Sun Cleaners

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 16, 1969

180 N.L.R.B. 465 (N.L.R.B. 1969)

MARY K. GORDON T/A SUN CLEANERS
Mary K. Gordon t/ a Sun Cleaners and AFL-CIO
Laundry and Dry Cleaning International Union,
Local 195 , Petitioner. Case 5-RC-6873
December 16, 1969
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF
ELECTION
BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS
BROWN AND ZAGORIA
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended,
hearings were held before M. Louise Felton and
Leonard R. Miller, Hearing Officers of the National
Labor Relations Board, on July 30 and September
10, 1969, respectively. The Hearing Officers' rulings
made at the hearings are free from prejudicial error
and are hereby affirmed. Following the hearings and
pursuant to Section 102.67 of the National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations and
Statements of Procedure, Series 8, as amended, this
case was transferred to the National Labor
Relations Board for decision.
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.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board
finds:
1. The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of
laundry and dry cleaning workers employed by the
Employer, Mary K. Gordon, trading as Sun
Cleaners. The Employer contends that its operations
do not meet the Board's jurisdictional standards'
and that the petition, therefore, should be dismissed.
We disagree.
The Employer, trading as Sun Cleaners, is an
individual operating a laundry and dry cleaning
establishment at 1119-23 E. Monument Street,
Baltimore , Maryland. The Employer's office and
sole retail outlet are located at 1200 E. Monument
Street. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1968,
the Employer's gross purchases amounted to about
$25,000, of which approximately $15,000 went for
laundry and cleaning supplies purchased locally
from Discount Supply Co., and less than $300 was
for purchases made outside the State of Maryland.
The Employer's gross receipts during the same
period totaled about $180,000. Of that amount,
approximately $55,000 was received from Gordon
Stores; about $115,000 was derived from its own
retail outlet for over-the-counter work; and
approximately $10,000 was received from four local
commercial customers.
The Gordon Stores is the trade name for dry
cleaning and laundry pickup stations operated by
Dennis Enterprises, Inc. (herein called Enterprises),
a Maryland corporation whose main office is also
'S,emons Mailing Service , 122 NLRB 81.
465
located at 1200 E. Monument Street. At the time of
the hearing there were 10 Gordon Stores,: all
located in Baltimore. The laundry and dry cleaning
collected from individual customers over the counter
in these stores is picked up by a Sun Cleaners truck,
processed at the Employer's plant, and returned to
the various stores by the Sun Cleaners truck. Dennis
Enterprises, Inc., has the following officers, each of
whom owns one-third of its stock: Dennis Gordon is
president and treasurer; Bernard Allen Gordon is
vice president; and, Mary K. Gordon is secretary.
Dennis Gordon and Bernard Allen Gordon are the
sons of Mary K. Gordon, the sole owner of Sun
Cleaners. The gross revenues of Enterprises
(produced entirely by Gordon Stores) during the
calendar year ending December 1968 amounted to
$136,000. During the same period, it made
purchases totaling less than $2,000. All such
purchases were made locally.
Discount Supply Co. (herein called Discount) is a
Maryland corporation engaged in selling supplies to
individual cleaners and laundries in the Baltimore
area. Its principal office is also located at 1200 E.
Monument Street. The officers of Discount are the
same as those of Enterprises: Dennis Gordon is
president, Bernard Allen Gordon is vice president,
and Mary K. Gordon is secretary-treasurer. Only
Dennis Gordon and his mother, Mary K. Gordon,
however, own all of the stock of Discount. During
the fiscal year ending September 30, 1968, Discount
purchased and received from outside the State of
Maryland merchandise valued in excess of $50,000.
Its sales, all made locally, amounted to between
$100,000 and $125,000 during the same period.
Discount has only one employee, a driver. Its
bookkeeping is handled entirely by Mary K.
Gordon, the Employer herein, while Dennis Gordon
is Discount's chief executive officer and salesman.
Although they are separate legal entities, the
Employer, Enterprises, and Discount are essentially
a single, integrated, family operation. All three
businesses maintain their offices in the same
building, which is owned by the Employer. The
Employer pays all of the gas and electric utilities,
and neither Discount nor Enterprises pays rent to
the Employer. In addition, the three enterprises are
functionally related, share common ownership and
officers, and have overlapping management and
supervision in their day-to-day operations.
Thus, Mary K. Gordon, the sole proprietor of
Sun Cleaners, spends virtually no time at all at the
cleaning plant , but devotes all of her time to the
Employer's retail outlet, located at 1200 E.
Monument Street. In the evenings she does the
bookkeeping for Discount. Dennis Gordon, who is
president of both Discount and Enterprises, has been
acting manager of Sun Cleaners since February
1968, when the Employer's prior manager became
'The record indicates that one of the Gordon Stores was to be
permanently closed on August 4, 1969
180 NLRB No. 50
466 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
incapacitated. He spends several hours each day
overseeing the operations at the Employer's plant,
and receives $25 per week for his services as a
supervisor. In addition, Dennis Gordon is salesman
for Discount, calling on customers and potential
customers during the day. He also keeps the books
and handles the necessary correspondence for both
Sun Cleaners and Enterprises at night. Dennis
Gordon draws a salary from Discount and receives a
weekly check from Enterprises.
Bernard Allen Gordon, who is vice president of
both Enterprises and Discount, performs general
supervisory functions for Gordon Stores
(Enterprises). Although he is paid only by
Enterprises, he also performs services for both the
Employer and Discount. Thus, he regularly opens
the Employer's plant in the mornings and has
authority to direct the plant employees. In cases of
emergency, he is called upon to assist the Employer
at the plant or at the store; or, he may substitute for
a clerk who is absent from one of the Gordon
Stores. Bernard Gordon spends most of his time,
however, at the office which Enterprises and
Discount share at 1200 E. Monument Street. There,
he bills the Gordon Stores for cleaning and laundry
services performed by the Employer; he answers the
telephone for Discount and takes telephone orders
for Discount; he assists in billing Discount's
customers, and is generally available to help in an
emergency at any of the three enterprises.
In addition to the Gordon family, Harry
Olperhauser is the general manager of the Gordon
Stores and of the Employer's retail outlet. His
salary, however, is paid entirely by the Employer.
Besides managing the stores, Opperhauser regularly
spends several hours each day at the Employer's
plant, where he possesses and exercises general
supervisory authority. Opperhauser is also
responsible for closing the plant each evening.
It is clear from the foregoing recitation that the
three entities do not deal as strangers with each
other, but are part and parcel of a single, integrated
and interrelated family operation. Therefore, in
determining whether the Employer meets the
Board's jurisdictional standards, we must look to
the totality of the companies operations. Thus, the
Employer, Mary K. Gordon, alone owns Sun
Cleaners. She also has a one-third ownership, with
her two sons, in Dennis Enterprises, Inc., which is
the Employer's single largest customer. In addition,
Mary K. Gordon and her son, Dennis Gordon, have
total ownership of Discount Supply Co., the
Employer's principal source of laundry and dry
cleaning supplies. And, although the Employer's
purchases from Discount represent but a small
percentage of Discount's total annual sales, they
represent more than half of the Employer's total
yearly purchases. The gross receipts from all three
enterprises amounts to nearly a half million dollars
annually. As already stated, supra. Discount
annually purchases and receives from outside the
State of Maryland goods valued in excess of
$50,000. This amount meets the Board's standards
for asserting jurisdiction. When viewed in the full
context of the Employer's total operations,
therefore, we find that the Employer meets the
Board's jurisdictional standards.'
Accordingly, we find that the Employer is
engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act
and that it will effectuate the purposes of the Act to
assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The labor organization involved claims to
represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists
concerning the representation of employees of the
Employer within the meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and
Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The following employees of the Employer, as
stipulated by the parties, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees
employed by Sun Cleaners at its Baltimore,
Maryland, location; excluding office clerical
employees, outlet store clerical employees, truck
drivers, guards, and supervisors as defined in the
Act, as amended.
[Direction of Election4 omitted from publication.]
'Potato Growers Cooperative Company, 115 NLRB 1281, 1283-84
including particularly fns 4 and 11, Orkin Exterminating Company. Inc
(of Kentucky). 115 NLRB 622, The Family Laundry, Inc. et al. 121
NLRB 1619, 1621
'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 5 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 are filed