Baggett Transportation Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 1, 1949

85 N.L.R.B. 1093 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

I n the Matter of BAGGETT TRANSPORTATION COMPANY, INC., E1IPI.OYER
and UNITED WHOLESALE AND WAREHOUSE EMPLOYEES UNION, LOOAL
261, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 10-RC--&W.-Decided September 1, 1949
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Willis C.
Darby, Jr., 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 Reynolds, Murdock, and
Gray].
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 employees of
the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning 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, for the following
reasons:
The Petitioner seeks a unit consisting of all city pick-up drivers and
their helpers and all warehousemen at the Birmingham, Alabama,
branch of the Employer,' excluding over-the-road drivers and helpers,
owner operators of leased trucks, office clerical employees, supervisors,
guards, and professional employees as defined by the Act. The
Employer, on the other hand, contends that only a system-wide unit
would be appropriate.2
i It appears that pick-up drivers are not designated or limited to "city" pick -up but merely
operate smaller trucks generally within a radius of 50 miles of the loading dock or station.
It also appears that the Employer does not operate warehouses but has only loading plat-
forms on which the employees designated as dock workers perform their duties.
2 The Employer would include checkers, pick -up drivers and helpers, over-the-road drivers
and helpers , dock workers , leased owner operators and maintenance men at the Birmingham
branch, and drivers and helpers at all outlying terminals within the State of Alabama.
85 N. L. R. B., N o. 188 1093
1094 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Employer is engaged in trucking operations as a common car-
rier of general commodities within the State of Alabama and as a
contract carrier of explosives in 37 States. The main terminal, 9 sub-
terminals and 3 stations of the Employer are all located within the
State of Alabama.3 The entire operations of the Employer, including
pay rolls, insurance plans, personnel matters, dispatching and route
sequence, are centrally controlled and administered at the main office
and loading docks at Birmingham, Alabama.
Although the Employer maintains separate job designations and
pay scales for dock workers, helpers, pick-up drivers, and over-the-road
drivers, it appears that the services of all employees are utilized in
such manner as required by the needs of the Employer's business and
the necessity of keeping handling at a minimum. Thus, it is common
practice for helpers to spot trailers at the loading dock or at consignors'
location or to go out on a city pick-up assignment. It is also customary
for pick-up drivers to take over-the-road trips within a 100-mile radius
or longer trips on week ends, and help in loading and unloading of
trucks operated by other drivers as well as the trucks they are operat-
ing. Conversely, the over-the-road drivers not only assist in the
loading and unloading of their own trucks and those of other drivers,
but also take pick-up assignments either with the trailer tractors they
are operating or with pick-up trucks. The drivers assigned to the sub-
terininals not only accumulate and deliver loads at their particular
stations, but also take such loads over-the-road to Birmingham or to
other stations. Either over-the-road drivers or pick-up drivers from
Birmingham make deliveries to terminals, make the local deliveries or
necessary pick-ups there, and return to Birmingham or continue to
another destination as the occasion requires. The line of promotion
for pick-up drivers is to the classification of over-the-road driver.
We believe, despite the geographical separation of the terminals in
the Employer's operations, that the functional interrelationship be-
tween terminals, the centralized management control of all terminals
under the main office and terminal of the Employer, the similarity of
skills and working conditions among the employees in the various
terminals, and the functional interrelationship of employees in the
various job classifications, require a finding that only a system-vide
unit of employees of the Employer including both pick-up and over-
the-road drivers, is appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining.4
3 The main terminal is located at Birmingham ; sub-terminals are located at Anniston,
Decatur, Florence, Gadsden, Mobile, Montgomery, Huntsville, Selma, and Guntersville ; and
stations are located at Cullman, Sylacauga, and Tuscaloosa. The Employer does not main-
tain terminals in the various other States serviced as a contract carrier butmerely maintains
representatives at strategic areas.
4 See Matter of Brown Express, et al., 80 N. L. R. B. 753.
BAGGETT TRANSPORTATION COMPANY, INC. 1095
Accordingly, we find that a unit limited to pick-up drivers, helpers,
and dock workers at the Birmingham, Alabama, terminal of the Em-
ployer, is too limited in scope and not sufficiently autonomous to be
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. We find, there-
fore, that the Petitioner's proposed unit is inappropriate and shall
dismiss the petition herein.5
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, and upon the entire
record in this proceeding, the National Labor Relations Board hereby
orders that the petition filed in the instant matter be, and it hereby is.
dismissed.
G As we have found the unit sought by the Petitioner to be inappropriate, we find it
unnecessary to determine the question of the inclusion of specific classifications such as
owner-operated truck drivers, garage mechanics and other miscellaneous categories of
employees.