Southgate-Nelson Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 2, 1937

4 N.L.R.B. 307 (N.L.R.B. 1937)

In the Matter Of SOUTHGATE-NELSON CORPORATION and AMERICAN
RADIO TELEGRAPHISTS' ASSOCIATION
Case No. R-312.-Decided December 2, 1937
Shipping Industry-Investigation of Representatives : controversy concerning
representation of employees : refusal by employer to recognize union as ex-
elusive representative until certified by the Board-Unit Appropriate for Collec-
tive Bargaining : radio operators ; stipulation , no controversy as to-Representa-
tives: proof of choice : union assignment slips assigning union members to ves-
sels ; applications for membership in union ; receipts for dues paid to union-
Certefiicat2on of Representatives : upon proof of majority representation.
Mr. Reeves R. Hilton, for the Board.
Mr. W. F. Taylor, of Norfolk, Va., for the Company.
Mr. I. Duke Avnet and Mr. Edward W. Oja, of Baltimore, Md.,
for the A. R. T. A.
Mr. Warren L. Sharfmnan, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On May 15, 1937, American Radio Telegraphists' Association,
herein called the A. R. T. A., filed with the Regional Director for
the Fifth Region (Baltimore, Maryland) a petition alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa-
tion of employees of Southgate-Nelson Corporation, Norfolk, Vir-
ginia, herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation
and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act.
On September 13, 1937, the National Labor Relations Board, herein
called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and
Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and
Regulations-Series 1, as amended, directed an investigation and au-
thorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice. On the same day the Board,
acting pursuant to Article III, Section 10 (c) (2), of said Rules and
Regulations, ordered this case to be consolidated for purposes of hear-
ing with two other pending cases involving the Company.
On October 1, 1937, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear-
ing to be held at Baltimore, Maryland, on October 11, 1937, copies
307
308 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of which were duly served upon the Company and the A. R. T. A.
Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held on October 11, 1937, at
Baltimore, Maryland, before Robert M. Gates, the Trial Examiner
duly designated by the, Board. The Board, the A. R. T. A., and the
Company participated in the hearing, the first two being represented
by counsel and the latter by its president. Full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evi-
dence bearing upon the issues was afforded to all parties. During the
course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings on
objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed
the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial
errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
At the hearing, counsel for the Board referred to the testimony
of the president of the Company in previous cases l which dealt with
the business of the Company. The parties all agreed to incorporate
by reference the relevant testimony in the previous cases as a part of
the record in this case. -
Upon the basis 'of that evidence we found, and we hereby find,
as follows : -
The Company, a Virginia corporation having its principal office
and place of business in Norfolk, Virginia, is engaged in the man-
agement and operation of vessels for the transportation of freight 2
between Atlantic ports, the ports of the British Isles, and Hamburg,
Germany. Its ships also call at Halifax , Nova Scotia. The Com-
pany, which is privately owned and controlled, operates nine vessels,
all of which are owned by the United States Government, under an
operating agreement with the United States Government.8
'Matter of Southgate-Nelson Corporation and National Marine Engineers' Beneficial
Association ; Matter of Southgate - Nelson Corporation and American Radio Telegraphists'
Association, Baltimore Local No. b and David R. Crawford , Cases Nos . C-182 and C-185,
3 N. L. R . B. 535 , decided September 1, 1937.
2 The ships formerly carried an occasional passenger , but have now discontinued that
practice.
8 The agreement considered in the previous cases is no longer in effect The present
agreement which is in evidence as Board's Exhibit No . 3 is with the United States Mari-
time Commission . It was entered into on June 29, 1937, and remains in effect through
December 31, 1937. Mr . W. F. Taylor , president of the Company , on examination by the
Trial Examiner , testified as follows :
Q. How have your practices changed with respect to paying the men and with
respect to hiring and firing, if they have changed?
A. Under the new agreement I don't know of any change in the method of hiring
or discharging or paying as compared with the previous agreement . There is one
notable distinction between the two in that the Southgate -Nelson Corporation, under
this agreement , does not act for hire or profit as under the previous agreement.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 309
The Company operates as a common carrier transporting freight
which is paid for at regular ocean transportation freight rates and
is engaged in no other business than the operations mentioned above.
A chief and three assistant engineers- are employed on each of the
nine vessels. Each vessel carries at least one radio operator."
We find that the Company is engaged in traffic, commerce and
transportation between the United States and foreign countries, and
that the radio operators employed on the vessels are directly engaged
in such traffic, commerce, and transportation.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
American Radio Telegraphists' Association is a labor organization
which admits to membership marine radio operators employed by
the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Early in April 1937, the A. R. T. A. requested recognition as the
exclusive representative of the radio operators employed by the
Company on its vessels. On April 19, the Company received a simi-
lar request from the Commercial Telegraphers' Union, Marine Divi-
sion. The Company replied to the latter request in a letter dated
April 29, which stated that the Company had already received such
a request from another organization, but that it would be glad to
confer if the Comxnmercial Telegraphers' Union, Marine Division,
could show that it represented a majority of the radio operators on
the Company's boats. No answer to this letter was received. On
May 8, the Company entered into a temporary agreement with the
A. R. T. A., agreeing to recognize it as the exclusive representative
of the radio operators employed on the vessels of the Company upon
proper certification by the Board.
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Southgate-Nelson Corporation, and that this question
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The parties stipulated, and we find that, in order to insure to the
Company's employees the full benefit of the right to self-organiza-
tion and collective bargaining, and otherwise to effectuate the poli-
cies of the Act, the radio operators employed on the Company's ves-
sels constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and
other conditions of employment.
a The testimony at the present hearing disclosed that each vessel carries only one radio
operator.
310 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Company employs one radio operator on each of its nine
vessels. It failed to submit a pay roll list showing the names of the
radio operators it employed, although the president of the Company
agreed to do so. However, the acting secretary of the A. R. T. A:
named nine individuals, who he said were employed as radio oper-
ators by the Company and whom the A. R. T. A. claims to represent.
The president of the Company stipulated that five of the men so
named were employed as radio operators by the Company. The
A. R. T. A. introduced in evidence official A. R. T. A. assignment
slips for seven of the nine named individuals showing that they
had been permanently assigned to work on vessels of the Company.
Three of these assignment slips covered radio operators who were
not named as employees in the stipulation of the president. The.
authenticity of these slips was not questioned. We therefore find
that eight of the nine radio operators whom the A. R. T. A. claims
to represent for purposes of collective bargaining are employed by
the Company.
As evidence of its authority to represent the radio operators em-
ployed by the Company, the A. R. T. A. introduced, in addition to
the assignment slips, four applications for membership in the
A. R. T: A., and an authorization from an operator to act in his
behalf on all labor questions. This evidence covers five of the eight
radio operators whose employment by the Company is established as
indicated above. The Company stipulated that a sixth operator also
was represented by the A. R. T. A. Finally, the A. R. T. A. intro-
duced a series of receipts for the payment of dues to it by seven of
the operators.
We find that the A. R. T. A. has been designated and selected by
a majority of the employees in the appropriate unit as their repre-
sentative for the purposes of collective bargaining. It is, therefore,
the exclusive representative of all the employees in such unit for the
purposes of collective bargaining, and we will so certify.
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, and upon the
entire record in the matter, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Southgate-Nelson Corporation, Norfolk,
Virginia, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and
(7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The radio operators employed by Southgate-Nelson Corpora-
tion constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor.
Relations Act.
DECISIONS AtiD ORDERS 311
3. American Radio Telegraphists' Association is the exclusive rep-
resentative of all the employees in such unit for the purposes of
collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (a) of the
National Labor Relations Act.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
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 8, of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended,
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that American Radio Telegraphists' Asso-
ciation has been designated and selected by a majority of the radio
operators employed by Southgate-Nelson Corporation, Norfolk, Vir-
ginia, as their representative for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing, and that pursuant to the provisions of Section 9 (a) of the
Act, American Radio Telegraphists' Association is the exclusive
representative of all such employees for the purposes of collective
bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment,
and other conditions of employment.
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