Richter Transfer Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 13, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 1246 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of RICHTER TRANSFER COMPANY, EMPLOYER and INTER-
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, DISTRICT No. 34, PETITIONER
Case No. 9-RC-139.-Decided December 13,1948
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a 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.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
The Employer is an Ohio corporation engaged in the business of
excavating and general hauling, primarily for the purpose of building
construction. During the year 1947 its total gross revenue from
excavating and hauling, including the sale of ready mixed concrete,
was approximately $1,172,000. During the same period the Employer
purchased operating equipment such as trucks, bulldozers, shovels,
scrapers, and graders, valued in excess of $337,000, all of which was
purchased from dealers located within the State of Ohio. For the
same period the Employer's payments for rigging equipment was
in excess of $35,000, and payments for wages were in excess of
$400,000. Purchases of gasoline, oil, grease, and antifreeze, all made
within the State of Ohio, were in excess of $130,000; purchases of tires
and tubes, and payments for their repair exceeded $38,000. The cost
of vehicle repair and maintenance, all performed within the State,
was more than $240,000. All of the Employer's operations have been
within the State of Ohio except for one small job, valued at approxi-
mately $2,000, performed at Latonia, Kentucky. It does not appear
from the record that any substantial amount of the materials hauled
by the Employer were in the course of an interstate movement.
We believe that this Employer's operations are essentially local in
character and that their effect on interstate commerce is so remote
80 N. L. It. B., No. 186.
1246
RICHTER TRANSFER COMPANY 1247
and insubstantial that to assert jurisdiction in this case would not
effectuate the policies of the Act.- The petition, therefore, will be
dismissed.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition for investigation and certi-
fication of representatives of employees of Richter Transfer Com-
pany, Cincinnati, Ohio, filed herein by International Association of
Machinists, District No. 34, be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
MEMBER GRAY took no part in the consideration of the above Deci-
sion and Order.
MEMBER REYNOLDS, dissenting :
On the facts of this case which show a movement in interstate
commerce of over $300,000 in 1947,2 and in view of the close relation-
ship between enterprises of this nature and the building-construction
industry over which we have recently asserted jurisdiction, I believe
that consistency with the Board's decision in Matter of J. H. Pat-
terson Co., 79 N. L. R. B. 355, requires the assertion of jurisdiction
in this case. I would accordingly proceed with the investigation
of representatives.
' We do not believe that the essentially local character of work such as excavation as-
sumes a sufficiently interstate aspect merely because capital equipment purchased to engage
in such work may have come from outside the State . This case is distinguishable from
Matter of J. H. Patterson Co., 79 N. L. R B. 355, which involved a building material supply
business with a regular and continuous inflow of materials from without the State for
resale.
2 The effect upon commerce is not measured by the nature of the commodities whose
flow is impeded or by whether such commodities come to the Employer directly or indirectly.
N. L. R. B v. Cleveland Cliffs Iron Co, 133 F (2d) 295, 300 (C. A. 6, 1943). Santa
Cruz Packing Co. v. N. L. R. B., 303 U. S. 453 , 465 (1938).