Norfolk Southern Bus Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 15, 1945

60 N.L.R.B. 630 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of NORFOLK SOUTHERN Bus CORPORATION and BROTHER-
HOOD OF RAILROAD TRAINMEN
Case No. 5-R-1776.-Decided February 15; 1945
Messrs. S. Burnell Bragg and Arthur J. Winder, of Norfolk, Va., for
the Company.
Mr. James W. Brennan, of Long Island City, N. Y., for the Union.
Mr. Bernard Goldberg, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen,
herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce
had arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Norfolk
Southern Bus Corporation, Norfolk, Virginia, herein called the Com-
pany, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate
hearing upon due notice before Earle K. - Shawe, Trial Examiner.
Said hearing was held at Norfolk, Virginia, on January 10 and 11,
1944. The Company and the Union 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 . At the hearing, the Company moved to dismiss the petition.
For reasons stated hereinafter, the said motion is hereby denied. The
Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju-
dicial 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
Norfolk Southern Bus Corporation, a Virginia corporation, is a
wholly owned subsidiary of the Norfolk Southern Railway Company
and is engaged in the transportation of passengers and freight for hire
60 N. L . R. B., No. 117.
630
NORFOLK SOUTHERN BUS CORPORATION 631
between certain cities and towns in the eastern sections of Virginia and
North Carolina. All of the operations of the Company are subject
to the public utility laws of the States of Virginia and North Carolina
as well as to the regulations of the Interstate Commerce Commission.
During the calendar year 1944, the Company transported approxi-
mately 4,000,000 passengers on its busses, of whom about 30 percent
were transported across State lines.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, unaffiliated, is a labor organi-
zation admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to recognize the Union as the bargaining
representative of any of its employees on the ground that the unit
sought to be represented by the Union is too restricted in scope.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter 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.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit comprising all bus drivers and conductors
of the Virginia division, excluding bus cleaners, mechanics, transpor-
tation clerks, road men or inspectors, dispatchers and bus' masters.
The Company contends that an appropriate unit should include the
bus drivers of both its North Carolina and Virginia divisions; it would
also exclude conductors.
The Company's bus operations are organized into two divisions,
known respectively, as the Virginia division, which comprises routes
confined, with one exception, to the State of Virginia, and the North
Carolina division, which includes routes in the two States of Virginia
and North Carolina, with the greater part of the runs in the latter
State. For certain purposes, the two divisions are treated by the Com-
pany as distinct entities. Each division, for example, has its own
1 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 35 authorization cards ; that
the names of 34 persons appearing on the cards were listed on the Company 's pay roll for
the first half of November 1944 , which contained the names of 63 employees in the appro-
priate unit ; and that the cards were all dated in November 1944.
632 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
seniority list,z so that if a driver transfers from one division to the
other, he does not carry his seniority with him but goes to the bottom
of the seniority list in his new division. Each driver or conductor
is definitely assigned to one division or 'the other and among regular
drivers there is very infrequent interchange on a permanent basis; in
case of emergency, a regular driver in one division may, on a purely
voluntary basis, accept a run in the other division. Further, each divi-
sion is in charge of a separate bus master.
While the factors adverted to indicate the propriety of a division
unit, there are other considerations which point up the equal propriety
of a company-wide unit : wages and working conditions are the same
for employees throughout the system; all busses are serviced at the
same garage; the dispatcher at Norfolk acts in his capacity for the two
divisions; and general administration and employment policies are
handled centrally. However, the Union has limited its organizational
activities to employees of the Virginia division since those in the North
Carolina division have indicated their hostility to the Union and there
is no present possibility of organizing the latter division.3 In view
of the foregoing, and in the absence of any bargaining history, we are
of the opinion that at this time a unit confined to employees of the
Virginia division is appropriate.` We do not thereby preclude future
reconsideration of the appropriateness of a larger unit, should or-
ganization of the Company's employees be extended.
The Union desires to include in the unit conductors who work on
trailer type busses and in general perform duties similar to those of
street car conductors. The Company objects to their inclusion prin-
cipally on the ground that the trailer type bus will be abandoned
on the termination of the war and the job of conductor will be abol-
ished. Notwithstanding the fact that an employee's position may
cease to exist at some time in the indefinite future, such employee
has the same present right of self-organization under the Act as
has any other employee.' The conductors work closely with the bus
drivers, receive the same pay and have the same working conditions
as the latter. Since the conductors have a community of interest with
the drivers, we shall include them in the unit.
We find that all bus drivers and conductors of the Virginia divi-
sion, excluding bus cleaners, mechanics, transportation clerks, road
men or inspectors, dispatchers, bus masters and all other supervisory
employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively ree-
2 The seniority lists are used in bidding for routes.
' Practically all of the drivers in the North Carolina division signed a petition indicating
that they do not desire to be represented by the Union.
4 Cf Matter of Newnan Cotton Mills, 57 N L. R. B 917.
5 Matter of Major Aircraft Foundry, 57 N. L R. B. 734.
NORFOLK SOUTHERN BUS CORPORATION 633
ommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section, 9 (b) of the
Act.
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
employees 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 Direction.
The Company employs a number of part-time drivers and con-
ductors who have regular employment elsewhere. The Union urges
that all part-time employees be declared ineligible to participate in
the election since they do not acquire seniority with the Company.
The latter, while agreeing generally with the Union's position, asserts
that an exception should be made in the case of city firemen, whom
it considers part of its permanent staff. For a number of years the
Company has been utilizing firemen employed by the city of Norfolk
on a part-time basis. The firemen work every other day for the Com-
pany with the permission of city officials; G they get the same rate of
pay as other employees similarly situated and are subject to the same
working conditions. As a general principle employees who do suf-
ficient work to give them an interest in the conditions of employment
also have a sufficient interest in the outcome of an election to entitle
them to vote therein. We believe this principle to be no less applicable
in the case of regular part-time employees who also happen to have
regular employment elsewhere. We shall, therefore, permit all regu-
lar part-time employees of the Company to vote in the election.'
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 Re-
lations 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 represent-
atives for the purposes of collective bargaining with the Norfolk
Southern Bus Corporation, Norfolk, Virginia, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty
O During the December 16-31, 1944, pay period, the city firemen worked an average of
about 75 hours for the Company.
7Matter of Wagner Folding Boa Corporation, 49 N. L. R. B. 346; Matter of The New
Britain Machine Company, 48 N. L. R. B 263; Matter of Armour Creameraes, 51
N. L. R. B. 28.
634 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
(30) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Fifth 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 Regula-
tions, 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 during 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, and regular part-time employees, 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 Brotherhood of Railroad Train-
men, for the purposes of collective bargaining.