Harold's Club, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 3, 1971

194 N.L.R.B. 13 (N.L.R.B. 1971)

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