Mariemont Inn

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 19, 1963

145 N.L.R.B. 79 (N.L.R.B. 1963)

MARIEMONT INN 79
Spinnenweber Builders , Inc. d/b/a Mariemont Inn' and Cin-
cinnati Joint Executive Board, Hotel and Restaurant Em-
ployees and Bartenders International Union , AFL-CIO, Peti-
tioner. Case No. 9-RC-5453. November 19, 1963
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Hearing Officer Alan D.
Greene. 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 Act, the Board has
delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman McCulloch and Members Leedom and Fanning].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer, Spinnenweber Builders, Inc., an Ohio corporation,
owns and operates residential apartment buildings (hereinafter re-
ferred to as the Beechmont Apartments) and also a concededly
transient hotel (the Mariemont Inn) in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The parties stipulated that on an annual basis, the Employer, for
use at the Mariemont Inn, purchased alcoholic beverages in excess of
$20,000 from suppliers who received the liquor directly from points
outside the State of Ohio. The record also discloses that, on a projected
annual basis, the Employer receives approximately $441,000 gross in-
come from the operation of the Mariemont Inn.' The Employer also
receives approximately $120,000 gross income on a projected annual
basis from the operation of the Beechmont Apartments. Therefore,
the Employer's aggregate annual gross income from its operations
satisfies the Board's jurisdictional standard for hotels.'
The Employer urges, however, that it is improper to add these two
amounts because the operations of the Mariemont Inn and the Beech-
mont Apartments are not integrated and are of an entirely different
nature. But the Employer is a single corporate entity conducting
I The names of the Employer and the Petitioner appear as amended at the hearing
2 This gross income is made up of approximately $100,000 from rentals of rooms and of
commercial office space (such as barber shop, beauty parlor, etc ) and approximately
$341,000 from the inn's bar and restaurant As the Board stated in Manger-Savannah
Corporation, Inc , 126 NLRB 1136, it is an employer's total regular recurs ent revenue,
and not solely the income from room rentals, which determines whether the Board will
exercise its jurisdiction
3 See Floridan Hotel of Tampa, Inc., 124 NLRB 261, and Spank Arms Hotel Corporation,
d/b/a Continental Hotel, 133 NLRB 1694, which state inter alia, that the Board will
assert jurisdiction over a hotel if its operator receives at least $500,000 gross revenue
annually and if more than 25 percent of the rental income is received from transient
guests-guests who remain less than a month The Employer concedes that the Mariemont
Inn is a transient hotel. Moreover, the record discloses that most of the inn's guests
remain less than a month. Thus, if both sources of rental income (from the hotel and
the apartments) are added, the required percent of transient income of the hotel standard
is still satisfied
145 NLRB No. 8.
80 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
both operations, and the Board's established doctrine is that the
totality of the Employer's operations will be considered for jurisdic-
tional purposes.' Consequently, we hold that it is proper here to add
the gross income from both operations of the Employer to determine
if the jurisdictional standard is met.
Accordingly, we find that the Employer's operations affect commerce
and that it will effectuate the purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction
herein.
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 requested a unit of all hotel employees at the
Mariemont Inn, excluding room clerks. The Employer agreed, ex-
cept that it would include the room clerks.
In Arlington Hotel Company, Inc." the Board established, the gen-
eral rule that in the hotel industry, "all operating personnel have such
a high degree of functional integration and mutuality of interests that
they should be grouped together for collective-bargaining purposes." I
In Water Tower Inn, etc.,8 however, the Board held that this general
rule does not make inappropriate smaller bargaining units where, as
here, it is the area pattern to bargain in such smaller units and there
is a bargaining history in the smaller unit sought. The parties here
stipulated that the bargaining units in the Cincinnati area involving
the major hotels and the Petitioner have excluded room clerks, as did
the contracts between the Petitioner and, the previous owner of the
Mariemont Inn. Therefore, we find that in this case a unit excluding
room clerks is appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining,
and, consequently, the Employer's motion to dismiss the petition for
alleged inappropriateness of the unit is denied.
4 E g., Thunderbird Hotel, Inc., et al , d/b/a Thunderbird Hotel Company , 144 NLRB
1279 ; Appliance Supply Company , 127 NLRB 319; The T H. Rogers Lumber Company,
117 NLRB 1732; Potato Growers Cooperative Company, 115 NLRB 1281. See also Carol
Management Corporation , et at ., 133 NLRBB 1126; Claiborne Towers, Inc ., et at., 126
NLRB 187.
B On April 10, 1963 , the Petitioner filed a petition in an earlier case (Case No 9-RC-
5362 ) involving the Employer On May 14, 1963, the Regional Director dismissed the
petition on the ground that it would not effectuate the policies of the Act to assert juris-
diction The Petitioner did not appeal this dismissal to the Board . Instead , it filed the
instant petition on June 18 , 1963 , after expiration of the time for such appeal. At the
hearing, the Employer moved to dismiss this petition on the ground that it circumvented
Board procedure and policy and that, without a material change in facts , the Regional
Director abused his discretion in setting the instant petition for hearing We find this
motion to be without merit ; neither the Act nor the Board's Rules and Regulations pro-
hibit the repeated filings of representation petitions . Therefore, the Employer's motion
is denied
9126 NLRB 400
7Id. at 404
6139 NLRB 842.
WALNUT HILLS COUNTRY CLUB 81
Accordingly, we find that the following employees of the Employer
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act :
All employees at the Mariemont Inn at Cincinnati, Ohio, including
the restaurant and bar, but excluding all office clerical employees,
room clerks, guards, professional employees, and supervisors as de-
fined by the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
Walnut Hills Country Club and Hotel & Restaurant Employees
& Bartenders International Union , Local 235, AFL-CIO, Peti-
tioner. Case No. 7-1C-5551. November 19, 1963
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Hearing Officer David G.
Heilbrun. 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 Act, the Board has
delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman McCulloch and Members Fanning and Brown].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer operates ni private golf and country club in Lan-
sing, Michigan. It furnishes recreational facilities in the form of a
golf course and a swimming pool to its members and their guests.
It also sells food and beverages to its members and guests, operating
for that purpose a kitchen, dining room, bar, and grill, the facilities
of which are available for banquets and social functions of various
educational, civic, and social groups, when sponsored by a member.
The club has approximately 460 members.
During the 12-month period ending May 1963, the Employer's gross
revenues amounted to $440,154. During the calendar year 1962, the
Employer's purchases of goods originating outside the State of Mich-
igan amounted to $50,095. Of this amount, $6,394 reflects the value of
goods purchased directly from outside Michigan, and the remainder
the value of goods purchased from suppliers within Michigan, who
in turn purchased the goods directly from points outside that State.
The Employer contends that its operations do not affect commerce
within the meaning of the Act, but that in any event the Board should
not assert jurisdiction because its operations do not satisfy the juris-
dictional standard established for retail enterprises.
145 NLRB No. 9.
734-070=64-vol. 145-7