Oriole General Cleaning Services, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 25, 1970

186 N.L.R.B. 833 (N.L.R.B. 1970)

ORIOLE GENERAL CLEANING SERVICES, INC.
Oriole General Cleaning Services , Inc. and Service
Employees Union , Local 587, Service Employees
International Union, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case
5-RC-7268
November 25, 1970
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF
ELECTION
BY MEMBERS FANNING, BROWN, AND JENKINS
Upon a petition duly filed on May 15, 1970, under
Section 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as
amended, a hearing in this case was held on
September 1, 1970, before Hearing Officer Sidney
Smith. Pursuant to Section 102.67 of the National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, the
above-entitled matter was duly transferred by the
Regional Director for Region 5 to the Board for
consideration. The Petitioner and Employer filed
briefs.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
Act, as amended, the 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 affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board
finds: i
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act, and 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 concern-
ing the representation of employees of the Employer
within the meaning of Sections 9(c)(1) and 2(6) and
(7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks a unit of all employees
performing janitorial and cleaning services for the
Employer at Enjay Fibers and Laminates Co.,
Odenton, Maryland. The Employer contends that the
Petitioner's unit is inappropriate and that the only
appropriate unit would encompass all employees
employed by the Employer within its department B
territory.
The Employer is engaged in providingjanitorial and
cleaning services to some 96 industrial and commer-
cial establishments, including office buildings in the
Baltimore , Maryland, area.2 These establishments are
grouped by the Employer into three territories or
departments (A, B, and C) for administrative purpos-
I The Employer's request for oral argument is hereby denied as the
briefs and the entire record adequately present the issues and positions of
the parties
2 The parties agreed to incorporate , as part of the record in the instant
833
es. Each department is headed by a district manager
who reports directly to Allan Kable, the Employer's
vice president in charge of operations. Department A
is limited to the three St. Mary's Seminary properties
and has 34 employees. Department B embraces 39
mainly industrial buildings and has approximately
108 employees. Department C consists of 54 mostly
commercial buildings and employs approximately
141 employees. Because the Employer's contracts
with its customers contain a clause permitting either
party to cancel the contract upon 30 days' notice, the
customer composition and employee complement of a
department is subject to change.
The district manager is restricted to and is responsi-
ble for maintaining good customer relations in his
particular department. He has the responsibility of
operating within an established budget, approving
supplies for the locations serviced, and auditing the
payroll. He inspects the locations and works with and
through the various building supervisors in his
department to ensure the locations are properly
serviced.
The Employer's departments are not drawn strictly
according to compact geographic lines. While the
buildings in department B are largely concentrated in
the south central section of Baltimore3 and those in
department C are located in North Central Baltimore,
North Baltimore, and surrounding Baltimore County,
the three properties in department A are scattered
over the north, west, and central sections of Balti-
more. Other factors considered by the Employer in
determining the department into which an account
will be placed are the desire to provide better
customer relations, better performance and control,
and central control through supervision.
Similar job classifications exist in all departments
and the duties performed by the employees are
basically uniform. The Employer's wage and vacation
policies, benefit program, applications, work rules,
and job duties are uniformly applicable in all
departments. The majority of the employees in
department B work 4 hours per day on a 5-day week,
generally starting at 5 or 6 p.m. and ending at 9 or 10
p.m. Generally, when an employee is unable to report
for work, he will call into the main office. Some
employees in department B work at more than one
building and there is a roving wax crew which services
many of the smaller buildings in the department.
While some of the buildings in department B are
under the supervision of roving supervisors or a
leadman and others are under the direct supervision
case , the record made in Case 5-RC-7198 involving the same parties
9 The Enjay building and buildings at Glen Burnie , Maryland, and
Friendship Airport are in Anne Arundel County
186 NLRB No. 124
834 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of District Manager Harley Holmes, three buildings,
including Enjay, have full-time supervisors.
Although Enjay is in department B, it is approxi-
mately 20 miles from the Employer's main office and
7 miles from the nearest facility serviced by the
Employer. Its 17 employees are separately supervised
by Foreman Arthur Eckert whose duties are limited to
the Enjay facility. There have been no temporary or
permanent transfers between Enjay and any other
facility included in department B. Enjay is the only
facility in department B which requires both a day
shift and a night shift. Unlike other employees in the
department, Enjay employees call directly to Eckert
when unable to report to work. Eckert has full
authority to hire and fire and recruits all of his
employees from the area in which Enjay is located.
Although Holmes makes occasional visits to the
4 As both parties agree that the leadman employed at the Enjay location
is not a supervisor and should be included in the unit, a specific reference
to such category in the unit description is unnecessary.
5 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 Comany, 394
U.S. 759. Accordingly, it is hereby directed that an election eligibility list,
Enjay facility, Eckert makes the daily work assign-
ments and handles employee grievances at the initial
stage. If grievances are not resolved at that level, they
are taken directly to Kable. In these circumstances,
we find that the Enjay employees have a distinct
community of interest which is separate and apart
from those of employees at other locations in the
Employer's department B.
Accordingly, we find that all employees of the
Employer employed at Enjay Fibers & Laminates
Co., Odenton, Maryland,4 excluding guards, office
clerical employees, and supervisors as defined in the
Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9(b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from
publication.]
containing the names and addresses of all the eligible voters, 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.