Elite Laundry Co. of Washington, D. C., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 7, 1943

53 N.L.R.B. 1212 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of ELITE LAUNDRY COMPANY OF WASHINGTON, D. C., INC.,
and CLEANERS & LAUNDRY WORKERS UNION, LOCAL 188 B, AMAL-
GAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA
Case No. 5-R-1396.-Decided December 7, 1943
Mr. George L. Weasler, for the Board.
Messrs. Louis A. Spiess and Joseph. C. McGarraghy, of Washington,
D. C., for the Company.
Mr. Alfred Udoff, of New York City, and Messrs. Ralph Bernard
and Jack Kutner, of Washington, D. C., for the Union.
Miss Frances Lopinsky, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Cleaners & Laundry Workers Union,
Local 188 B, Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, herein called
the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen
concerning the representation of employees of Elite Laundry Com-
pany of Washington, D. C., Inc.,' herein called the Company, the
National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice before William Strong, Trial Examiner. Said hear-
ing was held at Washington, D. C., on October 29, 1943. The Board,
the Company and the Union appeared and participated.2 All parties
were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-
examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues.
At the hearing the Company moved the dismissal of the-petition
on the ground that the Union had not made a majority showing on'
cards submitted to the Field Examiner. On November 11, 1943, the
Company requested the right to present oral argument to the Board
on the motion. As the Union submitted a sufficient number of appear-
ently genuine cards to indicate that it represents a substantial number
of the employees of the Company, the motion and request for oral
argument thereon are hereby denied.3
1 At the hearing , by stipulation of the parties , the pleadings were amended to correspond
with this, the correct corporate name
2 Teamsters Joint Council No. 55, also sere ed with notice , did not appear
8 See Matter of fames Doak Jr Company , 52 N L It B . No .i5 ; Matter of Smith & Caffrey
Co,3SN L R B 90
53 N. L R. B., No. 219.
1212 .
ELITE LAUNDRY COMPANY, INC. 1213
The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded
an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I..THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Elite Laundry Company of Washington, D. C., Inc., is a Virginia
corporation engaged in the general dry cleaning and laundry business
in the District of Columbia. In connection with its operations, it
maintains a plant at 2117 Fourteenth Street, N. W., Washington,
D. C., and operates 17 stores or outlets, 3 being in Virginia, 2 in
Maryland, and 12 in the District of Columbia. The laundry and dry
cleaning is picked up at the above stores, and at the homes or busi-
ness establishments of customers by company trucks and taken to the
plant where it is washed and dry cleaned and returned to the stores
or customers on the trucks. Approximately 10 percent of the total
gross income of the Company comes from the Virginia and Maryland
stores.
The- Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Cleaners and Laundry Workers Union, Local 188 B, Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America affiliated with the Congress of Indus-
trial Organizations is a labor organization admitting to membership
employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of its employees until the Union
has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of the Field Examiner, introduced into evidence at
the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial num-
ber of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.4
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
'The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 261 application for membership
cards all of which bore apparently genuine original signatures ; that the names of 159
persons appearing on the cards were listed on the Company's pay roll of September 23,
1943, which contained the names of 355 employees in the appropriate unit ; that the
cards were dated 2 in February 1943, 1 in June 1943, 57 in July 1943, 140 in August 1943,
46 in September 1943, 15 undated.
559015-44-vol. 53-73
1214 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union and the Company agree that the unit should include
all production and maintenance employees of the Company, and
should exclude all office and clerical employees and supervisory em-
ployees. The Company desires the inclusion and the Union the
exclusion of truck drivers and helpers, and store clerks.
Truck drivers and helpers: The Union's petition requested the in-
clusion of truck drivers but subsequent to the filing of the petition,
the Union was informed that the Teamsters Joint Council of Ameri=
can Federation of Labor was interested in organizing the Com-
pany's truck drivers and helpers in a separate unit. To avoid an inter-
union dispute, the Union at the hearing requested exclusion of the
truck drivers from the general maintenance-production unit.
There are 55 truck drivers and helpers. They pick up soiled articles
at the homes or places of business of customers, and at the Company's
stores where the articles are deposited and called for by the general
public; they deliver clean articles to the customers and stores. Truck
drivers are paid on a commission basis and when they have the time
and opportunity, they solicit new business for the Company. They
are responsible for the charges of and make collections from the cus-
tomers who have no charge accounts with the Company. None of
the production and maintenance workers perform tasks similar to
those performed by the drivers and their helpers. The production
and maintenance employees perform their duties inside the plant; the
drivers and helpers work on the outside. Inasmuch as the duties,
working conditions and interests of the, truck drivers and helpers
and those of maintenance and production employees are dissimilar,
and since there is another labor organization in the area which is
interested in organizing the truck drivers and helpers into a separate
unit, we shall exclude the truck drivers and helpers from the unit.
The store clerks: The. Company has 17 stores at which customers
may leave and call for their articles which are laundered and dry
cleaned by the Company. Each store has 2, sometimes 3 clerks. They
take in the articles brought by the customers, prepare and issue re-
ceipts for them, attach some identifying insignia to each article, quote
prices for work, issue laundered and cleaned articles, collect for serv-
ices rendered, handle money and make change. There is no inter-
change of employees between the plant and the stores. The educa-
tional requirements for store employees are higher than those for
plant employees. They work with only intermittent supervision.
Their duties and interests are more allied with those of clerical em-
ployees than with those of production and maintenance employees.5
We shall exclude them from the unit.
See Matter of National Laundry Co., 36 N L. It. B. 1204.
ELITE LAUNDRY COMPANY, INC. 1215'
We find that all maintenance and production employees of the Com-
pany, excluding truck drivers and helpers, store clerks and all super-
visory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, dis-
cipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or
effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9
(b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the
employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of
Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in
i he Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Elite Laundry
Company of Washington, D. C., Inc., an election by secret ballot shall
be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days
from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision
of the Regional Director for the Fifth Region, acting in this matter
as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Arti-
cle, III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among
the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above,
who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preced-
ing the date of this Direction, including employees who did not work
during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or
temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of
the United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but
excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for
cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of
the election, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented
by Cleaners and Laundry Workers Union, Local 188 B, Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America, C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective
bargaining.