Houston Terminal Warehouse & Cold Storage Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 4, 1953

107 N.L.R.B. 290 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

290 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
WE WILL NOT enforce the union- security clause in our present contract with Local
496, International Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs , Warehousemen & Helpers
of America , A. F. L.
All our employees are free to become or remain members of any labor organization. We
will not discriminate in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term or condition
of employment against any employee because of membership in or activity on behalf of any
labor organization.
CHECKER TAXI COMPANY,
Employer.
Dated ............... By........... ...................................... .. ....... ............. .
(Representative) (Title)
This notice must remain posted for 60 days from the date hereof, and must not be altered,
defaced, or covered by any other material.
HOUSTON TERMINAL WAREHOUSE & COLD STORAGE COM-
PANY, Petitioner and GENERAL DRIVERS, WAREHOUSE-
MEN & HELPERS , LOCAL NO. 968, AFL . Case No. 39-RM-
29. December 4, 1953
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before John F. Burst,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the Act.
2. General Drivers, Warehousemen & Helpers, Local No.
968, AFL, is a labor organization claiming to represent
employees of the Employer.
3. The alleged question concerning representation:
,At the hearing, the Employer-Petitioner stated: that it did
not question the majority status of the Union in a residual
unit of refrigeration engineers and checkers , and agreed to
bargain with the Union without an election, as the representa-
tive of those employees whom the Board found to be nonsuper-
visory. The Employer contends that only three refrigeration
engineers may properly be included in the unit, and that the
chief refrigeration engineer and all the checkers must be
excluded as supervisors. The Union asserts that neither the
checkers nor the chief engineer are supervisors.
The Employer operates a warehouse for the storage of food
products and other merchandise , including the cold storage of
frozen and perishable goods. It receives and forwards ship-
ments of merchandise by rail and truck; it employs approxi-
mately 50 laborers in the movement and storing of the goods
at the docks and around the warehouse. The laborers are
107 NLRB No. 83.
HOUSTON TERMINAL WAREHOUSE & COLD STORAGE COMPANY 291
supervised by 2 foremen in charge of the dry- and cold-storage
departments. The foremen in turn are responsible to superin-
tendents. The checkers are the receiving and shipping clerks
who check incoming and outgoing shipments against appropriate
documents and, in connection therewith, supervise loading
and unloading at the warehouse docks. This supervision is
limited principally to informing the laborers of the cars or
trucks to be handled and the order of their loading. The
laborers are at all times under the supervision of their
foremen. We believe that the direction exercised by the
checkers over the warehouse laborers is routine in nature,
not requiring the use of independent judgment.' Furthermore,
on the infrequent occasions when a checker has complained of
a laborer's work, the decision as to the discipline to be im-
posed has been made by one of the foremen or superintendents
only after independent investigation. We find that the checkers
are not supervisors as defined by the Act.
Although the chief engineer stands his shift alone, it is
clear that he is in charge of the refrigeration department. He
orders the necessary supplies, schedules the work to be done
by the engineers on the other shifts, and has been authorized
to hire and discharge the engineers in his department. We
therefore find that the chief refrigeration engineer is a
supervisor.2
In view of the Petitioner's admission as to the Union's
majority status in a unit composed of checkers and refrigera-
tion engineers, and its statement that it does not desire an
election, we find that no question affecting commerce exists
concerning the representation of employees of the Petitioner,
within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and
(7). 3
[The Board dismissed the petition.]
Member Peterson took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Order.
iPalmer Manufacturing Company, 106 NLRB No 119. See also Pacific Metals Company.
Ltd., 91 NLRB 696, where the Board said: "Allocation of warehouse work among warehouse-
men seldom requires the exercise of independent judgment required of a supervisor as
defined in Section 2 (11) of the Act."
2 Memphis Cold Storage Warehouse Company, 91 NLRB 1404
3See WKBH Inc., 81 NLRB 63; Merrill-Stevens Dry Dock & Repair Company, 79 NLRB 962;
Lake Tankers Corporation, 79 NLRB 442.