Harold's Club, Inc.

HAROLD'S CLUB, INC. 13 Harold's Club, Inc. and Stationary Engineers, Local 39, Casino Employees Division, affiliated with International' Union of Operating Engineers, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 20-RC-9900 November 3, 1971 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS By CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS FANNING AND KENNEDY Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing was held before 'hearing Officer William E. Engler on April 15 and 16, 1971. Following the hearing and pursuant to Section 102.67 of the Board's Rules and Regulations and Statements of Procedures, Series 8, as amended, the Regional -Director for Region 20 transferred this case to the Board for decision. Thereafter, the Employer and Petitioner' filed briefs with the Board. 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. The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's rulings made at the hearing and finds that they are free from prejudicial error. The rulings are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in this case, including the briefs, the Board finds: 1. The Employer is a Nevada corporation engaged in the operation of a gambling casino and related restaurants, bars, warehouses, and parking lot facili- ties located in Reno, Nevada. It also operates a gun club which is located near Reno in Spanish Springs, Nevada. The parties stipulated, and we find, that during the fiscal year prior to the hearing the Employer's gross revenues derived from these opera- tions exceeded $500,000, and that during the same period it purchased and received goods, supplies, and materials valued in excess 'of $50,000 from suppliers located outside the State of Nevada. Accordingly, we find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act, and that it will effectuate the purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.2 2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain employees of the Employer., 3. A question affecting commerce exists concern- i The Hearing Officer permitted the petition which was filed in the name of Casino Employees Association (CEA) to be amended to show 'Stationary Engineers, Local 39, as the Petitioner. The Employer then moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that Local 39 failed to make an adequate showing of interest. We note the complete absence of evidence suggesting the existence of confusion among the employees as to the identity, of the labor organization seeking to represent them. Further, from all.3hnt appears, Local 39 has legitimately succeeded to the interests of CEA and no schism exists, nor does the record show any disagreement by ing the representation of certain employees of the Employer within the meaning of Sections 9(c)(1) and 2(6) and (7) of the Act. 4. During the hearing, the Petitioner took the position that a unit including both gaming (casino) employees and maintenance employees would be appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining, whereas the Employer urged that only separate units of gaming and maintenance employees would be appropriate. Subsequently, in its brief, Petitioner indicated its agreement with the Employer's basic unit position. In view of the parties' agreement, we find that separate bargaining units of gaming and mainte- nance employees are appropriate. There remains, however, in issue the unit placement of certain employee classifications: slot floor mechanics, slot bench mechanics, machinists, and engraving machine operators. Petitioner contends that these four classifi- cations of employees in the slot machine repair section should be included in the maintenance unit, whereas the Employer urges their placement within the gaming unit. We find merit in the Employer's position. The Employer's enterprise is headed by a managing director. Reporting directly to him are the corporate comptroller and the director of the casino depart- ment. Under, and reporting to the comptroller, is the building superintendent. The building superintendent is generally responsible for the functioning, cleaning, and maintenance of the casino's physical structure and equipment, and in discharging this responsibility, exercises managerial authority over the maintenance manager, cleaning manager, and the electronics supervisor, who are, as stipulated by the parties, key operating supervisors in the maintenance department .3 Under these individuals are the mainte- nance engineers, electronic technicians, porters, janitors, matrons, mechanics, warehousemen, and employees in the Employer's parking lots division. For the most part, the work of these employees is that of cleaning or repairing the Employer's premises. Under the director of the casino department are those sections directly concerned in the Employer's gaming operations. The casino director generally oversees all of these gaming operations which are conducted by such personnel as the keno manager, assistant keno managers, and shift supervisors with the keno first, second, third, and fourth men; the affected employees. Accordingly, in these circumstances, we accept the Regional Director's administrative conclusions that Local 39's showing of interest is valid and we affirm the Hearing Officer's ruling on the amendment and deny the Employer's motion. Louisiana Creamery, Inc., 120 NLRB 170 2 El Dorado Inc., 151 NLRB 579. 3 The mechanical repair section is located in the basement; the electronics shop and the maintenance department parts room are situated on the fourth floor of the club. 194 NLRB No. 9 14 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD boxmen, dice dealers, "21" dealers, roulette dealers, big 6 dealers, pan supervisors, pan dealers, and those in the slot department. The slot repair section, which is within the slot department, is obviously closely related to the Employer's gaming activities by virtue of its placement in the casino's organization. The slot repair section is headed by a slot repair supervisor who is responsible for slot repair opera- tions and who, in turn, reports to the slot manager who is directly under the casino director. At the time of the hearing, there were in this section 9 slot floor mechanics, 11 slot bench mechanics, I slot machinist, and 1 engraving machine operator. The first three listed classifications are essentially concerned with the setting up and performance of both scheduled and nonscheduled repair and maintenance of the numer- ous slot machines located in various public areas of the Employer's casino. The slot floor mechanics are rotated so that there are usually two of them on duty during each shift patrolling the slot machine areas in the club. Their work here includes the monitoring of the operation of the machines and the making of themselves available immediately to reduce malfunc- tions, alleviate coin jam-ups, and otherwise keep the machines functioning. Frequently, they treat with customers at jammed machines and sanction payoffs, as may be indicated by the circumstances. They also see that the machines are properly stocked with necessary coins. If a machine's malfunction cannot be corrected on the floor, the slot floor mechanic will cap it, thus barring its continued use, and will also earmark it for transfer to the section's shop located on the fifth floor of the club where ordinarily the bench mechanics and/or the machinist will undertake to make the necessary repairs .4 On occasions, bench mechanics and the machinist will also work as replacements on the casino floor. Thus, absences of section employees or heavy business conditions will require their employment outside the shop to assist or replace the regularly designated slot floor mechanics. The engraving machine operator, although assigned to the slot repair section, devotes his time exclusively to producing all manner of signs relating to the various operations of all departments and sections throughout the Employer's establishment, including the gun club. These signs or notices are prepared by this employee primarily from laminated plastic materials. In deciding the issue of whether to place the above- described slot machine repair section employees in the maintenance unit or the gaming unit, we find the following circumstances to be especially relevant in favor of including them in the latter unit. As noted, the slot repair section, headed by its supervisor, is a component of the slot department directed by the slot manager. The slot department is,.in turn, a, significant component of ttie gaming operations and the slot manager reports to the casino director. In compari- son, the maintenance and cleaning managers and the electronics supervisor are responsible for the perform- ance of work tasks and duties which are under the overall control of the building superintendent to whom they report. The building superintendent is generally responsible for all maintenance of the physical plant and is subject to the managerial authority of the comptroller. It is thus evident that structurally and functionally, employees in the slot repair section are more nearly an integral part of the Employer's gaming operations than is the case with other employees to be included in the maintenance unit. As for their immediate supervision, slot repair section employees are primarily directed by the slot repair supervisor who, inter alia, hires, promotes, fires, schedules their work, and passes upon their vacation plans and other requests for time off. However, when the slot floor mechanics are manning their stations in the public areas of the casino, they are also subject to the direction of the slot floormen and are especially subject to immediate control by the slot shift supervisors, both of which' classifications are also assigned to the slot department. This contact of section personnel with slot floormen and shift supervisors also holds true on those occasions when slot bench mechanics or the machinist are assigned to casino floor duty, as described, supra. Since the foremost objective of the slot department is to maintain the efficient functioning of the slot machines at all times, there is a need for the various employees in the department to cooperate closely in the realization of this end. In this context, we note that the frequency of contacts between section personnel and gaming patrons is analogous to that encountered by other gaming employees and it engenders among these employees a similar employment orientation or outlook originating in their working conditions. By way of contrast, employees in the maintenance unit found appropriate herein do not normally. have such contact with casino customers. Further, there is no interchange between slot repair section employees and maintenance employees and, as already indicat- ed, there is no common supervision of these groups at the operating level. Further, the mechanical repair and electronics shops are located in the casino basement and fourth floor, respectively, whereas the slot repair section is on the fifth floor. Finally, there is no evidence that there exists any overlapping of the lines of progression or promotion to higher paying 4 Often there is a conference between the mechanic and the slot floorman or shift supervisor before this action is taken. HAROLD'S CLUB, INC. 15 jobs as between the slot repair section and the maintenance unit employees. In view of the foregoing circumstances demonstrat- ing the closer community of interest between slot floor mechanics, slot bench mechanics, machinists, and engraving machine operators and the other gaming employees, we find it appropriate to include the slot repair section employees in the gaming unit rather than the maintenance unit .5 Accordingly, we find that the following employees constitute separate appropriate units for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act: 6 (a) All gaming casino dealers, chip runners, card room employees, keno second, third, and fourth men, keno writers and runners, change aprons, jackpot payoffs, slot booth cashiers, coin counters, cartmen, and slot repair section employees including slot floor mechanics, slot bench mechanics, machinists, and engraving machine operators employed by the Em- 5 See El Dorado Inc., 151 NLRB 579, 588. 6 The indicated unit descriptions are generally in accord with the agreement of the parties and appear from the record to conform to Board unit placement principles 7 We find that only the regular part-time gun club employees who referee, keep score, operate, and maintain traps on Wednesdays , Saturdays, and Sundays when the gun club is open are eligible to vote. At the time of the hearing, there were about 10 such employees. s In order to assure that all eligible voters may have -the opportunity to be informed of the issues in the exercise of their statutory right to vote, all parties to the elections should have access to lists of voters and their ployer at Harold's Club, Reno, Nevada; excluding casino executives, casino shift managers, casino floor managers, casino assistant floor managers, boxmen, keno first men, casino cage cashiers, collection clerks, soft count employees, control room employees, telephone switchboard operators, slot floormen, slot clerks, office clerical employees, guards and supervi- sors as defined in the Act, and all other employees. (b) All general maintenance employees, stock clerks, maintenance engineers, senior maintenance engineers, electronic technicians, porters, janitors, matrons, parking lot attendants, parking lift operator/mechanics, parking lot cashiers, shuttle bus drivers, warehousemen, truck drivers, and gun club employees? employed by the Employer at 'Reno, Nevada, and Spanish Springs, Nevada; excluding office clerical employees, guards and supervisors as defined in the Act, and all other employees. [Direction of Elections 8 omitted from publications.] addresses which may be used to communicate with them. Excelsior Underwear Inc., 156 NLRB 1236; N.L.R.B. v. Wyman-Gordon Co., 394 U.S. 759. Accordingly, it is hereby directed that the election eligibility lists, containing the names and addresses of all the eligible voters, must be filed by the Employer with the Regional Director for Region 20 within 7 days of the date of this Decision and Direction of Elections. The Regional Director shall make the lists available to all parties to the elections . No extension of time to file these lists shall be granted by the Regional Director except in extraordinary circumstances. Failure to comply with this requirement shall be grounds for setting aside the elections whenever proper objections are filed