Watson Brothers Transportation Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 30, 1950

89 N.L.R.B. 71 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter Of WATSON BROTHERS TRANSPORTATION COMPANY, INC.,
EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MAOHINISTS, LODGE
No. 606, IND., PETITIONER
Case No. 30-RC-261.-Decided March 30,1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Clyde F. Waers,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and
Murdock].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists cJncerning 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.
At the hearing the Employer moved to postpone because it was then
expanding the maintenance staff at its Denver Terminal, whose em-
ployees are the subject of this petition. The hearing officer overruled
this motion with leave to renew at the end of the hearing. In its
brief the Employer, in effect, renewed its previous motion by urging
the Board to dismiss the petition without prejudice until a represent-
ative group of employees has been hired.
It is noted, however, that the evidence given at the hearing on Feb-
ruary 21, 1950, by the Employer's Denver manager shows that a full
staff of 20 to 23 in the Denver maintenance department was antici-
pated, "conservatively," within 60 days, that all 8 divisions contem-
plated in the department had at the time of the hearing been set up
and each was manned by an employee, and that no additional divisions
89 NLRB No. 5.
71
72 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
were contemplated although it was expected that some of the then em-
ployees would be chosen as supervisors of their respective divisions.
As a third of the prospective group was employed at the time of the
hearing and constituted a representative operation, and as the employ-
ment of the remainder of the group was imminent, we find that an
election should be held, at a time to be set by the Regional Director
when, in accord with out usual practice, no less than 50 percent of those
in the unit found appropriate are employed.'
4. The following employees of the Employer constitute a unit ap-
propriate for purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the Act :
All employees in the maintenance department of the Employer's
Denver shop 2 including mechanics, washers and greasers, but exclud-
ing office and clerical employees, truck drivers, warehousemen, and
supervisors 3 as defined in the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case
was heard, at a time to be set by him in accordance with paragraph
numbered 3, above, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of Na-
tional Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the em-
ployees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above,
who were employed during the payroll period immediately preceding
the date of the election, including employees who did not work during
said payroll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily
laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been dis-
charged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the
date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are
not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they desire
to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Interna-
tional Association of Machinists, Lodge No. 606, Independent.
I See the Board 's disposition of the petitions for powerhouse employees in Westinghouse
Electric Corp., 85 NLRB 1519.
2 We think the hearing officer appropriately allowed the Union to amend its unit defini-
tion at the hearing by inserting the words "all employees in the maintenance department
of the Denver shop" in clarification of its petition for "all mechanics , washers and greasers"
employed at Denver.
3 Those employees who, at the time of the election , are exercising supervisory powers
within the meaning of Sec. 2 ( 11) of the Act are to be excluded from the unit ; otherwise
they are to be included. See Chrysler Corp., 80 NLRB 334, 336.