Ronnie's Bar, Inc. v. Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board

192 A.2d 664, 411 Pa. 459
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 2, 1963
DocketAppeal, No. 151
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 192 A.2d 664 (Ronnie's Bar, Inc. v. Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ronnie's Bar, Inc. v. Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, 192 A.2d 664, 411 Pa. 459 (Pa. 1963).

Opinions

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Benjamin R. Jones,

Ronnie’s Bar, Inc. (Ronnie’s Bar), purchased a restaurant at 201 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, on November 10, 1960 from the Broad-Race Corporation (Broad-Race), a going concern, which had purchased the restaurant six months previously from Brown’s Bar,' Inc. (Brown), also a going concern. The restaurant had never ceased operation because of these transactions and, moreover, the personnel employed by the restaurant did not change except as a result of normal fluctuations of employees leaving for their own personal reasons.1

At the time the restaurant was owned and operated by Brown, all the employees were union members, three different union locals being involved; one for the bartenders, another for the kitchen personnel, and a third, the Waiters and Waitresses Union, Local 301, AFL-CIO (Union), for dining room personnel.

Lest it be thought this proliferation of unions unduly burdened the employers it must be noted that all three locals are craft unions of one parent body, the Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union. Where more than one such craft union local is involved in any one establishment, it may enter into a Local Joint Executive Board contract whereby each craft union negotiates for its members with the employer and the result of each individual craft negotiation becomes a part of the Local Joint Executive Board Contract.

In 1956, an organization known as the Greater Philadelphia Restaurant Association (Association) was formed and, after its formation, the unions negotiated with the Association. The Association and the unions [463]*463agreed upon a master contract binding on all members of the Association and the unions in the Local Joint Executive Board of Philadelphia. Brown was a member of the Association and, therefore, bound under the .master contract. There is some evidence that Broad-Race had become a member of the Association and there is certainly evidence that Broad-Race did not contribute to the Welfare Fund established under the master contract, or, at the least, did not contribute voluntarily.

At some time before Ronnie’s Bar took over the operation of the restaurant, its president and secretary-treasurer met with the president of the Union in the Union’s office and informed him that they were taking over but on one condition, i.e., that they would not employ one of the waitresses. Broad-Race’s delinquency to the Welfare Fund also was discussed. At a subsequent meeting between the same parties, attended also by the secretary-treasurer of the Union, Ronnie’s Bar informed the Union that they would not join the Association. Upon confirmation from the president of the Association that Ronnie’s Bar had not joined the Association, the Union then felt free to negotiate independently.

At subsequent meetings, it developed that Ronnie’s Bar was unwilling to grant a three-week paid vacation to two waitresses who had worked in the restaurant for periods of over five years. The Union took the position that the waitresses were entitled to this length vacation under the master contract previously in effect; Mr. Chesnick, the secretary-treasurer of Ronnie’s Bar, felt that only the length of service with Ronnie’s Bar should count toward the computation of vacation entitlement and that previous service with other owners should not be taken into account. Mr. Chesnick had been manager of the restaurant when it was owned by Brown and knew that Brown had a labor contract with the Union and that the employees were Union [464]*464members, but he denied that he knew that Broad-Race had such a contract.

Negotiations between the Union, the other craft unions and Ronnie’s Bar took place thereafter but always an impasse was reached on the vacation question. Ronnie’s Bar was apparently willing to grant the master contract vacation schedule but took the position that the employee’s service should date from the time Ronnie’s Bar took over, which would mean that, until Ronnie’s Bar had been in business for five years, no employee would be entitled to three weeks annual paid vacation. Eventually a number of the employees went on strike on October 8, 1961, one of the strikers being a waitress who had worked over five years in the restaurant.

On October 17, 1961, Ronnie’s Bar filed a petition with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (Board) requesting the Board to certify the name of the representative to be designated as the collective bargaining representative for its employees pursuant to Section 7 of the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act.2 A short time later, the Union filed unfair labor practice charges against Ronnie’s Bar.

After hearings, the Board dismissed the unfair labor practice charges and ordered that an election be held on February 1, 1962, by secret ballot, of those waitresses on Ronnie’s Bar payroll as of October 17, 1961 (the date of the petition) to determine who should be the collective bargaining agent for the bargaining unit determined by the Board to be comprised of waiters and waitresses.

The Board’s order listed the names of six waitresses as eligible to vote. Three of the named waitresses were strikers, two were replacements for the strikers and the remaining waitress had been em[465]*465ployed in the restaurant when Ronnie’s Bar commenced operations.

'A canvass of the ballots indicated that five out of the six employees named as eligible to vote had cast their ballots. In addition, a ballot, had been cast by a waitress not on the eligibility list but who had replaced a waitress on. the list who herself- had been a replacement but had terminated her employment with Ronnie’s Bar between the date of the petition and the election date.

The ballots of these employees on the eligibility list were challenged for cause by the partiés and the ballot of the replacement for the terminated replacement worker (hereinafter “new waitress”) was challenged by the Board’s agent.

After a hearing on the challenges, the Board: (1) denied Ronnie’s Bar’s. challenge of the ballots, of two striking waitresses on the ground that, since these waitresses had obtained other “regular and substantially equivalent employment” at the date of the election, they were, no longer, “employe [s] ” as defined in Section 3(d). of the Act, supra, and hence not eligible to vote; (2). denied the Union’s challenge of the replacement waitress’ ballot under the same section; (3) held that the new waitress was not eligible to vote because she was . not an employee on the cut-off date for eligibility, i.e. the date of filing of the certification petition.

Ronnie’s Bar petitioned the court below for review of the final certification order under Section 9(b) of the Act challenging: (a) the Board’s determination that a bargaining unit comprised only of waitresses was appropriate; (b) the acceptance of the ballots of- two striking , waitresses who allegedly had obtained other, “.regular.and substantially equivalent employment”.

The court below was not asked to pass upon the challenge to the replacement waitress’ ballot and Ronnie’s Bar did not seek a review of the Board’s de[466]*466termination that the new waitress was not eligible to vote.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Borough of Wilkinsburg v. Sanitation Department
330 A.2d 306 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1975)
St. Joseph Hospital v. Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board
330 A.2d 561 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1974)
Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board v. Pleasant Valley School District
66 Pa. D. & C.2d 637 (Monroe County Court of Common Pleas, 1974)
Time Limitations in Accidental Benefit Policies
65 Pa. D. & C.2d 17 (Pennsylvania Department of Justice, 1974)
Shive v. Bellefonte Area Board of School Directors
317 A.2d 311 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1974)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
192 A.2d 664, 411 Pa. 459, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ronnies-bar-inc-v-pennsylvania-labor-relations-board-pa-1963.