Continental Trailways, Inc.

DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Continental Trailways, Inc. and International Union of Operating Engineers, Local No. 714, AFLCIO, Petitioner. Case 16-RC-7476 September 29, 1977 DECISION ON REVIEW AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION BY CeHAIRMAN FANNING AND MEMBERS JENKINS AND PENELLO On May 13, 1977, the Regional Director for Region 16 issued a Decision and Direction of Election in the above-entitled proceeding in which he found appro- priate a unit of office clerical employees at the Employer's facilities located at 2801 Logan Street in Dallas, Texas. Thereafter, in accordance with Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, the Employer filed a timely request for review of the Regional Director's decision, contending that a unit limited to the Logan Street offices is inappropriate, and that the only unit for the employees involved must include office clericals employed at its Jackson Street office, also located in Dallas, Texas. On June 7, 1977, the National Labor Relations Board by telegraphic order granted the request for review and stayed the election pending decision on review. Thereafter, on June 9, 1977, the Board granted the Petitioner's request to proceed with the election pending decision on review. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the National Labor Relations Board has delegated its authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel. The Board has reviewed the entire record in this case and hereby makes the following findings: The Employer is a Delaware corporation engaged in providing bus and transportation services to several States. The Employer's main corporate headquarters are located at 1500 Jackson Street in Dallas, Texas. The Petitioner sought a unit of office clerical employees in the Employer's revenue ac- counting department located at 2801 Logan Street, Dallas, Texas. The Jackson Street and Logan Street facilities are located approximately I mile apart in downtown Dallas, and there is no history of collective bargaining at either location. In finding that the employees at the Logan Street facility constituted an appropriate unit, the Regional Director relied primarily on substantial autonomy of day-to-day operations in the revenue accounting department and limited interchange and contact between the employees located at Jackson Street and those at Logan Street. For the reasons set forth below, we agree with the Employer that the factors of 232 NLRB No. 99 functional integration of the Employer's operations, centralized control over labor relations policies, and substantial similarities on job functions and working conditions mandate a finding that only a single overall unit is appropriate. The Employer's facility at 2801 Logan Street houses the revenue accounting department, under the overall supervision of Ottis Harris. Within the revenue accounting department are nine subdepart- ments which are in turn headed by supervisory employees who report to Harris. Employees at the Logan Street offices are generally responsible for receiving, accounting, and processing various re- ports, billings, and refunds generated by the Employ- er's operations. The main corporate headquarters at 1500 Jackson Street also houses a number of various departments, including data processing, personnel, internal audit, payroll, and accounts receivable. Like the Logan Street office, each of these departments at Jackson Street is headed by a supervisor who is comparable in status and authority to Harris in the revenue accounting department. Thus, despite the geographic separation from the main office at Jackson Street, Harris' authority at Logan Street is no more than that of the other supervisory personnel located at Jackson Street. Harris visits the Jackson Street office on an almost daily basis, and is in constant telephonic communication with the Jackson Street office. It is apparent from the record that there is a substantial amount of functional integration between the operations of the revenue accounting department at Logan Street and the various departments at Jackson Street. Information received and computa- tions arrived at in the revenue accounting depart- ment are sent by machine or delivered manually to the data processing department at Jackson Street. The Logan Street billing department processes several types of billing accounts which are trans- ferred to the Jackson Street location for data processing keypunch. In answering inquiries and satisfying customer complaints with respect to billing procedures, there is frequent contact between em- ployees at both facilities. In a similar vein, the refund department at Logan Street computes the amount due on all unused bus tickets and forwards this information to Jackson Street for the issuance of a refund check. In answering inquiries with regard to refunds, Logan Street employees are in constant contact with the internal audit and cashier's depart- ments at Jackson Street. In addition, the record reflects a high degree of integration between the work of the drivers and agents reports departments (both located at Logan Street) and the departments of general accounting, internal audit, and tax and reports at the Jackson Street offices. Similarly, the 628 CONTINENTAL TRAILWAYS Logan Street "interline" department interacts on a regular basis with the Jackson Street accounts receivable department, as does the Logan Street billing department. In sum, it is clear from the record the office operations of the Employer are so highly integrated between the two operations that one could not effectively function without the other. In addition to the high degree of functional integration, the Employer's office operations in Dallas are characterized by a high degree of centralized control with respect to personnel and labor relations policies. Thus, the overall supervisor at the Logan Street facility, Harris, does not have the authority to hire, fire, suspend, lay off, or grant leaves of absence without the approval of the Employer's vice president-controller, David Taylor, located at Jackson Street. Further indicative of the high degree of centralization in labor affairs is the fact that working hours, pay scales, vacations, benefits, and all other terms and conditions of employment are identical for employees at both locations. The nature of the work performed at both locations is substantially the same. Almost all positions and classifications at both locations require basic ac- counting and bookkeeping skills, as well as clerical skills and a familiarity with keypunch operations. Because of this similarity in job functions and requirements, there have been between six to eight transfers from the Logan Street offices to the Jackson Street office within the past year and, on occasion, certain employees are "loaned" from one office to another for short periods of time. In addition to the functional integration noted supra (resulting in significant employee interchange and contact), the record further reveals that the Employer's internal communications system dictates a substantial amount of day-to-day contact between the two office facilities. Both locations use the same telephone exchange, telex equipment and operator, and telex number. All calls coming into the Revenue Accounting department at Logan Street come through the Jackson Street switchboard operator, and all mail addressed to Logan Street is delivered to Jackson Street, where it is then routed to Logan Street via the Employer's internal distribution sys- tem. We note that the express audit, data processing, and payroll departments, once located at Logan i See Home Elterminating Companv, 160 NLRB 1480(1966). 2 There are approximately 170 to 190 employees at the Logan Street facility unit sought by Petitioner, and approximately 165 employees at the Jackson Street facility which we find must he included in the appropriate unit. As we hase found appropriate a unit substantially different from that sought by the Petitioner herein, the Petitioner shall be given 10 days from Street, were transferred at one point to the Jackson Street offices. In fact, it appears from the record that the only reason the Logan Street operation has not been transferred to Jackson Street is a lack of adequate space at the Jackson Street facilities. Upon the foregoing, we conclude that a unit limited to employees at the Logan Street office of the Employer is inappropriate and that the appropriate unit must include the Jackson Street office clerical employees. In so finding, we rely particularly on the high degree of functional integration between the two facilities;' the fact that the supervisor at the Logan Street office does not have substantial autonomy in labor rela- tions matters; identical employee functions and terms and conditions of employment; the high degree of centralized control with respect to person- nel matters; and the geographic proximity of the two office facilities. Inasmuch as we have found the petitioned-for unit at Logan Street to be inappropriate, and this was the unit in which the Regional Director conducted an election and impounded the ballots, we shall direct the Regional Director to destroy said impounded ballots. At the hearing on this matter, the Petitioner declared its willingness to proceed to an election in the larger unit urged by the Employer and which we have found appropriate herein. In accordance with the foregoing, we find that the following employees constitute an appropriate unit for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act: All office clerical employees employed by the Employer at its facilities at 2801 Logan Street and 1500 Jackson Street, Dallas, Texas, addresses, including group leaders, and excluding all other employees including technical employees, profes- sional employees, guards, watchmen, and supervi- sors as defined in the Act. [Direction of Election 2 and Excelsior footnote omitted from publication.] CHAIRMAN FANNING, dissenting: I would affirm the Regional Director's finding that a unit of all office clericals at the Employer's Logan Street location constitutes a unit appropriate for collective bargaining. the date of this Decision on Review and Direction of Election to make an additional showing of interest. If the Petitioner does not now wish to participate in an election in the unit we find appropriate herein, we shall permit it to withdraw its petition upon written notice to the Regional Director within 10 days from the date of this Decision on Review and Direction of Election. 629