Republic Transport Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 16, 1954

110 N.L.R.B. 1908 (N.L.R.B. 1954)

1908 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
this basis 7 Yet the importance of the role which the supply of food
frequently plays in the industrial scene has been frequently examined
and set forth by qualified commentators." This is particularly true
during periods of maximum industrial activity.
The Second World War put extraordinary demands upon the
restaurant industry. As hundreds of thousands of war workers
flocked into industrial centers, the existing food facilities were
taxed to the utmost; armaments manufacturers discovered that
they could not keep a stable labor force on the job without pro-
viding cafeterias to serve meals right within the walls of the
factory. [Emphasis supplied.] °
The sizable number of industries supplying such facilities within the
plant even in peacetime and the continual increase in that number are
a testimonial to the importance which industry gives to the provision
of food as a factor in the production of goods for commerce.10 It
would seem appropriate, accordingly, for the majority to either recog-
nize these facts and provide for the assertion of jurisdiction over such
industrial caterers or note plainly and clearly the reasons for refusing
to do so.
Accordingly, for the reasons set forth in our Breeding Transfer and
Hogue and Knott opinions as well as for those set forth herein, we
must dissent from the standards for assertion of jurisdiction over
restaurant operations here applied.
7 In Maytag Aircraft Corp. 110 NLRB 594, the majority of the Board, in adopting the
new standard as to enterprises engaged in national defense work, indicated disapproval
of a prior decision in Coburn Catering Company , 100 NLRB 1133 In the Coburn case, the
Board asserted jurisdiction over a catering company which supplied the only practical
source of food for almost 27,000 employees of an aircraft plant
8 See, for example , Management of Personnel & Labor Relations, Watkins, Dodd,
McNaughton , Prasow, 2nd Ed , McGraw Hill, pp 834-836
8 Human Relations in the Restaurant Industry, Whyte, W. F., McGraw Hill, p. 5 For
other sources to the same effect , see The Feeding of War Workers , Princeton University,
Department of Economics and Social Institutions
10 See Company Food Services, Studies in Personnel Policy No . 104, National Industrial
Conferences Board, Inc.
W. R. MOTE AND T. R. BARTELS, D/B/A REPUBLIC TRANSPORT COMPANY
and GENERAL DRIVERS, WAREHOUSEMEN & HELPERS, LOCAL UNION
No. 968, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS,
WAREHOUSEMEN & HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER. Case
No. 39-RC-860. December 16,1954
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National La-
bor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Wilton Waldrop, hear-
ing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
110 NLRB No. 247.
PARKER BROTHERS & COMPANY, INC. 1909
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer has its principal office in New York, New York,
and maintains branch offices in 10 cities, located in 7 States, each of
which operates as an intrastate cartage service at its location. Only
the Houston, Texas, branch of the Employer's operations is involved,
in this proceeding. The. volume and source of the annual receipts of
the Houston, Texas, branch are not indicated in the record, but the
parties stipulated that during the preceding year the Employer's ag-
gregate receipts totaled about $1,500,000, of which in excess of $1,350,-
000 was received from one Republic Carloading and Distributing Co.,
Inc., for the intrastate transportation of goods which it delivered to
the Employer. Republic Carloading and Distributing Co., Inc., is an
interstate carrier which during the preceding year received approxi-
mately 30 million dollars for its services in shipping products through-
out the United States. The facts stipulated by the parties demonstrate
that the Employer is a link in the chain of interstate commerce. As
the annual income which the Employer receives for services which
constitute a part of interstate commerce totals in excess of $100,000,
we find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning
of the Act, and that it will effectuate the policies of the Act to assert
jurisdiction over the Employer's operation.'
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain
employees 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 parties stipulated, and we find, that the following employees
of the Employer constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All truckdrivers and their helpers at the Employer's Houston, Texas,
branch office, excluding office employees, plant clerical employees,
guards, watchmen, supervisors as defined in the Act, and all other
employees.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
1 Breeding Transfer Company, 110 NLRB 493.
PARKER BROTHERS & COMPANY, INC. and SHELL WORKERS' INDEPEND-
ENT UNION, PETITIONER. Case No . 39-RC-791. December 16,
1954
Supplemental Decision and Order
On June 2, 1954, pursuant to a "Stipulation for Certification Upon
Consent Election," the Board conducted an election among the em-
110 NLRB No. 227.