Central Wisconsin Motor Transport Co.

In the Matter of CENTRAL WISCONSIN MOTOR TRANSPORT COMPANY, EMPLoyER and OFFICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION, LOCAL No. 95, A. F. OF L., PETITIONER Case No. 18-RC-362.-Decided July 200, 1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Max Roten- berg, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hear- ing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Pursuant to the provisions-of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog .and Members Reynolds and Gray]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The labor organization involved claims to represent employees of the Employer. .3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen- tation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit consisting of the office employees of the Employer's Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, office, excluding supervisors as defined in the Act. The Employer contends that the only appropriate unit for its office employees would be one consisting of all its six offices located in various cities of the States of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois. The Employer, a Wisconsin corporation, is engaged in the interstate trucking business, with its principal office and terminal located in Wis- consin Rapids, Wisconsin. It also maintains terminals in Appleton,, Madison, Milwaukee, and Beaver Dam, Wisconsin; in Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Chicago, Illinois; and branch offices in each of these: terminals except Beaver Dam. The office employees of the Wisconsina Rapids office are separately supervised by an office supervisor,. who has charge only of these office employees and reports directly to the 85 N. L. It. B., No. 54. 287 288 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Employer's president. The office employees of the branch offices are supervised by the terminal managers, who have charge of all the em- ployees in their terminals including the truck drivers, and who also report to the Employer's president. The terminal managers have complete authority to hire and discharge the employees under their supervision. In support of its contention that the unit sought by the Petitioner should be denied, the Employer points to the system-wide integration effected through control of. all truck movements by the Employers' president at Wisconsin Rapids and his brother who heads the Chicago office; a similarity in the pay rates for the office employees of its various offices; and certain interchange among its office employees. It is clear, however, that the employees of the various offices are separated by great distances 1 and that there is little contact between the office workers. Although there have been some inter-office transfers, the average office employees have not been subject to transfer. Those transfers which have occurred have involved a few of the older and exceptionally skilled employees, who have been assigned for limited periods, in cases of emergency, to work with and guide the regular employees of other offices.2 The record indicates that the Employer has bargained with its over- the-road truck drivers under a multi-employer contract covering all its terminals. However, the Employers' local pick-up and delivery drivers, although they are also represented under multi-employer contracts, are bargained for in separate local units consisting of the local terminal employees and employees of other employers in the particular area in which the terminal is located. There is no bargain- ing history between the Employer and its office employees. As the history of bargaining by the Employer with its nonoffice employees does not appear to be conclusive of the broader unit for which the Employer contends, and in view of the separate supervision and geographical separation of the Wisconsin Rapids terminal office, together with the limited nature of the interchange among office em- ployees, we believe that a unit limited to the employees of the Wisconsin Rapids office is appropriate.8 We find that all office employees of the Employer's Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, terminal office, excluding supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for purposes of collective bar- gaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. 2 The distances from Wisconsin Rapids to the branch terminals vary from 86 to 250 miles. 2 There have been approximately 10 such transfers between the various terminal offices within the last 5 years. 8 Matter of Northwest Freight Lines, Inc., 84 N. L . R. B. 223. CENTRAL WISCONSIN MOTOR TRANSPORT COMPANY DIRECTION OF ELECTION 289 As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days from the date of tjiis Direction, under the direction and super- vision of the Regional Director for the Eighteenth Region, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, 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, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Of- fice Employees International Union, Local No. 95, A. F. of L.