, and Terminix. 7 Ailing, Gring, and Western. 8 Building Service described the unit as including pest control employees of members of Northern California Association other than those in San Francisco, while the Association described it as covering specific counties surrounding San Francisco Bay. In fact, how- ever, the only difference between them was as to the one pest control employee employed by Paramount at its Eureka branch . As he would be the only one left unrepresented in the geographical area, we shall include this employee in the unit found herein to be appropriate o Western Association of Engineers, etc., 101 NLRB 64 10 The motion of Teamsters to dismiss the petition of Building Service is , therefore, hereby denied. n Although it appears that no shopmen are at present employed in the area here in- volved , they are included in the unit as the parties agreed to their inclusion and as this category is included in the Building Service-United Association agreement covering pest control employees in San Francisco. While the unit agreed to excluded "clerical employees," and the record does not indicate whether there are any plant clerical employees , we have, in accord with the usual Board practice, described the excluded category as office clerical employees.