Central Truck Lines, Inc.

374 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD CENTRAL TRUCK LINES, INC. and S. J. HERRIN, PETITIONER and TRUCK DRIVERS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS LOCAL UNION NO. 512, AF- FILIATED WITH THE INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN & HELPERS OF AMERICA, A. F. OF L.1 Case No. 10-RD,94. February 9$, 1950 Decision and Direction of Election Upon a petition for decertification duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Frank E. Hamilton, 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-mem- ber panel [Members Houston, Murdock, and Styles]. 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 employee of the Employer, asserts that the Teamsters is no longer the representative of the Employer's employees designated in the petition. The Teamsters was certified by the Board on November 20, 1950, and is currently recognized by the Employer as the bargaining repre- sentative of the employees of the Employer. 3. As noted above, the Teamsters was certified on November 20, 1950, following a consent election, as the bargaining representative of a unit at the Employer's Ocala, Florida, terminal, which included over-the-road drivers and city pick-up and delivery drivers. After attempting to negotiate a single contract covering both types of drivers, the Employer and the Teamsters decided that such factors as lack of interchange and separate seniority made it necessary to follow their practice at the Employer's other terminals of having a contract for each group. Accordingly, the parties executed two city pick-up contracts and one over-the-road contract. The current city pick-up contract was entered into on October 1, 1951, for a 2-year period. The over-the-road contract, effective from November 10, 1950, to January 31, 1951, provided for automatic yearly renewal thereafter in the absence of 60 days' written notice by either party of a desire to cancel or terminate the contract. On November 2,1951, the Teamsters notified the Employer of its desire to negotiate a new over-the-road contract. Thereafter, on November 15, 1951, the Petitioner filed the instant petition. 1 Herein called the Teamsters. 98 NLRB No. 56 CENTRAL TRUCK LINES, INC. 375 The Teamsters moves that the petition be dismissed because it was filed during the certification year and its contracts constitute a bar. It also takes the position that only the certified unit is appropriate, but if the Board orders an election it should be confined to over-the- road drivers because the petition was filed by an over-the-road driver and the city pick-up contract is, in any event, a bar. The Petitioner, who agrees that only the certified unit is appropriate, contends that the contracts are not a bar as their coverage is different from the certified unit and the over-the-road contract was opened by the Team- sters' timely notice. However, the Petitioner is willing to proceed to an election in either or both of the contract units if they are found appropriate by the Board. The Employer also takes the view that if an election is directed, the appropriate unit should be the same as the certified unit. We agree with the Petitioner that the contracts in this case cannot operate as a bar to an election. The Employer and the Teamsters have departed from the certified unit by dividing it into two contract units. We find therefore, apart from other considerations, that the contracts are not a bar to a determination of representatives.2 Ac- cordingly, the Employer's motion to dismiss the petition is hereby denied.,' - We find that a question affecting commerce, exists concerning the representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. We find in agreement with the parties that the following unit, certified on November 20, 1950, constitutes a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act' All city pick-up and delivery drivers and helpers, over-the-road drivers, all warehouse employees including tow-motor operators, checkers, stackers, callers, loaders, and unloaders at the Employer's Ocala, Florida, terminal, but excluding all other employees such as office employees, professional employees, mechanics, guards, and supervisors as defined in he Act.5 [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this volume.] ' Calaveras Cement Company, 89 NLRB 378. 8 We find no merit in the Teamsters ' argument that the petition should be dismissed because it was filed during the, certification year. As the petition was filed during the twelfth month of the certification year and was not processed until after the expiration of the certification year, there was no prejudicial intrusion into the Teamsters' right 'to undisturbed bargaining during the certification year. Cf. National Heat Treating, 95 NLRB No. 144 4 As the parties agree that the over -all unit is appropriate , we find no merit in the Teamsters' contention that the election should be confined to the over -the-road drivers because the petition was filed by an over-the -road driver. 6 However, we do not pass upon the unit placement of watchmen and greasemen as the Employer does not employ employees in these classifications.