Skyview Transportation Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 15, 1950

90 N.L.R.B. 1895 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of LILLIAN JACOBS, MIRIAM JACOBS, MARY HARRIS, AND'
TINA ZORovICH , D/B/A SEYvIEW TRANSPORTATION Co.; ATLANTIC
TAXI CORP. GULF TAXI CORP.; PACIFIC TAXI CORP.; NORTHERN
TAXI CORP.; AND BEACON TAXI CORP., EMPLOYER and LOCAL 643,
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WARE-
HOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. f RC-1505.-Decided August 15,1950
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Merton C. Bernstein, hear-
ing 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 makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
The Employer 2 is engaged in the taxicab transportation business
in the City of New York, New York. Its sole garage and office is
located within New York City. It operates a total of 198 taxicabs
driven by approximately 600 drivers.
The Employer's present fleet of taxicabs was purchased in 1947
for $422,010. These taxicabs were manufactured in Michigan and
were purchased pursuant to a contract executed in New York City,
with the James E. Waters Corporation, which has an exclusive agency
agreement with the Detroit fabricator, Waters Manufacturing Co., Inc.
The serial and motor numbers of the cabs which were to be shipped
to the Employer were wired to the Employer before the taxicabs left
1 The Employer 's request for oral argument is denied inasmuch as we believe the issues
and positions of the parties were adequately presented in the record and the briefs.
2 The Skyview Transportation Company, a partnership , operates and maintains all the
taxicabs owned by the above-named corporations . All employees are carried on the pay-
roll of Skyview . It was stipulated by the parties that the Skyview Company and the
corporations named in the caption are one employer for the purpose of this proceeding.
90 NLRB No. 268.
1895
1896 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Michigan . Freight charges were paid by the Employer . The, normal
life of a taxicab in New York City is approximately 2 years.
Taxicab tires are rented by the Employer on a mileage basis from
the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company , an Ohio manufacturer. The
taxicabs are purchased without tires and the rented tires are sent from
'Ohio to Michigan to be placed on newly purchased cabs. Tire replace-
ments are ordered from Ohio by the -Employer through the lessor's New
York representative and are shipped from Ohio directly to the Em-
ployer's garage . Between 15 and 20 percent of the Employer's tire
rental is for tires which are recapped in New York City and are
rented at the same rates from the same manufacturer. An employee
of the Ohio manufacturer is stationed full-time at the Employer's
;garage to service rented tires. The Employer is billed from Ohio
and remits directly to Ohio. In 1948, the Employer paid $42,024.33 in
tire rentals to the Firestone Company:
Approximately 40 percent of the Employer 's purchases of parts
and accessories is made directly from out-of -State manufacturers who
ship directly to the Employer. Of the remaining 60 percent of such
purchases which is made through jobbers within New York State,
approximately four-fifths entail direct shipments to the Employer
from out-of-State manufacturers. Purchases of parts and accessories
for 1948 totaled $102,103.70.
Gasoline is purchased through a New York City taxicab operators'
cooperative from Standard Oil of New Jersey. Greases are pur-
chased from the Cities Service Oil Company. The. products origi-,
nate outside the State . Purchases of these items , and also of oil,
antifreeze , and alcohol , for the last 9 months of 1949 amounted to
$237,953.29.
The Employer has no carrier or terminal concessions and makes no
trips outside the State of New York . 'For the first 9 months of 1949,
its gross revenue amounted to $1,666,619 . 25. A statistical analysis of
the Employer 's trip cards for the week of January 8-14, 1950, was
made by the Regional Office of the Board. The study reveals that
approximately 6.4 percent of the entries were trips to or from estab-
lished points of ingress and egress from New York State , by estab-
lished rail , bus, air, and water transportation lines. The Employer
made its own partial analysis of the same cards ' which showed that
approximately 7.3 percent of the trips were to points of ingress and
egress.
SKYVIEW TRANSPORTATION CO. 1897
The Employer, as well as the Petitioner, contends that it is engaged
in a business which affects interstate commerce. While we believe
that the Employer's business is not entirely unrelated to interstate
commerce, we are of the opinion that its operations are essentially
.local in character and that to assert jurisdiction in this case would not
effectuate the policies of the Act .3 Accordingly, we shall dismiss
the petition.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition filed herein be, and it hereby
is, dismissed.
MEMBER REYNOLDS, dissenting :
I would assert jurisdiction over the operations of the Employer
herein. It operates 198 cabs all of which were purchased without the
State of New York. All of its tires and a substantial percentage of
its repair parts are likewise obtained from without the State of New
York. Although unlike the Yellow Cab Company of California 4 it is
not the solely licensed taxi company in the City of New York, its
operations grossed over a million and a half dollars in the first 9
months of 1949, and a tabulation of its trip cards show that not less
than 6.4 of its trips were made to the terminals of other common car-
riers. Because of the foregoing facts and the reasons set forth in my
dissenting opinion in the Yellow Cab Company of California case,
supra, I would assert jurisdiction herein.
a See Brooklyn Cab Corporation, 90 NLRB No. 267, and Yellow Cab of California, 90
NLRB No. 266, issued this date. Cf. Taxicabs of Cincinnati, Inc. (Ferguson Division), 82
NLRB 664; Yellow Cab Company, 88 NLRB 282; Hickey Cab Company, 88 NLRB 327; in
each of these cases , some trips directly across State lines were made.
4 90 NLRB No. 266.