The Menninger Foundation

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsJul 29, 1965

219 N.L.R.B. 690 (N.L.R.B. 1965)

690 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD The Menninger Foundation I and Menninger Founda- tion Child Care Workers Association , Petitioner. Case 17-RC-7657 July 29, 1965 DECISION AND ORDER BY MEMBERS JENKINS, KENNEDY , AND PENELLO Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing was held before Hearing Officer David M. Nixon. Following the hearing and pursuant to Sec- tion 102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board's Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, this case was transferred to the Board for decision. Thereafter, the Petitioner and the Employer filed briefs. 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 rulings of the Hearing Officer made at the hearing and finds they are free from prejudicial error. They are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds: 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 Petitioner is a labor organization claiming to represent 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 Employer is a nonprofit Kansas corporation devoted to treatment, education, and research in the mental health field. Each of these three functions is conducted under a separate managerial division. The treatment division is the largest and operates a 162- bed adult hospital and a 70-bed children's hospital which is about a block away. Though the children's hospital is physically separate from the adult hospi- tal, it is dependent upon the Foundation' s central laundry, pharmacy, and laboratory, and partially de- pendent upon central maintenance, adult hospital di- etary services, business office services, records, and switchboard. The Employer has 940 full-time and 100 part-time employees; 253 are professionals, 240 are clericals, and 20 are guards, leaving 427 rank-and-file employ- 1 The Employer's name appears as corrected at the hearing. ees in approximately 25 job classifications. The Peti- tioner seeks a unit numbering 64 employees and con- sisting of the child care workers, licensed practical nurses,' floaters, and seamstresses in the children's hospital. Within the children's division, in addition to the employees in the unit sought by Petitioner, there are also 2 maintenance employees, 3 grounds keepers, 12 food service employees, and 12 house- keepers. The Employer contends that the unit sought is not appropriate. It argues that the requested unit does not contain a homogeneous group of employees with interests separate and distinct from the other nonprofessional employees in the children's hospital and the entire Foundation.; Child care workers are usually recruited from housewives and college students seeking work while attending school. The only initial requirement for the position is a high school diploma. The Employer's personnel office makes the initial determination as to whether an applicant will be hired as a child care worker or as a psychiatric aide at the adult hospital, which categories have identical qualification require- ments and analogous functions. Since July 1, 1974, both of these categories of employees must receive training and become licensed under the Kansas Mental Health Technician Licensure Act. Child care workers' duties include daily mainte- nance of the patient's residence, including the patient's feeding, health, and personal hygiene; in- suring the patient's attendance at medical and thera- py appointments, meetings , school, and jobs; provid- ing companionship and an ear for problems; and offering advice in such matters as the management of a patient's monetary allowance. The duties of a psy- chiatric aide are similar. Floaters in the children's division are child care workers who are not assigned to specified patients and whose sole responsibility is to provide a taxi service for the children. The seam- stresses make and mend the children's clothes. Supervision in each hospital begins with the hospi- tal director. Under the director of the children's divi- sion is a section chief in charge of all units or wards, and over each ward is a unit director who is a psychi- atrist and directly supervises child care workers. The record also indicates that there are some child care worker supervisors. The pay period for all employees is the same and fringe benefits and personnel policies of the employer are applied uniformly to all nonpro- fessional employees throughout the Foundation. The pay grades for psychiatric aides in the adult hospital are slightly lower than that of child care workers but 2 It is not disputed that all licensed practical nurses presently employed do not function as such but work as child care workers. 3In view of our finding herein we need not consider whether the only appropriate unit would be one coextensive with the Foundation 's opera- tions. 219 NLRB No. 144 MENNINGER FOUNDATION 691 the average wage differential between the two groups is within $20 per month. There is Foundiation-wide posting of jobs. During the past 2 years seven people transferred between hospitals, but temporary assign- ments from one to the other are not made. Consistent with its policy in other industries, the Board has held in the health care industry that the presumptively appropriate unit is a unit consisting of all service and maintenance employees 4 While more restrictive groupings have been permitted encom- passing classifications less than all rank-and-file em- ployees,5 there must be a showing that the employees in question have interests separate and distinct from the broader community of interest which they share with the other rank-and-file employees. Upon the foregoing facts, we find no basis to justi- Mount Airy Foundation d/b/a Mount Airy Psychiatric Center, 217 NLRB No. 137 (1975); Mercy Hospitals of Sacramento, Inc., 217 NLRB No 131 (1975). 3 Members Kennedy and Penello would not find appropriate a unit con- sisting of less than all service and maintenance employees of a health care institution or facility. See their dissenting opinion in Nathan and Miriam Barnert Memorial Hospital, d/b/a Barnert Memorial Hospital Center, 217 NLRB No. 132 ( 1975). However , they agree with the conclusion herein on the facts of this case. fy a separate unit of child care workers, licensed practical nurses, floaters, and seamstresses for collec- tive-bargaining purposes. It is clear that the employ- ees sought are neither a professional nor a technical group,having special training or skills different from other rank-and-file employees at the children's hospi- tal; the employees in the requested unit in servicing patients work side by side with other nonprofessional employees throughout the Foundation; and the Employer's personnel policies and fringe benefits are applied uniformly throughout the Foundation. Fur- thermore, contrary to the contentions of the Peti- tioner, there is no controlling bargaining history herein .6 In view of the above, we are persuaded that the employees sought do not constitute a unit appropri- ate for collective bargaining with the meaning of Sec- tion 9(b) of the Act. Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petition herein. ORDER It is hereby ordered that the petition be, and it hereby is dismissed. 6 Cf Cavendish Record Manufacturing Company, 124 NLRB 1161 ( 1959).