Sunset Motor Lines

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 4, 1945

59 N.L.R.B. 1434 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of SUNSET MOTOR LINES and INTERNATIONAL BROTHER-
HOOD OF TEAMSTERS , CHAUFFEURS , WAREHOUSEMEN & HELPERS,
LOCAL 941, A. F. L.
Case No. 16-R-1104.-Decided January 4, 1945
Mr. Sam R. Sayers, of Fort Worth, Tex., for the Company.
McEssrs. J. A. Bishop and Sam, Pollock, of El Paso, Tex., for the
Union.
Mr. Bernard Goldberg, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by International Brotherhood of Team-
sters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers, Local 941, A. F. L., herein
called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had
arisen concerning the representation of employees of Sunset Motor
Lines, El Paso, Texas, herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Glenn L. Moller, Trial Examiner., Said hearing was held at
El Paso, Texas, on December 1, 1944. The Company and the Union
appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full oppor-
tunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to in-
troduce evidence baring on the issues. At the hearing the Company
moved to dismiss the petition because of the Union's alleged failure to
prove substantial representation and because the unit sought by the
Union is inappropriate. For reasons stated hereinafter the said
motion is hereby denied. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All
parties were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE - BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Sunset Motor Lines, a Texas corporation having its general offices
in San Angelo, Texas, and about 40 terminals and agencies throughout
59 N. L. R. B., No. 261.
1434
SUNSET MOTOR LINES 1435
the State of Texas, is a motor freight carrier operating between its
terminals and intermediate points under Certificates of Public Con-
venience and Necessity issued by the United States Interstate Commerce
Commission and the Railroad Commission of Texas. The proceeding
is concerned only with the employees of the El Paso terminal. Ap-
proximately 20 percent of the freight carried by the Company origi-
nates outside the State of Texas and is delivered to the Company
pursuant to inter-line arrangements with other carriers which bring
the freight into the State of Texas from points outside the State.
About 10 percent of the freight carried by the Company is delivered to
other carriers for further shipment beyond the State of Texas. The
Company's gross income is approximately $100,000 per month.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the N'i,tional Labor Relations Act.
III. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehouse-
men & Helpers, Local 941, affiliating with the American Federation of
Labor, is a labor organization admitting to membership employees of
the Company.
11I. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Two requests for recognition made by the Union were ignored by the
Company which will not recogize the Union as the bargaining repre-
sentative of any of its employees until the Union has been certified by
the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
'The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 19 authorization cards ; that'
the names of 8 persons appearing on the cards were listed on the Company 's pay roll of
November 8, 1944, which contained the names of 13 employees in the appropriate unit.
The Trial Examiner properly rejected an offer by the Company to prove that at the
time of the hearing the Union no longer had substantial representation among the em-
ployees in the alleged appropriate unit because of heavy personnel turnover . We have
stated repeatedly that authorization cards are not required to be submitted to the Board
as the basis for a finding for or against any party to the proceeding but as prima facie evi-
dence that the Union at the time of filing of the petition has sufficient interest to justify
the Board in initiating its investigatory machinery . Since the evidence 'submitted is for
the sole purpose of aiding the Board in making an administrative decision , any questioning
of such evidential showing by an opposing party is not permitted . I¢tter of The Regina
Corporation , 57 N. L. It. B. 4, and cases cited therein.
1436 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
IV. THE APPROPRIATE 'UNIT
The Union seeks a unit of all local pick-up and 'delivery drivers,
and dockmen at the Company's El Paso terminal, including the as-
sistant dock foreman, but excluding over-the-road or line drivers,
clerks, agent, dock foreman and other supervisory personnel. ,The
Company contends that the only appropriate unit would comprise
all of its drivers, line and local, as well as all dockmen. It further
asserts that the assistant foreman whom the Union would include in
the unit is a supervisory employee- and should therefore be excluded.
The El Paso terminal, one of the approximately 40 operated by the
Company, is a one-story building used for the loading, unloading and
temporary storage of incoming and outgoing freight. Its operation
is controlled by an agent for the Company; it has a clerical staff to do
the paper work in connection with the handling of freight, pick-up and
delivery drivers who pick up and make local deliveries of freight, dock-
men who, load and unload the trucks and handle the freight at the
terminal, a dock foreman and an assistant dock foreman. In addition
to local pick-up and delivery drivers, the Company also employs line
drivers, who drive six-wheeler trucks between terminals. However,
none of these line drivers work out of the El Paso terminal. The Union
has limited its organizational activities to the drivers and dockmen
employed at the El Paso terminal. So far as appears from the record,
no other union is attempting to orgaliize the employees of the Com-
pany on a broader basis and there is no history of collective bargaining.
In recent cases, the Board has found that, in the absence of organiza-
tion on a company-wide basis, local pick-up and delivery drivers and
dockmen employed at a single terminal of a motor freight carrier,
constitute an appropriate unit for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing.2 We reiterate such finding in this case.
The assistant dock foreman substitutes for the foreman during the
Tatter's absences, about an hour or two each day. He receives a weekly
salary of $40 as against the foremen's $45 and the $0.50 an hour
received by the pick-up men and dockmen.. Although the greater part
of his time is spent in freight checking and dispatching, it is undis-
puted that in the performance of his duties as assistant foreman he
has discharged two employees and effectively recommended the dis-
charge of another.' We find that the assistant dock foreman is a super-
visory employee within our customary definition and we shall exclude
him from the unit.
We find that all local pick-up and delivery drivers, and dockmen
employed at the Company's El Paso terminal, excluding over-the-road
or line drivers, clerks, agent, dock foreman, assistant dock foreman
2 Matter of Miller & Miller Motor Freight Lines , 59 N. L. R. B.'203; Matter of East
Texas Motor Freight Lines, 55 N. L. R. B. 967.
SUNSET MOTOR LINES 1437
and all other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote,
discharge, discipline, or. otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
ployees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election .by secret ballot among the
employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of
Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in
the Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Sunset Motor
Lines, El Paso, Texas, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted
as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from,the date
of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional
Director for the Sixteenth Region, acting in this matter,irs :a ent-.for
the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article"TII;cSec
tions 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among the-employees
in the unit, found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this
Direction, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll
period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off,
and including employees in the armed forces of the United States who
present themselves in person at the polls, 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, to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented by International Brother-
hood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers, Local 941,
A. F. L., for the purposes of collective bargaining. %
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