Bussard Taxi and Bus Service

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 7, 1949

81 N.L.R.B. 1181 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of BIISSARD TAxI AND Bus SERVICE,1 EMPLOYER and
GERALD HICBMAN, PETITIONER
Case No. SO-RD-6.Decided March 7,1949
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. 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 finds :
1. The Employer operates the only local bus company servicing
Englewood, Lakewood, and Westwood, Colorado, all suburban resi-
dential communities adjacent to the City of Denver, and having popu-
lation totals ranging between 9,000 and 13,000 inhabitants. In addi-
tion thereto the Employer provides the only local bus service for the
more distant Colorado communities of Longmont and Trinidad,
Colorado?
The Employer annually transports 150,000 passengers in Englewood,
100,000 in Lakewood, and 110,000 in Westwood. In the performance
of this service, the Employer has 7 scheduled routes which operate
throughout these municipalities, and which terminate at, or have
junction points with, the terminals of the Denver Trainway Company,
which is the principal transit system in the city of Denver. The Em-
ployer also operates the only scheduled bus line between Englewood
and Fort Logan, a veteran's hospital, with a stop at a railroad station
en route.
In furtherance of its operations, the Employer uses 17 busses, 14
taxicabs, 3 rental cars, and 2 utility cars. During 1947, the Employer
purchased busses and taxicabs valued at $10,900, as well as replace-
1 On April 9, 1947, the Regional Director, as a result of a cross -check of cards, certified
Local 435 of the Delivery and Taxicab Drivers as bargaining agent . The present action is
a decertification case.
1 While the only operations of the Employer directly involved herein are those in the
communities of Englewood, Lakewood, and Westwood, Colorado , we shall, for purposes
of jurisdiction, consider the operations of the Employer from an over-all point of view.
81 N. L. R. B., No. 182.
1181
1182 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ment parts valued at $10,000. All busses were purchased outside the
State as were replacement parts for them, whereas all taxicabs and
their replacement parts were purchased within the State.
In conjunction with its other operations, the Employer also operates
the only fleet of taxicabs (14) in Westwood which haul in Westwood
and Denver a total of approximately 9,000 passengers annually. Of
this number, a substantial number are hauled from Westwood into
Denver proper. In the course of its operations, the Company's taxis
haul passengers to the railroad, bus, and air terminals, in the usual
proportions for a community the size of Westwood.
The Employer also operates, independent of its other operations,
the only local bus routes in Trinidad and Longmont, Colorado. Trini-
dad, with a population of 14,000, is approximately 120 miles south of
Denver, and 10 miles north of the New Mexico border. It is the center
of a coal mining and sheep and cattle raising region. The principal
industries therein are factories which manufacture macaroni, cheese,
upholstery, brooms, candles, beer, and metals. Longmont, with a popu-
lation of 8,000, is approximately 30 miles north of Denver, and 70 miles
south of the Wyoming border. It is a marketing center for irrigated
sugar beet, and is principally a fruit and farm area; but it also has
some manufacturing, including a sugar factory, canning plant, and
flour mills.
The Employer admits, and we find, that it is engaged in, or its op-
erations affect, commerce within the meaning of the Act. We further
find that the effect of the Employer's operations upon commerce is
immediate and substantial and that it will effectuate the policies of
the Act to assert jurisdiction in this case involving the transportaion
industry.3
2. No question exists concerning the representation of employees
of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Sec-
tion 2 (6) and (7) of the Act for the following reasons:
Neither the Petitioner nor the Chauffeurs and Taxi Cab Drivers,
Local 775, a successor to Local 435, affiliated with the International
Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers
of America, AFL, herein called the Union, appeared at the formal
hearing herein, although duly served with notice thereof. At the
hearing, the evidence disclosed that the Petitioner is no longer an
employee of the Employer. We construe the Petitioner's conduct in
absenting himself from the hearing, and his failure, subsequently, to
inform the Board of a valid reason therefor, as a disclaimer of in-
8 See Matter of Gate City Transit Linea, Inc., 81 N. L. R. B. 79 , and cases cited
therein.
BUSSARD TAXI AND BUS SERVICE 1183
terest.4 However, as the petition clearly shows that the Petitioner
was acting as agent of certain employees who, in the absence of fur-
ther notice, have had no opportunity to move that a qualified agent
acting on their behalf be substituted for the Petitioner in this pro-
ceeding, we shall dismiss the petition without prejudice.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the entire record in this case, the National Labor
Relations Board hereby orders that the petition filed in the instant
matter, be, and it hereby is, dismissed without prejudice.
MEMBERS HOUSTON and MURDOCK, dissenting :
Although we agree with the dismissal of this petition, because
the Petitioner failed to appear at the hearing, and thus disclaimed any
interest in the proceeding, we must note our dissent from the holding
of the Board which asserts jurisdiction in this matter. We are con-
vinced that the effect on commerce of the operations involved in this
case is so insubstantial and remote, being entirely local in character,
that it will not effectuate the policies of the Act to take jurisdic-
tion here.
4 Matter of Hartsville Manufacturing Company, 79 N. L. R. B. 206.