Central Wisconsin Motor Transport Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 20, 1949

85 N.L.R.B. 287 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of CENTRAL WISCONSIN MOTOR TRANSPORT COMPANY,
EMPLoyER and OFFICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION, LOCAL
No. 95, A . F. OF L., PETITIONER
Case No. 18-RC-362.-Decided July 200, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Max Roten-
berg, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hear-
ing 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 [Chairman Herzog .and Members
Reynolds and Gray].
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 involved claims to represent employees
of the Employer.
.3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen-
tation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit consisting of the office
employees of the Employer's Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, office,
excluding supervisors as defined in the Act. The Employer contends
that the only appropriate unit for its office employees would be one
consisting of all its six offices located in various cities of the States of
Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois.
The Employer, a Wisconsin corporation, is engaged in the interstate
trucking business, with its principal office and terminal located in Wis-
consin Rapids, Wisconsin. It also maintains terminals in Appleton,,
Madison, Milwaukee, and Beaver Dam, Wisconsin; in Minneapolis,
Minnesota; and Chicago, Illinois; and branch offices in each of these:
terminals except Beaver Dam. The office employees of the Wisconsina
Rapids office are separately supervised by an office supervisor,. who
has charge only of these office employees and reports directly to the
85 N. L. It. B., No. 54.
287
288 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Employer's president. The office employees of the branch offices are
supervised by the terminal managers, who have charge of all the em-
ployees in their terminals including the truck drivers, and who also
report to the Employer's president. The terminal managers have
complete authority to hire and discharge the employees under their
supervision.
In support of its contention that the unit sought by the Petitioner
should be denied, the Employer points to the system-wide integration
effected through control of. all truck movements by the Employers'
president at Wisconsin Rapids and his brother who heads the Chicago
office; a similarity in the pay rates for the office employees of its various
offices; and certain interchange among its office employees. It is clear,
however, that the employees of the various offices are separated by
great distances 1 and that there is little contact between the office
workers. Although there have been some inter-office transfers, the
average office employees have not been subject to transfer. Those
transfers which have occurred have involved a few of the older and
exceptionally skilled employees, who have been assigned for limited
periods, in cases of emergency, to work with and guide the regular
employees of other offices.2
The record indicates that the Employer has bargained with its over-
the-road truck drivers under a multi-employer contract covering all
its terminals. However, the Employers' local pick-up and delivery
drivers, although they are also represented under multi-employer
contracts, are bargained for in separate local units consisting of the
local terminal employees and employees of other employers in the
particular area in which the terminal is located. There is no bargain-
ing history between the Employer and its office employees.
As the history of bargaining by the Employer with its nonoffice
employees does not appear to be conclusive of the broader unit for
which the Employer contends, and in view of the separate supervision
and geographical separation of the Wisconsin Rapids terminal office,
together with the limited nature of the interchange among office em-
ployees, we believe that a unit limited to the employees of the Wisconsin
Rapids office is appropriate.8
We find that all office employees of the Employer's Wisconsin
Rapids, Wisconsin, terminal office, excluding supervisors as defined in
the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for purposes of collective bar-
gaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
2 The distances from Wisconsin Rapids to the branch terminals vary from 86 to 250 miles.
2 There have been approximately 10 such transfers between the various terminal offices
within the last 5 years.
8 Matter of Northwest Freight Lines , Inc., 84 N. L . R. B. 223.
CENTRAL WISCONSIN MOTOR TRANSPORT COMPANY
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
289
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
30 days from the date of tjiis Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Eighteenth Region, and
subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found
appropriate in paragraph 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 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, and also excluding employees on strike who
are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they
desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Of-
fice Employees International Union, Local No. 95, A. F. of L.