Shippers Warehouse Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 3, 1945

63 N.L.R.B. 1394 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of SHIPPERS WAREHOUSE COMPANY and WAREHOUSE
& DISTRIBUTION WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA, A BRANCH OF INTER-
NATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN 'S AND WAREHOUSEMEN 'S UNION, AFFIL-
IATED WITH THE C. I. 0.
Case No. 16-R-1371.-Decided October 3, 1945
Messrs. R. G. Scurry and J. M. Moore, of Dallas, Tex., for the Com-
pany.
Mr. Sidney Cohen, of Dallas, Tex., for the C. I. 0.
Mr. Donald B. Brady, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
-
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Warehouse & Distribution Workers
Union of America, a branch of the International Longshoremen's
and Warehousemen's Union, affiliated With the C. I. 0., herein called
the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen
concerning the representation of employees of Shippers Warehouse
Company, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations
Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before
Glenn L. Moller, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Dallas,
Texas, on July 2, 1945. The Company and the Union appeared,and
participated. All partied were afforded full opportunity to be heard,
to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence
bearing on the issues. During the course of the hearing, the Com-
pany moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that the Union has
failed to make a substantial showing. The Company's motion is
hereby denied for reasons indicated in Section III. The Trial Exam-
iner'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
Shippers Warehouse Company, a Texas corporation, with its prin-
cipal office and place of business located at Dallas, Texas, is engaged
in warehousing of merchandise, principally baled cotton. The Com-
63 N. L. R. B., No. 215.
1394
SHIPPERS WAREHOUSE COMPANY 1395
pany's warehouse is located adjacent to the tracks of several rail-
roads. A large portion of the incoming and outgoing freight is car-
ried by these railroads.
During the year July 1, 1944, to July 1, 1945, the Company, in the
course of its operations, stored at its warehouse between 36,000 and
38,000 bales of cotton and received for warehousing approximately
15,000 bales, which originated within the confines of the State of
Texas. In the same fiscal year, the Company received at its ware-
house 10 to 15 carloads of sugar and approximately 7 carloads of liq-
uor, which came from points outside the State of Texas.
The Company shipped from its warehouse to points outside the
State some 4,000 bales of cotton and between 16 to 18 carloads of Coca-
Cola cartons during the same period. The cotton so shipped amounted
to approximately 25 percent in value of the total cotton handled and
had a value of approximately $200,000.
We find, contrary to its contention, that the Company is engaged
in commerce within the meaning of the Act."
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Warehouse & Distribution Workers Union of America, a branch
of the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor
organization admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of its employees until the Union
has'been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Field Examiner, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number
of employees 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. TILE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union alleges in its petition that the appropriate unit consists
of all production and maintenance employees of the Company's Dallas
1 Butler Bros . v. N. L. R B. and N., L It. B. v. Butler Bros., et al., 134 F. ( 2d) 891
(C. C A. 7), cert denied 320 U. S. 789; see also Matter of Hill Grocery Company, Inc.,
52 N. L . R. 13. 544.
2 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 11 authorization cards, all of
which bore apparently genuine original signatures ; that the names of all persons appearing
on the cards were listed on the Company 's pay roll of May 25, 1945, which contained the
names of 29 employees in the appropriate unit ; and that the cards were dated April and
May 1945.
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1396 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
plant excluding clerical and supervisory employees. The Company
agrees that the unit thus described is appropriate. The parties are
further apparently agreed, and we find, that the maintenance man or
handy man, the sweeper, the foreman or strawboss,3 and the shipping
and receiving clerk are included in the unit. The only controversy
concerns the Company's two watchmen, whom the Union would in-
clude and the Company would exclude.
The two watchmen employed by the Company guard the warehouse
at night and on Sundays. They are armed, but not uniformed or
deputized. We shall include them in the unit, in accordance with our
customary policy 4
We find that all production and maintenance employees in the
Company's Dallas warehouse, including the maintenance man, the
strawboss, the shipping and receiving clerk, watchmen and the sweeper,
but excluding office clerical employees, and all supervisory employees
with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise
effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend
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 em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
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 Shippers Ware-
house Company, Dallas, Texas, 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 supervision of
the Regional Director for the Sixteenth Region, acting in this matter
as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to
8 The foreman or strawboss is merely a leadman and it is apparent that he performs no,
duties which are supervisory in nature.
4 Matter of Dortch Stove Works, 52 N. L. R. B. 1450. Matter of Pittsburgh Limestone
Corporation, 53 N. L. R. B. 810. Matter of Duval Texas Sulphur Company, 53 N. L. R. B.
1387.
V
SHIPPERS WAREHOUSE COMPANY 1397
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 during
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
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, to
determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Warehouse
& Distribution Workers Union of America, a branch of the Interna-
tional Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, affiliated with the
Congress of Industrial Organizations, for the purposes of collective
bargaining.