Holiday Inn

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 5, 1974

214 N.L.R.B. 651 (N.L.R.B. 1974)

SERVICO, INC.
Servico, Inc., d/b/a Holiday Inn, Pittsburgh, Parkway
West, Carnegie and Hotel and Restaurant Employ-
ees and Bartenders International Union , Locals
237-188, AFL-CIO, Petitioner . Case 6-RC-6725
November 5, 1974
DECISION ON REVIEW AND ORDER
BY MEMBERS JENKINS, KENNEDY, AND PENELLO
On June 19, 1974, the Regional Director for Re-
gion 6 issued a Decision and Direction of Election in
the above-entitled proceeding, in which he found ap-
propriate a unit including "all full-time and regular
part-time maids, porters, and the houseman-mainte-
nanceman," employed by the Employer at its Carne-
gie, Pennsylvania, motel and restaurant facility, ex-
cluding all other employees. In accordance with Sec-
tion 102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, the
Employer filed a timely request for review of the Re-
gional Director's decision on the grounds, inter aha,
that the unit found constitutes a departure from offi-
cially reported Board precedent.
The Board, by telegraphic order dated August 5,
1974, granted the request for review and stayed the
election pending decision on review.' Thereafter the
Employer filed a brief on review.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au-
thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
The Board has considered the entire record in this
proceeding, including the Employer's brief on re-
view, with respect to the issues under review and
makes the following findings:
The Petitioner sought to represent a unit of ap-
proximately 20 full-time and part-time maids at the
Employer's Carnegie, Pennsylvania, facility.' The
Regional Director broadened the requested unit of
maids to include five porters, a houseman-mainte-
nanceman, and an inspectress on the grounds that
those employees perform work which is similar or
substantially related to the housekeeping function
engaged in by the maids. The Employer contends
that the employees in the unit found appropriate lack
a sufficient distinct community of interest apart from
other employees to warrant a separate unit and that
i A timely request for review of the Regional Director's decision was also
filed by the Petitioner contending that the Regional Director erroneously
included the porters in the unit found appropriate Said request for review
was denied by telegraphic order dated August 5, 1974
2 Petitioner also expressed a willingness to proceed to an election in alter-
native units of less than an overall unit of the employees herein
651
the only appropriate unit consists of all the employ-
ees at the Employer's facility. For the reasons stated
herein, we agree.
The Employer operates a motel and restaurant lo-
cated at Carnegie, Pennsylvania, which is comprised
of two buildings connected by partially covered
walkways. One of the buildings contains the 159 mo-
tel guestrooms, two small banquet rooms, a mainte-
nance shop, and a basement laundry room. The
other contains the lobby, the motel and restaurant
offices, the front desk, additional banquet rooms, a
dining room, a kitchen, and a bar.
The approximate 80 employees at the Carnegie lo-
cation are under the overall supervision of Innkeeper
William Jones. Reporting to Jones are Housekeeper
Joanne Wilson, who directly supervises the maids
and the houseman-maintenanceman, and Assistant
Innkeeper Al Pugliano, who assists Jones in supervis-
ing all other employees, including the porters.
The Regional Director in reaching his unit deter-
mination found that the excluded employees per-
formed functions and possessed interests apart from
those of the housekeeping employees. However, our
review of the record reveals that there exists a degree
of overlap among the duties and functions of the em-
ployees included in the unit and certain of those ex-
cluded and that other factors exist which militate
against the finding of a separate unit of housekeeping
employees. Thus, the porters, included in the unit,
spend the majority of their time driving the
Employer's van to and from the airport and the mo-
tel. At times, they also work behind the front desk
and partially check in guests,' and they regularly de-
liver room service to the guestrooms.4 Desk clerks,
excluded from the unit, also drive the Employer's
van to and from the airport on occasion and, like the
porters and busboys, are utilized to deliver room ser-
vice to the guestrooms. A desk clerk may also be
called upon to clean a guestroom if the maids are off
duty and a porter is unavailable.'
The record further reveals that the cleaning duties
of housekeeping employees are not limited solely to
the cleaning and preparation of motel guestrooms
but extend to other areas of the facility. Porters are
utilized to clean the kitchen, dining room, lobby, and
restrooms. Three of the maids, referred to as "main-
tenance girls," clean the banquet rooms, the lobby,
and other areas in the commercial building. Two of
The record discloses that one employee regularly functions both as a
desk clerk on certain days and as a porter on others
4 The porters share this function equally with busboys and both of these
groups may also deliver or change items such as mattresses, bedboards, and
cribs
5 Although the record is silent as to the frequency of these occurrences,
testimony of the Employer's innkeeper reveals that it is not unusual for a
desk clerk to clean a guestroom and that this duty is performed on a volun-
tary basis
214 NLRB No. 92
652 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the maids, referred to as laundry employees, clean
the restaurant as well as the room linen. In addition,
a restaurant night "cleanup man," excluded from the
unit, cleans the dining room daily and does "heavy"
work in the commercial building once or twice a
week. Furthermore, the houseman-maintenanceman
assists the maintenanceman, who was excluded,
when the latter performs major repairs.
Wage rates for motel and restaurant employees are
substantially similar,' as are the training periods re-
quired for employees in various job classifications.'
Pursuant to the Employer's policy to promote from
within, numerous transfers and promotions have oc-
curred among employees.' The record also discloses
that there is one payroll and bookkeeping system and
a common payday. Time records for all employees
6 Wage rates for the employees herein are as follows maids $1 85-2 20,
porters $1 90 , night cleanup man $2 , dishwashers $ 1 75, dining room cash-
ier $2 25, desk clerks $2 25-2 35 Waitresses earn $1 07 plus tips , and the
maintenanceman $600 per month
7 Training periods for the various job classifications are as follows por-
ters and the houseman-maintenanceman 1-2 weeks , maids and waitresses 2
weeks, busboys I week, hostess cashier 3 weeks, and the desk clerks 3-4
weeks
8 The record shows that these transfers and promotions involve inter-
change between job categories included in the unit and excluded from the
unit by the Regional Director Thus, busboys have become desk clerks,
maids have become desk clerks and waitresses , and dishwashers have be-
come desk clerks
are submitted on the same timesheet and fringe bene-
fits including group insurance plans, vacations, holi-
days, sick leave, and other benefits are virtually the
same for all employees .9
In view of the foregoing, particularly the function-
al relationship of employees included in the unit with
those excluded, the common working conditions, and
frequent contact inherent in such a facility, it does
not appear that the housekeeping employees enjoy a
community of interest sufficiently separate and dis-
tinct from the other employees herein to warrant
their being represented separately. Rather, we find,
in the circumstances herein, that only an overall unit
of employees at the Employer's Carnegie, Pennsylva-
nia, facility is appropriate.10 Accordingly, and as the
Petitioner apparently does not seek an election in an
overall unit, we shall dismiss the petition herein.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition filed herein
be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
e As found by the Regional Director, maids , unlike other employees, who
receive free uniforms and meals , must pay for a portion of their meals and
uniforms
10 Days Inn of America, Inc, 210 NLRB 1035 (1974), West, Inc, d/b/a
Holiday Inn Southwest, 202 NLRB 781 (1973)