Greene County Chapter American Red Cross

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 25, 1975

221 N.L.R.B. 776 (N.L.R.B. 1975)

776 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Greene County , Chapter American Red Cross and
Springfield Regional Red Cross Blood Center 1 and
Service and Hospital Employees Union Local 50,
AFL-CIO/CLC,1 Petitioner. Case l7-RC-7767
November 25, 1975
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF
ELECTION
BY CHAIRMAN MURPHY AND MEMBERS
FANNING AND JENKINS
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held before Hearing Officer R. E.
Weghorst. Following the hearing and pursuant to
Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended,
this case was transferred to the Board for decision,
Thereafter, briefs were filed by the Employer and the
Petitioner.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
authority in this proceeding 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. The rulings are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board
finds:
1. The Greene County Chapter and the Spring-
field Regional Red Cross Blood Center are affiliates
of the American National Red Cross headquartered
in Washington, D.C. Both the Chapter and the Blood
Center are nonincorporated associations with tax-
exempt status.2 The Employer provides blood serv-
ices to meet the requirements of approximately 54
hospitals located in southwest Missouri, Arkansas,
and Kansas. The Employer has contracts for the
supplying of blood with these hospitals, which
include approximately 18 county, state, or Federal
government operated hospitals. The Employer also
supplies blood to the military hospital at Fort
Leonard Wood. There is no contract involved in the
furnishing of blood to the military installation. The
standard contract requires the participating hospital
to reimburse the Employer in part for the cost of
collecting, processing, and distributing the blood at
set rates per unit for the various kinds of blood
products. The Employer's medical director may
confer with doctors in the hospitals regarding the
type of blood most helpful to the patient consistent
with the availability of the supply of blood. The
Employer performs certain tests on the blood before
it is delivered to the hospital. The Employer ships
plasma to Squibb, a pharmaceutical firm, which
ships it out of state. The transaction is handled
between the American National Red Cross and
Squibb, and the Employer receives a credit memo
from its national organization for the amount of
plasma shipped. During the fiscal year ending June
30, 1975, the amount of credit received for plasma
was $89,510. The Employer also exchanges blood
credits with other Red Cross centers and with the
American Association of Blood Banks.
During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1975, the
Employer had gross income of $595,067, and of that
amount $226,028 was derived from interstate
sources.
The Employer contends that it is a health care
institution within the meaning of Section 2(14) of the
Act. In the alternative, the Employer contends that if
it is not considered a health care institution, then the
Board should decline jurisdiction for the reason that
the activities of the Employer here have no substan-
tial impact upon interstate commerce. We reject both
of the Employer's contentions and we find that the
Employer's operations and impact on commerce are
sufficient to warrant the Board's assertion of jurisdic-
tion.3
2. The labor organization involved claims to
represent certain employees of the Employer.
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. Petitioner seeks representation of a unit of
approximately seven or eight dispatchers. The
Employer maintains that such a unit is inappropriate
because the dispatchers have no separable communi-
ty of interest apart from the nurses with whom they
spend a substantial portion of their working hours
and under whose supervision they perform their
duties while in the field.
The medical director, Dr. Lewis, testified that
seven or eight employees are classified as dispatchers.
Normally one dispatcher is regularly assigned to the
"milk run," which is the regular delivery of blood to
the various hospitals. During the day two dispatchers
will be assigned to the Center and one will be
assigned to the mobile blood unit. Occasionally,
when two mobile units are in operation, only one
dispatcher will be assigned to the Center. There are
1 The names of the Employer and Petitioner appear as amended at the operations.
hearing 3 San Diego Blood Bank, 219 NLRB No 13 (1975); American National
2 The parties stipulated that the Chapter and the Blood Center are a Red Cross, District of Columbia Chapter, 211 NLRB 587 (1974)
single Employer Hereinafter the term Employer will be used to describe the
221 NLRB No. 140
GREENE COUNTY AMERICAN RED CROSS , ET AL. 777
three part-time dispatchers who basically cover the
evening .and weekend shifts.4
The dispatchers are all responsible to the chief
dispatcher, . Gott, an admitted supervisor. As previ-
ously stated, one driver is assigned to the job of
delivering blood to the various hospitals. He takes a
certain amount of blood with him and stocks the
hospitals in the area he covers for the day. This is the
only job this person does. When assigned to the
Center, the dispatchers answer the phone, take orders
for blood from the hospitals, and pack the blood and
take it to hospitals, bus stations, and airports. They
assist the chief dispatcher in stocking and in taking
inventory of the storeroom, keep the blood supply,
and rotate it properly. When they take the blood to
the various destinations, they use a Red Cross van.
When in the field, the dispatcher drives the truck to
the site and helps set up the drawing center, by
unloading the truck and taking in supplies and
equipment such as beds. Frequently volunteers will
assist him. During the actual blood drawing, he is
responsible for sealing and refrigerating the full bags.
When the blood drawing is finished, he directs the
volunteers to disassemble the equipment. He then
loads the truck and is responsible for getting the
blood back to the Center. When the dispatcher is in
the field, he is responsible to the head nurse.
However, he has no contact with donors and receives
no medical training. In fact, the only license the
dispatcher is required to have is a chauffeur' s license.
In view of the above, we find that no community of
interest between the dispatchers and the nurses
exists, which would render a separate unit of
dispatchers inappropriate.
Accordingly, we find that the following employees
constitute a unit appropriate for the purpose of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9(b) of the Act:
All blood dispatchers employed by the Employer,
excluding all other employees, guards and super-
visors within the meaning of the Act.
[Direction of Election and Excelsior footnote
omitted from publication.]
4 The Employer maintains 24-hour-a-day blood delivery service The
manager of the Blood Center estimated that about 75 percent of the
dispatchers ' time is spent in the field under the direction of the head nurse
In view of Dr. Lewis' rather detailed testimony , the estimation by the
manager seems unrealistic.