Public Case No. R 1980-036
(Cross References R 1980-026, R 1996-037, R 1996-035 and AC 1998-036)Ste. Genevieve Federation of Classified Employees, Local 4126 a/w American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO v.
Ste. Genevieve School District R-II, Ste. Genevieve, Missouri
AFT filed a petition for all regular and part-time employees working 20 hours or more per week, excluding Teacher Aides, professional and confidential workers, Guards, and supervisors.
The employer wanted to exclude Clerical employees from a unit of Service and Maintenance employees. The employer further argued that a bargaining unit of Cooks and Custodians should also include Nurses and Teacher Aides. The school also argued that all its Secretaries should be excluded as confidential employees, and the Head Custodian, Head Secretaries, and Head Cooks should be excluded as supervisors. Finally, the respondent argued that petitioner Local 4126 is the alter ego of Teachers, Local 3265, and Missouri law prohibits the same union from representing both certified and non-certified employees.
The Board held that the petitioner was appropriate, since Missouri law only precludes the certification of a bargaining unit which combines Teachers and Non-Teachers. The Board also rejected the blanket exclusion of Secretaries as confidential employees. The Board did exclude the Head Secretary to each school and the four (4) District Secretaries, due to the position of trust they held within the administration.
The Board found that the Head Custodians were not supervisors since they lack the power to effectively hire, promote, transfer, or discipline employees. Furthermore, the Head Custodians spend very little or no time supervising custodial employees once they are trained.
The Board joined the Cooks and Custodians into one bargaining unit because of the similarity of the work they perform and the contact and interchange among the employees. The Board also decided to include the four (4) non-confidential Secretaries into the same bargaining unit as the Service and Maintenance employees. While it is not normally the policy of the Board to include these employees in the same unit, separate representation is only required when it is necessary to protect the right to effective bargaining. In the present case, separating the four (4) Secretaries would not protect their right to effective bargaining. The Teacher Aide and the Nurse were included in the bargaining unit for the same reasons.
Date Issued:June 25, 1982