Hat Corp. of America

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 11, 1949

86 N.L.R.B. 457 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of HAT CORPORATION OF AMERICA, EMPLOYER and BUILD-
ING SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION, LOCAL 32K, AFL,
PETITIONER
Case No. 2-RC-1053.-Decided October 11, 194.9
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Jack Davis,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Reynolds, and Gray].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks to represent all the Employer's employees in
Brooklyn, New York, who are not presently represented by United
Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers International Union, AFL, and
Joint Board of Millinery Workers Union, Locals 2, 24, 42, 57, and 90.1
The proposed unit consists of all maintenance employees of the Em-
ployer in its Brooklyn, New York, factory, and in the loft building
owned by the Employer where the factory is located. In the alterna-
tive, the Petitioner would represent these employees in separate fac-
tory and building maintenance units. The Employer contends that
the employees sought to be represented should be included in the exist-
ing bargaining unit for production employees, or should be separated
1 Although served with notice of hearing , neither the United flatters nor the Joint Board
appeared or sought to intervene in this proceeding . We therefore assume that neither
labor organization is interested in representing any of the employees sought by Petitioner
herein.
86 N. L. R. B., No. 64.
457
458 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
into three units consisting of factory maintenance employees, build-
ing maintenance employees, and the stationary engineer.
The Employer owns and maintains a four-story loft building in.
Brooklyn where it is engaged in the manufacture of women's millinery.
It occupies for such purposes part of the first, all of the third, and
most of the fourth story. The remaining space is leased to a number
of commercial and industrial tenants. The Employer supplies heat,..
power, elevator, and janitorial services throughout the entire building.
The employees engaged in the building maintenance function are a
stationary engineer, a handyman, a freight elevator operator, and a.
combination elevator operator and porter-watchman, all of whom are
supervised by the building superintendent. For maintenance services
on its factory premises it employs a mechanic, amatron, and two,
porters, under the supervision of the factory superintendent.
All production employees in the Brooklyn factory have been repre-
sented by United Hatters and the Joint Board for 2 or 3 years. There-
is no history of collective bargaining for the employees involved in
this proceeding. The latter are all engaged in relatively unskilled
maintenance work. Much of the work of the building maintenance
employees, as well as that of the factory maintenance employees, is
performed for the Employer in aid of its operations as a manufac-
turer. In these circumstances, and as no other labor organization
presently seeks to represent them, we believe that these employees
together may properly constitute a separate residual bargaining unit?
The Employer also would exclude the combination elevator oper-
ator and porter-watchman from any unit in this case, as a guard. He
works from 5 p. in. to 10 p. in., 6 days a week. He operates the freight
elevator for a few hours after he comes on duty, and spends the
remaining time sweeping the stairways and halls and checking to see
that all doors and windows are closed. He is the last person in the
building at night, and before leaving must see that no one remains
behind. He checks all persons entering or leaving the building after
working hours as a protection against theft or destruction of the
property of the Employer and its tenants. Although he spends part
of his working time on nonmonitorial duties, we are satisfied that he
is primarily a watchman, charged with the duty of checking doors
and windows and preventing unauthorized entrances and exits even
while he is operating the elevator or cleaning up. We shall therefore
exclude him from the unit as a guard.
We find that all building and factory maintenance employees of the
Employer at its premises in Brooklyn, New York, including the sta-
2 Matter of International Harvester Co. (Memphis , Tenn. ), 82 N. L. R. B. 185; Matter of
American Security and Trust Co., 78 N. L. R. B. 927. Matter of Lion Oil Co., 73 N. L. R.
B. 982. .
HAT CORPORATION OF AMERICA 459,
tionary engineer, but excluding the combination elevator operator and
porter-watchmen,3 and all supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the.
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was.
heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labof
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the,
unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work.
during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or
temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargain-
ing, by Building Service Employees International Union, Local
32K, AFL.
8 Giuseppe Mastrogiacomo.