Brooklyn Cab Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 15, 1950

90 N.L.R.B. 1898 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of BROOKLYN CAB CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and LOCAL
643, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS,
WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 2-RC-1501.-Decided August 15, 1950
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
'Relations Act, a hearing was held before Merton C. Bernstein, 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 this case the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
The Employer is engaged in the operation of taxicabs in New York
City. It operates a total of 6 taxicabs driven by approximately 16
drivers. The Employer is a tenant in a garage and office located
within New York City and maintains no other place of business.
The Employer's gross revenue. received for the period from March 1,
1949, to September 30, 1949, totaled $44,792.60. The Employer's
cabs make no out-of-State trips.
The Employer began operations on April 1, 1948, when it purchased
a going business which included the six cabs which it now operates.
At the time the Employer purchased the business, the six cabs were on
order from the James F. Waters Corporation, which has an exclusive
sales agency with the Detroit, Michigan, fabricator, Waters Manu-
facturing Co., Inc. The Employer accepted delivery of the cabs in
New York City. No other cabs have been purchased by the Employer,
nor does it contemplate any such purchases in the near future.
Taxicab tires are rented by the Employer on a mileage basis from
the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, an Ohio manufacturer.
The Employer is billed from Ohio and remits to Firestone's Ohio and
New York City offices. Firestone makes daily deliveries and pickups
90 NLRB No. 267.
1898
BROOKLYN CAB CORPORATION 1899
:at the Employer's garage. Firestone maintains retread shops in the
Bronx and Brooklyn and a. mileage shop in Manhattan. New tires
.are shipped directly from out-of-State to the Firestone mileage shop
and distributed to customers from there. The Employer's tire rental
for the period of March 1, to September 30,1949, amounted to $691.44.
Taxicab repairs are made by the operator of the garage used by the
Employer. Some of the parts purchased are made outside the State
of New York. The garage operator, the Roebner Operating Com-
pany, makes all purchases for the Employer of oil and gasoline, and
such products as Sinclair and Esso gasoline, Quaker State, and Wolfs-
head Oil are used. Two other taxicab companies operate from the
same garage as that used by the Employer. Each company pays its
proportionate share of gasoline and oil use, as well as a percentage
of maintenance equivalent to the number of cabs each company op-
erates. The Employer's expenditures for parts and repairs, including
labor costs, from March 1, 1949, to September 30, 1949, amounted to
$3,772. The Employer purchased gasoline during this same period
amounting in value to $5,708.65.
A statistical analysis of the Employer's trip cards for the weeks of
.January 8-14 and 15-21, 1950, was made by the Regional Office of the
Board. The study reveals that approximately 61/2 percent of the en-
tries were trips to or from established points of ingress or egress from
New York, by established rail, bus, air, and water transportation lines.
Both the Employer and the Petitioner contend that the Employer's
business affects commerce. While we believe that the Employer's
business is not entirely unrelated to interstate commerce we are of the
opinion that its operations are essentially local in character and .that
to assert jurisdiction in this case would not effectuate the policies of
the Act.' Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petition.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition filed herein be, and it hereby
is, dismissed.
' See Yellow Cab Co. of Calif., 90 NLRB ' No. 266 ; and Skyview Transportation Co., et al.,
90 NLRB No. 268, issued this date . Cf. Taxicabs of Cincinnati , Inc. (Ferguson Division),
82 NLRB 664; Yellow Cab Company, 88 NLRB 282; Hickey Cab Company, 88 NLRB 327;
In each of these cases some trips directly across State lines were made.
1900 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
MEMBER REYNOLDS , concurring specially :
Unlike the businesses which were before the Board in the Yellow
Cab Company of California 2 and the Skyview cases 3 decided this.day,
the operation herein is a small one which is not an important part of
the transportation facilities of the City of New York. I would there-
fore, like my colleagues, apply the doctrine of de minimis and refuse
to assert jurisdiction herein.
2 90 NLRB No. 266.
a Lillian Jacobs, Miriam Jacobs, Mary Harris, and Tina Zorovich , 4/b/a Skyview Trans-
portation Co.; Atlantic Taxi Corp .; Gulf Taxi Corp.; Pacific Taxi Corp .; Northern Taxi
Corp.; and Beacon Taxi Corp ., 90 NLRB No. 268.