Aladdin Hotel

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 27, 1969

179 N.L.R.B. 362 (N.L.R.B. 1969)

362 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Prell Corporation d/b/a Aladdin Hotel' and
International Association of Machinists and
Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case
31-RC-1 144
October 27, 1969
DECISION AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS
JENKINS AND ZAGORIA
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held on July 22, 1969, before Paul J.
Driscoll, Hearing Officer of the National Labor
Relations Board The International Union of
Operating Engineers Local 501 intervened.
Thereafter, the Employer and Petitioner filed briefs.
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 Hearing Officer's rulings made at the hearing
are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board
finds-
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act and it will effectuate the
purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The Petitioner and Intervenor are labor
organizations claiming to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists
concerning 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. Petitioner and Intervenor seek to represent a
unit composed of slot machine mechanics, their
apprentices and/or helpers. The Employer claims
that this is not an appropriate unit because it does
not include other unrepresented employees who are
in the same department as the slot machine
mechanics
There are 349 electrically controlled slot machines
in the Aladdin Hotel casino. The slot machine
department is headed by Joseph Rubinsky. There
are 27 employees in this department: 3 slot machine
mechanics, 6 floormen, 4 booth cashiers, and 14
change girls. The booth cashiers and change girls
are represented by the Culinary Workers Union.
The slot machine mechanics and the floormen are
not represented by any labor organization.
The three slot machine mechanics work on 2
shifts, 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., and 5 p.m. until 1 a.m.
There are two mechanics on the 9 to 5 shift, one of
whom, the head mechanic, the Employer contends is
a supervisor, there is one mechanic on the 5 to 1
The name of the Employer appears in the caption as amended at the
hearing
shift. The principal duties of the slot machine
mechanics are to overhaul and repair slot machines
Ninety-five percent of the problems with slot
machines arise from the fact that, under heavy use,
they have a tendency to jam. It is the duty of the
floormen to unjam the machines on the casino floor.
Whenever a more serious problem occurs, the
machine is moved to a special workshop for repair.
The slot machine mechanics spend 90 percent of
their time in the shop repairing damaged machines
and carrying out a program of preventive
maintenance on each machine after a stated period
of time. In overhauling the machines, the mechanics
disassemble and repair the slot machines, using
numerous hand tools, electric drills, grinding
machines, and electrical testing equipment supplied
by the slot machine manufacturers In performing
this work, the slot machine mechanics wear tan
smocks with "Slot Machine Mechanic" written on
them.
The slot machine mechanics also relieve the
floormen when they go to lunch; the time spent
doing this amounts to 2 to 3 hours a week. When
the slot mechanics work as floormen, they take off
their slot machine mechanic smocks.
The Aladdin Hotel does not have an
apprenticeship or training program for slot
mechanics, and employs no apprentices or helpers.
It is the Hotel's policy to hire only experienced
mechanics. The head mechanic has had apprentice
training at the Fremont Hotel, and all the
Employer's mechanics have had 3 to 10 years'
experience
Although the slot machine mechanics receive
higher pay than the other employees in the slot
machine department, the slot mechanics and the
floormen receive the same fringe benefits, punch the
same clock, and use the same rest and eating
facilities. The booth cashiers and change girls enjoy
different benefits because of their union contract.
The Petitioner cites Fremont Hotel, Inc , 168
NLRB No. 23, in support of its contention that slot
machine mechanics constitute a craft unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining. The Employer argues that the facts in
the present case more closely fit the Board's
decisions in Hotel Conquistador Inc., d/b/a Hotel
Tropicana, 176 NLRB No. 44, and 105 Casino
Corp., d/bla Nevada Club, 178 NLRB No. 15, in
which the Board found the slot machine mechanics
not to be craftsmen. We agree with the Employer.
Thus, unlike the slot machine mechanics in this
case, those in Fremont case were the only
unrepresented group in the casino; there was a
formal apprentice program for mechanics, who did
not interchange with other employees; and the slot
machine mechanics were the only employees who
worked on the machines. As the Employer has no
apprentice or training program and employs no
apprentices, and as the slot machine mechanics
share the work of maintenance of the slot machines,
179 NLRB No. 60
ALADDIN HOTEL 363
and common supervision, with the unrepresented ORDER
floormen in the same department, we find that the
Employer's slot machine mechanics, like those in It is hereby ordered that the petition be, and it
the Holel Tropicana and Nevada Club cases, do not hereby is, dismissed
constitute an appropriate unit on a craft,
departmental, or any other basis. Accordingly, we in view of the dismissal of the petition , the Employer 's request that the
shall dismiss the petition herein.' record be reopened for additional testimony is denied