Auto Transports, Inc.

272 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD keepers 1 and experimental employees 2 ill production and maintenance units. In view of the wishes of the parties, and as no reason appears for excluding these employees, we are of the opinion that the time- keepers and experimental employees may properly be included in the unit. As no question of representation exists at the present time in the basic production and maintenance unit, we shall direct an election among all timekeepers and experimental machinery room employees, excluding executives, engineers, assistant engineers, draftsmen, time- study men, salesmen, cooperative apprentices, laboratory employees, first-aid attendants, office and clerical employees, guards, and super- visors as defined in the Act 3 If a majority of the employees voting in the election cast their ballots for the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated their desires to be part of the over-all production and maintenance unit and the Petitioner may bargain for timekeepers and experimental machinery room employees as part of that unit.4 [Text of Directiop of Election omitted from publication in this volume.] ' Aluminum Company of America, 80 NLRB 1342 ; Boeing Airplane Company, 78 NLRB 795. s J. I. Case Company, 80 NLRB 223 ; Leach Company, 94 NLRB No. 99 a The description of the voting group appears as amended at the hearing 4 See Great Lakes Pipe Line Company, 92 NLRB 583 (Member Murdock dissenting) Cul f Oil Corporation, 92 NLRB 700. AUTO TRANSPORTS, INC.' and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAM- STERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, GENERAL DRIVERS, WAREHOUSEMEN & HELPERS, LOCAL 498, AFL, PETITIONER. Case No. 17-RC-1275. July 18,1952 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 Margaret L. Fassig, hearing officer. At the hearing, the Employer moved to dismiss the petition upon the grounds that the unit sought is inappropriate and the Peti- tioner may not properly represent the employees sought herein. For reasons discussed in paragraph numbered 4, infra, the motion is hereby denied. The motion of the Petitioner that the Board investigate the alleged alteration of certain of Employer's exhibits is denied for the reasons hereinafter stated. The hearing officer's rulings made at thL 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 Murdock and Peterson]. I The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing. 100 NLRB No. 48. AUTO TRANSPORTS, INC. 273 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 named below claims to represent certain employees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa- tion of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Sec- tion 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of the Employer's office employees at its Kansas City, Kansas, terminal, including dispatchers, payroll clerks, billing clerks, and logbook clerks, but excluding confi- dential secretaries, terminal manager, assistant manager, personnel manager, and all other supervisors as defined in the Act. The Employer contends that employees in the office clerical unit sought herein should not be represented by the same labor organization that is currently representing its 270 over-the-road truck drivers and 60 yardmen. We reject the Employer's contention, as absent certain statutory limitations, the choice of the bargaining representative rests upon the desires of the employees.2 In addition, the Employer contends that the unit sought by the Peti- tioner is inappropriate because it includes dispatchers whom the Em- ployer alleges are supervisors. In support of this contention, the Em- ployer urges among other considerations, that dispatchers assign loads to and report infraction of rules by drivers, and that they make recom- mendations both with respect to the assignment of new equipment to drivers and with respect to penalties for violation of company rules. The following procedure for assigning workloads to drivers appears from the record to be currently in force. From the shipping orders received from the billing clerk, the dispatchers ascertain their load requirements by placing them in the order of their delivery specifica- tions. Using either the seniority list or "first in first out" methods together with the logbook information,4 and equipment availability 2 Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company, 81 NLRB 584. 8 The collective bargaining agreement between the Employer and Petitioner covering truck drivers is the basis for the seniority dispatch procedure . This is applied at the beginning of the week . As a driver returns to the terminal his name is placed on the availability sheet, and after 8 hours rest he becomes available for a load. Once the seniority list has been exhausted , dispatching is then continued by assigning the first load available to the first driver on the availability list, providing other criteria have been met. "The Interstate Commerce Commission requires the keeping of permanent records or logbooks by over-the-road drivers Information carried In the logbook includes driver's name , date, identification of equipment, route traveled, destination , speedometer readings for mileage , time of departure and arrival , time traveled, time resting, stops over one-half hour, and other related Information. ICC regulations limit over-the-road drivers to 192 hours on the road in an 8-day period with a limit of 70 hours actual driving. The Log- book clerks obtain this information from each driver's book and keep a running computation on each driver. When a driver is approaching his maximum , the logbook clerk notifies the dispatcher. When a driver returns to the terminal the dispatcher also records certain information from the logbook which he uses as a guide in assigning loads. 274 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD information,5 a dispatcher assigns a load to a driver and then notifies the driver of the load assignment. When the latter reports at the assignment window, he receives his manifest and departs for the yard to pick up the load. The dispatcher is required to report to manage- ment on a miscellaneous report form any irregularities coming to his attention. Such reports include factual statements concerning any business matters arising during a dispatcher's tour of duty and are not confined to reports on infractions of rules. As indicated above, the assignment of loads to drivers is simply a procedure of matching load requirements with the driver availability and equipment clearance lists, together with some mathematical cal- culation of the driver's unused hours and the time requirement of a particular trips In the assignment of loads, dispatchers have been instructed to give consideration to the personal needs of a driver so long as such arrangement does not violate the seniority or priority rules. Any exception taken by a driver to an assignment is referred to the manager or assistant manager. Any refusal to take a load or failure to show up for an assignment is reported on the miscellaneous report form by the dispatcher, generally merely reciting the facts. An independent investigation is made and the driver is interviewed by management if possible before disciplinary action is taken. Only the personnel director, manager, and assistant manager have author- ity to reprimand or inflict a penalty on drivers and such penalties are governed by the application of the National Truckaway Rules7 agreed to by the Employer and the drivers' bargaining agent. These rules set up specific schedules of penalties for first, second, and third offenses and for the various types of misconduct, the records of which are maintained in the personnel office.8 The management may elect to inflict a lighter penalty, but may not exceed the penalty agreed upon in this schedule. 5 All equipment is cleared through the repair shop before each trip and an assignment cannot be made to a driver whose equipment is not ready . In addition , certain equipment is licensed to travel in certain States and must be assigned in accordance with its license. 6 The time required to make a particular trip Is calculated by taking the mileage from the approved route schedule and applying a 35 in. p. h. rate which the Employer has established as a rate calculated to meet the ICC estimate of safety of 37 hours per 100 loaded miles and 3 hours per 100 empty miles. 7 Otherwise known as Revised Uniform Rules and Regulations, Automobile Transporters Governing the Actions of Highway , City and Terminal Employees , effective November 1, 1950. 8 As noted above, the Petitioner challenged the authenticity of certain of Employer's exhibits and urged that the Board investigate and prosecute or take whatever steps it deemed advisable in the circumstances . Those challenged exhibits were dispatchers' factual reports of violation of rules by drivers which purported also to contain a final sentence recommending a penalty. However , because of the various factors mentioned above which determine the applicable penalty, any recommendations which a dispatcher may include on his report of misconduct have no substantial weight In affecting the status of employees . Accordingly , as those of Employer's exhibits questioned by the Petitioner have no probative value, we find It unnecessary to consider their validity. AUTO TRANSPORTS, INC. 275 Dispatchers receive calls of drivers reporting sick but are instructed to take all such calls at face value. Thus they exercise no independent judgment in excusing drivers from duty. Any request for time off for other reasons is referred to management . Calls received from drivers on the road come to the dispatchers who coordinate calls with the repair shop in case of breakdown . If a driver calls to state his intention of abandoning a load or committing some other breach, of rules, dispatchers have been instructed to call to the driver 's attention the penalty for such conduct as contained in the National Truckaway Rules. However, as indicated above, dispatchers do not inflict such penalties, nor do they have any discretion as to the selection of the penalty to be brought to the driver's attention. It is further contended by the Employer that dispatchers have on occasion been consulted by the manager when assignment of new equipment is to be made. The criteria considered by management in the assignment of new equipment consist of the following three ele- ments: ( 1) Seniority ; ( 2) whether driver is one who keeps his equip- me it in operation ; and (3) how well the driver takes care of his equipment. Information for the first element is obtained from the seniority list. Information for the second element is obtained from dispatchers whose records would reflect how frequently and regularly a particular driver is engaged in hauling loads . This information could also be obtained from the driver 's payroll records as different rates are paid for on-the -road duty than for terminal waiting duty. Information on the third element is obtained from the shop super- intendent whose records reflect the amount and frequency of mechan- ical repair made on equipment . Under these circumstances, it is clear that consultation with dispatchers in the assignment of new equip- ment is merely one of obtaining information available from the dis- patcher's knowledge of the records of his phase of the operation and not one of soliciting a recommendation based on the dispatcher's independent judgment. Further, such information is merely a por- tion of the criteria and is not determinative in the assignment. From the foregoing, we find that the duties and responsibilities of the dispatchers, found to be in accordance with preestablished man- agement policy outlined in oral and written directives, are routinely repetitive and clerical in nature . On the basis of the entire record, we find that dispatchers possess none of the supervisory authority attributed to them by the Employer . Accordingly , we find that they are not supervisors within the meaning of the Acts As their duties, performed at the terminal office in coordination with those of other B See Ready Mimed Concrete Company, 90 NLRB No. 49; New England Transportation Company, 90 NLRB 539. 227260-53-vol. 100 -19 276 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD office employees, are clerical in nature, we find that the dispatchers are properly a part of a clerical unit ."o We find that all office employees at the Employer's Kansas City, Kansas, terminal, including dispatchers, payroll clerks, billing clerks, and logbook clerks, but excluding confidential secretaries, terminal manager, assistant manager, personnel manager, and all other super- visors 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.] 10 Cf. Seashore Transportation Company , 96 NLRB 1296. See Modern Heat 4 Fuel Company, 89 NLRB 1346. THE WESTON PAPER AND MANUFACTURING CO. (TN:lump HAUTE DIvI- SION )1 and UNITED PAPERWORXERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER. Case No. 35-RC-706. July 21,1952 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 Robert Volger, 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]. tTpon 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. International Brotherhood of Paper Makers, AFL, and its locals, Vigo Local 613-B-Mill No. 2 and Vigo Local 613-A-Mill No: 1, herein called the Intervenor, urges its contract with the Employer as a bar to this proceeding. Its first contract, effective from April 21, 1951, to April 21, 1952, was annually renewable subject to 60 days' written notice to terminate or to change before April 21, 1952. The Intervenor gave such timely notice of a desire to revise the contract. on February 15, 1952, and thereby prevented its automatic renewal. i The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing. 100 NLRB No. 51.