Nevada Club

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 14, 1969

178 N.L.R.B. 81 (N.L.R.B. 1969)

NEVADA CLUB
105 Casino Corporation d/b/a Nevada Club' and
International Association of Machinists and
Aerospace Workers (AFL-CIO),' Petitioner.
105 Casino Corporation d/b/a Nevada Club,
Petitioner , and International Association of
Machinists and Aerospace Workers (AFL-CIO)
and Casino Employees Union Local 7, Hotel and
Restaurant Employees and Bartenders
International Union , AFL-CIO; Joint Executive
Board of Culinary Workers and Bartenders, Hotel
and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders
International Union , AFL-CIO, and its affiliates,
Culinary Workers Local 226 , and Bartenders
Union Local 165 ' and American Federation of
Casino and Gaming Employees and Gaming and
Office Employees Union .' Cases 31-RC-623 and
31-RM-103
August 14, 1969
DECISION, ORDER , AND DIRECTION OF
ELECTION
BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS
FANNING AND ZAGORIA
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section
9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as
amended, a consolidated hearing was held before
Max Steinfeld, Hearing Officer of the National
Labor Relations Board. Briefs have been filed by
the Employer, IAM, Local 7 and the Joint Board,
and the Gaming Unions.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
Act, the Board has delegated its powers in
connection with these cases to a three-member
panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's
rulings made at the hearing and finds that they are
free from prejudicial error. They are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in these cases, including
the briefs, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act, and it will effectuate the
purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
'The names of the parties appear in the caption as corrected at the
hearing . The Employer is sometimes referred to in the record as Diamond
Jim's or Lucky Nevada Club.
'Herein referred to as IAM.
'The Joint Executive Board of Culinary Workers and Bartenders and its
affiliates intervened jointly, and are sometimes referred to herein
collectively as the Joint Board.
'American Federation of Casino and Gaming Employees and Gaming
and Office Employees Union intervened jointly; they are referred to herein
respectively as AFCGE and GOEU and collectively as the Gaming Unions.
Subsequent to the hearing herein , AFCGE, the Employer , and the General
Counsel entered into a Settlement Stipulation, approved by the Board on
May 7, 1969, in Cases 3I-CA-1106 and 31-CB-383 in which , inter alla,
AFCGE agreed to disestablish itself as a labor organization. In these
circumstances , we shall not place the name of AFCGE on the ballot in the
election directed herein.
81
2. The Joint Board contends that GOEU is not a
labor organization, but is defunct. The record shows
that GOEU filed articles of incorporation, as
required by the State of Nevada, on December 1,
1964; this corporation has never been dissolved,
merged, or consolidated with any other association
or corporation. GOEU entered into a
collective-bargaining agreement with the Employer
effective from January 1, 1966, until December 31,
1967, covering the Employer's casino employees,
and on March 21, 1966, and April 17, 1967,
executed with the Employer supplements to that
agreement. On April 20, 1967, the members of
GOEU Local 1091 voted to merge with Casino
Employees Union Local 7. On April 27, Local 7
notified the Employer of the merger, and claimed to
be the successor to GOEU. On July 13, 1967, the
president of GOEU advised the Employer that the
"attempted merger" had been rescinded, and that
GOEU was the representative of its casino
employees under the contract. About September 29,
1967, a majority of the Employer's casino
employees signed a petition to reactivate GOEU,
select new temporary officers, and affiliate with
AFCGE. Some of these employees subsequently
paid dues to GOEU on a voluntary basis.
Thereafter, the Employer dealt with both Local 7
and GOEU on matters involving employees covered
by the January 1, 1966, contract. On October 31,
1967, both notified the Employer of their desire to
negotiate a new agreement covering casino
employees.
In these circumstances, we find that GOEU is not
now defunct and that it and the other unions (except
AFCGE),6 concerning which there is no dispute, are
labor organizations within the meaning of Section
2(5) of the Act, and claim to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. The Gaming Unions contend that the January
1, 1966, GOEU contract covering casino employees
was amended on March 21, 1966, to include slot
keymen and slot mechanics, and is therefore a bar
to the petition in Case 31-RC-623, requesting a
separate unit of slot keymen and mechanics, which
was filed by IAM on July 21, 1967, more than 90
days before the December 31, 1967, expiration date
of the GOEU contract. We find, however, that the
aforesaid contract is not a bar to the IAM petition,
because the Decision herein is issuing after the
expiration date of that contract.7
Accordingly, we find that a question affecting
commerce exists concerning the representation of
certain employees of the Employer, within the
meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and Section 2(6) and (7)
o f the Act.'
'GOEU and Local 109 appear to be referred to in the record
interchangeably.
'See fn . 4, supra.
'Modern Plastics Corporation , 169 NLRB No. 99; United Fruit
Company. 134 NLRB 287, fn. 23.
'In view of our exclusion of change girls and booth cashiers from the
178 NLRB No. 15
82 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
4. As indicated, IAM, in Case 31-RC-623,
requests an election in a unit of slot keymen and
slot mechanics. The Employer, in Case 31-RM-103,
requests an election in a unit of casino employees,
including slot keymen and slot mechanics. All the
parties agree, and we find, that dealers, souvenir
girls, camera girls, darkroom employees, towermen,
slot floormen, and shills should be included in the
casino unit; and that boxmen, pit floormen, shift
bosses, slot machine department supervisor, floor
slot machine supervisors, slot floor supervisors,
confidential employees, professional employees, and
guards should be excluded. None of the parties
requests the inclusion of the following, and, as the
record shows that they possess authority effectively
to recommend promotion, transfer, increase in pay,
or assignment of additional work, we find they are
supervisors and shall exclude them: personnel,
advertising and promotion, auditing, souvenir, coin
and currency, parking lot, bar, restaurant, and
entertainment department heads, and the four casino
supervisors. We shall also exclude the casino
supervisor who is in charge of the entire operation,
and the general manager, to whom he is responsible.
The parties disagree as to the unit placement of the
classifications discussed below.
Slot keymen and mechanics- IAM and the Joint
Board contend that these employees constitute an
appropriate skilled craft unit. The Employer and the
Gaming Unions contend that a separate unit is not
appropriate, and that these employees should be
included in the casino-employee unit.
In El Dorado, Inc., d/b/a El Dorado Club, 151
NLRB 579, the Board issued a Decision and
Direction of Elections on March 11, 1965, in which
it found, inter alia, that slot keymen and slot
mechanics appropriately should be included in a unit
of this Employer's casino employees. However, no
collective bargaining resulted from that
determination. Slot mechanics were specifically
excluded from the casino-employee unit covered by
the January 1, 1966, GOEU contract; and they
remained unrepresented until March 21, 1966, when
GOEU and the Employer executed a supplementary
agreement including slot keymen and slot mechanics
in their contract unit. Thereafter, on April 27, 1967,
as described above, the Employer received Local 7's
demand for recognition as the contract
representative of the casino-employee unit based on
the merger resolution, followed by GOEU's July 13,
1967, letter purportedly rescinding the merger and
claiming to be the contract representative, after
which the Employer dealt with both organizations
for these employees.
There are six slot mechanics, and four keymen on
the Employer's payroll. Their immediate day-to-day
supervisors are the slot floor supervisors who also
supervise dealers, camera girls, towermen, and other
casino-employee unit, discussed infra, we find it unnecessary to rule on the
Joint Board ' s contract-bar contention with regard to these employees
employees whom the parties agreed to include in the
unit. Slot floor supervisors are responsible to the
casino supervisor. Over him are the slot machine
department head and the general manager.
The Employer has about 450 slot machines of
which 150 to 200 are mechanical, a dozen or more
are solid-state electronic, and the rest
mechanical-electronic. Slot keymen and mechanics
check, maintain, and repair these machines.
Seventy-five percent of the work consists of minor
repair such as unjamming and replacing nuts and
bolts, which is done on the floor where most of the
employees in the casino unit work. When a slot
machine is not operating properly, a change girl or
floorman notifies the towerman, who summons a
mechanic over the PA system. If the machine
cannot be repaired quickly, the malfunctioning part
is repaired at the bench under the stairs on the
casino floor. If major repair is required, it is taken
to the shop on the fifth floor, where there are hand
tools, drill press, bench punch, 4-ton mechanical
punch, small lathe, bandsaw, acetylene-oxygen and
arc welding equipment, and small electronic testing
equipment. Machines are also taken to the shop on
a regular maintenance schedule for overhauling,
where they are cleaned and checked, and parts are
replaced, greased, and lubricated. Maintenance and
repair of the new electronic machines are done
according to schematics provided by the
manufacturer. Special assignments to develop and
incorporate new types of components into machines
are performed by the slot machine department head
with one of the two best mechanics chosen to assist
him, or are subcontracted out.
Slot keymen and mechanics do not interchange
with other employees. All keymen and mechanics,
but no other employees, have access to the shop,
and all mechanics work on the floor as well as in
the shop.
Although the Employer prefers to hire men with
mechanical experience, 90 percent of these
employees have been transferred from other
classifications, such as parking lot attendant and
office clerical. There is no formal apprentice
program for slot mechanics. Keymen are given
on-the-job training and pay increases every 3
months as they learn the work, as are all casino
classifications. Six months to 1 year is required to
do 90 percent of the work; 1 to 4 years to become a
fully qualified mechanic.
Although slot keymen and mechanics perform a
specialized function and do not interchange with
other employees, their inclusion in the same unit
with the other casino employees is supported by all
the other considerations set forth above. Thus, the
overwhelming majority of these employees were
recruited from other classifications; they perform by
far the greater part of their work on the casino floor
where the bulk of the casino unit employees work
and with whom they share the same immediate,
intermediate, and highest-level supervision.
NEVADA CLUB 83
Moreover, as 90 percent of the slot machine work
can be performed after 6 months to a year of
on-the-job training, and as there is a variance of
from I to 4 years in the time required to become a
fully qualified mechanic, we find that these
employees are not skilled craftsmen. In all the
circumstances, and in view of their common
interests with other casino employees, we find that a
separate unit of slot keymen and slot mechanics is
inappropriate, and we shall dismiss the petition in
Case 31-RC-623, and include them in the
casino-employee unit.'
Coin '-wrappers: The Employer and the Gaming
Unions would include these three employees, and
the other parties take no position on their unit
placement. Coin wrappers were not covered by the
January 1, 1966, GOEU contract, although there is
testimony that they had been covered by previous
contracts and their omission was inadvertent. Coin
wrappers work in the vault below the main business
level, receive coins brought down to them, count
them by weighing or running them through counting
machines, put them into automatic coin wrapping
machines, and place the rolls in bins where they are
picked up for delivery to the operating floor. In
these circumstances, we find that these employees
are engaged in functions related to those of the
casino employees, and in the absence of opposition
to their inclusion, we shall include them.'"
Parking lot personnel: The Employer seeks to
include, and the Joint Board and Gaming Unions to
exclude, these employees. They were covered by the
GOEU casino-employee contract of January 1,
1966, and are supervised by the parking lot
department head and the casino supervisor. These
35 attendants man the 3 parking lots in the vicinity
of the club. For the 50-cent parking charge, the
attendants give the customer a free-play chip which
is spendable in the club. Although they do not
interchange with other employees, some have moved
to floorman, mechanic, maintenance, and other jobs.
Forty to 50 percent are employed full time, and the
remainder, some of whom are Air Force personnel,
work a full shift 1 or 2 days on weekends. The usual
tenure of an attendant is 6 months to a year.
We find that none of the facts set forth above
justify the exclusion of the parking lot personnel
from the unit . On the contrary, we find that they
have sufficient interests in common with the other
employees in the unit to warrant their inclusion, and
we shall include them.
Change girls and booth cashiers: At the time of
the hearing, the Employer and the Gaming Unions
took the position that these employees should be
included, while the Joint Board sought to exclude
them.
'Hotel Conquistador , Inc., d/b/a Hotel Tropicana . 176 NLRB No. 44;
El Dorado, Inc., d/b/a El Dorado Club, supra , 591. Cf. Fremont Hotel.
Inc., 168 NLRB No. 23.
"El Dorado, Inc., d/b/a El Dorado Club, supra.
Change girls circulate on the casino floor making
change for customers playing the slot machines;
booth cashiers occupy booths in the casino and
make change for change girls.
In El Dorado , supra, the Board excluded change
girls and booth cashiers from the Employer ' s casino
unit on the basis of the parties ' agreement to
exclude them , and from the casino units of all other
employers involved in that case on the ground that
they were covered by the Joint Board contract.
Thereafter , the Joint Board filed with the United
States District Court for the District of Nevada a
petition to compel the Employer , and other
employers who are not involved in the instant case,
to arbitrate its claim to represent change girls and
booth cashiers under its April 1, 1964,
collective-bargaining agreements covering culinary
employees . On October 7, 1966, the court granted
the petition and ordered the employers to arbitrate
the dispute . On January 25, 1968, the court's order
was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals
for the Ninth Circuit."
After the hearing in the instant cases, the
Employer , on April 2 and 17, 1969, filed with the
Board a motion , with documents attached,
requesting permission to amend its petition by
excluding change girls and booth cashiers from the
unit in Case 31-RM-103. Copies of the Employer's
motion were served on all the parties. In the absence
of objection, the motion was granted by the Board
on May 13, 1969 . The documents attached to the
aforesaid motion, to which no objection was filed,
reveal that the employers (including this Employer)
and the Joint Board , in compliance with the court's
order, submitted their dispute to Arbitrator Sam
Kagel . In his award dated September 24, 1968, the
arbitrator held that the change girls and booth
cashiers were covered by the Joint Board
collective -bargaining agreements expiring March 31,
1967, and April 1, 1970. Thereafter , on February
11, 1969, the Employer and the Joint Board entered
into an agreement including change girls and booth
cashiers in the unit covered by the Joint Board
collective -bargaining agreements and granting them
certain retroactive benefits thereunder.
The developments recited above indicate the
establishment of a pattern in the Las Vegas area
whereby change girls and booth cashiers are
excluded from casino units , and included in the
culinary units represented by the Joint Board. In all
the circumstances, and particularly in view of the
fact that no party objected to the Motion and
documents filed by the Employer as discussed
above, we shall exclude change girls and booth
cashiers from the unit.
Office clerical employees : Although its position is
not altogether clear , the Employer apparently would
include these employees as would the Joint Board;
"Clanebach . Inc. v. Las Vegas Local Joint Executive Board of Culinary
Workers and Bartenders , etc.. 388 F.2d 766 (C.A. 9).
84 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the Gaming Unions would exclude them. These
employees were excluded by agreement from the
casino unit found appropriate by the Board in El
Dorado, Inc., d/b/a El Dorado Club, supra, but
were brought under the GOEU contract by
amendment on March 21, 1966.
There are approximately 15 of these employees
who prepare the weekly payroll and required
government reports, perform personnel work,
timekeeping, auditing, advertising and promotion,
receiving and purchasing work, assist the coin and
currency department head, operate the telephones
and PBX machine, and keep track of the linen.
They are supervised by their respective department
heads, and work in business offices on various floors
throughout the building.
As the office clerical employees have been
included in the casino unit since March 21, 1966,
and as the parties did not stipulate to exclude them,
we shall include them.'2
Casino cage cashiers: The Employer and the
Gaming Unions would exclude, and the Joint Board
include, these approximately 10 employees, who
have not previously been represented.
Casino cage cashiers work in the main casino
cash operating bank; they issue bills or checks to the
gaming tables, and charge aprons and coin banks to
the change girls and booth cashiers; they receive
money from the restaurant and bar. In addition,
they cash all checks for customers at their discretion
based on confidential credit reports and ratings,
except those cashed by the casino supervisor and
those for large amounts which are cashed only by
top management. They submit reports to their
supervisor, the coin and currency department head,
and to the auditor, and do not interchange with
other employees.
The above facts, including their historical
exclusion, indicate that the functions and interests of
the casino cage cashiers are more closely allied with
those of administrative than with those of casino
employees, and we shall exclude them."
"See James A. Hume and J. C. Jordan d/b/a The North Shore Club.
169 NLRB No . 123, fn. 4; Washoe Investment Co., Inc.. d/b/a Crystal
Bay Club . 169 NLRB No. 120, fn. 5.
"El Dorado. Inc., d/bla El Dorado Club, supra . 585, 590.
Accordingly , we find that the following employees
constitute an appropriate unit for collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the
Act:
All dealers, souvenir girls, camera girls,
darkroom employees, towermen, slot keymen, slot
machine mechanics, slot floormen, coin wrappers,
shills, office clerical employees, and parking lot
personnel at the Employer's locations at 105, 109,
and 113 Fremont Street, Las Vegas, Nevada; but
excluding casino cage cashiers, change girls, booth
cashiers, boxmen, pit floormen, shift bosses,
confidential employees, professional employees,
guards; general manager, casino supervisors, the
casino supervisor who is in charge of the entire
operation, slot machine department supervisor;
floor slot machine supervisors and slot floor
supervisors; personnel, advertising and promotion,
auditing, souvenir, coin and currency, parking lot,
bar, restaurant, and entertainment department
heads; all other employees; and supervisors as
defined by the Act.
5. As we have found no merit in the contention
that GOEU is not a labor organization, we shall list
the unions on the ballot in the manner requested by
the parties and not otherwise objected to.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition in Case
31-RC-623 be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
[Direction of Election10 omitted from publication.]
"In order to assure that all eligible voters may have the opportunity to
be informed of the issues in the exercise of their statutory right to vote, all
parties to the election should have access to a list of voters and their
addresses which may be used to communicate with them . Excelsior
Underwear Inc., 156 NLRB 1236; N.L.R. B. v. Wyman-Gordon Company.
394 U.S. 759. Accordingly , it is hereby directed that an election eligibility
list, containing the names and addresses of all the eligible voters, must be
filed by the Employer with the Regional Director for Region 31 within 7
days of the date of this Decision and Direction of Election . The Regional
Director shall make the list available to all parties to the election. No
extension of time to file this list shall be granted by the Regional Director
except in extraordinary circumstances. Failure to comply with this
requirement. shall be grounds for setting aside the election whenever proper
objections Ere filed.