Harrah's Club

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 12, 1971

187 N.L.R.B. 810 (N.L.R.B. 1971)

810 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Harrah 's Club and International Union of Operating
Engineers, Stationary Local 39, AFL-CIO, Peti-
tioner . Case 20-RC-9431
January 12, 1971
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF
ELECTION
BY CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS
FANNING AND JENKINS
On June 26, 1970, the International Union of
Operating Engineers, Stationary Local 39, AFL-CIO,
hereinafter referred to as the Petitioner, filed a
petition seeking to represent certain employees of
Harrah's Club, a casino, at Stateline, Nevada.
Pursuant to the direction of the Regional Director for
Region 20, a hearing to determine whether the unit of
maintenance department employees sought was
appropriate was held on July 30 and 31 and August
25, 1970, at Reno, Nevada. By order of the Regional
Director on September 15, 1970, this proceeding was
transferred to the Board for decision pursuant to
Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations. Thereafter, the Petitioner and
Harrah's Club, hereinafter referred to as the Employ-
er, submitted briefs to the Board.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case
to a three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Hearing
Officer made at the hearing and finds that no
prejudicial error was committed. The rulings are
hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, including the
briefs, the Board finds:
1. The parties stipulated, and we find, that during
the past year the Employer received gross revenue in
excess of $500,000 from its gambling operations in
Nevada and purchased and received goods valued in
excess of $50,000 directly from outside the State of
Nevada. 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. The parties stipulated, and we find, that the
Petitioner is a labor organization. The Petitioner
claims to represent certain employees of the Employ-
er.
' The unit description reflects Petitioner 's amendment of the petition at
the hearing
2 In 1964 , the Board certified the International Alliance of Theatrical
Stage Employees and Moving Operators of the United States and Canada.
Local 363 , AFL-CIO, to represent a unit of the Employer 's employees
including a sound console operator There is no evidence that a collective-
bargaining agreement was ever executed or that that union continues to
3. A question affecting commerce exists concern-
ing the representation of certain employees of the
Employer within the meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and
Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Employer, a Nevada corporation with
places of business at Reno and Lake Tahoe, Nevada,
is engaged in the operation of gambling casinos,
restaurants, showrooms and bars at both locations,
and a hotel at Reno. The instant case involves only its
Lake Tahoe operation. The Petitioner seeks to
represent a unit of "all maintenance department
employees, excluding office clerical employees,
guards and supervisors as defined in the Act"; I at the
hearing, however, it indicated willingness to partici-
pate in an election in any unit that the Board might
find appropriate. The Employer contends that the
unit sought is not a skilled craft or a distinct group
with interests separate from those of other mainte-
nance-type employees and that, therefore, the unit
sought is not appropriate. There is no history of
collective bargaining.2
The Employer's Lake Tahoe operation is directed
by a general manager and two assistant general
managers. For administrative purposes, the operation
is divided into 19 departments, each of whose
managers reports to one of the assistant general
managers. At issue is whether, as Petitioner requests, a
unit confined to maintenance department personnel is
appropriate, or whether, as the Employer contends,
the unit must also include employees in the cleaning,
food, garage, parking lot (Harrah's South Shore
Corporation),33 and slot departments. The status of the
remaining departments, which are more directly
concerned with the gambling and public relations
aspects of the operation, is not in dispute.
Physically, Harrah's Lake Tahoe consists of a main
building which contains a casino, restaurants and
snackbar, a nightclub, four kitchens, and various
executive and administrative offices. In the immedi-
ate area are a recreation center for children; the North
Lodge, which contains rooms for entertainers; a
garage for the Employer's vehicles; and a parking lot.
Approximately 12 miles away at Skyland is the Villa
Harrah, which is used to entertain special guests of the
club.
The maintenance department includes 12 job
classifications. The maintenance manager and main-
tenance supervisor are responsible for overall direc-
tion of the department; four maintenance shift
supervisors report to them and direct the work of the
represent the sound console operator
' Harrah's South Shore Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of the
Employer formed to do business in California because part of the parking
lot is located in that State It was stipulated at the hearing that, for the
purpose of this proceeding, Harrah's South Shore Corporation and
Harrah's Club are integrated operations constituting one employer
187 NLRB No. 112
HARRAH'S CLUB
three 8-hour shifts of maintenance employees. The
department also has 3 maintenance senior
mechanics,4 12 maintenance mechanics. 12 general
maintenance men, 4 parts clerks who work in the issue
room, an upholsterer, a sound coordinator, 4 sound
technicians, a gardener, and diver. The gardener, the
diver, one maintenance mechanic, and one general
maintenance man are permanently assigned to
Skyland.
The maintenance department maintains the Em-
ployer's premises by making repairs on buildings,
equipment, fixtures, and furniture as needed and by
periodically inspecting equipment. These duties in-
clude, inter aha, moving furniture, gaming tables, and
entertainers' equipment; making general inspections
of the buildings; changing light bulbs, replacing loose
or worn tiles or carpeting, spot painting on the
premises, changing marquee signs, repairing worn
upholstery, and removing snow from the roofs;
maintaining the sound system; repairing the overhead
doors in the garage and issuing parts, tools, and
inventory from the parts room to other departments.
Maintenance department employees prepare wooden
stands for the installation of slot machines and wire
and cut the carpet around the machines; they erect
barriers in the slot areas to prevent public access when
business is slow; they re-cover worn gaming tables. In
the kitchen areas maintenance department employees
repair dishwashers; maintain and make minor repairs
on grease traps, drains, fans, and exhausts; light pilot
lights; change oven controls; and repair gaslines.
They inspect and repair refrigeration and air-condi-
tioning equipment by inspecting for leaks and wear
and tear; when necessary, they adjust temperature
controls, and replace worn belts and other parts.
Maintenance department employees also lubricate
various machinery and inspect and maintain the
electrical system and boilers. The gardener maintains
the lawns and shrubbery at Skyland and the diver
works on the docks, sets out buoys, and cleans the
water there by removing debris; they work with a
general maintenance man and a maintenance me-
chanic permanently stationed there; all are under the
direction of the maintenance shift supervisor. While
sound technicians maintain the Club's sound system,
they also report to the maintenance shift supervisor
and do regular maintenance work when assigned. The
upholsterer re-covers and repairs worn furniture
throughout the Club and in his shop.
Maintenance department employees make minor
repairs only; major electrical, boiler, refrigeration,
air-conditioning, upholstery, painting, tile, sign, and
carpentry work is performed by outside contractors.
4 It was stipulated at the hearing that the maintenance senior mechanics
are not supervisors within the meaning of the Act because , while they may
instruct other maintenance department employees by virtue of their greater
811
Maintenance employees are hired on the basis of
general skills: the Employer does not have an
apprenticeship program or a journeyman require-
ment; training is gotten on the job. In view of these
factors, it is clear that the maintenance employees do
not constitute a skilled craft group.
It is apparent from the record that employees in
other departments also perform maintenance func-
tions, frequently in close cooperation with mainte-
nance department employees. Thus, cleaning depart-
ment employees clean throughout the Club on a
continuous basis: they sweep and polish floors and
shampoo rugs; clean walls, ceilings, vents, and
windows; clean and polish ashtrays, telephones, light
fixtures, and furniture; and sweep the sidewalks and
gutters outside the Club. Cleaning department em-
ployees often assist maintenance department person-
nel in moving furniture , gaming tables , and perform-
ers' equipment; they also wash walls before mainte-
nance department employees do touchup painting.
The cleaning department also uses the grinders and
drill presses in the maintenance shop to repair its own
equipment. Cleaning men take trash to the baling
room and bale it there; on one of the three shifts,
however, a maintenance department employee does
the baling for them. Maintenance personnel regularly
assist cleaners by dismantling light fixtures, chande-
liers, and lighted signs which are to be cleaned, and
reassembling them when the cleaners are finished; the
maintenance department also erects scaffolds or
operates ladder trucks when cleaning department
employees periodically clean otherwise unreachable
windows. During the winter, maintenance depart-
ment employees sweep snow off the Club's roofs,
cleaning men remove the snow from the sidewalk and
yard maintenance employees from Harrah's South
Shore Corporation take the snow by truck to the back
of the parking lot for disposal.
The Harrah's South Shore Corporation yard mainte-
nance employees maintain the parking area which
surrounds the Club on three sides by repairing fences,
painting striping on the lot and curbs, painting light
standards, changing light bulbs, watering plants, and
mowing lawns. They also operate snow removal
equipment and haul garbage to the dump. The garage,
which is located approximately 100 yards from the
Club in a corner of the parking lot, is staffed by a
garage supervisor, a leadman, six master craftsman
mechanics, one mechanic's helper, and one chauffeur.
The aforementioned employees, including the chauf-
feur, wash, lubricate, and repair the Employer's
rolling equipment and clean and sweep the garage.
Maintenance employees repair the overhead doors
skills , they cannot recommend the hire or discharge of other employees nor
can they assign or transfer them fromjob tojob
812 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and change light bulbs in the garage. As in the case of
maintenance department employees, garage employ-
ees sometimes move entertainers' equipment.
The food department consists of a food manager, an
assistant chef, a kitchen steward supervisor, 17
kitchen maintenance specialists, and 78 kitchen
maintenance employees. The last two categories of
employees maintain the kitchen by cleaning stoves,
grills, light fixtures, vents, floors, tables, refrigerators,
walls, and sinks with a microspray. These employees
also remove, clean, and replace filters over the grills
and remove and dump the garbage, jobs which were
performed by maintenance department employees
until 4 or 5 weeks before the hearing. Every 2 weeks
maintenance department employees remove lights
from the fixtures in one of the Club's restaurants,
kitchen maintenance employees clean the fixtures,
and then maintenance department personnel replace
the lights.
Slot mechanics from the slot repair department repair
and maintain slot machines in their shop, which is on
the same floor as the maintenance shop, and on the
casino floor. Maintenance department employees aid
slot mechanics in installing slot machines by cutting
the carpet, erecting a wooden stand, and helping to
wire the machines.
All of the aforementioned employees are hired only
after clearance by the personnel department, receive
the same benefits, use the employee lounge, and have
common restroom facilities. Lockers on the lower
level are assigned at random so that those belonging
to employees in different departments are in close
proximity. Except for the kitchen department employ-
ees, who by tradition are furnished meals at their own
cafeteria, all of the aforementioned employees receive
their meals at discount at an employee cafeteria. All
nonsupervisory employees are daily rated, receiving
overtime for work in excess of 40 hours per week,5 and
are paid on the same day at the same window.
The cleaning, garage, and parking lot managers
report to Assistant Manager Lewis; the maintenance
department manager reports to Assistant Manager
Gilgert; for security reasons, the slot manager reports
directly to an executive vice president. Assistant
Manager Lewis testified, however, that while the
maintenance department was removed from his
jurisdiction approximately 2 weeks before the hear-
ing, he did not know whether this administrative
change would be permanent. The record indicates
that each of the departments is similarly managed so
that each employee fills out an identical timeslip each
5 There was no evidence as to whether food department employees
receive overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 per week
6 Heublein , Inc, 119 NLRB 1337
7 Westinghouse Electric Corporation, 102 NLRB 275, Raybestos Division
of the Raybestos- Manhattan Company, Inc, 74 NLRB 1321
day which he turns in to his shift supervisor. The
record also establishes that there have been numerous
transfers of employees among the various depart-
ments performing maintenance-type functions.
We are asked by Petitioner to separate, on a
departmental basis, employees engaged in fixing
activities from those engaged in cleaning and other
types of repair functions. Under established Board
policy, a unit of maintenance personnel may be
appropriate even if they do not possess the skills of
craftsmen.6 However, such a unit must embrace all of
those engaged in the performance of maintenance
tasks.? Thus, janitors and cleanup men have been
found to be maintenance employees who must be
included in the appropriate unit.8 Garage mechanics 9
who maintain an employer's vehicles and matrons i0
who perform cleanup functions have also been
included in such units.
In Shannon & Luchs, i i a case involving an apart-
ment house complex, we found a blue collar unit of
maintenance personnel, including repairmen, maids,
and groundsmen, to be appropriate. That decision
also referred to the analogous hotel industry. Though
no smaller unit was sought in Shannon & Luchs, we see
no reason why the instant Employer's casino opera-
tions should be governed by considerations that could
allow separate representation within groupings of
noncraftsmen performing the overall maintenance
function. In this industry, as in the case of the large
apartment or hotel operation, day-to-day mainte-
nance activities require a substantial complement of
employees engaged in repair and cleaning functions.
Where craftsmen are not involved, those performing
these duties have a community of interest with others
similarly engaged which is not defeated by their
assignment to different departments within an em-
ployer's organizational structure. This is amply
established on the instant record. Here, the repair
function is not limited to the employees sought, but is
also engaged in by employees assigned to Harrah's
South Shore Corporation, the garage, and the slot
repair department. Furthermore, those engaged in
cleaning functions are frequently required to work in
conjunction with repairmen in the performance of a
variety of tasks. In addition to the constant contact
among the blue collar employees and the functional
overlap with employees in other departments, the
record also demonstrates that employees in all the
maintenance and cleaning departments share com-
mon working conditions and benefits. Accordingly,
we find that a unit limited to maintenance department
8 General Electric Company, 122 NLRB 165; Magma Copper Company,
115 NLRB 1
9 Foremost Dairies, Inc, 118 NLRB 1424
10 Warner-Lambert Pharmaceutical Co, Inc, 131 NLRB 1441
11 162 NLRB 1381
HARRAH'S CLUB 813
employees does not comprise a homogeneous group-
ing of employees possessed of interests sufficiently
distinct from other employees to constitute a separate
unit appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining.
Rather, we find that the minimum appropriate unit
must include all employees engaged in cleaning and
repair functions without regard to the department to
which they have been assigned.
Accordingly, we find that the following employees
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9(b) of the Act:
All employees in the maintenance, cleaning, and
slot repair departments, the garage and parking lot
(also known as Harrah 's South Shore Corporation)
as well as kitchen maintenance specialists and
kitchen maintenance employees at Harrah 's Club,
Stateline , Nevada, excluding all office clerical
employees , guards , and supervisors as defined in
the Act.12
[Direction of Election 13 14 omitted from
publication.]
12 It was stipulated at the hearing , and we find , that the following are
supervisors within the meaning of the Act. the maintenance manager.
maintenance supervisor , and maintenance shift supervisors , the cleaning
department manager, cleaning specialist foremen, porter foreman, and
matron supervisor, the food manager , assistant chef, and kitchen steward
supervisor : and the manager of Harrah 's South Shore Corporation As the
record establishes that the following either have the authority to hire,
discharge , or grant merit increases or the authority effectively to
recommend the same , we find that they are supervisors within the meaning
of the Act the sound coordinator , parking lot supervisor, yard
maintenance foreman, slot repair manager , slot repair shift supervisors, and
the garage supervisor As the record indicates that Margaret Yule regularly
acts as matron supervisor with the full powers of that position, we find that
she too is a supervisor within the meaning of the Act
13. As the unit found appropriate is substantially larger than that
petitioned for , the election we direct is conditioned upon the Regional
Director's determination that the Petitioner has made an adequate showing
of interest among the employees in this unit who are eligible to vote in this
election We hereby permit the Petitioner, should it so desire , to withdraw
its petition without prejudice upon written notice to the Regional Director
within 10 days from the date of this Direction of Election.
ii 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 election should have access to a list of voters and their
addresses which may be used to communicate with them . Excelsior
Underwear Inc, 156 NLRB 1236, N LR B v. Wyman-Gordon Co, 394 U S.
759 Accordingly . it is hereby directed that an election eligibility list,
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 Election . The Regional Director
shall make the list available to all parties to the election No extension of
time to file this list shall be granted by the Regional Director except in
extraordinary circumstances Failure to comply with this requirement shall
be grounds for setting aside the election whenever proper objections are
filed