Inter-County Blood Banks, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 9, 1967

165 N.L.R.B. 252 (N.L.R.B. 1967)

I
252 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Inter-County Blood Banks, Inc. and
Television, Radio , Instrument , Business
Machine and Furniture Manufacturing
Drivers, Helpers, Warehousemen and
Employees, Local 854, International
Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs,
Warehousemen and Helpers of America,
Petitioner. Case 29-RC-574.
June 9,1967
DECISION ON REVIEW AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS FANNING
AND JENKINS
On November 22, 1966, the Regional Director for
Region 29 issued a Decision and Direction of
Election in the above-entitled proceeding, in which
he denied the Employer's motion to dismiss the
petition on jurisdictional grounds and directed an
election in a requested unit of drivers. Thereafter, in
accordance with the National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, the
Employer filed a timely request for review of the
Regional Director's Decision on the grounds, inter
alia, that substantial questions of law and policy
were raised by his assertion of jurisdiction herein
because of the absence of, or 'departure from,
officially reported Board precedent. The Employer
also made a request for oral argument. The
Petitioner filed opposition to the request for review.
By telegraphic order dated January 24, 1967, the
Board granted the request for review and stayed the
election pending decision on review. Thereafter the
parties filed briefs on review.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
powers in connection with this case to a three-
member panel.
Upon consideration of the entire record in this
case with respect to the issues under review,
including the briefs of the parties, the Board makes
the following findings:'
The Employer contends, inter alia, that because it
provides blood bank services for hospitals over
which the Board does not assert jurisdiction, the
Regional Director should have granted its motion to
dismiss. We find merit in this contention.
The Employer was chartered in 1942 as a
nonprofit blood bank to obtain and provide blood for
the use of individuals and to support research. It is
operated under license from, and is regulated by, the
' As the record, including the briefs of the parties, adequately
presents the issues and the positions of the parties, the request for
oral argument is hereby denied
' These facilities are used to repay other blood banks for blood
provided by them to persons having credits with the Employer
Most of the transactions involve transfers of credits rather than
whole blood
' When the Employer purchases blood it pays the donors $15 or
National Institutes of Health, the State of New York,
and the Nassau County Department of Health. The
Employer currently provides blood to 35 to 40
hospitals on Long Island, all but 3 of which qualify as
nonprofit hospitals. Through the clearinghouse
facilities of the American Association of Blood
Banks, of which the Employer is a member, it sends
and receives blood or blood credits throughout the
country.' The Employer also makes contributions
from surplus funds to various blood research
laboratories and projects, and it receives in return
copies of reports on research done with its
contributions. At various times over the years, it has
collected and processed blood free of charge for the
armed services. The Employer is accorded tax-
exempt status as a charitable nonprofit organization
by both the Federal and New York State
governments.
The Employer collects blood from donors under
group, family, and individual plans which provide
blood credits for the various participants. It also
maintains a list of request donors upon whom it calls
in special situations, particularly those involving
open-heart surgery, and it purchases a small
percentage of blood from these and other donors.' It
maintains about 13 donor centers, mostly in
hospitals, and several mobile blood units. The
hospitals provide space free of charge, but the
Employer provides its own equipment and medical
staff to operate the donor centers.
Most of the blood collected is delivered on a daily
basis to the hospitals with which the Employer has a
relationship and is stored by them for their use. A
small portion of the blood collected is used to supply
other hospitals and research institutions, to pay
blood credits for participants in the above-
mentioned plans, sometimes through the
clearinghouse, and to make blood plasma. No charge
is made by the Employer to the hospitals it regularly
supplies with blood unless they frequently let blood
expire, in which event a fee of $15 per pint of expired
blood is charged.
Under its dispersal system, a user deposits $35 per
pint of blood received and may redeem his deposit
by donating blood or assigning accumulated blood
credits, on a two-for-one basis.`' The hospital bills the
user for the blood supplied, crediting a patient with
blood credits where applicable, and remits the
money collected to the Employer. In the case of
indigent patients, or where the Employer is satisfied
that the user is financially unable to pay, the
Employer excuses payment, urging only that
donations of blood be made by the user and friends.
$17 50 per pint, depending on the rarity of the blood type
4 The Employer requires redemption on a two-for-one basis in
order to cover both the cost of the blood, the assigned book value
of which is $17 50 per pint, and processing charges, estimated to
be about $15 per pint When users receive in excess of 5 pints of
blood, redemption beyond the fifth pint is on a one-for-one basis
The various group, individual, and family plans may contain
slight variations in the application of the blood credit system
165 NLRB No. 38
r
INTER-COUNTY
The Employer likewise makes no charge for blood it
supplies, on occasion, to the armed services, to
victims of disasters, such as a train wreck, and to
persons suffering from certain diseases requiring
large quantities of blood.
During its fiscal year ending October 31, 1965, the
Employer collected 38,730 pints of blood, and
provided 37,400 pints to users. It received cash
revenues from deposits of about $795,000, of which
$32,000 was remitted to users who redeemed their
deposits. In addition, it had an outstanding balance
of uncollected deposits in excess of $152,000. During
the same year, it purchased more than $5,000 worth
of goods and supplies directly from firms located
outside the State and an additional $45,000 worth
which originated outside the State. It also
contributed about $25,000 to research projects
during the year.
' See The Horn & Hardart Company , 154 NLRB 1368 The case
of Bay Ran Maintenance Corporation of New York, 161 NLRB
BLOOD BANKS 253
Upon the foregoing, we find, contrary to the
Regional Director, that the Employer's operations
are intimately related to the operations of the
hospitals to which it supplies blood for the treatment
of patients, almost all of which, we note, are
nonprofit hospitals exempt from the Board's
jurisdiction. For this reason, we conclude that it
would not effectuate the policies of the Act to assert
jurisdiction over the Employer herein.'
Accordingly, we shall grant the Employer's motion
to dismiss the instant petition.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition filed herein
be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
820, relied upon by the Regional Director, is factually
distinguishable