Westbridge

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 3, 1968

172 N.L.R.B. 1789 (N.L.R.B. 1968)

SCOPE ASSOCIATES, D/B/A WESTBRIDGE 1789
Scope Associates , d/b/a Westbridge and Building
Service Employees Union , Local 22 , Building Ser-
vice Employees International Union , AFL-CIO,
Petitioner . Case 20-RC-7885
September 3, 1968
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By MEMBERS BROWN, JENKINS, AND ZAGORIA
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held before Hearing Officer Patricia K.
Immel. Following the hearing, and pursuant to Sec-
tion 102.67 of the National Labor Relations
Board's Rules and Regulations and Statements of
Procedure, Series 8, as amended, and by direction
of the Regional Director for Region 20, this case
was transferred to the National Labor Relations
Board for decision. Briefs have been timely filed by
the Employer and the Petitioner.
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
powers in connection with this case 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 af-
firmed.
1. Scope Associates, a partnership, d/b/a West-
bridge, with its principal office in Menlo Park,
California, is engaged in renting rooms to, and
providing meals for, students at Sacramento State
College, in Sacramento, California. The Employer
commenced operations in September 1967. In Sep-
tember and October 1967, it had total sales of
$99,374.19, and during the same period it paid in-
terest of approximately $20,000 to Bank of Amer-
ica in Palo Alto, California. The Employer's pro-
jected sales for the 12-month period from Sep-
tember 1967 through August 1968 are in excess of
$500,000, and during that same period the Em-
ployer will make interest payments of approximate-
ly $120,000, of which amount $50,000 will be in
direct payments to Prudential Life Insurance Com-
pany in Newark, New Jersey. The parties agree,
and we find, that the Employer is engaged in com-
merce within the meaning of the Act, and that it
will effectuate the purposes of the Act to assert ju-
risdiction in this case.'
2. The labor organization involved claims to
represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists con-
cerning 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 Petitioner seeks a maintenance unit of
custodial employees at the Employer's Westbridge
dormitory rental operation at Sacramento State
College, including full-time maids and janitors, but
excluding part-time janitors, desk clerks, and res
ident assistants. The Employer contends that the
Petitioner's unit. is inappropriate, and that an
overall unit which includes all of these employees is
alone appropriate.
The Employer owns and operates the Westbridge
operation, which comprises a complex of 12 dormi-
tory buildings and a dining hall. The Employer
leases the dormitory rooms directly to students for
a rental fee which includes dining hall meals,2 utili-
ties, linen service, and 24-hour telephone
switchboard service. Ninety percent of the students
use the dormitories for at least one semester.
The Employer's entire maintenance force con-
sists of the following custodial employees: 8 maids,
I janitor, and 7 to 13 student-janitors. The maids
and janitor work full time and are hired through the
California Department of Employment. The stu-
dent-janitors are students referred to the Employer
through the student placement bureau, who with a
single exception regularly work for the Employer
an average of 3 to 24 hours a week during each pay
period and individually work the same number of
hours each week. They are paid slightly less than
the janitor. All of these custodial employees report
to the maintenance supervisor.
The 22 desk clerks are students who work 3 to
20 hours a week and whose duties primarily relate
to the 24-hour-a-day operation of a telephone
switchboard for the benefit of students. They are
referred to the Employer by the student placement
bureau and report to the assistant manager.
The 11 resident assistants are students who help
organize student government, check the cleanliness
of rooms, and help students with their personal
problems. They are referred to the Employer by the
student placement bureau on the basis of their
leadership qualities, are on call 5 to 6 hours a day
while on the premises , and report to the manager.
There have been no interchanges or permanent
transfers among the three above-described groups.
All employees are hourly paid, and their wages
differ by no more than 10 to 20 cents an hour. The
Employer's policies with regard to vacations and in-
surance coverage have not yet been clearly
established.
' Karl Gerber, Max Taetle, Nathan Metz & Estate of Bernard Katz, Co-
Partners dlbla Park view Gardens, 166 NLRB 697
I The Employer subcontracts its dining hall meal service operations to an
independent firm not involved in this proceeding
172 NLRB No. 208
1790 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL
In these circumstances, and absent a request to
bargain in a larger unit, we conclude that the Em-
ployer's separately supervised custodial employees,
who comprise its entire maintenance force, con-
stitute a homogeneous group with similar interests
and working conditions and is therefore entitled to
separate representation as an appropriate unit 3 We
shall exclude desk clerks and resident assistants
from the unit, in view of their dissimilar functions
and conditions of work. As to the student-janitors,
it appears that their employment is directly related
to their living conditions, and their employer's prin-
cipal activity is directly related to their total educa-
tional environment. In these circumstances, we
shall exclude the student-janitors from the unit on
the ground that part-time employees such as these,
'Karl Gerber, Mar Taetle, Nathan Metz & Estate of Bernard Katz, Co-
Partners dlb/a ParAview Gardens, supra
' See General Electric Company. 109 NLRB 747, 748, Sonoco Products
Company, 107 NLRB 82 Cf Colecraft Mfg Co. Inc, 162 NLRB 680
' 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 20 within 7 days after the date of this Decision and Direction of
LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
whose major economic interest is in studies which
prepare them for a different occupation or activity,
do not have the same community of interest in their
employment as do those who work full time and are
dependent on their employment for a livelihood.'
Accordingly, we find that all maintenance em-
ployees at the Employer's Westbridge operations at
Sacramento, California, including janitors and
maids ; but excluding desk clerks, resident
assistants , student-janitors, all other employees, and
supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act.
[Direction of Elections omitted from publica-
tion. ]
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 Excelsior Underwear Inc , 156 N LRB
1236