Southwestern Greyhound Lines, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 23, 1945

62 N.L.R.B. 812 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of SOUTHWESTERN GREYHOUND LINES, INC. and BROTHER-
HOOD OF RAILROAD TRAINMEN
Case No. 16-R-1132
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 23, 1945
Pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Election issued by the Board
on March 21, 1945 (60 N. L. R. B. 1388), an election by secret ballot
was held' under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director
for the Sixteenth Region (Fort Worth, Texas), among the employees in
the unit found appropriate in the said Decision. Upon the conclusion of the
election, a Tally of Ballots was furnished the parties in accordance with the
Rules and Regulations of the Board.'
The Tally indicates that of 595 eligibles in the voting group, 491 cast
valid votes, of which 260 were cast for Amalgamated Association of Street,
Electric Railway and Motor Coach Employees of America, Division 1313,
A. F. of L., herein called the Amalgamated. 227 were cast for Brotherhood
of Railroad Trainmen, herein called the Brotherhood, and 4 were cast
against both participating labor organizations. In addition, 17 ballots were
challenged and 18 were declared void.
On April 28, 1945, the Brotherhood filed objections to the election, and
on May 23, 1945, the Regional Director, having investigated the objec-
tions, issued and duly served upon the parties copies of his Report on Ob-
jections wherein he found that the Brotherhood's objections raised no sub-
stantial or material issues. Thereafter, the Brotherhood filed exceptions
to the Regional Director's Report on Objections, and the Amalgamated
filed its reply to these exceptions.
The objections raised by the Brotherhood are substantially as follows :
1. Duplicate ballots for 35 bus drivers were mailed to the office of the
' Balloting was conducted by marl
62 N L R. B., No. 104.
812
SOUTHWESTERN GREYHOUND LINES, INC. 813
Company at Springfield , Missouri, m care of the Dispatcher , instead of
to the addresses of the bus drivers, as shown on the eligibility list, and the
Brotherhood was not given notice of this action.
The Regional Directors' Report shows that on April 14, 1945, ballots
were mailed to the home addresses of employees in the bargaining unit. The
voters were instructed that , in order to be counted , ballots were to be
returned to the Sixteenth Regional Office by 3 p.m., April 26, 1945. On
April 20, a representative of the Amalgamated requested that duplicate
ballots be sent to all Springfield drivers in care of the Dispatcher, since
none of the drivers there had received originals. The failure of the Spring-
field drivers to receive original ballots was caused by a flood and train
wreck, which resulted in delay and destruction of many ballots . In response
to the request of the Amalgamated, duplicate ballots were mailed to all 36
Springfield drivers "in care of Jack Coley. Dispatcher, Southwestern Grey-
hound Lines, Inc , 460 St. Louis Street, Springfield, Missouri " The
Brotherhood does not contend that any bus driver cast more than I ballot,
and in view of the fact that all envelopes containing ballots were checked
against the eligibility list before being opened, we fail to see how the
Brotherhood was injured. We accordingly overrule this objection.
2. W. C. O'Kelly, business agent for the Amalgamated, who resides in
Springfield , took all or part of the duplicate ballots out of the mail box
or off the counter, in the office of the Company at Springfield, Missouri ;
handed the ballots to bus drivers as they came in from their runs or before
departing for work, observed them or asked them to vote and return the
ballots to him : and mailed such ballot or ballots.
The Regional Director caused an on -the-scene investigation of this plat-
ter to be made and the investigation revealed that the ballots were placed
in the drivers' mail boxes at the Dispatcher's office by the head station
agent, in the customary manner The drivers, for the most part, obtained
their ballots personally from the mail box in the Dispatcher's office either
before leaving for a run or when returning from one. The greater part
of the drivers marked their ballots on one of the desks in the Dispatcher's
office, while the remainder took them home or to another place where they
marked them in secret. O'Kelly, while spending certain parts of the day
and evening of April 23 in the Dispatcher's office, informed many of the
drivers that the ballots had arrived and that they should be voted promptly
if they were to be received in Fort Worth in time for counting. He was in
the Dispatcher's office while several of the drivers marked their ballots, but
the evidence indicates that he did not observe the marking of any of them.
At the request of two drivers , O'Kelly deposited their ballots in a mail box
in front of the bus terminal in the presence of one of the drivers after the
ballots had been scaled in return envelopes. There is no evidence that
814 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
O'Kelly in any manner attempted to persuade or coerce the Springfield
voters. We hereby overrule this objection.
3. Many addresses of eligible voters were incorrect and addresses were
obtained from records dated in December 1944.
The Regional Director's Report states that duplicate ballots were mailed
from the Sixteenth Regional Office to new addresses of 49 bus drivers in
response to requests by both participating unions. Of these 49 drivers, all
but 12 returned their ballots to the Sixteenth Regional Office in time to be
counted. In.preparing a list of employees in the unit found appropriate by
the Board , the Company obtained the addresses from the "Statement of In-
come Tax Withheld on Wages (Form W-2)," which were prepared b\
employees on December . 31, 1944. The Form W-2 for those drivers em-
- ployed after that date were prepared at the time of employment and their
addresses were obtained therefrom . We find no merit in this objection
4. Ballots of 87 eligible voters were neither received nor accounted for,
and several , if not a majority , of the eligible voters failed to receive then
ballots.
In his Report, the Regional Director states that it appears that the nuni-
ber 87 was obtained by deducting 508, the total number of valid votes
counted plus challenged ballots, from 595, the number of names on the vot-
ing list ofpersons to whom ballots were sent There were 18 void ballots
and, according to the records of the Company, 20 drivers were terminated
between the time the original list was prepared and the time the ballots were
counted In addition, 8 ballots were returned to the Regional Office after
the time for counting had passed , and the ballots of 3 drivers who did not
cast other valid ballots were returned to the Sixteenth Regional Office un-
delivered. It can be fairly assumed that , of the 38 unaccounted for drivers,
many voluntarily refrained from voting. There is no evidence that a sub-
stantial number of drivers failed to receive their ballots , and we therefore
overrule this objection.
5. Four ballots were counted which were enclosed in envelopes bearing
printed names of voters rather than their signatures, and other ballots were
counted on which writing and erasures appeared
The Regional Director reports that no, objection was raised at the time
of counting these four ballots , although all ballots were observed and
checked by all parties As to those ballots alleged to be invalid because of
writing or erasures, the Regional Director states that, in determining the
validity of ballots, the Board agent used the customary standards with re-
spect to the requirements that a ballot must clearly indicate the intent of
the voter and must be secret, and none was counted which did not meet
these specifications. Accordingly, we overrule this objection
6 Eighteen envelopes allegedly containing ballots were not opened and
SOUTHWESTERN GREYHOUND LINES, INC. 815
counted, although the number of voters on the eligibility list was greater
than'the total number of envelopes received.
The Regional Director reports that, inasmuch as the instructions to
voters stated clearly that return envelopes were to be signed personally by
voters, and since envelopes not containing signatures or names did not defi-
nitely identify the voters who marked the ballots contained therein, these
18 ballots were declared void. This objection is plainly without merit.
7. An election by manual balloting should have been conducted.
In our Decision and Direction of Election we provided that :
the Regional Director, in conformity with customary practice, may
conduct the balloting, in whole or in part, by mail, if such procedure
is deemed by him to be expedient.
This objection is overruled, inasmuch as there is no evidence to indicate
that the Regional Director abused his discretion. On the contrary, the use
of mail ballots appears to have resulted in a representative vote.
Since we have overruled the Brotherhood's objections, finding that they
raise no substantial or material issues regarding the election, and inasmuch
as the results of the election show that the challenged ballots do not affect
the outcome and that a majority of the employees have selected the Amalga-
mated, we shall certify it as the bargaining representative of the employees
in the unit heretofore found appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining ,
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, and
pursuant to Article III, Sections 9 and 10, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 9, as amended,
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that, Amalgamated Association of Street, Elec-
tric Railway and Motor Coach Employees of America. Division 1313, A. F.
of L., has been designated and selected by a majority of all regular and
extra bus drivers employed by Southwestern Greyhound Lines, Inc., Fort
Worth, Texas, excluding clerical employees, dispatchers, and all super-
visory employees with authority to hire. promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recom-
mend such action, as their representative for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining, and that, pursuant to Section 9 (a) of the Act, the said organiza-
tion is the exclusive representative of all such employees for the purposes
of collective bargaining with respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employ-
ment, and other conditions of employment