Dayton Transport Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 8, 1984

270 N.L.R.B. 1114 (N.L.R.B. 1984)

DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Dayton Transport Corporation and Teamsters Local
No. 171, affiliated with International Brother-
hood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen
and Helpers of America, Petitioner. Case 5-
RC-12050
8 June 1984
DECISION ON REVIEW AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
BY CHAIRMAN DOTSON AND MEMBERS
ZIMMERMAN AND HUNTER
On 29 September 1983 the Regional Director for
Region 5 issued a Decision and Direction of Elec-
tion in the above-entitled proceeding, in which he
found appropriate for collective-bargaining the Pe-
titioner's requested unit of all drivers, mechanics,
mechanic helpers, and shop employees employed
by the Employer at its Montvale, Virginia terminal.
Thereafter, in accordance with Section 102.67 of
the National Labor Relations Board Rules and
Regulations and Statements of Procedure, the Em-
ployer filed a timely request for review of the Re-
gional Director's decision. The Employer contend-
ed that the Regional Director made erroneous fac-
tual findings and departed from officially reported
precedent, and that the only appropriate unit was a
"system-wide" unit including all three of its termi-
nals.
The Board, by telegraphic order dated 3 Novem-
ber 1983, granted the request for review and stayed
the scheduled election.
The National Labor Relations Board has delegat-
ed its authority in this proceeding to a three-
member panel.
The Board has considered the entire record in
this case with respect to the issues under review,
and makes the following findings.
The Employer is engaged in interstate and intra-
state transportation of bulk commodities including
chemicals and dairy and petroleum products from
its three terminals-Montvale, Dayton-Harrison-
burg, and Front Royal-all located in Virginia.
Corporate headquarters are located in the Dayton-
Harrisonburg terminal, which is approximtely 110
miles north of Montvale and approximately 65
miles south of Front Royal along an axis connected
by Interstate Route 81. Approximately 23 employ-
ees work at Dayton-Harrisonburg, 27-29 at Mont-
vale, and 35 at Front Royal. There has been no
bargaining history for any of these employees since
the Employer began its operations in 1973.
The Petitioner is seeking to represent a unit of
employees at the Montvale terminal. The Regional
Director found the evidence insufficient to over-
come the presumption favoring the single-location
270 NLRB No. 167
unit, and directed an election in the petitioned-for
unit. We find, contrary to the Regional Director,
that the single-location unit presumption has been
rebutted and that only a systemwide unit com-
prised of employees at all three terminals is appro-
priate.
The Employer's president (Robert Windsor),
vice president (Glenn Rippeon), and safety director
(W. H. Wahl) all hold these same positions in the
Employer's parent corporation, Hahn Transporta-
tion. While these officers have an office at Dayton-
Harrisonburg, it appears they operate mainly from
Hahn's offices in New Market, Maryland, where
centralized records are kept. Rippeon testified that
he is in charge of general overall operations includ-
ing personnel and administrative responsibilities,
while Windsor oversees all equipment and mainte-
nance aspects of the operations. The Dayton-Harri-
sonburg and Montvale terminals each have a resi-
dent terminal manager plus a dispatcher, while the
terminal manager at Front Royal also acts as the
dispatcher.
The operations of the three terminals are highly
integrated and administratively centralized. Person-
nel files for all employees are kept at Dayton-
Harrisonburg, with duplicate files at individual ter-
minals. Timecards and driver logs are maintained
at the separate terminals for 30 days then sent to
Dayton-Harrisonburg to be audited. This informa-
tion is sent to New Market where the centralized
payroll is prepared and issued biweekly on the
same day to all terminals. Rippeon sets uniform
wages for the terminal employees throughout the
system, although the individual terminal managers
may have some input in upgrading an employee's
work rate, and all merit increases are determined
by the Employer's board of directors (Windsor,
Rippeon, and Windsor's wife, who is the Employ-
er's treasurer). All employees share uniform fringe
benefits including life insurance, medical coverage,
sick leave, profit sharing, vacation-holiday leaves,
Christmas bonus, expense allowance, moving al-
lowance, and uniforms.
Work and disciplinary rules are set by the board
of directors and are uniformly applied to all em-
ployees. The board of directors establishes uniform
safety rules, and a review board, consisting of
Windsor, Wahl, and a state policeman, reviews and
investigates all accidents and incidents involving
safety, abuse of equipment, missed deliveries, spills,
etc. The Employer holds an annual driving rodeo
for all employees and their families, with the
winner being sent to a statewide competition.
Applications for driving jobs are accepted at the
individual terminals and interviews are conducted
by the terminal managers who, in turn, send a
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DAYTON TRANSPORT CORP.
group of applications to headquarters where final
hiring determinations are made.' All drivers must
be at least 23 years of age and have had 1 year's
experience. References, background, and any crimi-
nal reports are checked according to Department
of Transportation requirements. Rippeon testified
that, in an "emergency" (which he described as a
sudden change such as resignation or retirement), a
terminal manager may hire an employee for a pro-
bationary period of 90 days. An employee's date of
hire is used to determine vacation time on a sys-
temwide basis, but Rippeon testified that seniority
is not considered in making daily work assign-
ments. Further, the record shows that when layoffs
or temporary transfers have occurred at the Mont-
vale terminal (due to its clients' seasonal cement
hauling business) they have not necessarily been
done on a seniority basis.
Routine discipline is handled by the individual
terminal managers, but any problem which may
result in suspension or discharge is handled by Rip-
peon or Windsor. In the event neither Rippeon nor
Windsor can be reached, the terminal manager may
temporarily suspend the employee. Terminal man-
agers may grant daily leave but longer periods of
leave must be approved by headquarters.
All of the tractors used by the Employer are
interchangeable and both drivers and equipment
are switched from terminal to terminal as needed.
A terminal manager "shops needs" over the Em-
ployer's telephone "hot lines," and drivers fre-
quently are temporarily assigned to work from ter-
minals other than those where they are permanent-
ly stationed. This often occurs where more than a
10-hour or 450-mile trip is necessary to complete
the job, as the Employer's drivers, by Government
regulation, cannot exceed those limits in 1 day.
Thus, a driver from one terminal will drop a load
at the next terminal to be picked up by a driver
there, and the first driver may be dispatched, ap-
parently after a rest, on another run from the inter-
mediate terminal. If a driver is temporarily assigned
to another terminal for a period of time, the Em-
ployer provides travel and living allowances. All
drivers come under the supervision of the particu-
lar terminal manager who dispatches them, and
such authority includes the power to recommend
suspension or discharge. Rippeon testified that
drivers were interchanged between the 3 terminals
approximately 400-425 times in the past 12 months.
Further, although major equipment repairs general-
ly are done at the Dayton-Harrisonburg terminal,
mechanics have been interchanged between all ter-
minals as needed.
I The record is silent as to the hiring procedures for other positions
included in the unit sought.
In addition to regular temporary transfers of
drivers, there have been some permanent transfers
between facilities. The Dayton-Harrisonburg dis-
patcher transferred to Front Royal to become the
terminal manager, and a few mechanics have per-
manently transferred their home terminals. When
the Front Royal terminal opened, five Dayton-
Harrisonburg drivers transferred, but only two re-
mained there as permanent employees.
In concluding that the evidence was insufficient
to overcome the presumptive appropriateness of
the single-location unit, the Regional Director
relied on the lack of prior collective-bargaining his-
tory, the wide geographic separation of the termi-
nals, the permanent complement of employees at
each terminal, and the lack of substantial or signifi-
cant permanent interchange of employees between
terminals. He further found the individual terminal
managers had the authority to run the terminals on
a daily basis, issue disciplinary warnings, and assign
runs. Lastly, the Regional Director found that the
"so-called emergency situations" (in which a termi-
nal manager was authorized to hire) covered the
majority of situations.
We disagree with the Regional Director, and
find that the highly integrated nature of the Em-
ployer's operation, Windsor's and Rippion's author-
ity with respect to personnel and labor relations
matters, and the frequent temporary interchange of
drivers and equipment outweigh the factors relied
on by the Regional Director. Further, the interests
of the employees of each terminal appear to be ef-
fectively merged into the more comprehensive sys-
temwide unit, so that the terminals may be said to
have lost a significant portion of their individual
identity. Thus, the presumptive appropriateness of
a single location unit is rebutted. See White Castle
System, 264 NLRB 267 (1982); Orkin Exterminating
Co., 258 NLRB 773 (1981).
Windsor and Rippeon have final authority on all
personnel decisions including hiring, suspensions,
terminations, and promotions. All labor relations
policies, work rules, and safety policies are set by
them and are applied uniformly throughout the
system. While it is clear from the record that the
terminal managers have day-to-day authority to
"shop needs" and dispatch drivers, the rest of their
authority is routine and lacks substantial autonomy.
Further, it is undisputed that all records are cen-
tralized and that administration of the Employer's
operations is centrally controlled by its officers
from the New Market location. While it is true the
three terminals are not in close geographic proxim-
ity, neither are they that distant-being a total of
175 miles apart along a direct axis on Interstate
Route 81. Moreover, the nature of the Employer's
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DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
operations itself renders the distance factor less
critical since many hauls pass through more than
one terminal in route to final destination, and often
with a change of driver en route. Lastly, although
there has been very little permanent interchange of
employees between terminals, the similarity of
skills and the high frequency of interchange of
drivers on a short-term or temporary basis, with
the resultant direct supervision of those employees
by the terminal manager from the point of dis-
patch, demonstrate a shared community of interest
among employees as well as an integration of oper-
ations which render the requested single-location
unit inappropriate. 2
i J. Heber Lewis 011 Co., 123 NLRB 1115 (1959); Southern Truck Line,
107 NLRB 615 (1953).
As the Petitioner has indicated its desire to rep-
resent the unit we have determined to be appropri-
ate, in accordance with our usual practice we shall
provide the Petitioner a reasonable period of time,
not to exceed 10 days, from the date of this Deci-
sion on Review in which to demonstrate the requi-
site showing of interest among the following em-
ployees, whom we find comprise a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of the Act.
All drivers, mechanics, mechanic helpers and
shop employees employed by the Employer at
its Montvale, Front Royal Dayton-Harrison-
burg terminals, excluding office clerical em-
ployees, dispatchers, guards and supervisors as
defined in the Act.
[Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
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