Turner Transportation Co.

In the Matter of TURNER TRANSPORTATION COMPANY & SHAWNEE CITY LINES and BROTHERHOOD OF RAILROAD. TRAINMEN Case No. 16.-R-1066.-Decided January 16, 1945 Mr. John L. Goode, of Shawnee, Okla., for the Companies. Mr. Harlan Bell, of Oklahoma City, Okla., for the Union. Mr. Philip Licari, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION 11 Upon a petition duly filed by Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Turner Transportation Company, herein called the Transportation Company, and Mary- I. Turner, doing business as Shawnee City Lines, herein called the Lines, both collectively referred to as the Companies, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Lewis Moore, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Shawnee, Oklahoma, on November 8, 1944. The Trans- portation Company, the Lines, and the Union appeared and partici- pated.' All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses and to introduce evidence bear- ing on the issues. At the hearing, the Lines moved to dismiss the petition insofar as it was concerned, and the Trial Examiner referred the motion to the Board for determination. For reasons set forth in Section I, infra, the motion is 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. The Lines appeared solely for the purpose of contesting the Board ' s jurisdiction. 60 N. L. R. B., No. 17. 87 88 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Turner Transportation Company, an Oklahoma corporation, is en- gaged in the business of carrying passengers for hire between Shawnee and Ponca City; Seminole and Drumright; Shawnee and Oklahoma City Air Service Command; and Shawnee and the Douglas Aircraft Company's plant at Oklahoma City. All of the foregoing termini are located within the State of Oklahoma. In connection with its activi- ties, the Transportation Company operates approximately 14 busses. About 7 busses are operated in connection with the Shawnee-Ponca City and Seminole-Drumright routes, for which the Transportation Company has been licensed by the Federal Interstate Commerce Com- mission. These busses carry passengers to and from interstate car- riers.2 Approximately 7 busses are used in the operation of the Shaw- nee-Douglas Aircraft Company's plant route and the Shawnee-Okla- homa City Air -Service Command Depot route. These busses carry war workers. During the first 6 months of 1944 the Transportation Company's volume of business amounted to approximately $90,000 of which 50 percent was derived from the 2last-mentioned routes, and 50 percent from the Shawnee-Ponca City and Seminole-D'rumrigllt routes.' The Transportation Company admits, and we find, that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. Mary I. Turner, doing business as Shawnee City Lines, operates a bus transportation service between points in and about the city of Shawnee, Oklahoma.' The Lines operate four regular and two extra busses, all within the city limits. The record discloses that the'Trans- portation Company owned and operated the Lines from November 1, 1939, until April 1943. Sometime during April 1943, the Transporta- tion Company sold the Lines to Fred O. Turner, who was then and is ,now the president of the Transportation Company. Thereafter Turner sold the Lines to Mary I. Turner, his wife.' Although the Transportation Company and the Lines maintain separate legal and 2 On these routes the Company makes connections with the Santa Fe Trailways and Southwestern Gre hound Lines 8 The Transportation Company estimates that the interstate volume of business for the Shawnee-Ponca City and Seminole-Drumright routes is approximately 5 percent ' At the hearing, the Lines declined to give an estimate of its volume of business 6 Fred 0 Turner owns 198 out of a total of 200 shares of the Transportation Company's outstanding stock - 6 Fred O. Turner, who had been divorced from his )A ife, stated that the sole consideration for this sale was Mrs Turner's promise to remarry him, and that she fulfilled her promise after the transfer of the properties. TURNER TRANSPORTATION CO. & (SHAWNEE CITY LINES 89 accounting identities, they are, in fact, operated as a single integrated enterprise with common managerial control.' Under all the circumstances, we find, contrary to the Lines' con- tention, that it is engaged in commerce within the'meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.8 H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen is an unaffiliated labor organiza- tion, admitting to membership employee of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION On September 22, 1944, the Union advised the Transportation Com- pany that it represented a majority of certain employees of the Trans- portation Company and the Lines and wished to be recognized as their, sole bargaining representative. The Companies refused to recognize the Union until it was certified by the National Labor Rela- tions Board in an appropriate unit. A statement of a Field Examiner for the Board, introduced into evidence at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a sub- stantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found appro- priate.° We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Companies, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 7 While it is claimed that, since April 1043, Mrs. Turner -has owned and operated the Lines independently of the Tiansportation Company, the record shows that Fred 0 Turner, who manages and supervises the Transportation Company's operations, also manages and supervises the Lines' operations in conjunction with his wife, Mary I. Turner Thus, Fred O.'Tuiner hires employees for the Lines and the Transportation Company and also has authority to sign checks for the Lines and the Transportation Company. Moreover, in the absence of Mr and Mrs Turner, the Transportation Company's general manager supervises the Lines' operations. The record further discloses the following facts the Transporta- tion Company and the Lines have a common office and address ; they have the same clerical emplo`-ees, the busses owned by each are housed in the same garage which is owned by the Company ; these busses are serviced by a crew of mechanics who work for both firms ; fares collected by the Lines' drivers and the Transportation Company's drivers are de- posited in the same vault and collected by the bookkeeper working for both firms ; and there is some interchange of bus drivers between the Transportation Company and the Lines 1 8 Virginia Electric and Power Co. v. N L. R. B , 314 U. S. 469; The Clyniore Company, Inc, 58 N IL It B 227. 'The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 21 authorization cards, of which 13 bear names of employees appearing on the Transportation Company's pay roll of September 23, 1944 : and that all the cards were dated September 1944 He further re- ported that of the 21 signatories to the authorization cards, 15 designated the Transpor- tation Company, 4 designated the Lines, and 2 designated Fred 0 Turner as the employer ; that 2 names appearing on the aforementioned pay roll also appeared on 2 authorization cards whose signers designated the Lines as the employer, that the Lines declined to submit a pay-roll list , and that there are approximately, 21 employees in the alleged appropriate unit. 90 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR, RELATIONS BOARD IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Union seeks a unit of "all bus drivers employed by the Shawnee City Lines and • Turner Transportation Company, except for main- tenance employees, clerks, and supervisory employees . . ." The Transportation Company and the Lines protest the inclusion of the Lines' bus drivers apparently on the sole ground that the Board' has no jurisdiction over the Lines. In view of our foregoing determination concerning the Board's jurisdiction over the Lines and upon the entire record, we find that all bus drivers employed by the Transportation Company and the Lines, excluding maintenance employees, clerks and all supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur- poses 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 em- ployees 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 Relations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Rela- tions 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 Turner Trans- portation Company and Mary I. Turner, doing business as Shawnee City Lines, Shawnee, Oklahoma, 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 andLsupervision of the Regional Director for the Sixteenth Region, acting in tllis mat- ter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 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 the said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or tem- TURNER TRANSPORTATION CO. & SHAWNEE CITY LINES 91 porarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but ex- cluding 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 Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen for the purposes of collective bargaining. - MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election. -