Capital Motor Lines

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 20, 1946

68 N.L.R.B. 139 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of CAPITAL MOTOR LINES and AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION
OF STREET, ELECTRIC RAILWAY AND MOTOR COACH EMPLOYEES OF
AMERICA, DIVISION 1258, A. F. OF L.
Case No. 10-R-1789.-Decided May 20, 1946
Mr Alexander E. Wilson, Jr., of Atlanta, Ga., for the Company.
Messrs. Frederic Meyers and W. E. Whitt, of Atlanta, Ga., for the
Amalgamated.
Mr. Paul Chipman, of Atlanta, Ga., Mr. Jack H Crunk, of Birming-
ham, Ala., Mr. W. H Johnson, of Sheffield, Ala., and Mr J B. Holt,
of Florence, Ala., for the I. A, M.
Mr Melvin T Welles, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Amalgamated Association of Street,
Electric Railway and Motor Coach Employees of America, Division
1258, A. F. of L., herein called the Amalgamated, alleging that a ques-
tion affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of
employees of Capital Motor Lines, Montgomery, Alabama, herein called
the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice before M. A. Prowell, Trial Ex-
aminer. The hearing was held at Birmingham, Alabama, on April 12,
1946. The Company, the Amalgamated, and International Association
of Machinists, Lodge 1189, herein called the, I. A. M., 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 prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were
afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
68 N. L R. B., No. 18.
139
140 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Capital Motor Lines, an Alabama corporation with its principal offices
and place of business at Birmingham, Alabama, is engaged in the trans-
portation of passengers, mail, express, and miscellaneous items between
points in Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. The Company has an
annual income in excess of $500,000, of which more than 20 percent is
derived from interstate traffic.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Amalgamated Association of Street, Electric Railway and Motor
Coach Employees of America, Division 1258, is a labor organization
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, admitting to member-
ship employees of the Company.
International Association of Machinists, Lodge 1189, is a labor or-
ganization , admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Amalgamated
as the exclusive bargaining representative of the Company's maintenance
employees until the Amalgamated 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 Amalgamated represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
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
The Amalgamated requests a single unit of all the Company's main-
tenance workers, exclusive of supervisory employees. On the other hand,
i The Field Examiner reported that the Amalgamated submitted 19 authorization cards in its
alleged appropriate unit of 27 employees . The I. A . M submitted 10 authorization cards,
of which 6 bore the names of employees in its alleged appropriate unit at Montgomery,
Alabama, consisting of 15 employees and 4 bore the names of employees in its alleged
appropriate unit at Florence, Alabama , consisting of 12 employees.
CAPITAL MOTOR LINES 141
the I. A. M. desires to represent the same employees in two separate
units, one limited to the Montgomery, Alabama, garage, and the other
to the Florence, Alabama, garage. The Company takes no position with
respect to the appropriate unit.
The Company maintains two garages, at Florence, Alabama, and at
Montgomery, Alabama, respectively, approximately 340 miles apart. The
maintenance employees in both garages perform the same work, have
the same hours and rates of pay, and are paid from the same office in
Montgomery, Alabama. Some interchange of employees takes place be-
tween the two garages.2 Hospitalization and group life insurance benefit
plans are available to all employees alike. The Montgomery and Florence
garages have a single general shop supervisor, and between them contain
all maintenance employees of the Company.
The Amalgamated contends that a single or system-wide unit is ap-
propriate, maintaining that the drivers of the Company are already
organized on that basis, and that drivers, station employees, and main-
tenance employees are represented on the basis of system-wide units
wherever organized by the Amalgamated throughout the transportation
industry.3 Although the I. A. M. contends that its organizational activi-
ties have always been on a garage-by-garage basis, it concedes that follow-
ing initial organization garages have been, as a rule, consolidated into
system-wide units. Inasmuch as both unions are in a position to rep-
resent all employees involved herein,- constituting all the maintenance
employees of the Company, on a system-wide basis, and considering the
degree of integration between the two garages and the prior organiza-
tion of the Company's drivers on a system-wide basis, it is our opinion
that a single unit embracing all maintenance employees is practicable
and will ensure to the Company's employees the most effective represen-
tation for collective bargaining purposes.
We find that all maintenance employees of the Company, excluding
all supervisory 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.
1 Three employees have been permanently transferred from one garage to the other in the
past 5 years, and temporary transfers occur as the need arises
3 With regard to the practice of the Amalgamated in the industry , generally, the record
shows that in two companies drivers, station employees and maintenance men constitute a
single unit; in three instances drivers and maintenance men constitute one unit; in one
instance drivers and station employees are one unit; and in one situation drivers constitute a
unit. In all instances , however, the unit concerned is system -wide in scope
4 The I . A. M.'s showing of interest herein indicates that it represents six employees in the
Montgomery , Alabama, garage and four employees in the Florence, Alabama, plant. See
footnote 1, supra.
142 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 im-
mediately 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 Relations 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 representatives
for the purposes of collective bargaining with Capital Motor Lines,
Montgomery, Alabama, 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 Tenth 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 employed during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, includ-
ing 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 they
desire to be represented by Amalgamated Association of Street, Electric
Railway and Motor Coach Employees of America, Division 1258, A. F.
of L., or by International Association of Machinists, Lodge 1189, for
the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.