American Commercial Barge Line Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 9, 1959

122 N.L.R.B. 885 (N.L.R.B. 1959)

AMERICAN COMMERCIAL BARGE LINE COMPANY 885
American Commercial Barge Line Company; Commercial Trans-
port Corporation ; Blaske , Inc. and National Maritime Union
of America, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case No. 14-RC-3459. Janu-
ary 9, 1959
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Walter A. Werner,
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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-
member panel [Members Rodgers, Bean, and Fanning].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain
employees of the Employers.
3. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the represen-
tation of employees of the Employers within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9(c) (1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks to represent in a single unit all unlicensed
employees employed on the towboats of American Commercial Barge
Line Company' and its wholly owned subsidiaries, Commercial
Transport Corporation2 and Blaske, Inc' The Employers contend
that the unit sought is inappropriate. Commercial further con-
tends that a unit comprising its unlicensed personnel would be
appropriate.
The Employers are engaged in inland water transportation by
towboats and barges. American and Blaske operate on the Mis-
sissippi River and its tributaries, and on the Illinois waterways as
common carriers under regulation by the Interstate Commerce
Commission, and as unregulated contract carriers. Commercial
operates solely as an unregulated contract carrier on the Missis-
sippi River system and the Inter-Coastal Canal which runs along
the gulf coast.
American controls the business policy of Blaske and Commercial
by means of interlocking directors and officers. American has its
main office at Jeffersonville, Indiana; Blaske and Commercial main-
tain their respective main offices at Alton, Illinois, and Houston,
Texas. The chairman of American's board of directors, who is
Referred to herein as American.
' Referred to herein as Commercial.
$ Referred to herein as Blaske.
122 NLRB No. 108.
886 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
also on Commercial's board of directors and is president of Blaske,
maintains his office in the building which houses Commercial's of-
fices in Houston. Blaske's payroll checks are prepared in Ameri-
can's Jeffersonville office. Although each Employer owns and
maintains a fleet of towboats and barges there is a large degree of
reciprocal charter towing. The Employers also enter into towing
charters with so-called "outsiders," but give each other preference.
American's office maintains a daily record of the location' of its
towboats and barges as well as those of Blaske. The same record
also shows the location of those of Commercial's towboats and
barges which are towing, or being towed by, Blaske's or American's
equipment. It appears from the record that the present alignment
of the Employers is designed to offer shippers regulated and un-
regulated contract facilities in a single integrated system. In view
of the functional integration of the Employer's operations and the
identity of ownership and control, we find that the -unlicensed em-
ployees of the three Employers may constitute a single unit for
purposes of collective bargaining.'
On the other hand, each Employer hires its own unlicensed per-
sonnel and maintains its own seniority list. There is no inter-
change of unlicensed employees by the Employers. Further, the
Petitioner is currently recognized as the collective-bargaining rep-
resentative of the unlicensed employees of American and Blaske
under two contracts which will expire on June 1, 1959.5 Blaske has
bargained separately with the Petitioner for its unlicensed em-
ployees since 1951. American and its predecessor, American Barge
Line Company, have bargained with the Petitioner since at least
1955. Commercial has no bargaining history. From the foregoing
and particularly in view of the separate bargaining history we
And that the unlicensed employees of each of the three Employers
may constitute separate units for purposes of collective bargaining.'
In view of the above, we shall make no unit determination until
we have ascertained the desires of the employees as expressed in
the elections directed hereinafter. We shall direct separate elec-
tions. among the employees in the following voting groups, ex-
cluding from each group all pilots, engineers, mates, office clerical
employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act :
A. All unlicensed employees employed by American Commercial
Barge Lines, including deckhands, tankermen, oilers, strikers, cooks,
maids, messboys, utility men, and firemen.
'Lee Miller Co. and Lemlar Manufacturing Co., 106 NLRB 527; Illini-Swallow Lines,
80 NLRB 273.
e None of the Employers contends that these contracts are a bar.
0 Lee Miller Co. and Lemlar Manufacturing Co., supra; Illini-Swallow Lines, supra.
ST. LOUIS INDEPENDENT PACKING COMPANY 887
B. All unlicensed employees employed by Blaske, Inc., including
deckhands, tankermen, oilers, strikers, cooks, maids , messboys, util-
ity men, and firemen.
C. All unlicensed employees employed by Commercial Transport
Corporation, including deckhands, tankermen, oilers, strikers , cooks,
maids, messboys, utility men, and firemen.
If a majority of the employees in each voting group vote for the
Petitioner, the employees will be taken to have indicated their de-
sire to constitute a single combined unit. In that event the Re-
gional Director is instructed to issue a certification of representa-
tives to the Petitioner for such unit which the Board, under such
circumstances, finds to be appropriate for purposes of collective
bargaining.
If a majority of employees in each voting group do not vote for
the Petitioner, they will be deemed to have indicated their desire
to constitute separate units and the Board finds the group or
groups in which the Petitioner receives a. majority of the votes to
be a separate unit or units appropriate for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining. The Regional Director shall issue a certification
of representatives to the Petitioner for each unit in which it has
been selected as bargaining representative, and a certification of
results in each unit in which it has not been so selected.'
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
7 The Petitioner has made a sufficient showing of Interest in voting group C to justify
holding an election in that group . If It does not desire an election in either that voting
group or any other voting group , it may notify the Regional Director to that effect within
10 days of the date of this Decision and Direction of Elections.
St. Louis Independent Packing Company, a Division of Swift
and Company and Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher
Workmen of North America, Local 66, AFL-CIO, Petitioner.
Case No. 14-RC-3355. January 9, 1959
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND DIRECTION
Pursuant to a Board Decision and Direction of Election,' an
election by secret ballot was conducted on November 5, 1958, un-
der the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the
Fourteenth Region of the National Labor Relations Board, among
the employees in . the unit therein found appropriate . Following
the election , the parties were furnished a tally of ballots which
showed that of approximately 31 eligible voters, 31 cast ballots,
and all 31 ballots were challenged.
1 Unpublished.
122 NLRB No. 110.