Georgia Highway Express, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 9, 1965

150 N.L.R.B. 1649 (N.L.R.B. 1965)

GEORGIA HIGHWAY EXPRESS , INC. 1649
Georgia Highway Express, Inc. 'and Truck Drivers and Helpers
Local Union No. 515, ,affiliated with International Brotherhood
of Teamsters ,, Chauffeurs , Warehousemen & Helpers of IAmer-
ica, Ind ., Petitioner . Case No. 10-RC-6173. February 9, 1,965
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed' under Section 9(c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, as amended; a hearing was held before Hear-
ing `Off'icer Joseph H. McLure, Jr. 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 Fanning, Brown, and Jenkins].
Upon the entire record in this case, including the brief of the
Employer, 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 Employer.
3. Aquestion 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.
4. The Employer is a Georgia corporation engaged as a motor
common carrier in the interstate transportation of freight. The
subject case involves employees at its terminal located at Dalton,
Georgia. From-its Dalton terminal, the Employer services custom-
ers within a 20-mile 'radius. ' However, it also connects with' the
Employer's 'other terminals in : various other cities.
The Petitioner seeks to represent a' unit of all city pickup truck-
drivers, driver-dockmen, and dockmen 2 at the Dalton, Georgia,
plant, excluding all other employees, production and maintenance
employees, office and clerical employees, technical and professional
employees, watchmen ' and/or guards, and supervisors as defined
in the Act.
The Employer, at its Dalton terminal, has supervisory personnel,
dockmen, driver-dockmen, drivers,3 over-the-road truckdrivers,
1 After the hearing and pursuant to Section 102 67 of the National Labor Relations
Board's Rules and Regulations , Series 8, as amended , the Regional Director issued an
order transferring this case to the Board for decision . Thereafter , the Employer filed
a brief
2 The employees petitioned for are collectively referred to herein as dockmen and' drivers
3 Sometimes referred to as city pickup and delivery drivers.
150 NLRB No. 162.
1650 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
office clericals , casual employees, and one janitor. The parties agree
generally that a unit of dockmen, driver-dockmen, and drivers,
excluding certain supervisory personnel (i.e., terminal manager,
dock superintendent, and dock foreman), office clerical employees,
casual employees,4 and one janitor,5 is appropriate. However, the
Employer, contrary to the Petitioner, argues in its brief that over-
the=road truckdrivers should be included in the unit.
The dockmen's duties involve essentially the loading and unload-
ing of freight at the terminal. The driver-dockmen's primary
function is to work on the dock loading freight, but as the.need
arises, they are used for city pickup and delivery work. The
drivers also do some dockwork, but their primary responsibility
is to drive trucks on local pickup and delivery service., The over-
the-road truckdrivers perform primary line-haul service between
Dalton and other terminals. They occasionally, load and unload
their freight. I
The Employer would include in the unit the four over-the7road
truckdrivers who reside in the Dalton, Georgia, area. These, over-
, the-road drivers are supervised from and receive their instruc-
tions and dispatches from the Atlanta office. They are not under the
supervision of the Dalton terminal manager and can be discharged
by him only for theft and intoxication, but they do receive dis-
patches through the Dalton terminal which are sent to them from
Atlanta over the long line. Dockmen and drivers perform local
work under the Dalton supervision, are on a different payroll, and
are paid on an hourly basis, whereas the over-the-road drivers
transport freight between terminals and are paid on-the basis of
mileage with a guarantee. Thus, driver-dockmen and drivers do
not go more than 20 miles north and south. of Dalton, and over-
the-road drivers travel to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Atlanta,
Cartersville, and La Grange, • Georgia. The local drivers only
* The Employer annually has two peak periods ( May-June and August-December) and
during these periods it employs from 10 to 25 laborers as dockmen at its Dalton terminal.
Unlike regular employees , they are hired locally in Dalton each day as needed instead of
and without clearance through the Atlanta personnel department , and their employment
from one day to the next would be merely coincidence, their pay averages 35 percent
below that of regular employees ; they receive none of the fringe benefits ; they do not
normally work during nonpeak periods ; and most of them are regularly employed else-
where We agree they are casual employees and exclude them from the unit see
Rollo Transit Corporation , at al., 110 NLRB 1623, footnote 8 at 1627.
5 The janitor 's principal job is to clean up the office area and the restrooms and change
the linen on the beds in the drivers ' room The janitorial duties in the dock area are
performed by dockmen. Unlike other employees, his employment is not cleared through
the Atlanta personnel office and he is paid out of Dalton He has regular employment
elsewhere , is classified as an extra employee , and receives none of the fringe benefits.
He performs his duties from about 5 a m. to 9 a.m. when the terminal office is normally
unoccupied . Although he is under the supervision of the dock superintendent , is' hourly
paid,-and punches the same timeclock as other employees , we agree with the parties that
the janitor should be excluded . See Bethlehem Steel Company, Shipbuilding Division,
86 NLRB 577 ; Wilson & Co., Inc., 81 NLRB 504, 507.
GEORGIA HIGHWAY EXPRESS, INC. 1651
infrequently substitute for over-the-road drivers, and over-the-road
drivers only rarely load trucks at the Dalton terminal. While all
new employees are cleared through the Employer's personnel de-
partment at its main' office `in- Atlanta, over-the-road drivers are
interviewed in Atlanta and their personnel records are kept there,
whereas dockmen and drivers are interviewed in Dalton and some
of their records are maintained- in' Dalton.
On this record,' we' conclude, contrary to - the contentions of the
Employer, that - there is not a sufficient community of interest
between 'the 'over-the-road truckdriver's and the other 'employees to
require inclusion of the disputed' employees in any appropriate unit
of employees at the, 'Dalton terminal. The Board, has long held
that local drivers and over-the-road''drivers constitute separate
appropriate- units where • they are shown to be clearly defined,
homogeneous, and functionally distinct groups with separate inter-
ests which can effectively be represented separately for bargaining
purposes." Thus, the Board has found appropriate a unit of local
pickup and delivery drivers and dockmen at a single terminal of
a motor freight carrier excluding over-the-road truckdrivers,7 as
well as a unit of long-distance over-the-road drivers excluding local
drivers,8 where the, facts warranted that conclusion. We find that
such a situation' exists in the instant case. In view of the different
duties and functions, separate supervision, and' different base's of
payment, it is clear that the over-the-road drivers have divergent
interests from those of the employees in the unit sought and should
not be included in that unit.
Accordingly, we find that the following 'employees of the
Employer constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining within Section 9(b) of the Act:
All city pickup truckdrivers, driver-dockmen, and dockmen at
the Employer's Dalton, Georgia, terminal, excluding all -other
employees, technical and professional employees, watchmen and/or
guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.'
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
6 Cases to the contrary , such as Archie's Motor Freight, Inc ., 135 NLRB 321, and
others cited and relied on by the Employer, are distinguishable on their facts , as they
find the combined unit appropriate because of the community of interests between the
two groups shown in each instance.
° English Freight Company, 58 NLRB 1387.
s Jocie Motor Inns, Inc., 112 NLRB 1201 , 1204; English Freight Company, 58 NLRB
67, 70, and cased cited therein ; D. G . Dalby, d/b/a Denver-Amarillo Express, 82 NLRB
182; see also Gluck Bros ., Inc., 119 NLRB 1848, and Archie's Motor Freight, Inc, supra.
9 As the parties agree and the record shows that the terminal manager , dock super-
intendent , and dock foreman are supervisors within the meaning of Section 2(11) of
the Act, we shall exclude them from the unit found appropriate herein.