Navajo Freight Lines, Inc.

156 DECISIONS,OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD NAVAJO FREIGHT LINES, INC. and JOHN H. ANDERSON, PETITIONER and TEAMSTERS, CHAFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS.OF AMERICA, LOCAL 492, OF THE INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL:' Case No. 33-RD-15. September 13, 1951 Decision and ft.der Upon a petition for decertification duly filed, a hearing was held before Lewis A. WVard, 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 [Members Houston, Reynolds, 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 Petitioner, an individual employed by the Employer, filed a petition to decertify the Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, Local 492, under Section 9 (c) of the Act, as the bargaining representative for the lubricators, tire men, and wash and steam rack men employed at the Employer's Albuquerque, New Mexico, operations. 3. No 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, for the following reasons: On July 15, 1950, the Intervenor and Employer executed a contract covering all pickup and delivery drivers, checkers, loaders, and dock- men employed at the Employer's operations in Albuquerque, New Mexico. During 1950 also, the Employer recognized the Interna- tional Association of Machinists as the collective bargaining repre- sentative of its auto mechanics at the Albuquerque operations. On January 15, 1951, the Intervenor and Employer extended the cover- age of their contract to include the remaining employees of the Em- ployer at its Albuquerque operations who were not represented for collective bargaining purposes. This latter group consisted of pump men, lubricators, tire men, and wash and steam rack men 2 i Teamsters, Chauffeurs , Warehousemen and Helpers of America, Local 492, of the Inter- national Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs , Warehousemen and Helpers of America, AFL, was permitted to intervene on the basis of contractual interest. 9 There remain two stock clerks who have not been included in the coverage of any of the bargaining units. 96 NLRB No. 25. BE'LKNAP HARDWARE AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY 157 The Petitioner now seeks to decertify the. Intervenor as the collective bargaining representative of a group of employees consisting of lubri- cators, tire men, and wash and steam rack men. The record in this proceeding indicates that the group of employees designated in the petition for decertification are under common super- vision with the auto mechanics who perform maintenance work. In effect, therefore, the group of employees among whom the Petitioner seeks a decertification election constitutes an arbitrary segment of the Employer's maintenance department, at the Albuquerque operations. The Board will not find such a segment of a department an appro- priate unit.' Furthermore, there is no evidence that these employees possess any special characteristics or separate interests that could serve as a basis for distinguishing them from the other employees with whom they work and making a determination that they constitute an appropriate unit by themselves. Nor does the record indicate that they possess any special skills acquired by long training or through apprenticeship programs which would permit a finding that they constitute a separate craft group which could be found to be an appropriate unit. We find, therefore, that the unit proposed by the Petitioner is not appropriate and accordingly we shall dismiss the petition 4 Order IT IS HEREBY oJDERnD that the petition herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed. 3 See, D. B. Thornton Co., 94 NLRB 1188. 4In view of our disposition of the petition it becomes unnecessary to discuss the question of contract bar, raised by the Intervenor's motion to dismiss the petition , or the question of the validity of the union -security clause, found in the Intervenor 's contract with the Employer, raised by the Petitioner's contentions. BELKNAP HARDWARE AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY and INTERNA- TIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, REGION No. 4, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR, PETITIONER. Case No. 9-RC-1168. September 13, 1951 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 Lloyd R. Fraker, 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 Reynolds and Murdock]. 96 NLRB No. 19.