A. J. Stampfel

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 7, 1946

66 N.L.R.B. 369 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of A. J. STAMPFEL and DISTRICT 50, UNITED MINE
WORKERS OF AMERICA
Case No. 17-B-1220.-Decided March 7, 1946
Mr. A. J. Stamp f el, of Rifle, Colo., for the Company.
Messrs. Fred K. Hef'ler and Frank N. Price, of Denver, Colo., for
the Union.
Mr. Herbert C. Kane, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by District 50, United Mine Workers
of America, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees
of A. J. Stampfel, Rifle, Colorado, herein called the Company, the
National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice before Howard W. Kleeb, Trial Examiner. The
hearing was held at Rifle, Colorado, on October 12, 1945. The Com-
pany and the Union appeared and participated. All parties were
afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross- examine
witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The
Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju-
dicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded
opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
A. J. Stampfel, a sole proprietor of a trucking business with his
principal place of business at Rifle, Colorado, is engaged in hauling
ore for the United States Vanadium Corporation. All this hauling
is done within the State of Colorado. In connection with its business
66 N. L . R. B., No. 47.
686572-46-25 369
370 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the Company operates five motor trucks. The Company is classified
as a local hauler under a permit of the Public Utilities Commission
of the State of Colorado. It is the function of the Company to
haul ore, after it has been mined, from the United States Vanadium
Corporation mine at Rifle, Colorado, a distance of approximately
15 miles, to a United States Vanadium mill, where it is processed
and sacked for shipment. It also hauls ore on behalf of the corpora-
tion from the Garfield Vanadium mine to the same mill. All the
processed ore is shipped out of the State by the corporation. Between
January and June 1945, the Company transported 18,138 tons of
vanadium ore from the mines to the mill.
It is apparent from the foregoing facts that the services rendered
by the Company to the corporation, which is itself engaged in inter-
state commerce,' form an integrated and coordinated part of the
Company's production effort and as such are so closely associated
and connected with the flow of interstate commerce as to be entitled
to the protection of the Act.
We find, contrary to the contention of the Company, that it is
engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
District 50, United Mine Workers of America, is a labor organiza-
tion admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as
the exclusive bargaining representative of its truck drivers until
the Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number
of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate .2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
We find, in substantial accord with the agreement of the parties,
that all truck drivers of the Company, excluding all supervisory
1 See Matter of United States Vanadium Corporation, 22-R-368; Matter of United
States Vanadium Corporation , 22-C-575; Matter of United States Vanadsum Corporation,
17-C-1095.
2 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted four authorization cards,
and that each card bore the name of an employee listed on the Company' s pay roll of
September 20, 1945.
There are approximately four employees in the appropriate unit.
A. J. STAMPFEL 371
employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively
recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of
the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among employees
in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
herein, subject to the limitations ' and additions set forth in the
Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Re-
lations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it
is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with A. J. Stampfel,
Rifle, Colorado, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as
early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from the date
of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional
Director for the Seventeenth Region, acting in this matter as agent
for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III,
Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among employees
in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were em-
ployed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction, including employees who did not work during
said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or tempo-
rarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the
United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but ex-
cluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for
cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of
the election, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented
by District 50, United Mine Workers of America, for the purposes
of collective bargaining.