Zone Oil Trucking Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 27, 1950

91 N.L.R.B. 541 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of ZONE OIL TRUCKING CORP., EMPLOYER and LOCAL 511,
OIL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No.. -RC-1990.-Decided September 07, 1950
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Jack Davis, hearing
officer. 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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman, Herzog and Members Houston and Murdock].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds.:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2•. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain
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 parties agree that all clerical employees in the traffic depart-
ment of the Employer's Brooklyn, New York, operation, excluding
professional employees, watchmen, guards, and supervisors, consti-
tute an appropriate unit. There is disagreement, however, as to
whether the dispatchers should be included in the unit, the Employer
contending that they should be excluded as supervisors.
The Employer is engaged principally in delivering petroleum prod-
ucts for the Paragon Oil Company, Inc. Functionally, the Em-
ployer's business is divided into an operating section, consisting of
such employees as truck drivers, loaders, and garagemen,' and the
traffic department, which includes four or five dispatchers, and one
or two clerical employees designed as phone clerk, and order clerk
The operating section employees are currently represented by the Petitioner.
91 NLRB No. 79.
541
542 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
or assistant to dispatcher.2 The traffic department is separtely lo-
cated and operates under the immediate supervision of Greve, vice
president in charge of traffic.
In practice, Paragon Oil Company sends all its orders for petroleum
products to the Employer where they are turned over to the dis-
patchers for processing. The dispatchers, assisted by clerical em-
ployees, prepare traffic sheets showing the trucks to be used, the
amount and type of product to be loaded, and the delivery destina-
tions. They also prepare delivery sheets, one of which is given to
the driver who goes to the garage, receives the designated truck, gen-
erally loads it with the required amount of fuel from the storage
tanks, and makes delivery. In addition, the dispatchers prepare
passes, on which is recorded the fuel charged to each driver, and slake
out and punch drivers' time cards, to show the time in and out of
each delivery. The dispatchers give instructions concerning changes
in delivery to drivers serving regular routes,. who are required to
call in twice daily, and to other drivers, where deliveries cannot be
effected according to the original delivery sheet.
Emergencies arising with respect to deliveries are handled during
the day, by Greve, the company official in charge of the traffic de-
partment. At night, or in Greve's absence, minor or routine difficul-
ties, such as oil spills and truck breakdowns, are handled by the
dispatchers. Major emergencies, such as serious traffic accidents, are
immediately referred to Greve, who is apparently on call at all times.
Dispatchers .prepare informal memoranda regarding special incidents
handled by them and submit such memoranda daily to Greve.3 Dis-
patchers have no authority to question drivers concerning the length
of time taken to make deliveries. And while they may withhold the,
assignment of deliveries to a driver unfit for such work and give
routine directions to the other clerical workers, the record shows that
they have no authority to hire, discharge, discipline, or grant wage
increases; or effectively to recommend such action. Under all the cir-
cumstances, we conclude and find that the dispatchers are not super-
visors within the meaning of the Act,4 and we shall include them in
the unit of clerical employees.2
2 There are apparently no other clerical workers except the private secretary to the vice
president and the assistant to the vice president and claims man, whom the parties agree
should be excluded from the unit.
3 Although reports by the dispatchers may be utilized by Greve in determining personnel
action, the dispatchers make no recommendations in this regard.
4 Cf. New England Transportation Company, 90 NLRB 539 ; Ready Mixed Concrete
Company, 90 NLRB No. 49; American Oil Company, 73 NLRB 917.
See Modern Heat & Fuel Company, 89 NLRB 1345; Shell Oil Company, 72 NLRB 516.
ZONE OIL TRUCKING CORP. 543
Accordingly, we find that all clerical employees in the traffic depart-
ment of the Employer's Brooklyn, New York, operation, including
dispatchers, but excluding professional and confidential employees,
watchmen, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within
the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]