Bob-Lo Excursion Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 24, 1942

44 N.L.R.B. 449 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of BOB -LO EXCURSION COMPANY and SEAFARERS ' INTER-'
NATIONAL' UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, GREAT LAKES DISTRICT,
A. F. OF, L.
Case No. R-4185.Decided September 214 1942
Jurisdiction : water transportation industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re-
fusal to, accord petitioner recognition until certified by the Board; contract,
the first annual period of which would have expired at time of election, held
no bar; organization which did not appear at hearing, but which was party
to an existing contract with Company, accorded place on ballot with permis-
sion to withdraw upon request ; election directed to be held at such time after
resumption of Company's seasonal operations as Regional Director should fix;
election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees of the stewards' de-
partinent aboard vessels operated by the Company, excluding stewards, assist-
ant stewards, pursers, and employees of the pursers' office.
Mr. Harvey A. Fischer and Mr. Laurence M. Sprague, of Detroit,
Mich., for the Company.
Mr. Hardy Polaner, of Detroit, Mich., for the Seafarers.
Miss Grace MeEldowney, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition 'duly filed by Seafarers ' International Union of
North America , Great Lakes District , A. F. of L., herein called the
Seafarers , alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen con
cerning the representation of employees of Bob -Lo Excursion Com-
pany, Detroit, Michigan , herein called the Company , the National
Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due
notice before Jerome H. Brooks , Trial Examiner . Said hearing was
held at Detroit, Michigan, on August 21 and 22, 1942 . ' The'Company,
and the Seafarers appeared and participated . All parties were af-
forded full opportunity to be heard , to examine and cross -examine
witnesses , and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues . During
I11arine Cooks and Stewards Union of the (Ii eat Lakes, herein called the Maiine Cooks,
mlthoukh served with notice,/did not appeal
44iN. L R B., No 77, - '
487498-42-Nul t4--2:1 4-19
450 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the hearing the Company moved to dismiss the petition. The motion
was referred to the Board by the Trial Examiner, and is hereby
denied. The Trial Examiner's rulings, made at the hearing, are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Bob-Lo Excursion- Company is a Michigan corporation having its
principal office and place of business in Detroit, Michigan. It operates
three excursion steamers on the Detroit River and adjacent waters, an
amusement park at Bob-Lo Island iii the Province of Ontario, Domin-
ion of Canada, and a restaurant and bowling alley in Detroit. During
the period from January 1, 1942, through August 20, 1942,.the Com-
pany purchased from sources outside the State of Michigan approxi-
mately 50,000 gallons of oil at a' cost of approximately $2,000. From
January 1, 1942, through August-1, 1942, it transported to Bob-Lo
Island 316,000 passengers from Detroit, Michigan ; 20,000 passengers
from Toledo, Ohio ; and 8,000 passengers from Cleveland, Ohio.
We find that the Company is engaged in trade, traffic, transportation,
and commerce among the several States and with foreign countries,
and that the employees in the stewards' department on board the
Company's steamers are directly engaged in such trade, traffic, trans-
portation, and commerce.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Seafarers' International Union of North America, Great Lakes Dis-
trict, is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation
of Labor, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
- Marine Cooks and 'Stewards Union of the Great Lakes is an unaffili-
ated labor organization which admits to membership employees of the
Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On September 30, 1941, the Company entered into a closed-shop
contract with the Marine Cooks covering the company's cooks' and
2 The Seafarers contends that the Marine Cooks, although formerly a bona fide labor
organization , is no longer in existence In support of this contention , it offered to prove
that there has been no activity by the Marine Cooks among employees on the Company's
boats of on boats of the D & C Navigation Company, also operating on the Great Lakes,
since 1938 The Trial Examiner rejected the offer of proof on the ground that the facts
alleged , if established, would not prove the non-existence of the Marine Cboi:s As appears,
above, this ruling of the Trial Examiner has been athrmed Cf Matter of Armstrong Rub-
ber Company and United Rubber Workers of America , Local No 93, affiliated W ith the
Congress of Industrial Osganccations , 35 N L R B SOS.
BOB-LO EXCURSION COMPANY 1 451
stewards' departments. The contract provided, inter alia, that a wage
scale for the 1942 season should be decided on in the early spring 'of_
1942 and should be attached to the agreement, and that the agreement
and the wage scale rider should take effect as soon as they were signed
by representatives of the Company ancl.the Marine Cooks and should
continue from year to year thereafter, unless either party should notify
the other in writing at least 30 days prior to the expiration of any an-
nual period that it desired changes in -or cancelation of any portion
of the agreement. A rider, containing the 1942 wage scale, was ex-
ecuted on April 2, 1942. ,
In June 1942, a representative of the Seafarers made several requests
of the Company for recognition of the Seafarers and for a meeting
to discuss wages and working conditions of the Company's employees.
In the latter part of June, he was told that the Company had no
objection to recognizing the Seafarers provided it was certified by the
Board . Thereafter, the Seafarers filed its petition herein.
At the hearing the'Company contended that its existing contract'
with the Marine Cooks constitutes a bar -to the present proceeding.
Since we shall not conduct an election until the Company resumes
operations," at which time the first annual •period of the contract will
have expired; we find no merit in the Company's contention.
A statement of the Trial Examiner, made during they course of the
hearing, indicates that the Seafarers represents a substantial number
of employees in the unit hereinafter found to •be appropriate.4
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
IV. TIIE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Seafarers contends that the stewards' department personnel,
exchuling stewards and assisttilii, stewards, aboard the vessels oper-
ated by the Company (S. S. St. Clair, S. S. Columbia, and S. S. Theo-
(tore Roosevelt) constitute an appropriate bargaining unit. It would
exclude from this unit pursers and employees of the pursers' office,'
on the ground that they have nothing in common with employees in
the stewards' department, that they are confidential employees of the
Company, and that their work is entirely different from that of the
other employees. 'The Company does not contest the appropriateness
of the proposed unit.:
D See Section V, below. • '
* The Trial Examiner stated that the Seafarers had submitted to him 4 authorization
petitions , bearing 75 apparently genuine original signatures , of which 18 were dated
June 23, 1942, and the rest were , undated.., Of the 75-names, 24 appeared on the Company's
pay loll of Auguet 14, 1942 , 1 and 52 appeared on the-pay roll, of June 26; 1942. • Both pay
lolls listed 105 emplotee within the appioprmte unit. ,
452 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We find that all employees in the stewards' department aboard the,
vessels operated by the Company, excluding stewards, assistant
stewards, pursers, and employees of the pursers' office constitute a
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within
the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question 'concerning representation which has
arisen can best be resolved by an election by secret ballot. The Sea-
farers requests that the Marine Cooks be denied a place on the ballot
because it failed to appear at the hearing. However, since the Marine
Cooks is a party to a closed ;shop contract with the Company, we shall
direct that its name appear on the ballot, but shall permit it to with-
draw from the ballot upon filing a request to that effect with the
Regional Director within ten (10) days after the date of this Decision
and Direction.
At the hearing, the secretary-treasurer of the Company testified
that the 1942 season would close on August 30 or September 7, 1942,
and that the majority of the employees on the boats would then be
laid off. The turnover among the Company's employees is extremely
high, both during the season and`from year to year. Plans for re-
suming operations in 1943 are still uncertain, but the season usually
opens in the latter part of May or early in June. Under the,circum-
stances, we shall direct that the election to determine representatives
be held at such time after the Company resumes operations in 1943
as the Regional Director shall fix.5 Both the Seafarers and the Com-
pany agree that, if an election is held next spring, a then current pay
roll should' be used to determine the eligibility of employees to par-
ticipate therein. We shall therefore direct that the question' con-
cerning representation which has arisen be resolved by ; an election
by secret ballot among the employees in the appropriate unit who
are employed' during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
date of the election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set
forth in the Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is'
hereby
Cf. Matter of Detroit h Cleveland Navigation Company and Seafarers' International
union of North America, Great Lakes District, affiliated with the A. F. of L , 35 N. L.
R. B. 841. N
BOB-LO EXCURSION COMPANY 453
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Bob-Lo Excursion
Company,.Detroit, Michigan, an election by secret ballot shall be con-
"ducted at such time after the Company resumes operations in 1943 as
the Regional Director shall fix, under the direction and supervision
of the Regional Director for the Seventh Region, acting in this matter
as agent for the National Labor Relations Board and subject to Arti-
cle III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among the em-
ployees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who are
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of the election herein, including any such employees who do not work
during said pay-roll period because they are ill or on vacation or in
the active military service or training of the United States, or tem-
porarily laid off, but excluding any who shall quit or be discharged
for cause between the end of'said pay-roll period and the date of the
election, to determine whether they desire to be represented by Sea-
farers' International Union of North America, Great Lakes District,
A. F. of L., or by Marine Cooks and Stewards Union of the Great
Lakes, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.
MR. WM. M. LEISERSON tdok no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Election.