Hillman Transportation Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 17, 1942

41 N.L.R.B. 1047 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Mattel' of HILLMAN TRANSPORTATION COMPANY and NATIONAL
MARINE ENGINEERS BENEFICIAL ASSOCIATION , AFFILIATED WITH THE
C.I.O.
Case No. R-3885.-Decided June 17,194
Jurisdiction : towboat operations industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question:
refusal to accord petitioner recognition until certified by the Board ; election
necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all licensed engineers on all the
Company's towboats ; chief engineer of the line excluded over Company's
objection.
Thorpe, Bostwick, Reed d Armstrong, by Mr. Kenneth G. Jackson,
of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Company.
Mr. Thomas Boylan, Mr. R. E. Goforth, and Mr. W. H. Griffith, of
'Pittsburgh, Pa., for the M. E. B. A.
Mr. Robert E. Tillman, of counsel tb the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by National Marine Engineers Beneficial
Association, affiliated with the C. I. 0., herein called the M. E. B. A.,
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning
the representation of employees of Hillman Transportation Company,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, herein called the Company, the National
Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due
notice before Lowry Whittaker, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was
held at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on May 25, 1942. The Company
and the M. E. B. A. appeared, participated, and were afforded full op-
portunity 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.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
41 N. L. R. B., No. 194.
1047
1048 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Hillman Transportation Company, a Pennsylvania corporation, is
a wholly owned subsidiary of Hillman Coal and Coke Company. The
Company is engaged in the business of building ships, vessels or boats,
and carrying persons or property thereon as a private carrier. At
present, the Company operates four river towboats. In the course
of its business, the Company's boats travel from Morgantown, West
Virginia, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and from Pittsburgh to Toron-
to, Ohio. During the year 1941, the Company transported in excess
of 3,000,000 tons of materials, of which approximately 15 percent was
shipped across State lines.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Labor Relations Act.
IT. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
National Marine Engineers Beneficial Association, affiliated`-with--
the C. I. 0., is a labor organization admitting to membership licensed
engineers employed on the Company's towboats.'
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The parties stipulated that a question of representation affecting
commerce had arisen in that the Company has refused to recognize the
M. E. B. A. as the exclusive bargaining representative of the Com-
pany's licensed engineers, until the M. E. B. A. has been so certified
by the Board.
A,comparison by the Trial Examiner of cards submitted by the
M. E. B. A. with a pay roll of the Company indicates that the M. E.
B. A. represents a substantial number of employees in the unit herein-
after 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.
I We further find, contrary to the suggestion of the Company , that Local 30, the Pitts-
burgh local of the M E B A., is a labor organization , within the meaning of the Act.
2 The Trial Examiner stated that the M . E B A. submitted to him 4 authorization cards,
6 application -for-membership cards, and 1 transfer card, a total of 11 cards ; that 3 of the
authorization cards were duplicated by 3 application -for-membership cards , thus leaving
a total of 8 unduplicated cards; that of these 8 cards , 7 bore apparently genuine , original
signatures , all of which were names of persons listed on the Company 's pay roll for May
22, 1942 , which contained the names of 10 employees in the unit hereinafter Pound
appropriate.
HILLMAN TRANSPORTATION COMPANY 1049
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The parties stipulated that the appropriate unit should consist of
the licensed engineers upon all the Company's towboats. The sole
dispute between the parties concerns Frank P. Silliman, chief engineer
of the line, the M. E. B. A. contending that Silliman should be excluded
from the unit because he is employed in a supervisory capacity, and
the Company contending that he is not supervisory and should be
included.
The Company employs a total of 11 licensed engineers. Each of its
towboats is staffed with two licensed engineers, namely, a chief engi-
neer and an assistant. In addition, the Company has a chief engineer
and an assistant engineer who act as relief men for its four towboats.
The remaining engineer is Silliman, who is classified by the Company
as chief engineer of the line, and characterized by the M. E. B. A. as
a port engineer.
Silliman's position -may be distinguished from that of the other
engineers by the fact that he is stationed ashore, whereas the others
are engaged in the active operation of the towboats. His duties are
to supervise the repair of all the boats when they are in port. Occa-
sionally, this. necessitates his traveling up or down river to where a
boat may be laid up. In this work he has no assistants. In an
emergency he is subject to call to go on active duty on a boat for a
week or 10 days. The manager of the river department of the Com-
pany, in speaking of Silliman, described him as follows :
He-. is the chief engineer of all the boats, over all the engineers,
meaning he is our first man.
Thus, Silliman has the power to recommend that chief engineers be
discharged, and the nature of Silliman's work renders him to some
extent a representative of the management in its dealings with the
engineers. He confers with the several engineers concerning their
respective problems, gives them advice, and reports back to the man-
agement.
Although Silliman receives the same pay as the chief engineers,
and his hours are approximately the same, we are of the opinion and
find that the foregoing facts pertaining to his position are of control-
ling weight, and require his exclusion from the unit.
We find that all licensed engineers on all the Company's towboats,
excluding the chief engineer of the line, constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the Act.
1050, 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 means of an election by secret ballot among
the employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the,
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of our Direction o_f
Election, subject to the limitations and additions set forth therein.
In conducting the election, the Regional Director shall determine
at his discretion the exact time, place, and procedure for giving notice
of the election and for balloting on each of the Company's river tow-
boats, provided, however, that each towboat shall Ibe posted with a
notice of election.3
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 Rela-
tions Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as
amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain the repre-
sentatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Hillman
Transportation Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 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 of Election, under
the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Sixth
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and
Regulations, among all employees-of the Company 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 who did not work during such pay-roll period because-
they were ill or on vacation or in the active military service or train-
ing of the United States, or temporarily laid off, but excluding those
employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to deter-
mine whether or not they desire to be represented by National Marine
Engineers Beneficial Association, affiliated with the C. I. 0., for the
purposes of collective bargaining.
See Matter of Fligman Towing Company and Inland Boatmen'8 DiVi8ion of National
Maritime Union, 32,N. L R. B. 102.