08/01/2024: Unit Clarification Not Appropriate for Seattle Convention Center Riggers

Light day at the NLRB.

Encore Group (USA), LLC, 19-UC-336122 (Regional Election Decision)

This decision dismisses a unit clarification petition filed by IATSE Local 15 seeking to clarify its existing bargaining unit of riggers employed by Encore Group (USA), LLC to include riggers performing work at the Seattle Convention Center (SCC).

Key points of the legal analysis:

1. The petition was found to be timely, as it was filed after the expiration of the Local 15 agreement.

2. The Regional Director determined there was a recent substantial change (resumption of work at SCC in November 2023) sufficient to warrant considering a unit clarification petition.

3. However, the Regional Director concluded that the riggers at SCC were already part of the existing bargaining unit, which had merged the Local 15 riggers unit with other classifications covered by the "overhire" agreement between the employer and IATSE International.

4. Even if separate units existed, the Regional Director found this situation inappropriate for unit clarification, as it involved removing employees from one unit and placing them in another, rather than clarifying ambiguity about a new or changed position.

5. The underlying dispute was deemed primarily contractual and akin to a work assignment dispute, which is not appropriate for unit clarification proceedings.

Key cases cited:

Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Company, 211 NLRB 1021 (1974) - Found work assignment disputes inappropriate for unit clarification proceedings.