Mariner Steamship Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 23, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 772 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter Of MARINER STEAMSHIP COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
SEAFARERS INTERNATIONAL UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL,
PETITIONER
Case No. 2-RC-635.-Decided November 23, 1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held before a
hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing
officer's rulings made at the hearing 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-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act
2. The labor organization named below claims to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The following employees of the Employer constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act: All unlicensed personnel on board the
S. S. Annibal, including the deck crew, the engine room employees,
and' the employees in the steward's department, but excluding
pursers, radio operators, and supervisors, as defined in the Act.
5. The Employer contends that the petition should be dismissed
because the S. S. Annibal may be laid up or even sold after she com-
•Houston, Reynolds, and Murdock.
3 The Employer owns and operates a tank vessel known as the S. S. Annibal which has
been under trip charter to the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey . The vessel trans-
ports oil between various ports in the United States and foreign ports. During the past
year , the S S. Annibal yielded a gross revenue of more than $50,000 to the Employer.
80 N. L. R. B., No. 120.
772
MARINER STEAMSHIP COMPANY 773
pletes her present voyage since the vessel's charter from the Standard
Oil Company of New Jersey terminates at that time and the Employer
has been unsuccessful in his attempts to secure another charter. At
the hearing, the president of the Employer testified that the last word
he had had from the S. S. Annibal was that it had left Baytown, Texas,
on September 16, 1948, with a cargo of oil and that he did not know
the vessel's destination. In its brief before the Board, filed on Septem-
ber 27, 1948, the Employer stated that it had recei*d information
that the S. S. Annibal was about to enter a United States port at that
time. Although the future operations of the S. S. Annibal appear to
be uncertain, the vessel has not yet been laid up or its crew discharged.
We shall therefore order an election at this time. However, it is
presently impossible to fix a date for holding the election as the
itinerary of the S. S. Annibal is not known. We shall, therefore,
direct the Regional Director to conduct the election when he deems
it appropriate.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Mariner Steamship Company,
Jersey City, New Jersey, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted
as early as possible on a date to be determined by the Regional Direc-
tor for the Second Region, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of
the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5,
as amended, 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 on which the Regional Director
issues the notice 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 Seafarers International Union of North America, AFL.