Acme Cartage, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 8, 1949

87 N.L.R.B. 458 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of ACME CARTAGE, INC., EMPLOYER and LOCAL No. 10,
OFFICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION, AFFILIATED WITH THE
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR, PETITIONER
Case No. 7-RC-672.-Decided December 8, 1949
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Harold L.
Hudson, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the
bearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Gray].
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 involved claims to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
(1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the following reasons:
The Petitioner seeks a unit of office and clerical employees at the
Employer's Detroit, Michigan, freight-forwarding plant, including
dispatchers, but excluding professional employees and supervisors.
The Employer contends that, because all but one of the persons sought
to be included in the proposed unit are supervisors, and the one em-
ployee cannot alone constitute a collective bargaining unit, the unit
-sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate.
Four persons are employed in the Employer's office, of whom 2 are
classified as dispatchers; 1, as clerk and dispatcher; and 1, as clerk.'
They work tinder the direct supervision of the Employer's manager.
The 2 dispatchers, working on different shifts, dispatch the employ-
1 The clerk is also referred to as "bookkeeper -secretary."
87 NLRB No. 72.
458
ACME CARTAGE, INC. 459
er's drivers, of whom there are 25, on their initial runs, relay in-
structions to them in the.field by means of a "pick-up dispatch board,"
and otherwise generally direct the work of drivers. The clerk and
dispatcher spends 3 hours per day-2 hours alone and 1 with a dis-
patcher-dispatching drivers on their initial runs; the rest of the
time he keeps office records and assists one of the dispatchers on the
pick-up dispatch board.
Whenever they are on dispatch duty, the dispatchers and the clerk
and dispatcher may hire new drivers without consulting their super-
visor. They may effectively recommend the discipline and discharge
of drivers. As most grievances of drivers are against dispatchers, the
latter play attempt individually to adjust drivers' grievances through
consultation with the steward of the drivers' union.2 We find that the
two dispatchers and the clerk and dispatcher are supervisors within
the meaning of the Act, and that they are therefore ineligible for
inclusion in an appropriate bargaining unit.
It is well established that a unit consisting of only one employee is
a uiut inappropriate for collective bargaining.3 As the Employer's
clerk is the only employee sought to be included in the unit, we find
that the unit sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate. We shall
therefore dismiss the petition.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition filed herein be, and it hereby is,
dismissed.
2 Local 209, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen, and
Helpers of America, AFL.
3 Erie City Iron Works, 85 NLRB 1305, and cases cited therein.