National Linen Service Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 16, 1950

89 N.L.R.B. 1354 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter Of JACKSONVILLE LINEN SERVICE, BRANCH OF THE
NATIONAL LINEN SERVICE CORPORATION , E MIPLOYER and INDUSTRIAL
-UNION.OF MARINE AND SHIPBUILDING WORKERS .OF AMERICA,. LOCAL
32, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 10-RC-788.-Decided May 16, 1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearingwas held-before Jerold B. Sind-
ler, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing
are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. The Em-
ployer's several motions to dismiss this proceeding are hereby denied
for reasons hereinafter stated.
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 [Members Reynolds, Murdock, and
Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The business of the Employer :
The National Linen Service Corporation, a Delaware corporation
having its principal office in Atlanta, Georgia, is engaged in the busi-
ness of furnishing laundry and rental linen supply services to com-
mercial establishments. Its operations are carried on through 32
separate unincorporated branches in 11 States, including the Jackson-
ville Linen Service, of Jacksonville, Florida, the brairch directly in-
volved in this proceeding. The Employer also owns 2 manufac-
turing companies located in Atlanta, Georgia. One of these com-
panies, the Empire Manufacturing Company, manufactures linens
which are distributed to the various branches of the Employer. The
other company, Alsce Company, manufactures and fabricates soap,
cabinets, and truck bodies for the various branches of the Employer.
The Jacksonville Linen Service operates 25 routes within a radius of
1.35 miles of Jacksonville, Florida. Of these, 3 routes extend into
and service customers in the State of Georgia.
89 NLRB No. 180.
1354
JACKSONVILLE LINEN SERVICE 1355
For the fiscal year ending August 1949, the Jacksonville Linen Serv-
ice branch had gross sales amounting to $818,054.21 of which $54,885.32
was realized from the three Georgia routes and approximately $14,000
represented services to transport companies and agencies and installa-
tions of the United States Government. During this same fiscal period
purchases valued at approximately $206,000, generally handled by the
main office in Atlanta, Georgia, on behalf of the Jacksonville Linen
Service branch, were shipped from outside the State of Florida. Most
of the purchases made within the State of Florida by the Jacksonville
branch were billed to and paid for by the Atlanta, Georgia, office of the
Employer.
The Employer moved to dismiss the proceeding on the ground that
it is not engaged in commerce- within the meaning of the Act. Upon
the basis of the foregoing facts including the totality of the Employer's
operations 1 and the Board's previous assertion of jurisdiction over
this Employer,2 we find, contrary to the Employer's contention, that
it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor
Relations Act.
2. Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of Amer-
ica, Local 32, CIO, herein called the•Petitioner, and7Laundry Workers',-,
International Union, Local No. 218, AFL, herein called the Intervenor,
are labor organizations claiming to represent certain employees of the
Employer.3
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 appropriate unit :
' In determining whether an Employer is subject to the Act, the Board has frequently
considered the totality of the Employer 's operations and its effect upon commerce. See
Sun Ray Drug Company, 87 NLRB 208 , and cases cited therein . Although the commerce
figures for the Employer 's over-all operation were not submitted , the nature of the opera-
tions is in evidence . Where , as in this instance , the Employer operates branches on a
multistate basis, even though a portion of its business may be considered local in character,
the Board has determined that it would best effectuate the policies of the Act to assume
jurisdiction . See Mills A utomatic Manufacturing Corp ., 86 NLRB 1096 . Also see Memphis
Steam Laundry-Cleaners, Inc., 86 NLRB 10,94; New-'York Steam Laundry, Inc ., at al.,
80 NLRB 4.
2 The Board has previously considered the question of jurisdiction over this Employer and
has determined that its operations affect commerce within the meaning of the Act.
National Linen Service Corporation , 54 NLRB 257.
3 We find no merit to the Employer's motion to dismiss the petition on the ground that
the Petitioner is incompetent to represent the employees sought in the petition. The
Employer does not urge that the Petitioner is not a labor organization within the meaning
of the Act. In fact it is stipulated that the Petitioner is such a labor organization. The
Employer 's assertion with respect to the Petitioner 's incompetency , appears to be based
merely on the fact that the Petitioner has had no previous experience in representing
employees in the Employer ' s particular type of industry ; and that, as its name implies,
the Petitioner was not established for the express purpose of representing employees of
the type involved herein. For the reasons set forth in Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co.,
86 NLRB 437, such facts do not incapacitate the Petitioner with respect to representing
the employees herein concerned.
1356 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The positions of the parties
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all production and maintenance em-
ployees of the Jacksonville Linen Service, including engineers and fire-
men, but excluding all office and clerical employees, truck drivers
and their helpers, and all supervisors as defined in the Act. The In-
tervenor contends that the appropriate unit should include the pro-
duction and maintenance employees of all branches of'the National
Linen Service Corporation except those located at Los Angeles, Cali-
fornia. The Employer opposes a multibranch unit.
The Intervenor urges that the bargaining history as well as its
own evolution has been aimed toward establishing uniform wages,
classifications, and working conditions for employees of the Employer,
wherever located. The Intervenor asserts that such uniformity has
been accomplished; that collective bargaining history has demon-
strated successful handling on a multiplant basis; and that one of
the purposes of its own reorganization was to work toward a single
multiplant unit.
The history of collective bargaining
Since 1942, the Intervenor or its predecessors4 have, at various
times, organized and gained recognition5 as the bargaining repre-
sentative of single-plant units of employees of the Employer, with
the result that in October, 1949, 25 of the 32. then existing branches
of the Employer, approximating 2,500 of the employees, were repre-
sented by the Intervenor's predecessors.6
The collective bargaining contracts have been negotiated in May
of each year at Atlanta, Georgia, between the representative of the
Union 4 and the Employer's secretary and assistant treasurer, who is
4 The parties do not dispute that the Intervenor is the successor , either in whole or
in that part concerned with employees of this Employer , to Local No . 222, Local No.
191, and Local No. 337 , and their ' Joint Council No. 12, established In 1946, all affiliated
with the Laundry Workers' International Union.
c Recognition was gained by the various locals for various branches of the Employer,
in 1942 and 1943 by Board conducted consent elections . From 1944 to 1947 recognition
was obtained for others by Conciliation Service proceedings and thereafter by privately
conducted elections . In November 1949 , when the Intervenor was established as the
successor of the various locals and their Joint Council No. 12, the Employer having
recognized the Intervenor as the bargaining representative , continued the existing con-
tractual relationship and negotiated new contracts with the Intervenor.
6 The Intervenor presently represents , either as successor or as the original contracting
party, employees in 24 branches of the Employer . Another local of the Laundry Workers'
International Union represents the two branches located in California as a part of an
Association bargaining unit . A CIO union represents the employees of the Winston-Salem
branch and the employees at the remaining 4 branches of the Employer -Pensacola, West
Palm Beach , Asheville, and Mobile-are unorganized.
7 The union negotiator was, prior to 1946 , the Southern Director of the International
who is also an officer of Local No . 218, and thereafter , the representative of Joint Council
No. 12.
JACKSONVILLE LINEN SERVICE 1357
in charge of labor relations for the Employer, including policy, bar-
gaining, and the processing of all major grievances. It has been the
practice first to negotiate the entire agreement, then to have the
-contract duplicated 8 and distributed to the respective managers and
local unions of the various branches.
Although the local branch managers are the signatories to the
contracts, they do not participate in the over-all negotiations other
than as consultants to the Employer's representative with respect
to local conditions affecting their particular plant. Moreover such'
contracts must not only be approved by the separate plant managers
with respect to wage rates as applied to local conditions but are also
subject to general approval by the locals representing the employees
of the particular branch concerned. This accounts for the question
concerning representation arising with respect to the Jacksonville
branch in the instant proceeding. The employees at the branch,
through the local, rejected the most recent contract which was sub-
mitted in point of time when the Joint Council No. 12 and the locals
involved were being reorganized into the Intervenor. .
On the basis of the above facts, we find that a clear cut history of
multiplant bargaining has not been established .9 On the contrary,
the fact that the employees in each plant unit have retained and exer-
cised the right to reject the contract resulting from the joint bargain-
ing would appear to negate any conclusion that bargaining has been
effectively conducted on -a multiplant basis. We find, therefore, that
the history of collective bargaining alone, is not decisive of the unit
issue in this case 10
The operations of the Employer
All linen service branches of the Employer, each in its respective
locality under the control of a branch manager, have parallel depart-
ments and operations varying only as dictated by the size and require-
ments of each branch. The branch operations consist mainly of the
laundering of soiled linens, the weekly servicing of customers by
truck, the solicitation of new customers, the collection of accounts,
8 In the duplicated contract blank spaces are provided for the name of the branch and
local union ; the name of the State whose laws are to apply ; certain additional holidays ;
the effective date of certain wage ' increases ; and the signatures of the branch manager
and the officer of the local union. The wage schedule for the branch involved is attached
at the branch before the contract is signed . The dates of the contracts of the various
branches vary depending upon the date of the initial contract for the branch , each of
which was separately organized.
0 See upgrade Food Products Corporation , 85 NLRB 853.
10 See Aluminum Company of America, et al ., 85 NLRB 915; Cf. Pacific Telephone and
Telegraph Company, 85 NLRB 713.
1358 DECISIONS' OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
maintenance of the trucks and plant equipment, and related opera-
tions. A plant manager is in charge and directs the local operation
of each branch.
General over-all policies are determined at the main office of the
National Linen Service at Atlanta, Georgia, where different officers
of the Employer are' each in charge of one of the several phases of
the Employer's operations and from whom the branch managers take
their instructions. In addition, the fiscal operations of the branches
are conducted at the Atlanta office. Thus, the proceeds from the
branches are deposited to the account of the National Linen Service
and each branch is given a working fund and a petty cash fund.
Although the local manager determines the purchase requirements
of the branch, most of the purchases are obtained pursuant to his
requisition by the Atlanta office, and any local purchases made by
the manager are either billed to the Atlanta office direct or paid for
from the working fund and reported to the Atlanta office for refund.
On the other hand, the payroll for the branch is made up by the
local manager. The local manager selects all personnel for his branch
and not'only has complete authority in the hiring and firing of such
personnel; but also. determines 'the number to be 'e"inployed. Each
branch functions independently and is not integrated with or de-
pendent upon the operations of another branch. There is practically
no interchange of employees of the various branches below the super-
visory level, and the employees at each branch are generally drawn
from the immediate vicinity of the plant.
In view of the above, there would appear to be no community of
interest among the employees or integration of operations between
the various branches of the Employer such as would require a finding
that only a multibranch unit would be appropriate. We, believe,
therefore, on the basis of all the facts, including the autonomy of each
branch, both with respect to operations and employee tenure, that a
single plant unit such as requested' by the Petitioner herein may be
appropriate."'
Accordingly, we find that all production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Jacksonville Linen Service Branch of the Employer,
including engineers 'and firemen, but excluding truck drivers and
their helpers'12 office and clerical employees and all supervisors as
defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for purposes of
"Schick Service, Inc., 88 NLRB 1378 ; Phillips Petroleum Company, 88 NLRB 925;
Aluminum Company of America, et al ., 85 NLRB 915; Hygrade Food Products Corporation,
85 NLRB 853.
" Truck drivers and their helpers are represented in a separate unit by a union not a
party to this proceeding.
JACKSONVILLE LINEN SERVICE 1359
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
5. The Employer moved to dismiss this proceeding on the ground
that because of instability of employment, an election should not be
directed at this time. It appears that the operational activities of the
Jacksonville branch vary, in volume and personnel, reaching a high
point during January through March and in July and August of each
year, but falling off in other months to reach a low during the period
of September through December. However, it appears that the per-
sonnel complement of 91 has only a maximum variation of. 20 em-
ployees or approximately 22 percent. We do not regard this as a
sufficient variation to warrant a delay; 13 accordingly, we shall direct
an immediate election.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 14
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 Labor
.Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were
employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work
during said payroll 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
they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by
Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America,
Local 32, CIO, or by Laundry Workers International Union, Local
No. 218, AFL, or by neither.
13 Arkport Dairies , Inc., 86 NLRB 319.
1' Any participant in the election directed herein may , upon its prompt request to, and
approval thereof by, the Regional Director , have its name removed from the ballot.