The Baptist Memorial Hospital

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 27, 1976

224 N.L.R.B. 199 (N.L.R.B. 1976)

THE BAPTIST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL 199
The Baptist Memorial Hospital and Local 150T, Ser-
vice Employees International Union, AFL-CIO-
CLC,i Petitioner. Case 26-RC-4908
May 27, 1976
DECISION AND ORDER
By MEMBERS JENKINS , PENELLO, AND WALTHER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held before Hearing Officer William D
Levy of the National Labor Relations Board Fol-
lowing the close of the hearing, the Regional Direc-
tor for Region 26 transferred this case to the Board
for decision Thereafter, the Employer filed a brief
with the Board
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au-
thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's rul-
ings made at the hearing and finds that they are free
from prejudicial error The rulings are hereby af-
firmed
Upon the entire record in this proceeding,' the
Board finds
I The parties have stipulated that the Employer,
which operates a nonprofit hospital in Memphis,
Tennessee, and employs 4,000 people, has a gross an-
nual income in excess of $50 million, and during the
past year purchased supplies valued in excess of
$50,000 directly from outside the State of Tennessee
We find that the Employer is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the Act, and that it will effec-
tuate the purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction
herein
2 The labor organization involved claims to rep-
resent certain employees of the Employer
3 No question affecting commerce exists concern-
ing the representation of certain employees of the
Employer within the meaning of Sections 9(c)(1) and
2(6) and (7) of the Act for the following reasons
The Petitioner seeks to represent a separate unit of
the Employer's 90 maintenance employees and dis-
claims any interest in a broader unit The Employer
contends that the smallest possible appropriate unit
would be a general service unit made up of approxi-
mately 1,600 employees, including the employees
sought separately by the Petitioner The Employer
1 Hereinafter referred to as the Petitioner
2 The Employer requested oral argument This request is hereby denied as
the record and the brief adequately present the issues and the positions of
the parties
would include in such a unit grounds keepers, aides,
and orderlies, and dietary, housekeeping, laundry,
and technical employees The Employer would ex-
clude professionals, supervisors, office clericals, and
all other employees involved in patient care
The Employer employs approximately 4,000 em-
ployees in some 40 or 50 identifiable areas, one of
which is the engineering department The Petitioner
refers to the engineering department as a mainte-
nance department and seeks to represent the employ-
ees therein as a separate unit
Supervision of the engineering department is un-
der the administration of the superintendent of
plants Employees working in the engineering depart-
ment are divided into three classifications according
to skills helpers, apprentices, and journeymen Help-
ers are hired without skills, some are transferees
from other hospital areas such as housekeeping, food
service, or the barber shop As helpers gain on-the-
job experience, they are advanced to apprentices and
then to journeymen The Employer states that the
classification of journeyman is primarily for the pur-
pose of providing additional compensation
Engineering employees perform routine refrigera-
tion, air-conditioning, and electrical repair work
Major work, such as electrical wiring, is contracted
out to special skilled workers from outside the hospi-
tal Some engineering employees are assigned to as-
sist on special projects or work in particular hospital
areas, such as the laundry or incinerator Supervision
of these employees is by the project or area supervi-
sor who reports to a different hospital administrator
from the engineering department head In addition
to repair work, engineering employees work through-
out the hospital performing such duties as cleaning
the grounds and engineering spaces, assisting house-
keeping employees in transporting furniture to vari-
ous floors and buildings, pulling down linen in the
laundry on nights and weekends, helping in loading
and unloading for various departments, and aiding
in cleaning the incinerators and air units
The record discloses that engineering employees
have no special facilities They share common dining
facilities, canteens, break areas, restrooms, entrance,
and parking with other hospital employees All pros-
pective engineering employees are first routed
through the personnel office as are other job appli-
cants They are paid on the same date, are eligible for
the same benefits, such as sick pay, holidays, vaca-
tion, retirement, and educational assistance, and are
provided with the same personnel handbook as all
other hospital employees
It is apparent that the maintenance employees do
not constitute a separate appropriate unit on a craft
basis The Employer does not hire only journeymen
224 NLRB No 51
200 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
or their equivalent for craft positions And, currently,
about 30 percent of the maintenance employees are
unskilled helpers, while little more than 20 percent
can be considered true craftsmen Although the
maintenance employees do perform many tasks cus-
tomarily performed by employees possessing crafts-
man status, they also perform many relatively un-
skilled tasks Moreover, as noted supra, the record
testimony shows that it is not uncommon for the Em-
ployer to hire independent contractors to perform
such major work as that involving electrical wiring
In Riverside Methodist Hospital, 223 NLRB 1084
(1976), we found, for the reasons stated therein,
that the employees of a plant operations department
similar to those petitioned for here did not comprise
a distinct and homogeneous group with interests suf-
ficiently separate from other employees to warrant
their separate representation In this proceeding, as
set forth in detail, supra, the maintenance employees
sought by Petitioner are similar to those employees in
Riverside in terms of their job duties and functions,
the wide variety of their backgrounds and skills, the
nature of the work performed, the substantial degree
of regular contact with other employees, and their
sharing of fringe benefits and other terms and condi-
tions of employment with employees excluded from
the requested unit
In view of the entire record in this case and in light
of our Decision in Riverside, supra, we find that the
Employer's maintenance employees do not possess a
community of interest sufficiently separate and dis-
tinct from the broader community of interest which
they share with all the other service and maintenance
employees to warrant finding that they constitute a
separate appropriate unit 3 Accordingly, and as the
Petitioner has disclaimed interest in a broader unit,
we shall dismiss the petition
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the representation peti-
tion herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed
3 St Joseph Hospital 224 NLRB 270 (1976)
In his separate concurring opinion in St Vincents Hospital, 223 NLRB
638 (1976), Member Penello clarified his position, as taken in Shriners
Hospitals for Crippled Children, 217 NLRB 806 (1975 ) on the appropriate-
ness of maintenance units in the health care industry In so clarifying his
position Member Penello stated that he is of the view that a craft mainte-
nance unit may be appropriate when , viewed in light of all the criteria
traditionally considered in determining the appropriateness of maintenance
units generally its establishment does not conflict with the congressional
mandate against proliferation of bargaining units in the health care indus
try This standard which is a more rigid one than is applied in other indus-
tries, can be met in Member Penello's view , when the unit sought unlike
the situation in Shriners is composed of licensed craftsmen engaged in tra-
ditional craft work , which is performed in a separate and distinct location
apart from other employees in the health care facility Normally , such em
ployees do not perform other services throughout the health care facility, as
was the case in Shriners and there is, at most , minimal transfer or inter-
change to and from the craft unit In the instant case, Member Penello
agrees with his colleagues that the unit sought-of all hospital maintenance
employees-is inappropriate since it does not satisfy the standard set forth
by him for finding a craft maintenance unit to be appropriate