Groendyke Transport, Inc.

244 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Groendyke Transport, Inc. and Raymond W. Tamplen, Petitioner and Southern Conference of Teamsters. Case 16-RD-564 August 3, 1973 DECISION AND ORDER Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing was held before Hearing Officer Irene Hammond. Briefs were filed by the Employer and the Union. Pursuant to Section 102.67 of the National Labor Re- lations Board Rules and Regulations and Statements of Procedure, Series 8, as amended, this case was transferred to the National Labor Relations Board for decision. The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's rul- ings made at the hearing and finds that they are free from prejudicial error. They are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act, and it will effectuate the purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein. 2. The Union, Southern Conference of Teamsters, is the representative of certain employees of the Em- ployer, and is a labor organization within the meaning of the Act. 3. For reasons set forth below, we conclude that no question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9(c)(1) of the Act. The Petitioner seeks to decertify the Union as the certified bargaining representative of all the employ- ees in an appropriate unit.' The Union contends that the petition should be dismissed as untimely because it has not been given a full year of bargaining since certification. The Employer contends that there has been a full year of bargaining, and that the petition is therefore timely. The Union was certified on February 24, 1969, as the exclusive bargaining representative for the em- ployees in the unit involved herein. On March 13, 1970, the Board issued a Decision and Order which 1 The unit consists of all drivers, owner drivers, regular part-time drivers, and regular part-time owner drivers employed at the Employer's terminal located in Irving, Texas, excluding all terminal managers, dispatchers, me- chanics, servicemen , office clericals, casual part- time drivers , casual part- time owner drivers , all other employees, guards and supervisors as defined in the Act required that the Employer bargain, upon request, with the Union and further provided that, "For the purpose of determining the duration of the certifica- tion the initial year of certification shall be deemed to begin on the date the Respondent commences to bar- gain in good faith with the Union as the recognized exclusive bargaining representative in the appropriate unit." 2 The Employer and the Union conducted their first bargaining session on November 30, 1971. The next bargaining sessions were conducted on February 10 and 11, 1972.' Meetings scheduled to be held on May 4 and 5 were canceled by the Union's counsel due to his court duties. On June 19, a decertification petition in Case 16-RD-557 was filed. In view of the filing of that petition the Employer notified the Union that contract negotiations should be deferred until the Board ruled upon the decertification petition. On June 28 the Regional Director dismissed the decertifi- cation petition as untimely. On July 7 the Employer, although not the party filing the petition, requested review of the Regional Director's dismissal. This re- quest for review was rejected by the Board since under the Board's Rules and Regulations the Employer had no standing to seek review of the dismissal of the decertification petition. By letter dated July 12, the Employer suggested a tentative date for further negotiations. A meeting was held on September 7, and the parties subsequently agreed to meet on November 21 and 22. However, the petition in this case was filed on November 7, and on November 14 the Employer notified the Union that it would, therefore, be inappropriate to conduct further negotiations. We find, in accord with our earlier decision,' that the certification year commenced on November 30, 1971, because bargaining by the parties began on that date. The petition in this case was filed on November 7, 1972, within the certification year, when the Union had not had the full year of bargaining to which it was entitled. Accordingly, we shall dismiss the instant de- certification petition as not timely filed. ORDER It is hereby ordered that the petition be, and it hereby is, dismissed. 2 Groendyke Transport, Inc, 181 NLRB 683, 685, enfd 438 F 2d 981 (C A 5), cert denied 404 U S 827 7 All dates hereinafter are in 1972 unless otherwise indicated 4 Groendyke Transport, Inc, supra 205 NLRB No. 67