Golf Course Inns of America, Inc.

GOLF COURSE INNS 541 Golf Course Inns of America, Incorporated, and Ocean Vista Land Company and Culinary Workers, Barten- ders and Hotel Service Employees, Local 535, AFL- CIO, Petitioner. Case 21-RC-12541 October 6, 1972 DECISION AND ORDER BY MEMBERS JENKINS, KENNEDY, AND PENELLO Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing was held before Hearing Officer Scott Forman. Fol- lowing the hearing and pursuant to Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Reg- ulations and Statements of Procedure, Series 8, as amended, by direction of the Acting Regional Direc- tor for Region 21, the case was transferred to the Board for decision. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na- tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au- thority in this proceeding 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. They are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds: Golf Course Inns of America, Incorporated, and Ocean Vista Land Company are engaged in a joint venture, the operation of a golf and country club at Holtville, California, under the title of Imperial Valley Country Club. The Petitioner seeks to represent cer- tain employees at the Imperial Valley Country Club. That club is partly private in nature, with a restricted list of 400 members, and partly public. Thus, members of the public may enter the premises and use the golf course upon payment of a greens fee and also utilize the club's other facilities such as the restaurant and bar, but nonmembers may not use the club's locker room. During the 12-month period ending in February 1972, the Employer's gross revenue amounted to $488,966.23 of which $59,725.75 represented dues and initiation fees of members and the remaining $429,240.48 represented revenue from all other sources. The Employer contends that the Board should not assert jurisdiction because its operations do not satisfy the jurisdictional standard for retail enterprises. The Board decided in Walnut Hills Country Club2 that the retail standard is the applicable standard for operations of the nature engaged in by the Employer. The Board, in determining whether or not the gross volume of business of an enterprise such as the Employer's herein meets the Board's retail standard, has declined to include members' dues and initiation fees as income derived from its retail operation.3 The Employer's operation therefore does not meet the Board's $500,000 annual gross revenue jurisdictional standard for retail enterprises as established in Caroli- na Supplies and Cement Co.° The Petitioner contends, however, that the Impe- rial Valley Country Club operation is so inextricably entwined with certain other enterprises that the gross revenue of all of these enterprises should be combined in order to establish whether the Board's jurisdiction- al standard is satisfied. A one-half interest in the land upon which Impe- rial Valley Country Club is located is owned by a Mr. and Mrs. Pemberton. The remaining interest is owned by Ocean Vista Land Company and perhaps by Golf Course Inns of America. In any event, Golf Course Inns and Ocean Vista are engaged in a joint venture, leasing the land and operating the Imperial Valley Country Club. Golf Course Inns is a corporation, founded in 1969, with some 20 shareholders. Ted Vallas is its president and owns 65 percent of its stock. In addition to the joint venture at Imperial Valley, Golf Course Inns is also engaged in certain European enterprises from which no revenues appear to have been received. Golf Course Inns operates the Whispering Palms Country Club at Rancho Saute Fe, California, ap- proximately 150 miles away from the Imperial Valley Club. Golf Course Inns also has a three-sixteenth in- terest in the operation of El Camino Country Club in Oceanside, California, about 160 miles from Imperial Valley. The remaining thirteen-sixteenth interest in the operation of El Camino Country Club is owned by Ted Vallas, who personally operates the facility. Golf Course Inns further wholly owns Golf Course Hotels, Inc., which in turn owns a motel adjacent to El Cami- no Country Club. Ocean Vista Land Company is a corporation founded in 1957. Ted Vallas is 1 of some 200 share- holders in Ocean Vista and he owns 55 percent of its common and 25 percent of its preferred stock. In addition to the joint venture and land ownership at Imperial Valley, Ocean Vista also owns the land on which the aforementioned El Camino Country Club is located. 2 145 NLRB 81 The Petitioner's request for oral argument is hereby denied as in our 3 Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (Chartiers Country Club), 139 NLRB opinion, the record in this case, including the briefs of the Petitioner and the 741; Rancho Los Coyotes Country Club, 170 NLRB 1773. Employer, adequately presents the issues and positions of the parties . ° 122 NLRB 88, 89. 199 NLRB No. 80 542 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD The record reveals that if either the gross reve- nues of El Camino Country Club or of Whispering Palms were coupled with those of Imperial Valley, the combined enterprise would satisfy the Board's stand- ard for asserting jurisdiction.5 However, despite the degree of common ownership described above, sever- al factors militate against treating these enterprises as one for jurisdictional purposes. Thus, there is no inter- change of employees between the clubs, payrolls are separately maintained, purchases are separately and locally made, membership privileges are not inter- changeable, and each club has a separate general manager. Atkins, the general manager at Imperial Valley, controls the day-to-day operations of that club, directs employees in their daily routine, and has authority to hire and fire employees. It appears that General Managers McIntosh of Whispering Palms and Vallas of El Camino have identical authority with respect to their respective clubs. There is no evidence that Vallas has ever exercised any control over labor relations policies at either Imperial Valley or Whis- pering Palms, or that there is any uniformity of policy between or among the clubs. As it is clear that each of the clubs is, in fact, managed independently of the others, and in view of the other factors described above, we are unable to conclude that their relation- ship is such as to justify treating all of them together as a single employer for jurisdictional purposes.' As jurisdiction over the Imperial Valley Country Club joint venture cannot be asserted on any other basis consistent with our established standards, we shall dismiss the petition. ORDER 5 The Petitioner also contends that the operation of a pro shop located at Imperial Country Club and operated by one Ralph Samaha should be con- sidered in this regard However, as the combined pertinent revenue of Impe- It is hereby ordered that the petition herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed. nal Valley and the total revenue of the pro shop is less than $500,000, we need 6 Justru Realty Corporation, 156 NLRB l ; Gerace Construction, Inc., 193 not pass on that issue NLRB No. 91