Northwest Freight Lines, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 13, 1949

84 N.L.R.B. 223 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of NORTHWEST FREIGHT LINES, INC.,' EMPLOYER and
CHAUFFEURS, TEAMSTERS, & HELPERS, LOCAL 448, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 19-iW- 33.Decided June 13,1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Eleanor Ny-
gren, hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board. The
hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial
error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board had delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Members Reynolds, Murdock, and
Gray].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The Petitioner is a labor organization 2 claiming to represent
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit :
The Petitioner has requested a unit consisting of all office workers
of the Missoula, Montana, terminal of-the Employer,.excluding watch-
men, ,guards, - supervisors.,; truck drivers, helpers; dockmen and ware-
housemen. The Employer takes no official position as to the appro-
priateness of the unit requested .3
The Employer, a common carrier with its principal office at Billings,
Montana, operates various terminals, including the terminal at Mis-
' The name of the Employer is hereby amended to reflect corporate status as disclosed
at the hearing.
s The Petitioner Is a Local of International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Ware-
housemen and Helpers of America, AFL.
I In connection with the question concerning representation the Employer advised the
National Labor Relations Board that it did not consider the Petitioner , which represents
nonoffice employees , an appropriate union to represent office workers . The Board has
frequently held this position to be without merit. Matter of Denton's Inc., t/a The Robin-
8on-Schwenn Store, 83 N . L. It. B. 35.
84 N. L. R. B., No ., 28. 223
224 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
soula, Montana, the only operation involved in this proceeding. Col-
lective bargaining for employees, other than the office employees, at
this terminal of the Employer has been on a multiple-employer basis.
The office employees have no collective bargaining history. Other
nonoffice employees of the Employer, at its principal place of busi-
ness and other terminals, have not been included in the multiple-em-
ployer unit which includes the employees at this particular terminal;
nor is there evidence that they have been represented in a similar
pattern. The present record discloses that collective bargaining has
been established for a unit of over-the-road truck drivers of this Em-
ployer alone. Records in other Board proceedings indicate that em-
ployees of this Employer, other than office employees, are represented
in separate units at both the Billings, Montana, and the Helena, Mon-
tana, establishments of the Employer. As was pointed out in the
recent Seagram case,4 in determining the appropriateness of a pro-
posed unit for a special classification of employees, the Board has
deemed controlling, the over-all bargaining pattern established for
other employees of the Employer. However, here, as indicated above,
what bargaining has taken place among the employees of the Em-
ployer generally does not establish a definite over-all pattern of bar-
gaining upon a multiple-employer basis; accordingly, the bargaining
history at this terminal cannot be regarded as determinative of the
type of unit appropriate for employees not included in such bargain-
ing history. Under these circumstances and in the absence of a collec-
tive bargaining history on a more comprehensive basis covering the
office employees concerned in this proceeding, we find that the re-
quested employees who have similarity of interests, functions and
identity, may function together as a separate employer unit for pur-
poses of collective bargaining.
We find that all office employees at the Employer's Missoula, Mon-
tana, terminal, excluding watchmen, guards, supervisors, truck drivers,
helpers, dockmen and warehousemen; and all other employees of the
Employer, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 5
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
Matter of Joseph E. Seagram t Sons, Inc., 83 N L. R B. 167.
The compliance status of the Petitioner has lapsed since the hearing in this matter.
In the event it fails to renew its compliance with Section.9 ( f), (g), and ( h) of the Act
within 2 weeks from the date of this Direction , the Regional Director is to advise the Board
to that effect . No election shall be conducted unless and until compliance has been renewed.
NORTHWEST FREIGHT LINES, INC. 225
30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction
and supervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this
case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended,
among the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph num-
bered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period imme-
diately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including em-
ployees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they
were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but excluding those
employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have
not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, and
also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstate-
ment, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented, for
purposes of collective bargaining, by Chauffeurs , Teamsters & Helpers
Local 448, AFL.