Claremont University Center

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 9, 1972

198 N.L.R.B. 811 (N.L.R.B. 1972)

CLAREMONT UNIVERSITY CENTER
Claremont University Center, Claremont Men's Col-
lege, Harvey Mudd College, Pitzer College, Pomo-
na College, and Scripps College, Known as The
Claremont Colleges' and Office & Professional
Employees International Union, Local No. 30,
AFL-CIO, CLC,2 Petitioner. Case 21-RC-12197
August 9, 1972
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF
ELECTIONS
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 Theodore B.
Horn. Following the hearing and pursuant to Section
102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules
and Regulations and Statements of Procedure, Series
8, as amended, the case was transferred to the
National Labor Relations Board for decision. The
Petitioner and the Employers have filed briefs.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
authority 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:
1. The Employers are private, nonprofit educa-
tional institutions. During the 12-month period
ending in April 1971, the Claremont University
Center and each of the above-named colleges had
gross annual revenues, excluding contributions not
available for operating purposes, exceeding $1
million. We find that Claremont University Center
and each of the colleges is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the Act, and that it will
effectuate the purposes of the Act to assert jurisdic-
tion herein.3
2. The labor organization involved claims to
represent certain employees of the Employers.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concern-
ing the representation of certain employees of the
Employers within the meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and
Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks to represent all full-time
and regular part-time professional employees and
nonprofessional employees of the Honnold Library
System who are under the supervision of the Director
of Libraries at The Claremont Colleges. It recognizes
The names of the Employers appear as amended at the hearing
x The name of the Petitioner appears as amended at the hearing
811
that professional employees have a statutory right to
vote as a separate voting group to determine whether
or not they desire to be represented as part of the
overall unit. The Employers contend that the unit
sought is inappropriate because it does not include
all nonacademic employees in all of the colleges that
comprise The Claremont Colleges or, at the least, all
such employees of the Claremont University Center,
excluding employees of the Claremont Graduate
School and the Chancellor's Office.
The Claremont Colleges is not a legal entity. The
plural nomenclature is an all-embracing term to
describe the several individual colleges and the
Claremont University Center. The colleges, located
on contiguous campuses in the city of Claremont,
California, are Pomona College, Scripps College,
Claremont Men's College, Harvey Mudd College,
and Pitzer College. There is also a Claremont
Graduate School which is administered by the
Claremont University Center. Each college grants its
own degrees. Each has its own board of trustees,
president, administrative officers, faculty, and sup-
porting personnel. Each has its own educational
philosophy and determines its own curriculum,
admission, and graduation requirements.
In addition to operating the Graduate School, the
Claremont University Center operates certain central
facilities for the use of all the colleges. These include
the Honnold Library, the Human Resources Insti-
tute, the Student Health Center, the Counseling
Center, Auditorium and Theater Events, the Joint
Admissions Office, the Chaplain's Office, the Busi-
ness Office and Plant Services, the Personnel Office,
the Computer Institute, Campus Security, and the
Office of the Provost.
The Honnold Library system is the single most
important central facility serving the students,
faculty, and staffs of all the colleges. It consists of the
Honnold Library and several satellite libraries
located on the campuses of the various colleges. The
library buildings include the Honnold main building
in the geographical center of the Claremont complex,
the Seely W. Mudd Library adjacent to the main
library building, the Dennison Library on the Scripps
campus, the Joint Science Libraries located on the
campuses of Harvey Mudd and Claremont Men's
Colleges, and six Science Libraries located in
buildings of Pomona College. The Joint Science
Libraries will soon be moved to a new building on
the campus of Harvey Mudd College and will be
known as the Sprague Library. The Honnold Library
and the Seely W. Mudd Library buildings are owned
by the Claremont University Center. The other
I Sec 103 1 of the Board's Rules and Regulations , Series 8, as amended
198 NLRB No. 121
812 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
libraries are in buildings owned by the individual
colleges.
The chief administrative officer of the Honnold
Library system is the Director of Libraries. He is
responsible for the overall operation of the library
and for coordinating the relationship of the library
and various other institutions. The Director reports
to the Provost.
There are about 80 full-time employees on the
Honnold staff, including both professional and
nonprofessional employees. The majority of these
employees are assigned to the Honnold Library
buildings. The others work in the satellite libraries. In
addition to the full-time employees, there are
approximately 130 part-time employees. The great
majority of these part-time employees are students,
most of whom are paid with Honnold Library funds;
the remainder are paid with funds contributed by the
individual colleges upon whose campuses the librar-
ies are located.
The library supplies its services to the colleges
under agreements with each. Under them the
Director of Libraries, the chief administrative officer,
is advised on matters of policy by the Library
Council, whose members include representatives
from the several colleges. The agreements provide for
the Director of Libraries' control over the library
collections housed on the various campuses, the
manner of purchase and ownership of library
equipment, ownership and maintenance of buildings,
and the financing of the library. Expenses for
operation and book acquisitions are defrayed, in
part, by gifts to the library system and the balance by
financial contributions from each college according
to a formula established for each. A college may
withdraw from the central library system only on 5
years' notice. At that time it may either withdraw its
books or claim a cash settlement. The agreement
provides that the withdrawing college, if it continues
operations in Claremont, will negotiate separately
with the Director of Libraries for library service.
In addition to the Director of Libraries, the
Honnold Library system staff includes an associate
director and four assistant directors. Each assistant
director is in charge of one of the four major library
services: technical services, public services, sciences,
and humanities. In general, technical services ac-
quires and organizes library materials; public serv-
ices distributes them; and the sciences and humani-
ties divisions have like functions pertaining to
specialized materials in those fields.
Technical Services has three department acquisi-
tions, catalog, and Asian studies collection. The
acquisitions department obtains library materials.
This function is performed by its two sections:
bibliography and order. Bibliography determines the
books to order and the availability of funds. The
order section determines the vendors and orders the
books.
The catalog department organizes the library's
collections. The department has three sections: the
catalog section prepares various catalogs and de-
scribes materials for cataloging; the keypunch
section prepares materials for use at the computer
center; and the preparations section prepares books
for binding and also repairs some.
The Asian studies collection acquires, catalogs, and
services books in oriental languages.
The Public Services Division serves students,
faculty, and others who use the library. The Division
has five departments: circulation, periodicals and
government publications, reference, reserve, and
special collections. Circulation lends or distributes
library materials. Periodicals and government publi-
cations acquires, organizes, and distributes periodi-
cals and state and Federal government publications.
Reference assists readers in the use of the library
collections. Reserve assembles and distributes books
to be used by faculty and students in course work.
Special collections takes care of specialized or rare
books.
The Humanities Division services a collection of
humanities and fine arts materials. The Sciences
Division has like functions with respect to its
specialized materials.
The heads of the departments and most of the
sections are professional librarians. They, together
with other professional librarians, and a supporting
staff of nonprofessional employees, acquire, care for,
and distribute the collections of books and other
educational materials. Theirs is a technical and very
specialized operation. Many of the job classifica-
tions, while nonprofessional, require skills for which
a college background is preferred. This is particularly
true for such positions as assistant bibliographer
whose duties are to check catalog sources in
specialized humanity and science fields, or biblio-
graphical assistant for which knowledge of a foreign
language is also helpful. Similarly, the position of
government publications assistant entails a knowl-
edge of government organization, a knowledge
gained from college work. For other of the classifica-
tions, technical knowledge in accounting procedures,
data processing equipment, and graphic arts is
desirable.
The Director of Libraries has the authority to hire
and discharge. He interviews everyone who is finally
employed. In the past the library, like each college
which recruits its separate faculty, has recruited its
own professional employees. In the future the
personnel office expects to participate in this for all
nonacademic personnel. The personnel office's role
CLAREMONT UNIVERSITY CENTER 813
in the hiring process is to insure equal employment
opportunities for minority applicants and employees,
a role undertaken to comply with Federal agency
regulations applicable to government contractors.
Library employees differ from other campus
employees in their working conditions. Unlike the
majority of other employees, whose workweek is 40
hours, library employees work 37-1/2 hours during
most of the school year. Some of the libraries are
open until midnight, and employees work the late
evening hours. When employees work 1 evening a
week, they are scheduled to work 36 hours a week; if
2 evenings a week, 35 hours. When they work
Saturday and Sunday, they receive compensatory
timeoff for an equivalent number of hours. While a
recent general wage increase averaged 5 percent for
all employees, the library wage increase was in excess
of 10 percent.
There have been few personnel transfers, either on
a loan or a permanent basis, between the library and
the colleges or between the library and other
facilities. The reason given by the president of
Claremont's Men's College for lack of transfers is
that he "assume[d] that library employees are
somewhat specialized and since I don't have a
library, I don't see how I would borrow one." Nor
has the library borrowed an employee from the
Claremont Men's College. The witness recalled one
instance of a secretarial employee at Scripps College
who had transferred to the library when the witness
was a student-more than 15 years ago. The Director
of Libraries testified to two clerical employees who
transferred from colleges into the library and one
who transferred out. He had heard of another
transfer out, before 1968. The manager of personnel
services testified that an employee who was about to
be terminated at the library transferred to a college,
and that a keypunch operator would be transferring
to the library.
There is a bargaining history for some employees in
a central service department. Since 1968 the Clare-
mont University Center has had a "working agree-
ment" with employees in the Shops Maintenance
Department. The agreement covered initially some
90 employees in the physical plant of about 150. The
Shops Committee represents about 60-70 percent of
the physical plant employees, including electricians,
plumbers, carpenters, painters, labor crew, trash
men, truckdrivers, and campus safety engineers,
among other classifications. The benefits of the
agreement were later extended to all hourly paid
employees of the physical plant department, includ-
ing 60-70 custodians or groundsmen. The agreement
has detailed provisions, including, in part, seniority,
premium and call-back pay, wage review, probation-
ary period, vacations, and holidays.
The Library has had a less formal relationship with
the Honnold Library Staff Association. The Director
of Libraries and the personnel director have met with
its executive committee to discuss issues affecting
library employees such as a proposed grievance
procedure and a salary survey.
The Board restated, in Cornell University, 183
NLRB No. 41, the general guidelines it employs in
making unit determinations in industrial, and now
college, organizations where the employer operates a
number of facilities. It said that it considers "such
factors as prior bargaining history, centralization of
management particularly in regard to labor relations,
extent of employee interchange, degree of interde-
pendence or autonomy of the plants, differences or
similarities in skills and functions of the employees,
and geographical location of the facilities in relation
to each other."
We find, on examination of these factors, that the
Petitioner's proposed unit of library employees
constitutes an identifiable group of employees with a
separate community of interest. The work of library
employees is specialized and different from that
performed by employees of the other central services
which relate to such diverse activities as business
administration, student counseling, custodial serv-
ices, and campus security. The libraries are located
apart from the other central services and are
separately supervised. The work schedule is unusual,
and there has been little transfer or interchange
between the library and other colleges or facilities.
The Claremont Colleges already bargains collectively
with the plant services, one unit of the central
services.
In Cornell University, supra, the Board dismissed a
petition for a unit limited to nonprofessional library
employees at but one of Cornell University's several
locations. Another labor organization was seeking a
broader unit encompassing all nonacademic univer-
sity employees, including the library employees,
working throughout the State. In these circumstances
the Board held that a unit confined to the library
employees on a single campus was inappropriate and
it directed an election in the appropriate statewide
unit.
In the present case, unlike Cornell, the petitioning
union desires an election among employees of all
libraries which are part of The Claremont Colleges.
Further, unlike Cornell, no other union is seeking to
represent the library employees in a broader unit.
Finally, the Honnold Library system serving The
Claremont Colleges is a self-contained administrative
unit located only at The Claremont Colleges in
Claremont, California. Each college that the library
services has an identity separate from each other and
separate from the library. Thus, unlike Cornell, the
814 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
library system is not a widely scattered service
provided to one educational institution. The libraries
here, centrally located and supervised, serve the
several separately incorporated colleges.
Since the Cornell decision the Board has found less
than an overall unit appropriate where, as here, the
work situation shows a homogeneous group of
employees who share a close community of interest.
It has directed separate elections for faculty members
in the law school of a university (Fordham University,
193 NLRB No. 23); maintenance employees at a
university (Leland Stanford Jr. University, 194 NLRB
No. 187); policemen at a university (Leland Stanford
Jr., supra), firemen at a university (Leland Stanford
Jr., supra) and central plant employees comprising
but a section of the physical plant department in a
university (California Institute of Technology, 192
NLRB No. 82). None of the cases cited in the dissent
holds that librarians and the supporting personnel in
a library system, which is not a part of any of the
colleges which it serves, cannot organize themselves
separately in an appropriate unit.4
We therefore hold that the Honnold Library
system constitutes a separate appropriate unit. In
accordance with the requirements of Section 9(b)(1)
of the Act, we shall place the professional employees
in a separate voting group.
Questions remain as to the status of certain
employees.
Professional employees: The parties stipulated that
the following are professional employees: In the
Technical Services Division -bibliography section
head, bibliographers, order section head, catalog
department head, catalog section head, catalogers,
Asian studies collection curator; in the Public
Services Division -circulation department head,
periodicals and government publications department
head, government publications section head, refer-
ence department head, assistant reference librarian,
reserve department head, special collections depart-
ment head, assistant special collections librarian; in
the Humanities Division -reference librarian.
Supervisors: The parties agree that the Director of
Libraries, associate director, and four assistant
directors are supervisors. Accordingly, we exclude
them from the unit or units found appropriate herein.
The Employers would further exclude as supervi-
sors all professional librarians who are designated as
4 While an even broader unit might be appropriate, no other labor
organization seeks a broader unit We therefore do not reach the merits of
the Employers ' alternative unit proposal that would include all central
service employees Nor do we reach Petitioner's contention that the
multiemployer unit (combining the single-employer colleges), proposed by
the Employers, is inappropriate where parties have not agreed to bargain on
a multiemployer basis
5 Our findings on supervisory status are based on the uncontradicted
testimony of the Director of Libraries Two union witnesses gave general
department heads or section heads. They would also
exclude as supervisors these nonprofessional classifi-
cations: supervisor in the catalog section, binding
supervisor and processing supervisor in the prepara-
tions section, and the joint science library supervisor
in the science division.5
Technical Services Division
Acquisitions departments
The bibliography section head and the order section
head are professionals. They direct the work of 20
employees divided between the two sections. Each is
responsible for the day-to-day operation of his
section. Both assign work, instruct employees as to it,
and establish work priorities. The bibliography
section head has effectively recommended hiring and
merit increases. The order section head has effective-
ly recommended merit increases and has such
recommending authority for hire but has not had
occasion to exercise it. The previous order section
head did interview employees for hire and another
previous incumbent effectively recommended the
transfer of an employee into the section. We find that
these two section heads are supervisors and we will
exclude them.
The catalog department head is responsible for the
day-to-day operation of the department. The depart-
ment includes about 10 employees in the catalog
section, 5 in the keypunch section, and 6 in the
preparations section. The department head assigns
work, instructs employees, and reviews the work. He
has effectively recommended hire, discharge, trans-
fer, and merit increases. We find that he is a
supervisor and we will exclude him.
The catalog section head, a professional, is responsi-
ble for the direction of the work of the four
professional catalogers. The catalog section supervisor,
a nonprofessional, is responsible for the work of the
five nonprofessional catalog assistants. Both assign
work, instruct employees, and establish work sched-
ules and priorities. Both participate in hiring and
merit reviews. We find that both individuals are
supervisors and we will exclude them.
The keypunch section supervisor is a nonprofession-
al. She is responsible for the operation of the
keypunch section. She assigns, instructs, and reviews
the work of the four keypunch operators. She has
testimony to indicate a lack of authority in department and section heads
Specific evidence was not offered in refutation of record testimony as to
duties of those now performing the work of the job classifications in issue
here The Union relies primarily on the number in the full - time workforce
and argues that 6 supervisors would be adequate for 75 employees In
making our determination we have considered record estimates that include
the large number of part-time employees
6 The position of department head is vacant and we make no
determination respecting it
CLAREMONT UNIVERSITY CENTER
made effective recommendations for hire, makes
written merit reviews and has the authority to
recommend wage increases. We find that she is a
supervisor and we will exclude her.
The preparations section: The binding supervisor and
the processing supervisor are responsible for the
operation of the section: the binding supervisor, for
the work of two binding assistants; the processing
supervisor, for the work of two processing assistants.
They assign work, instruct employees, and review the
work. Both have effectively recommended hire and
merit increases. We find that these two individuals
are supervisors and we will exclude them.
The Asian studies collection curator, a professional
librarian, is the department head and is responsible
for the work of the employees in the department. He
assigns, directs, and reviews the work of five
employees. He establishes work schedules and
priorities. He has effectively recommended hire and
transfer of employees. We find that he is a supervisor
and we will exclude him.
Public Services Division
The circulation department head, a professional,
directs the work of the 20-25 employees in the
department. He assigns the work, gives instructions,
and reviews the work. He has effectively recom-
mended hire and merit increases. We find that he is a
supervisor and we will exclude him.
The periodicals and government publications depart-
ment head, a professional, is responsible for the daily
operation of the department. The department has
20-30 employees divided between its two sections
(periodicals section and government publications
section). There is no showing as to the number in
each. The department head also serves as the
periodicals section head. He establishes work priori-
ties and instructs employees as to their work. He has
effectively recommended hiring. He makes written
merit reviews and has authority to recommend wage
increases. We find that he is a supervisor and we will
exclude him.
The periodicals section:7 The government publica-
tions section head, a professional librarian, assigns
and instructs employees in their work and also
establishes work priorities. She can participate in
hiring and has effectively recommended merit
increases. We find that she' is a supervisor and we
will exclude her.
r The position of periodicals section head is vacant The department
head performs the duties of the section head
8 The parties agreed that these employees are professionals bibliogra-
815
The reference department head, reserve department
head, and special collections curator are professional
employees. They are responsible for the day-to-day
operation of their departments. The reference depart-
ment and special collections department each has
6-8 employees; the reserve department, 20-25. The
three department heads assign work, instruct em-
ployees as to their work, and establish work
schedules and priorities. Each has made effective
recommendations as to hiring and transfer. The
special collections curator has also made effective
recommendations as to discharge. The reserve
department head and special collections curator have
made effective recommendations as to merit increas-
es. The reference department head has like authority
in making merit reviews. We find that these three are
supervisors and we will exclude them from the unit.
Science Division
The Joint Science Library supervisor. In addition to
the position so designated the Science Division has
one other full-time position. It is the science library
assistant. The remainder of the work is performed
with about 30 part-time student assistants. The work
is performed in two buildings on the campuses of
Harvey Mudd College and Claremont College, and
in the six science libraries located at Pomona
College. Students who perform the work on the
several campuses are not part of the Honnold
Library staff nor paid out of library funds. The Joint
Science Library supervisor is responsible for having
the libraries staffed at all times. She participates in
hiring through discussion with college officials and
maintains work schedules. While the student employ-
ees may receive direction from the college staff where
they work, the Joint Science Library supervisor is
responsible for the science library operation. We find
that she is a supervisor and we will exclude her.
We find that the following employees may consti-
tute an appropriate unit for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the
Act:
All full-time and regular part-time employees
working in the Honnold Library system at The
Claremont Colleges, Claremont, California, in-
cluding professional employees8 but excluding
phers, catalogers , assistant reference librarian (reference department),
assistant special collections librarian, reference librarian (Humanities
Division)
816 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the curator of the Westergard collection, the
curator of the Oxford collection,9 confidential
employees,10 guards and supervisors" as defined
in the Act.
The unit set out above includes professional and
nonprofessional employees. However, the Board is
prohibited by Section 9(b)(1) of the Act from
including professional employees in a unit with
employees who are not professionals unless a
majority of the professional employees vote for
inclusion in such a unit. Accordingly, we must
ascertain the desires of the professional employees as
to inclusion in a unit with nonprofessional employ-
ees.
We shall therefore direct separate elections in the
following voting groups:
Voting group (a): All full-time and regular part-
time employees working in the Honnold Library
system at The Claremont Colleges, Claremont,
California, excluding confidential employees,
professional employees, guards, and supervisors
as defined in the Act.
Voting group (b): All professional employees
working in the Honnold Library system at The
Claremont Colleges, Claremont, California, ex-
cluding supervisors as defined in the Act.
The employees in the nonprofessional voting group
(a) will be polled to determine whether or not they
wish to be represented by the Union.
The employees in voting group (b) will be asked
two questions on their ballot:
(1) Do you desire the professional employees to
be included in a unit composed of all employees
of the Honnold Library system for the purposes
of collective bargaining? y'
(2) Do you desire to be represented for the
purposes of collective bargaining by Office and
Professional Employees International Union,
Local No. 30, AFL-CIO, CLC.
If a majority of the professional employees in
voting group (b) vote "yes" to the first question,
indicating their wish to be included in a unit with
nonprofessional employees, they will be so included.
Their votes on the second question will then be
counted together with the votes of the nonprofession-
al voting group (a) to determine whether or not the
dmployees in the whole unit wish to be represented
by the Union. If, on the other hand, a majority of
9 The parties agreed that the curator of the Westergard collection and
the curator of the-Oxford collection should be excluded from the unit We
exclude them.
iO The parties agreed to exclude the secretary and assistant secretary to
the Director of Libraries as confidential employees
ii The parties agreed to exclude the Director of Libraries, associate
director, and four assistant directors because they are supervisors
In addition, our unit description excludes these individuals whom we find
to be supervisors within the meaning of the Act in the Technical Services
professional employees in voting group (b) vote
against inclusion,Jy will not be included with the
nonprofessional employees. Their votes on the
second question will then be separately counted to
determine whether or not they wish to be represented
by the Union.
Our unit determination is based, in part, then,
upon the results of the election among the profes-
sional employees. However, we now make the
following findings in regard to the appropriate unit
or units:
1. If a majority of the professional employees
vote for inclusion in the unit with nonprofessional
employees, we find that the following will
constitute a unit appropriate for purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9(b) of the Act:
All full-time and regular part-tinfe employees,
working in the Honnold Library, system at The
Claremont Colleges, Claremont, California, but
excluding the curator of the Westergard collec-
tion, the curator of the Oxford collection, confi-
dential employees, guards and supervisors as
defined in the Act.
2. If a majority of the professional employees do
not vote for inclusion in the unit with nonprofes-
sional employees, we find that the following two
groups of employees will constitute separate units
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act:
All full-time and regular part-time employees
of the Honnold Library system at The Claremont
Colleges, Claremont, California, excluding confi-
dential employees, professional employees,
guards and supervisors as defined in the Act.
All professional employees of the Honnold
Library' system at The Claremont Colleges,
Claremont, California, excluding the curator of
the Westergard collection, the curator of the
Oxford collection, and supervisors as defined in
the Act.
[Direction of Elections Land Excelsior footnote
omitted from publication.]
MEMBER KENNEDY , dissenting:
The majority opinion directs elections for two
groups of college library employees: professional
librarians and the library clerical staff. In doing so it
segregates the library clerical employees from other
Division-bibliography section head, order section head, catalog depart-
ment head, catalogue section head, catalog section supervisor , keypunch
section supervisor, binding supervisor, processing supervisor , curator of
Asian studies collection , in the Public Services Division-circulation
department head, periodicals and government publications department
head, government publications section head , reference department head,
reserve department head, and special collections department head, in the
Science Division -Joint Science Library supervisor
CLAREMONT UNIVERSITY CENTER 817
clerical employees who perform like work under like
conditions and who receive like benefits. It further
picks out a segment of the professional group-the
librarians-setting them apart from other profession-
al employees. I have analyzed the facts of this case
under standards set out in Cornell University (183
NLRB No. 41 at p. 18), and I conclude that a unit
limited to library employees is inappropriate and I
would dismiss the petition.
The colleges and Claremont University Center
employ approximately 1,900 employees. Of these,
approximately 550 are faculty members and the
remainder are nonacademic employees. The Employ-
ers' proposed alternative unit, numbers less than 400.
The unit granted includes about 80 full-time employ-
ees and an undetermined number of part-time
employees.
The cluster of The Claremont Colleges depends on
a central administration, the Claremont University
Center, to perform common services and operate
central facilities for all of the colleges. In recognition
of this purpose, a top governing body, the board of
fellows, was established with a membership that
includes the president and a member of the board of
trustees from each of the colleges. Its duties include
responsibility for the budget of all central facilities. A
subdivision of the board of fellows, the council of
The Claremont Colleges, given policy guidance and
is responsible for the administration of the central
programs and facilities and for labor relations
decisions.
While the colleges may be separate educational
bodies, the unique characteristic of their grouping is
that there is the central administration to supply
services and facilities-most particularly, the large
library. The Council of The Claremont Colleges is
responsible for the administration of the library, as
well as the other central services. The Director of
Libraries reports to the Provost who in turn reports
to the Council.13
That the library is a vital part of the colleges points
to its oneness with the colleges and not, as the
majority would have it, to separateness. As the
president of Claremont Men's College testified, the
library is "kind of the heart of the cooperative
venture" that is The Claremont Colleges. The
library's operating agreement with the colleges is
intended primarily to provide for the care of the
books, a service supported by each college's financial
contribution. Significantly, it provides that staff
classification, salaries, fringe benefits, and benefits
for librarians 14 will be comparable to faculty salaries
and benefits in comparable colleges and, for the
assistant staff, shall be comparable to those for
similar administrative and clerical positions in the
member colleges.
The duties of the bulk of library employees are not
distinctive. There are less than 10 nonsupervisory
professional librarians. The remainder of the employ-
ees are nonprofessional clericals who are classified
for the most part as assistants, i.e., bibliographical
assistant, catalog assistant, circulation assistant,
periodicals assistant, fund control assistant, order
assistant , and data control assistant . The other
nonprofessional classifications apply to a handful of
employees who are designated keypunch operator,
interlibrary loan clerk, and mail clerk.
The duties of the nonprofessional library employ-
ees are primarily clerical. They include receiving
book requests, checking accounts to determine
availability of funds for purchases, transmitting
orders to book and periodical vendors, checking in
books and periodicals, assembling and distributing
books, searching bibliographical sources for books,
preparing catalog entries and cards, using keypunch
machines, receiving and sending books to commer-
cial binderies and performing minor repairs, placing
call numbers on the books, inserting bookplates and
pockets in books, taking care of loan records,
checking books in and out, shelving books, operating
a copying machine, filing, typing, and delivering
mail.
There are other nonprofessional employees outside
of the library system but working in central services
who perform like clerical duties. They include, in
part, receptionists in health, counseling, and person-
nel services, secretaries in most of the various other
central services offices, keypunch operators, tab
operator, cashier, disbursement officers, bookkeeper,
loan clerk, and accounts payable clerk, all in the
business office, and clerks in the personnel office.
While some job classifications in the library may
be distinctive, the job skills, work, and training of the
employees are not. The manager for personnel
services testified to their similarities with work
outside the library. The work of the fund control
assistant in the order section of the library is similar
to that of the accounting clerk in the central business
office. Both handle income accounts, check requisi-
tions, order materials, file, and type. The mail clerk
job in or out of the library requires like tasks. The
responsibility of the data control assistant in the
library is like that of his counterpart in the central
business office of Claremont University Center or
the same job in the development office at Harvey
Mudd College. Keypunch operators are a library
13 The Honnold Library Council, while once playing a governing part in council
the administration of the library, now has only a consultative part Other 14 The colleges will enter into operating agreements with the computer
central services , such as the Chaplain's Office, also have an advisory center which is not yet in full operation
818 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
classification, but keypunch operators are employed
at a number of other locations. Their duties are
essentially the same-keypunching and verifying.
There are nonprofessional student employees
performing library work at Pomona, Harvey Mudd,
and Claremont Men's College but who are on the
payroll of those colleges. They do the same work as
students performing work at the other libraries and
on the Honnold payroll.
Personnel policies and employment practices are
applied on the same basis to the library and other
central service employees. These policies are formu-
lated by the Council of The Claremont Colleges
which has overall responsibility for all of the central
services, including the library. They are administered
by the business and personnel offices. The business
office maintains records centrally for all and issues
paychecks for all. Under a recent reorganization
plan, all nonacademic employees will be recruited
and hired through the personnel office.
The wage and salary scales are being regularized
under a formal classification program that has been
under study and will take effect shortly. Such
employee benefits as insurance, pension, vacation,
holidays, and seniority credits are equally applicable
to all. Hours, while different for the library than for
some other services, are not so different from those
of physical plant services, health service, theater and
auditorium, bookstore, snack center, or the Chap-
lain's office. All such services must be available
evenings and weekends, and the business office ahs
the same 37-1/2 hour workweek as the library.
The library operations are intertwined with other
of the central services. In addition to personnel and
business office services, mentioned above, rendered
to library employees along with others, the business
office bills students for library fines, keeps an
accounting of library funds for purchase, and
operates the campus mail system which services the
library. The physical plant supplies heat, air-condi-
tioning, cleaning, and repair services to the library.
The bookstore supplies books ordered by the library.
The print shop prints some book plates and purchase
forms. The computer center works with library staff
in the preparation of a variety of records. The theatre
stores some library materials.
There is no history of collective bargaining on an
overall or individual college basis. For several years a
Shops Committee has represented part of the central
service employees. These are skilled employees in the
physical plant who are covered by a written
agreement between the Shops Committee and the
Claremont University Center. In the library system
employees and supervisors have been members of the
Honnold Library Staff Association. Management
officials have met with its representatives on occa-
sion to discuss personnel policies and library pro-
grams. However, the Association has not negotiated
,a collective-bargaining agreement nor has it been
accorded recognition as a bargaining representative.
The Board held in Cornell University, 183 NLRB
No. 41, that a unit confined to library employees at a
college campus was not appropriate. Asserting the
work of the nonacademic library employees, the
Board said:
Apart from the fact that these employees have
organized themselves separately, there is little
which justifies establishing a separate bargaining
unit for them. Their work and skills are similar to
those of many other employees on the Ithaca
campus, and they enjoy the same working
conditions and benefits as other Cornell employ-
ees. In view of the foregoing, we do not find that
the library employees possess a sufficiently
separate community of interest which would
warrant establishing the separate unit sought
.... [See sec. entitled "Statewide Unit."]
I can see no substantial difference between the
situation in Cornell and that in this case. The prime
determinants of community of interest are work and
skills. They are the same for the employees involved
in the two cases. Whatever differences may exist in
organizational structure and working conditions
between the two cases they are minor and do not
justify different results. Library employees are not a
craft. We have been pointed to no history showing
that such employees have traditionally bargained as
a separate unit.
The organization of professional and nonprofes-
sional employees for collective-bargaining purposes
in American universities is a comparatively recent
innovation but is now proceeding apace, as the large
number of recent representation petitions and Board
decisions attest. Our decisions will determine the
form in which this organization proceeds. Up to the
present time, with one exception, the Board has
refused to permit fragmentation of the professional
and clerical staffs of colleges for bargaining purpos-
es.15 It has recently found specifically that "librari-
ans are professional employees engaged in functions
closely related to teaching and that they have a
community of interest with the faculty." i6 Accord-
ingly, it directed their inclusion in a bargaining unit
with faculty members. If professional librarians
15 Cornell University, 183 NLRB No 41, George Washington University, school faculty in Fordham University, 193 NLRB No 23
191 NLRB No 395, Yale University, 184 NLRB No 101, Florida Southern 16 Florida Southern College, supra Accord C W Post Center of Long
College, 196 NLRB No 133, University of New Haven, Inc, 190 NLRB No Island University, 189 NLRB No 109, Long Island University (Brooklyn
102 The single exception was the establishment of a separate unit for law Center), 189 NLRB No 110
CLAREMONT UNIVERSITY CENTER
belong in the same unit with other professionals, then
surely clerical library employees should be included
in a unit with other clerical employees. Indeed,
should the professional employees not select the
Union but should the clericals do so, the library
clerical unit remaining will be the very kind of unit
the Board held inappropriate in Cornell because of its
narrow scope. And, since Cornell, the Board has
required a multicampus unit of nonacademic wage
employees, declining to establish a separate unit for
like employees on one campus. Tulane University, 195
NLRB No. 62 (Member Jenkins dissenting).
It seems to me that with this decision the majority
members are opening up unpredictable difficulties
for the Board as well as for the colleges of this
country. Today, the majority members find a unit of
library employees appropriate. Tomorrow, can they
logically refuse to find other college departmental
units appropriate? Are there more reasons for finding
a library unit appropriate than, for example, a
physics department unit, or a sociology department
unit, or a mathematics department unit? Such
departmentalization can only engender divisiveness
and cause breakdown of the collective-bargaining
process that the Act is designed to promote.
The appropriateness of a less than all-inclusive
bargaining unit is usually established by industry
tradition or company bargaining history. In the
absence of these, resort is to rationality. In the
present case industry tradition and employer bar-
gaining history are lacking as support for the
requested library unit. What we are left with to
determine appropriateness is the reasonableness of
the proposed unit. It seems to me not rational to
819
establish a separate unit for some but not all
employees on a single campus who perform the same
or related work. The fact of departmental lines is not
sufficient to create separate communities of interest.
The majority decision will open the door to the
possibility, indeed the probability, that clerical and
professional employees on The Claremont Colleges
campus will be organized in separate bargaining
units by different unions with all the rivalry and
confusion this will entail. Competition in goods and
prices serves a public interest; excessive competition
among labor unions to see which can get the most for
members does not serve a like function. On the
contrary, such competitiveness is likely to be disrup-
tive of sound labor relations and to lessen the ability
of the colleges to perform their educational function.
The private colleges of this country are faced with
many grave difficulties, financial and otherwise. We
should not increase those difficulties by unwisely
creating fragmented bargaining units.
The Act entrusts to the Board broad discretion in
deciding what is an appropriate bargaining unit. But
the discretion is not unlimited. Section 9(c)(5) of the
Act specifically says that in determining appropriate-
ness of a proposed bargaining unit "the extent to
which the employees are organized shall not be
controlling." In my opinion, contrary to the injunc-
tion of Section 9(c)(5), the majority decision does
give controlling weight to the fact that the Union has
limited its organizational efforts to the library
employees. I therefore disagree with the majority's
unit finding. As the Petitioner does not seek any
alternative unit, I would dismiss the petition.