Silver Spur Casino

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 27, 1971

192 N.L.R.B. 1124 (N.L.R.B. 1971)

1124 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
221 North Virginia, - Street, Inc. d/b/a Silver Spur
Casino and Casino Employees Division , Stationary
Engineers, Local 39, International Union of-Operat-
ing , , Engineers, AFL-CIO, Petitioner, Case
20-RC-9975r
August - 27, 1971
,,,DECISION AND DIRECTION OF
ELECTIONS
CHAIRMAN MILLER AND- MEMBERS BROWN
-,AND JENKINS
On April 13, -1971, Casino Employees Division,
Stationary Engineers, Local 39, International Union
of Operating Engineers, AFL-CIO, hereinafter
referred to as the Petitioner, filed a petition seeking
to represent certain employees of the Silver Spur
Casino, Reno, Nevada.l Pursuant to the direction of
the Regional f Director for, Region 20, a hearing to
determine whether the unit of employees sought was
appropriate was held on May 19 and 25, 1971, at San
Francisco, California. By order of the Regional
Director' - on June 11, 1971, this proceeding was
transferred to the Board for decision pursuant to
Section 102.67 of, "the' National Labor Relations
Board, Rules and Regulations. Thereafter, the ,peti-
tioner and the Silver Spur- Casino, hereinafter
referred to, as the, Employer,, submitted briefs to the
Board.
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.
The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Hearing
Officer made at the hearing , and finds that no
prejudicial error was committed. The rulings are
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, including the
briefs, the Board finds:
1. The parties stipulated, and we find, that during
the past year the Employer received gross revenue in
excess of $500,000 from its gambling operations in
Nevada and purchased and received goods valued in
excess ' of $50,000 from firms which in turn purchased
such, goods directly from outside the State of
Nevada. We find, that the Employer is engaged in
commerce within the meaning of the Act and that it
'The Petitioner's name was-amended at the hearing to include the
AFL-CIO ' designation . The Employer's name at , the ` hearing was
amended to read ' 221 North Virginia Street, Inc., d/b/a Silver Spur
Casino. "
2 At the hearing, the Employer questioned the status of the Petitioner as
a labor organization. Upon the basis of the record in Case 20-RC-9900,
Harold's Club, incorporated herein by virtue of a stipulation between the
parties, and our decision in Harrah 's Club, 187 NLRB No. 112 , we find that
will effectuate the purposes of ,the Act to assert
jurisdiction herein.
2. The Petitioner is ,a labor organization claiming
to -represent certain-'employees 's of' the' Employer.2
3. A question affecting' commerce exists concern-
ing the representation of certain employees of the
Employer within the meaning of-.Section 9(c)(1) and
Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Employer is -engaged in, the operation of . a
gambling casino, restaurant, and bar , in Reno,
Nevada.
The Petitioner seeks to represent the following two
units of employees:
Unit A (Gaming ,Unit): Including all '21 dealers,
roulette dealers, crap dealers, checC-rockers; keno
second men, keno third men, keno writers, keno
runners, shills, slot key men,,slot change-girls„ slot
booth cashiers, coin wrappers, cashiers, head shift
cashiers. Excluding, ; in addition to supervisors
those employees currently covered by existing
collective, bargaining agreements. .
Unit B (Maintenance Unit):-Including all mainte-
nance engineers, 'maintenance men, mechanics,
warehousemen, receiving clerks, slot machine
mechanics, and parking lot attendants.3
The record shows and we find that, separate. units
limited to all gamingaemployees'and all maintenance
employees, respectively,, are appropriate., Cf. Har-
rah's Club, 187 NLRB No. 112; El Dorado. Club, et
at, 151 NLRB 579.
While- the, parties are in general agreement' with
respect to^the units-sought, the Employer contests the
appropriateness of unit A on the grounds that it fails
to include the poker 'department-' employees and
approximately one-half of the keno runners. The
employer also questions the propriety of unit Bon
the ground that the unit description,- with the
traditional exclusions, ,appears to encompass only
one nonsupervisory employee.
Poker Department
With regard to the poker department employees,
the record reveals that the poker department is under
the supervision of the poker depar'tment' manager
whom the parties have stipulated',' and we find, to be
a supervisor within the meaning of the Act. "The
poker `department manager supervises some 12-14
employees who perform the duties of dealers, shills,
and floormen. Although, the floormen control the
the Petitioner' is an organization in which employees participate and exists
for the purposes of- dealing with employers concerning wages and other
conditions of employment . Accordingly, it is a labor organization within the
meaning of_ section 2(5) of the , Act. Motor Transport Labor Relations, Inc.,
139 NLRB 70.
3 The unit description reflects Petitioner 's amendment of the petition at
the hearing.
192 NLRB No. 168
SILVER SPUR CASINO 1125
poker department in the absence of the manager,
they do- not possess the power to hire , discharge, or
discipline the remaining employees in the depart-
ment . Moreover, any orders by the floormen directed
to the dealers and shills are in accord with an
established procedure . In these circumstances, we
find that the poker floormen are not supervisors
within the meaning of the Act.
The record further reveals , that the poker depart-
ment employees , like the other casino employees
involved in the gaming activities , deal directly with
the Employer 's,custoriers, handle gaming funds, and
have constant contact,with- theeother gaming employ-
ees working in other 'departments . Inasmuch as the
poker department employees, i.e., dealers , shills, and
floormen, share'a close ' community of interest with
the ,other 'gaming employees, and ;m the absence of
.any objection , we shall -include the poker employees
in the gaming unit.4
runners assigned to the bar-to Local 86's health and
welfare plan. With respect to the keno runners whose
wages were charged, as an expense to the keno
department, health and welfare,payments , on their
behalf were paid to the same independent health and
welfare plan applicable to the Employer's other
gaming employees. All the keno runners, including
those assigned to the bar, receive the same hourly
pay which is significantly more than-that called for
under the Local 86 contract. There -is no evidence
whatsoever that any of the keno runners assigned 1o
the bar for accounting purposes "have joined: Local
86.
Under all the circumstances, it appears that the
keno runners, irrespective of where ,they have been
assigned for accounting : purposes,' share a communi-
ty of interest with ,,,the other employees in the
Casino's gaming operations, and we will; therefore,
include them in the gaming unit.
Keno Runners
The Employer operates a keno game on the first
floor of the casino.-5 Persons wishing to play keno
may approach the keno writers located at the keno
game counter and make their selections or they may
contact one of the approximately 16 keno runners
located throughout the casino and transmit both
their selections and money through such runners to
the keno writer. The keno runners in addition to
delivering the keno tickets or selections spend
approximately 25 percent of their time serving
cocktails to the casino's customers.
The Employer, which had initially charged approx-
imately 92 percent of the wages paid to the keno
runners to the keno department and the remaining 8
percent to the bar, after repeated complaints from
the keno department, arbitrarily for accounting
purposes assigned 50 percent of the keno runners to
the bar and the remaining 50 percent to the keno
department. Inasmuch as the Employer was a party
to a collective-bargaining contract with the Hotel-
Motel-Restaurant Employees and Bartenders Union
Local No. 86,6 by virtue of its membership in the
Reno Employers Council, and since this contract is
applicable to culinary employees including the
category of cocktail waitress,7 the Employer proceed-
ed to make payments on behalf of those keno
4 In its brief to the Board the Petitioner stated that the omission of the
poker department employees from the gaming unit was inadvertent and that
it desired to represent all nonsupervisory gaming employees in the gaming
unit.
5 Keno is similar to Bingo and involves the selection of numbers or
combinations of numbers appearing on some 80 balls automatically
dropped out of a revolving machine. Those selecting the numbers or
combination of numbers dropped out of the machine are, of course,
winners.
6 Hereinafter called Local 86.
7 There is no keno runner classification in the contract and, though
Maintenance Unit
As noted above, the Employer contests the proprie-
ty of the maintenance unit on the ground that the
record indicates that there is only one maintenance
employee working under the supervision of mainte-
nance engineer Langdis, whom the parties have
stipulated to be and we find to be a supervisor within
the meaning of the Act. Contrary to the Employer's
contention, however, the record reveals that the
maintenance engineer supervises, in addition to the
one maintenance employee who is responsible for
minor carpentry and sundry repairs, 10 to 12 porters
whose responsibilities entail normal housekeeping
functions. In these circumstances we find the
Employer's contention to be without merit. Accord-
ingly, and since the record indicates that the porters
and maintenance man enjoy a community of interest
separate and apart from those employees employed
in the gaming unit, we find a unit limited to such
employees to be appropriate .8 Cf. Harrah's Club,
supra.
Accordingly, in view of the foregoing, we find that
the following units of employees are appropriate for
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9(b) of the Act:
Unit A: a gaming unit including all dealers,
roulette dealers, crap dealers, check rackers, keno
served with timely notice, Local 86 has made no claim of representation of
this group in this proceeding.
8 Inasmuch as the record is barren of any evidence indicating that the
Employer employs any individual in the capacity of warehousemen,
receiving clerks, or parking lot attendants , we shall delete them from the
requested unit . With regard to slot-machine mechanics, the record indicates
that all slot-machine repairs are performed by the slot manager and slot
mechanic, both of whom the parties stipulated , and we find, to be
supervisors within the meaning of the Act. Accordingly, the category of slot-
machine mechanic shall be deleted from the requested unit.
1126 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
3rd'men, keno writers, keno runners; shills,=poker
floornnen, poker dealers, slot keymen, slot" change
a'girls and cashiers at the-Silver Spur Casino,-Reno,
Nevada,=-excluding all office clerical employees,
guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.9
Unit B: a maintenance unit including all mainte-
nance employees" and porters 10 at the Silver Spur
Casino, Reno, Nevada; excluding all -office
clerical employees, "guards, and supervisors as
defined in the , Act. - , ,
[Direction of Electionsll 12 omitted from
publication.]
s It .was stipulated at the hearing , and we find , that the following are
supervisors within the meaning of the Act: the general manager, casino
manager, pit bosses ," keno 'first men, keno second men, slot-machine
mechanic-keymen,, poker game "manager, head cashier and credit manager,
and head auditor and office supervisor . Additionally, it was stipulated, and
we find,-'that part-time security officers and peepmen are guards within the
meaning of the Act.
10 It was stipulated at the hearing, and we find, that the chief
maintenance engineer is a supervisor within the meaning of the Act.
11' As the units found appropriate are' substantially larger than those
petitioned .for, the elections we direct are" conditioned on the Regional
Director's determination that the Petitioner has made an adequate showing
of interest among - the employees in the units who are ehgible to vote in this
election. We hereby permit the petitioner , should it so desire, to withdraw
its petition with respect to either unit , without prejudice, upon written notice
to the Regional Director within 10 days from the date of this Direction of
Elections.
' 12 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 elections should have access to lists of voters and their
addresses which may be used to communicate with them. Excelsior
Underwear Inc., 156 ' NLRB 1236; N.LR.B.' v. Wyman-Gordon Co., 394 U.S.
759. Accordingly, it is hereby directed that , election eligibility lists,
containing the names and addresses of all the eligible voters , must be filed
by the Employer with the Regional Director for Region 20 within 7 days of
the date ; of this Decision and Direction of Elections:=The Regional'Director
shall make the, lists available to all parties to the elections . No extension of
time to file these lists shall be granted by the Regional yDirectorexcept in
extraordinary circumstances. Failure to comply with this requirement shall
,be "grounds for setting aside the elections whenever proper ' objections-are
filed.