Hillman Transportation Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 16, 1944

59 N.L.R.B. 1104 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of HILLMAN TRANSPORTATION COMPANY and NATIONAL
MARITIME UNION OF AMERICA, CIO
Case No. 6-R-1052.-Decided December 16, 1944
Mr. John E. Laughlin, Jr., of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Company.
Mr. Hyman Schlesinger, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the NMU.
Mr. Herbert C. Kane, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by National Maritime Union of America,
CIO, herein called the NMU, alleging that a question affecting com-
merce'had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Hill-
man Transportation Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for
an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Jerome L. Black, Trial
Examiner. Said hearing was held at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on
November 16, 1944. The Company and the NMU 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 an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Hillman Transportation Company, a Pennsylvania corporation, a;
wholly owned ,subsidiary of Hillman Coal and Coke Company, is
engaged in the operation of various vessels carrying freight and
passengers between Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
During the past 12 months, the Company carried approximately
5;500,000 tons of materials, of which about 17 percent was shipped from
I At the time of the hearing the Company operated four vessels, namely : J. H. Hillman,
J. M. Leithead, A. B. Sheets , and Henry Roemer; the last is not presently operating.
59 N. L. R. B., No. 197.
1104
HILLMAN TRANSPORTATION COMPANY 1105
points outside the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to points within the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; from points within the Common-
wealth of Pennsylvania to points outside the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania; and from points without the Commonwealth of Penn-
sylvania to points in a State other than the Commonwealth of Pennsyl-
vania and other than the State of its origin.
The Company admits, for the purpose of this hearing, that it is
engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
National Maritime Union of America, affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to mem-
bership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION .
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the NMU as the
exclusive bargaining representative of employees engaged in unli-
censed occupations until the NMU has been certified by the Board in
an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicated that the NMU represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
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 NMU requests a unit comprising all of the employees on the
vessels of the Company who are engaged in unlicensed occupations.
The Company does not contest the appropriateness of the proposed
unit.
We find that all employees engaged in unlicensed occupations on the
vessels of the Company, including watchmen and stewards, constitute
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.3
2 The Field Examiner reported that the NMU submitted 38 authorization cards ; that
there were 50 employees in the appropriate unit ; and that the cards were dated 1 in June
1944, 2 in July 1944, 4 in August 1944, 19 in October 1944 , and 12 undated . None of
the cards was dated in the usual sense, the dates referred to being the postmark date
used in mailing them to the NMU. Those designated as undated were not sent through
the mail.
8 This is substantially the same unit as was found appropriate by the Board in Matter
of Hillman Transportation Company, 29 N. L. R. B. 332. In that case the Board included
mates in the appropriate unit. At the time, mates were not required to be licensed, as
they now are . See also Matter of Brown and Company, et al., 59 N. L. R. B. 285.
1106 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 the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direc-
tion.
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 representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Hillman Transpor-
tation 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,-under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Sixth 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
the 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, including employees who did not work dur-
ing the said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or
temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of
the United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but
excluding any 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 or not they, desire to be represented by National
Maritime Union of America, CIO, for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining.