Central Taxi Service, et al.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 15, 1968

173 N.L.R.B. 826 (N.L.R.B. 1968)

826 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Central Taxi Service, et al. and Taxi Drivers Or-
ganizing Committee, Brotherhood of Railway,
Airline and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers,
Express and Station Employees, AFL-CIO,' Pe-
titioner . Case 12-RC-3041
November 15, 1968
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
BY MEMBERS BROWN, JENKINS , AND ZAGORIA
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held before Leonard Bass, Hearing Officer
of the National Labor Relations Board.' After the
close of the hearing, the Employer and the Petitioner
filed briefs with the Board.
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.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's
rulings made at the hearing and finds they are free
from prejudicial error. They are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case the Board finds-
1. Petitioner seeks a unit of all fulltime and regular
part-time taxi drivers of the Employer. The Em-
ployer contends that it is a corporation which services
taxi owners or lessees by providing them with radio
service and that the individuals who participate in
Central Taxi Service are individual employers. The
Employer further claims that the individual em-
ployers do not meet the Board's commerce require-
ments.
Central Taxi Service, herein called Central, is a
nonprofit corporation which operates a radio dispatch
service and whose members own and operate taxicabs
in the city of Miami Beach, Florida. Subscribing to
Central's radio dispatch service are approximately 90
members who own and operate about 117 cabs. Five
owners3 own more than one cab, and the rest are
independently owned and operated. Central derives
its income from the payment of $40 monthly dues
per cab from the persons who operate the 117 cabs
receiving Central's services. Other income is received
from advertisements contracted by Central which are
placed upon the cabs operated by Central's members.
The members of Central operate under a board of
directors which is composed of persons who either
own certificates or lease certificates' This board of
directors promulgates rules under which members
receiving Central's services must operate and also acts
as a disciplinary grievance board. In this regard, if a
driver violates one of the rules, a hearing before
certain members of the Board of Directors is held. If
the driver is found in violation, the board of directors
may order the driver fined, and a failure to pay the
fine may result in a cutoff of radio service.
Central itself is also actually active in hiring drivers
for its members. Central's manager assists potential
drivers in obtaining hack or taxi cab driving permits,
particularly in the area of sponsoring the individual
with the police department. After a driver has
obtained his driving permit, Central will send him to
various owners or lessees who need drivers. Owners in
need of drivers will also call the Central dispatch
office where the dispatchers keep a hiring list, and if a
driver is available, the dispatcher will send the owner
a driver.
Other services provided by Central include a fleet
insurance policy, subsequently canceled, and the
procurement of an insurance agent in the place of the
canceled policy; a representative before rate agencies;
central servicing of charge accounts, obtaining Florida
Public Service Commissions licenses for all partici-
pants in the Central system, negotiating for adver-
tising; providing trip sheets, stationery and business
cards for its members. In addition, Central provides a
group hospitalization plan for participants.
All cabs within the Central system have the Central
phone number on them which is essential to the
dispatch service. This telephone number is also
displayed in the telephone book under the Central
name. All cabs carry the advertisement negotiated and
required by Central. Some cabs in the system are
marked Yellow or Mercury, but the great majority are
marked Central, and all carry the Central phone
number.
The Employer seeks to distinguish the recent Board
cases finding that a group of taxicab operators
constitute a joint employer,5 contending that in the
present case there is no substantial degree of control
over the drivers or the owners to indicate a common
enterprise. However, we take a different view of the
evidence. Drivers must be sponsored by Central
before the police to obtain a license, Central main-
tains a hiring list and frequently refers drivers to
owners, and effective discipline and a rather uniform
labor policy is established through the Board of
Directors for Central and its members. Upon all of the
1 The name of the Petitioner appears in the caption as amended at
the hearing.
2 After a hearing and pursuant to Section 102.67 of the National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations , Series 8, as amended, the
Regional Director issued an order transferring the case to the National
Labor Relations Board for decision
3 George Cohen operates six cabs, K & D Corporation and Sol Green
each operate seven cabs , and Irving Shapiro and Joanne Williams each
operate two cabs . The Board of Directors now prohibits any future
member from owning more than four permits
4 Operators of cabs must obtain a certificate or permit for each cab
from the city of Miami Beach in order to operate a cab
5 See, Association of Independent Taxicab Operators, Inc., t/a
Diamond Cab , 164 NLRB No . 110, and Checker Cab Company and its
Members , 141 NLRB 583 , affd. 367 F .2d 692 (C.A. 6, 1966).
173 NLRB No. 115
CENTRAL TAXI SERVICE 827
foregoing, we find that Central Taxi Service and each
of its members is a joint employer in a common
enterprise. Accordingly, we deem it appropriate to
combine the gross revenues of all of its members for
jurisdictional purposes.' As the parties stipulated that
the revenues thus combined exceed $500,000, and
that the purchases either directly or indirectly outside
the State of Florida exceed $50,000, we find it will
effectuate the policies of the Act to assert juris-
diction.
2. The labor organization involved claims to repre-
sent certain employees of the Employers.
3. A question affecting commerce exists con-
cerning the representation of employees of the
Employers within the meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and
Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of all
fulltime and regular part-time taxicab drivers of the
Employers excluding garage men, mechanics, dis-
patchers, office clerical employees, guards, and super-
visors as defined in the Act. In addition to being
opposed to a joint employer unit, the Employers
contend that permit-lessees are independent con-
tractors and not employees, and that many lessees in
turn hire drivers. Petitioner claims that lease drivers
who lease only one cab are employees, but if they
lease more than one, they are employers or super-
visors.
Lease drivers including permit-lessees operate cabs
under contracts which require lessees to remain in the
Central cab system. The cabs which they operate have
the Central name and telephone number on them. It
is clear from the record that the rules of the Board of
Directors apply equally to lease drivers as to regular
drivers. Upon the entire record, we find that the more
substantial showing is that the degree of control
exercised by the Employers, in the form of the Board
of Directors, is such as to establish that the lease
drivers are employees within the meaning of the Act.'
Accordingly, we find on the basis of the entire
record, that the following unit is appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9(b) of the Act: All fulltime and regular
part-time taxicab drivers8 of employers paying dues
to Central Taxi Service, including lease drivers who do
not hire other drivers and permit-lessees who drive,
but excluding garagemen, mechanics, dispatchers,
office clerical employees, guards and supervisors as
defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election9 omitted from
publication.]
6 Checker Cab, supra
7 See Transportation Promotions , Inc., 173 NLRB No. 114, issued
this date.
8 The parties stipulated that regular part-time drivers are those who
have worked at least 2 days per week in 4 of the 6 full weeks
immediately preceding the date of the direction of the election or have
worked at least 1 day per week in 13 of the 16 full weeks preceding the
date of the direction of the election.
9 An election eligibility list, containing the names and addresses of
all the eligible voters, must be filed by the Employer with the Regional
Director for Region 12 within 7 days after the date of this Decision and
Direction of Election . The Regional Director shall make the list
available to all parties to the election No extension of time to file this
list shall be granted by the Regional Director except in extraordinary
circumstances . Failure to comply with this requirement shall be grounds
for setting aside the election whenever proper objections are filed.
Excelsior Underwear Inc., 156 NLRB 1236