Black Hawk Motor Transit Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 8, 1946

71 N.L.R.B. 635 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of UNION Bus DEPOT, PEORIA, OPERATED AS A JOINT EN-
TERPRISE BY BLACK HAWK MOTOR TRANSIT COMPANY , BURLINGTON
TRANSPORTATION COMPANY, AND TiIE SANTA FE TRAIL TRANSPORTA-
TION COMPANY. EMPLOYER and BROTHERHOOD OF RAILWAY AND STEAM-
SHIP CLERKS , FREIGHT HANDLERS , EXPRESS AND STATION EMPLOYEES,
A. F. OF L., PETITIONER
Case No. 1.3'-R-37914.Decided November 8, 1946
Mr. Paul Johnson, of Peoria, Ill., Mr. C. F. Off enstein, of Wichita,
Kans., and Mr. Charles M. Justice, of Chicago, Ill., for the Employer.
Mr. 1Pilliavi B. Murphy, of Chicago, Ill., and Mr. James D. Bearden.,
of Evanston, Ill., for the Petitioner.
Mr. Samuel G. Hamilton, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed. hearing in this case was held at Peoria,
Illinois, on August 6, 1946, before Sidney Grossman, hearing officer.
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. -
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Union Bus Depot is operated as a joint enterprise by its owners,
the Black Hawk Motor Transit Company and the Burlington Trans-
portation Company, both Illinois corporations, and by The Santa Fe
Trail Transportation Company, a Kansas corporation. Each of the
3 owner companies is authorized to do business within the State of
Illinois and operates busses on regular daily runs to and from the
Peoria depot and points in States other than the State of Illinois.
The depot serves its joint owners by selling tickets, arranging transpor-
tation, furnishing facilities for loading and unloading passengers, and
by supplying other usual services of a transportation terminal. It
71 N L. R B, No 96
635
636 DECISIONS Or NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
services daily approximately 2,000 passengers, of whom in excess of
20 percent have as their destination points outside the State of Illinois,
and in excess of 20 percent arrive from points outside the State. Dur-
ing the first 6 months of 1946, the depot's sales amounted to approxi-
mately $250,000 in value.
The companies stipulated, and we find, that for the purpose of this
proceeding they may be regarded as a single employer. We find
further, as the companies admit, that they are engaged at this jointly
operated depot in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor
Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
.of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE 'UNIT
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all clerical, office and station em-
ployees, including the bookkeeper, the terminal manager, the manager
travel and tour, the head baggage agent, the head porter, and the
terminal auditor. The Employer disputes the Ippropriateiless of the
unit, in that it would exclude the bookkeeper as a confidential employee
and exclude the terminal manager, the manager travel and tour, the
head baggage agent, the head porter, and the terminal auditor as
supervisory employees.
Terminal manager: The terminal manager has general supervision
of the terminal and its employees. He is responsible for its efficient
operation, supervises and instructs the heads of departments, and
recommends to the management committee, consisting of a representa-
tive of each bus company, the hire, discharge, transfer, and change in
pay status of employees. Notwithstanding his supervisory functions,
the Petitioner contends that he should be included on the asserted
grounds that it admits to membership supervisory employees and that
it holds agreements with other employers which include supervisory
employees in rank and file units. However, the evidence introduced
by the Petitioner fails to establish the existence in the industry of a
UNION BUS DEPOT, PEORIA 637
custom of inclusion of such employees. It further contends that cer-
tain depot or terminal managers in Class "C" and "D" stations are
customarily included in the same units with other terminal employees.
In this respect it appears that the Peoria depot apparently would
qualify as a Class "A" depot under the Employer's standards by reason
of the volume of business and the number of employees. But in any
event, we have heretofore excluded terminal managers with similar
Junctions from similar units., Accordingly, for the reasons stated
above and on the basis of the entire record, we shall exclude the
terminal manager from the appropriate bargaining unit.
Manager travel and tour: The manager travel and tour has charge
of the tourist trade and long distance bus business, and sells hotel
reservations. He devotes approximately 90 percent of his time to
this work and about 10 percent to instructing ticket agents as to fares
and schedules for long distance bus trips. He may make recommenda-
tions as to changes in managerial policies in his department and
effectuate such policies insofar as they relate thereto. His earnings
are 10 percent higher than are those of the ticket agents. Although
he presently works behind the ticket counter, the Employer is in the
process of constructing a separate office for him, and intends to engage
clerical help to assist him in the event this portion of the business
increases. When he is on duty during the absence of the terminal
manager, he is in charge of the depot, during which time he may make
recommendations as to the discipline of employees. Although there
is no assistant manager as such, the manager travel and tour is re-
garded as the assistant or acting manager in the absence of the terminal
manager, by the terminal manager and the employees. In these
circumstances, we are of the opinion that he is a supervisory employee,
within the meaning of the Board's customary definition. Accord-
ingly, we shall exclude the manager travel and tour from the appro-
priate bargaining unit.
Head baggage agent: This employee has charge of the baggage and
express room and supervises two baggage agents. Although the head
baggage agent, like his two subordinates, is assigned to a specific shift
of the three daily shifts, his hours are generally irregular because
of his added responsibilities. About 65 percent of his time is spent
in performing manual labor and the balance of his time is devoted
to supervision and his other responsibilities. He has the individual
responsibility of tracing lost baggage and handling claims for dam-
aged baggage. He also instructs baggage agents as to the computation
of rates and as to their attitude toward customers. It is also apparent
Matter of Santa Fe Trails Transportation Company, 52 N L R B 895 Matter of Santa
Fe Transpos tation Company, 52 N L R B 1172 , Matter of Greyhound Terminal of Loais-
viile, Inc . 55 N L R B 949
638 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
that the head baggage agent may effectively recommend the hiring and
discharging of employees., Under all the circumstances, we are con-
vinced that the head baggage agent is a supervisory employee within
our customary definition of that term. Accordingly, we shall exclude
him from the unit.
Head porter: The head porter devotes approximately 75 percent of
his time to manual labor and the balance of his time to overseeing
five porters. He instructs them as to the proper manner of performing
their duties and generally supervises their work. The head porter
appears to have the authority to recommend the hiring and discharg-
ing of employees. Accordingly, we shall exclude him as a supervisory
employee.
Terminal auditor: The terminal auditor works at a desk adjacent
to the ticket counter. He has charge of the Employer's records and
bookkeeping, prepares financial statements, and makes monthly com-
parisons. As part of his duties he assists the bookkeeper, inspects the
records kept by ticket agents as to accuracy, and devotes not over 10
percent of his time to instructing ticket agents as to methods of
record-keeping. Although he may make reports to the terminal
manager as to the records kept by the ticket agents, such reports
apparently relate to the ticket agents' work and not to the employees
themselves. It does not appear that the terminal auditor has any of
the authority usually associated with supervisory employees. Accord-
ingly, we shall include him within the appropriate unit.
Bookkeeper: The bookkeeper works in the terminal manager's
office where she keeps the records and books of the Employer. She
prepares reports and maintains records containing confidential in-
formation relating to the Employer's business. However, in the
normal course of her duties her work is not associated with matters
pertaining to labor relations. Inasmuch as the bookkeeper does not
occupy a confidential status within the meaning of the Board's cus-
tomary definition of that term, we shall include her in the appropriate
unit.3
We find that all employees at the Employer's Peoria, Illinois, bus
terminal, including the terminal auditor and the bookkeeper, but
excluding the terminal manager, manager travel and tour, head
baggage agent, and head porter, and all other supervisory employees
with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise
affect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend
2 Although he has had no occasion to do so for the reason that he has been with the Em-
ploTem only 2 months, the record discloses that the Employer dismissed a baggage agent
upon the recommendation of his pi edecessor
1 _lfatte) of The Barrett Divicio it, Allied Chemical & Dye Corporation, 65 N L R B 903;
Mattel of Cieameiy Pockage Manufacturing Company (Luke Mills Plant), 34 N L. R. B.
I fit]
UNION BUS DEPOT, PEORIA 639
such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Union Bus Depot, Peoria,
operated as a joint enterprise by Black Hawk Motor Transit Company,
Burlington Transportation Company, and The Santa Fe Trail Trans-
portation Company, 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, cinder the direction and supervision of the Regional
Director for the Thirteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for
the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections 203.55
and 203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations,
Series 4, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in
Section IV, above, who were employed, 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 temporarily laid off, and including employees in
the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person
at the polls, but excluding 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 Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship
Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employees, A. F. of
L., for the purposes of collective bargaining.
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