City Cab Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsApr 8, 1963

141 N.L.R.B. 1133 (N.L.R.B. 1963)

CITY CAB COMPANY AND ITS MEMBERS 1133 City Cab Company and its Members and City Cab Drivers Asso- ciation , Petitioner. Case No. 7-RC-5459. April 8, 1963 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Milton Fischer, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. City Cab Company and its members contend that the petition should be dismissed inasmuch as each of the members is an individual employer, no one of which meets the Board's jurisdictional standards for the assertion of jurisdiction. City Cab is a nonprofit membership corporation incorporated for the specific purpose of providing services for its approximately 58 members, who own and operate taxicabs in the city of Detroit. The parties stipulated that in 1961 the combined gross revenue received by all members as fares for taxicab services approximated $750,000, of which approximately $7,500 was received from customers transported to or from passenger terminals in inter- state commerce. It is apparent from the record that each of the members hires and discharges his own drivers, sets their wages and hours of employment, maintains his own payroll records, and is responsible for purchasing, insuring, and repairing his own cabs. None meets the $500,000 retail standard which the Board applies to taxicab companies. On the other hand, it is clear that City Cab exercises substantial control over each member's drivers in their day-to-day conduct. Thus, all City Cab drivers must conform to rules which have been drawn up by City Cab after being approved by the members. City Cab employs a driver-superintendent who has authority, likewise approved by the members, to call cabs off the streets for any violation of these rules. In addition, City Cab maintains a Board of Review which meets every week to consider complaints against any drivers. Although it was contended that the Board of Review merely recommends discipline to the member employing the offending driver, the effect of such rec- ommendations is best viewed in the light of City Cab's bylaws, which provide that a member may be expelled from the organization for cause. The Board recently considered an operation of this type, held the nonprofit membership corporation and each of its members to be joint employers in a common enterprise, and combined the gross revenues received by each of the members for jurisdictional purposes. Checker Cab Company, and its Members, 141 NLRB 583. Accordingly, on almost identical facts, we make a similar joint-employer finding herein. 141 NLRB No. 107. 1134 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD As the revenues thus combined exceed $500,000, and as legal jurisdic- tion is clearly present, we further find that it will effectuate the policies of the Act to assert jurisdiction. 2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em- ployees of the Employers. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa- tion of employees of the Employers within the meaning of Section 9(c) (1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The parties stipulated to the appropriateness of the unit set forth below, and further stipulated that any employee who worked at least 1 regular shift for 1 day or more per week for any 10 weeks in a 21- week period is a regular part-time employee. We adopt these stipula- tions and shall, for eligibility purposes, utilize the 21-week period immediately preceding the date of the direction of election herein. Accordingly, we find that the following employees constitute a unit appropriate for the purpose of collective bargaining within the mean- ing of Section 9(b) of the Act: All full-time and regular part-time drivers of cabs owned by persons, partnerships, corporations, and associations who are members (senior, associate, or otherwise) of City Cab Company, Detroit, Michigan, ex- cluding office clerical employees, member-drivers, roadmen, garage employees, and all supervisors as defined in the Act. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] MEMBERS RODGERS and LEEDOM, dissenting : For the reasons stated by us in Checker Cab Company, and its Mem- bers, 141 NLRB 583, we would find that the record herein supports neither the assertion of jurisdiction nor the appropriateness of the unit sought. Radio Corporation of America and Local 241, American Federa- tion of Technical Engineers , AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case No. 4-RC-5070. April 8, 1963 DECISION, ORDER, AND CLARIFICATION OF CERTIFICATION Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Harold Bernard, Jr., hear- ing 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, Fanning, and Brown]. 141 NLRB No. 102.