Safety Cabs, Inc.

SAFETY CABS, INC. 17 Safety Cabs, Inc., and New Deal Cab Company, Inc., and Taxi Drivers Union , Brotherhood of Railway, Airline & Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express & Station Employees , AFL-CIO, Peti- tioner. Case 12-RC-3095 September 27, 1968 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION By CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS BROWN AND JENKINS Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing was held at Jacksonville, Florida, on June 20, 1968, before Hearing Officer E. W. Dean, Jr. Follow- mg the hearing and pursuant to Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regula- tions and Statements of Procedure, Series 8, as amended, and by direction of the Acting Regional Director for Region 12, this case was transferred to the National Labor Relations Board for decision Thereafter, Petitioner, the Employer, and the Inter- venor' filed briefs herein Pursuant to Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the National Labor Relations Board has delegated its powers in connec- tion with this case to a three-member panel. The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's rulings made at the hearing and finds that they are free from prejudicial error. They are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in this case, including the briefs, the Board finds. 1. Safety Cabs, Inc., and New Deal Cab Company, Inc., constitute a single employer engaged in com- merce within the meaning of the Act, and it will effectuate the purposes of the Act to assert jurisdic- tion herein. 2 The Petitioner and the Intervenor are labor organizations claiming to represent certain employees of the Employer 3. A question affecting commerce exists concern- ing 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. The Petitioner herein seeks a unit of full-time and part-time drivers employed by the Eiilployer herein. In a prior proceeding,' we found that the only appropriate unit was one which included the drivers of both Safety Cabs, Inc. (herein Safety), and New Deal Cab Company, Inc. (herein New Deal).' In that decision, we noted that there had been a history of bargaining, by the Intervenor, for separate units of Safety and New Deal drivers extending over a substantial period of time, such as the Board ordinari- ly might recognize as demonstrating the appropri- ateness of units limited to each of the separate enterprises. We found it clear from the circumstances disclosed by that record, however, that the pattern of bargaining for separate units at Safety and New Deal was established and continued on a racial basis, the validity of which the Board could not accept as a factor in determining the scope of an appropriate bargaining unit. Accordingly, we declined to accord any weight to the extensive bargaining history of separate units essentially based on race, in determin- ing the unit appropriate for these drivers of Safety and New Deal. The Intervenor and the Employer in the present record have entered into a number of stipulations which show that there has been no essential change in the ownership, management, or actual operation of New Deal and Safety since June 30, 1966, when the New Deal Cab Company, Inc., decision issued. Despite that decision and the fact that circum- stances have not significantly changed since our decision issued, the Intervenor and the Employer now contend that we should reconsider and reverse that decision because segregation was inherent in and a reflection of the history of the community in which they function, and because other factors support separate units. We find no merit in this contention. The considerations now urged were in existence at the time of our previous decision. The fact that the parties may not have caused the racial segregation does not make its perpetuation less invidious, and the other factors urged as supporting separation are largely rooted in the segregation. The Employer and the Intervenor also contend that the separate collective-bargaining agreements, entered into on separate dates and for different terms for the Negro drivers at New Deal and the white drivers at Safety,' should be recognized by the Board as together barring the present petition for the com- bined unit of New Deal and Safety drivers, which we have heretofore found is the only appropriate unit. In 1 Truck Drivers , Warehousemen & Helpers Local Union No. 512, affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America , was allowed to intervene in this proceeding on the basis of its existing contracts with the Employer herein 2 New Deal Cab Company, Inc., 159 NLRB 1838, 1841. 3 The Petitioner , the Intervenor , and the Employer have stipulated herein that now, as at the time of our decision in New Deal Cab Company, Inc , all drivers employed by Safety are white and all drivers employed by New Deal are Negro 4 The Intervenor 's agreement with Safety was executed on May 16, 1968, the same date the petition was filed , to be effective from May 16, 1968 , to May 15 , 1970, with an automatic renewal provision. The Intervenor 's agreement with New Deal was executed on February 17, 1968 , to be effective from February 12, 1968, to February 12, 1971, with an automatic renewal provision. 173 NLRB No. 4 18 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD our view such contracts, however, constitute separate bargaining still essentially based on race,' and in units which we have heretofore found inappropriate. Ac- cordingly, we reject this contention and find for this reason that the contracts do not bar an election in the appropriate unit without considering other conten- tions with respect thereto. We find that the following employees of the Employer herein constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act All full-time and regular part-time taxicab drivers employed by New Deal Cab Company, Inc., or Safety Cabs, Inc. at their Jacksonville, Florida locations, excluding garage mechanics, dispatchers, limousine drivers, office clerical employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act. [Text of Direction of Election6 omitted from publication ] 5 New Deal Cab Company, Inc, supra , and cases cited therein in footnotes 4 and 5 . As we stated in Pioneer Bus Company, Inc., 140 NLRB 54, 55 We therefore hold that , where the bargaining representative of employees in an appropriate unit executes separate contracts, or even a single contract , discriminating between Negro and white employees on racial lines , the Board will not deem such contracts as a bar to an election. We are satisfied that the present agreements separating employees on a racial basis , without more , furnish sufficient evidence of such discrimi- nation. 6 An election eligibility list, containing the names and addresses of all the eligible voters , must be filed by the Employer with the Regional Director for Region 12 within 7 days after the date of this Decision and Direction of Election , The Regional Director shall make the list available to all parties to the election . No extension of time to file this list shall be granted by the Regional Director except in extraordinary circumstances . Failure to comply with this requirement shall be grounds for setting aside the election whenever proper objections are filed Excelsior Underwear Inc , 156 NLRB 1236