Central Swallow Coach Lines, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 29, 1949

82 N.L.R.B. 487 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of CENTRAL SWALLOW COACH LINES, INC., EMPLOYER
and DIVISION 1211, AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION OF STREET , ELECTRIC
RAILWAY AND MOTOR COACH EMPLOYEES OF AMERICA , A. F. OF L.,
PETITIONER
Case No. .35-RC-153.-Decided March 2.9, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
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.
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.*
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 named below claims to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks to represent the Employer's bus drivers.
The Employer moves to dismiss the petition on the ground that the
only appropriate unit for its bus drivers is a multi-employer unit,
which would also include the bus drivers of Suburban Lines, Inc.,
Indianapolis Transit Company, Inc., and Transit Service Company,
Inc.
1 The Employer moves to dismiss the petition on the following grounds : (1) that the
unit sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate and (2 ) that no election may be held in
this proceeding, as an earlier election covering the same employees was held within the
preceding 12-month period . We find no merit in these contentions. As to ( 1), our reasons
are set forth in paragraph 4, below. As to (2) no valid election has been held among
these employees during the preceding 12-month period , in that a consent election, held
on April 27, 1948, among employees in an agreed multi-employer unit, including em-
ployees of the Employer, in Case No 35-RC-50, was set aside by the Regional Director,
the petition withdrawn, and no further action taken . Matter of NAPA New York Ware-
house, Inc., 76 N. L. R. B. 840.
'Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Gray.
82 N. L. R. B., No. 57. 487
Ogg DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
This Employer, and Suburban Lines, Inc., Indianapolis Transit
Company, Inc., and Transit Service Company, Inc., are engaged in
the transportation of passengers by bus between terminals in Indiana.
Transit Sales Company operates a garage in Indianapolis for main-
taining, repairing, and storing the vehicles of the other four com-
panies, for which it also purchases materials and equipment. All five
companies use the same general office and terminals, located in In-
dianapolis, and share the expenses thereof jointly. They are subject
in a large degree to common control and management, as shown by
the fact that seven individuals presently serve as the officers, directors,
and stockholders in all five companies. One general manager is in
charge of the operations, maintenance and labor relations of all these
companies. Accounting for all five companies is centralized under
one auditor, who prepares separate accounts for each. Each com-
pany files separate tax returns and maintains a separate pay roll for
its drivers.
The conditions of employment are essentially the same for drivers
of each company. Drivers are paid at the same rate, have the same
hours of work, and enjoy the same vacation, insurance, pension, and
bonus privileges. One dispatcher assigns extra drivers from a com-
mon extra board to any company requiring them. Each company,
however, maintains its own seniority system. There is no interchange
of regular drivers among the several companies.
There has been no history of collective bargaining on a multi-
employer basis. There has been no history of collective bargaining
for employees of the Employer on a single-employer basis 2
In view of some bargaining history on a single-employer basis and
none on multi-employer basis as well as the separate seniority and lack
of interchange among regular bus drivers of the several companies,
we are of the opinion that, contrary to the contention of the Employer,
the Employer's drivers may constitute a separate appropriate unit,
apart from employees of the related companies .3 We will include in
the unit all regular full-time drivers employed by the Employer.4
We find that all regular bus drivers of the Employer, excluding
extra drivers, part-time drivers, dispatchers, all other employees, and
supervisors, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
' Employees of the predecessor to Suburban Lines, Inc., and employees of Indianapolis
Transit Company bargained in single -employer units before these companies came under
common control.
3 Matter of Illin -t Coach Company , et at., 80 N. L. R. B. 273.
4 The Petitioner would include in the unit two part-time drivers who spend a part of
the day driving , but the greater part of the day working in the garage of Transit Sales
Company. The record is not clear that any but regular bus drivers have any substantial
employment interest in the unit herein found appropriate . We will therefore not permit
the part-time drivers to vote in this Central Swallow unit.
CENTRAL SWALLOW COACH LINES, INC . 489
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, a separate election
by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later
than 60 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case
was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among
the employees of the Employer in the unit found appropriate in para-
graph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election,
including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period
because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but ex-
eluding 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, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled
to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they desire to be repre-
sented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Division 1211,
Amalgamated Association of Street, Electric Railway and Motor
Coach Employees of America, A. F. of L.