Greyhound Terminal of Detroit, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 28, 1946

66 N.L.R.B. 1285 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of GREYHOUND TERMINAL OF DETROIT, INC. and
INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT AND AGRICUL-
TURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA (UXW-CIO)
Case No. 7-R-2135-Decided March 28, 1946
Mr. Edmund M. Brady, of Detroit, Mich., for the Company.
Mr. James E. Schnarrs, of Detroit, Mich., for the Union.
Mr. Phil E. Thompson, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by International Union, United Auto-
mobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of Amer-
ica, C. I. 0., herein called the Union, alleging That a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Greyhound Terminal of Detroit, Inc., Detroit, Michigan,
herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board
provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before David
Citrin, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Detroit, Michigan,
on January 10, 1946. The Company and the Union appeared and
participated.' All parties were afforded full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce
evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Greyhound Terminal of Detroit, Inc., a Michigan Corporation,
owns and operates a bus terminal in Detroit, Michigan. It sells
'Amalgamated Association of Street, Electric Railway, and Motor Coach Employee,
of America , A F of L, was i.etved with Notice of Iicaiing but did not appeal
66 N. L . R. B., No. 151.
1285
1286 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tickets to passengers for interstate transit over various bus lines using
the terminal in an amount exceeding $500,000 a year.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. TIIE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural
Implement Workers of America is a labor organization, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to member-
ship employees of the Company.
III. THE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit limited td employees in the baggage depart-
ment of the Company's bus terminal. The Company contends that
the unit should be determined on a terminal-wide basis.
The Union contends that, inasmuch as the baggage handlers are
at present the only organized group in the terminal,2 they should be
found to constitute a separate appropriate bargaining unit at this
time. We do not agree. Where organization has been limited to a
group of employees within a more comprehensive unit, it has been
the policy of the Board to grant an election upon a showing that
such employees constitute a substantially distinct and homogeneous
group for the purposes of collective bargaining. We do not find
such a showing in this case. The baggage handlers are all unskilled
employees, among whom there is an exceedingly high rate of turn-
over as compared with other departments. Such fundamental con-
ditions of employment as seniority, vacations, and promotions are
determined on a terminal-wide basis. The evidence shows that the
terminal manager's assistant, several auditing department employees,
and one-third of the ticket department employees, including the
supervisor of ticket sales, started with the Company as baggage
handlers and advanced under terminal-wide rules as to promotion
and seniority. That a union has limited its organizational efforts to
arbitrary grouping of employees, does not, in itself, proscribe our
determination of a separate unit for such workers. Here, the employ-
ment interests of the baggage handlers are so closely allied with, and,
in our opinion, inseparable from, those of other terminal employees,
that the baggage department constitutes but an integral part of
$ At the time of the hearing, the Union had not attempted to organize any employees
outside of the baggage department. However, it indicated that non -supervisory em-
ployees in other departments were eligible for union membership, and would be accepted
should they desire such membership in the future.
GItEYHOUNI) TERMINAL OF DETROIT, INC. 1287
a larger unit. Accordingly, we find that the unit petitioned for is
inappropriate and we shall dismiss the petition .3
IV. THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Inasmuch as we have determined in Section III that the unit peti-
tioned for is inappropriate, we find that no question has arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of the Company, within
the meaning of Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and the entire record
in the case, it is hereby ordered that the petition for investigation
and certification of representatives of employees of Greyhound
Terminal of Detroit, Inc., filed herein by International Union,
United Automobile Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of
America (UAW-CIO), be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
CHAIRMAN HERZoG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Order.
8 Matter of Westinghouse Eiectrsc International Co., 64 N. L. R. B. 226 , and cases
cited therein ; Matter of Paulus Bros . Packing Co., 62 N. L. R. B. 1171.