Public Case No. R 1993-008
Service Employees International Union, Local 50 v.
St. Charles County Humane and Environmental Service Department, Wentzville, Missouri
SEIU filed a petition for certification as public employee representative of certain employees of the St. Charles County Humane and Environmental Service Department. The union proposed a bargaining unit that would include all seven (7) employees of the Animal Control Section and two (2) of the four (4) employees in the Environmental Services Section. The employer argued that the proposed unit was inappropriate since the sets of workers lacked a community of interest.
After applying the community of interest criteria, the Board found that the two (2) groups lacked the requisite community of interest. They noted that the employees in the two (2) groups had different job requirements, did not share equipment, and were supervised by different employees. The Board therefore, determined that two (2) distinct bargaining units were appropriate; one (1) for Animal Control Workers and one (1) for Environmental Services employees.
The employer next sought to exclude the Recycling Center Director from the Environmental Services Unit as a supervisor. The Board applied the supervisory criteria and concluded that the employee was not a true supervisor. They relied on the fact that he spent most of his time working side by side with the other workers and that he played no role in the hiring, firing, or disciplining of other workers. They also noted that his pay was not higher than that of the employee he was allegedly supervising.