Miller & Miller Motor Freight Lines

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 28, 1945

63 N.L.R.B. 594 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of MILLER & MILLER MOTOR FREIGHT LINES and INTER-
NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSE-
MEN AND HELPERS, LOCAL UNION No. 47 , AFL
Case No. 16-R-1181
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND
SECOND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
August 28,19-115
On May 3, 1945, the Board issued a Decision and Direction of
Election in the above-entitled proceeding' On May 25, 1945, follow-
ing the Company's motion for reconsideration of the aforesaid De-
cision, the Board ordered that the election be stayed, and the record
be reopened and a further hearing held for the purpose of receiving
additional evidence with respect to the appropriate unit. Pursuant to
such order, the Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due
notice before Earl Saunders, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held
at Fort Worth, Texas, on July 9, 1945. 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 oft the issues. At the hearing the Company moved
(1) to investigate the present interest of the Union among the em-
ployees in the alleged appropriate unit, and (2) to dismiss the peti-
tion on the ground that the Union no longer represented a substantial
number of employees in the aforesaid unit. The Trial Examiner
granted the first motion and reserved ruling on the second motion for
the Board. For reasons stated in footnote 2, the granting of the first
motion was erroneous, and both motions are hereby denied.2 All other
rulings of the Trial Examiner made at the hearing are free from preju-
' 61 N L R B 872.
2 The record was reopened for the sole purpose of permitting the parties to adduce addi-
tional evidence as to the appropriate unit In peinnttmg the introduction of evidence
tending to show the Union's loss of present representation among the employees in the
appropriate unit, the Trial Examiner clearly was in error since this issue was not within
the scope of the Board's order reopening the hearing Accordingly, the motion to investi-
gate the present interest of the Union among employees in the appiopriate unit should have
been denied.
63 N. L R B., No. 95.
594
MILLER & MILLER MOTOR FREIGHT LINES 595
dicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an op-
portunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
SUPPLEMENTAL FINDING OF FACT
The appropriate unit
The Union and the Company introduced evidence as to the units
covered by presently existing collective bargaining contracts to which
various motor carrier firms operating in Texas and the surrounding
area are parties. This evidence fails to reveal any universal bar-
gaining pattern in the industry ; some of the contracts cover only ever-
the-road drivers, others only local pick-up and delivery drivers, dock-
men and warehousemen, still others cover all drivers, over-the-road
and local pick-up and delivery, as well as dockmen and warehousemen
in a siligTe system-wide unit. The Board's decisions reflect the same
diversity in its unit findings 3 In reaching a decision as to the ap-
propriateness of a system-wide or terminal unit in any particular case,
the Board has generally considered pertinent the extent to which the
employees have been organized. Where organization has proceeded
on a system-wide basis, the Board has held a proposed terminal unit
inappropriate; 4 on the other hand, where organization has been lim-
ited to terminal employees, it has found such a unit appropriate.5
The criteria invoked in our prior decisions are equally applicable to
the facts of the present case. Accordingly, since the only union here
involved has confined its organizational activities to the employees of
the Fort Worth terminal, we reaffirm our previous finding as to
the appropriateness of the Fort Worth terminal unit.
Since the election originally directed was stayed and the time for
the holding thereof has elapsed, we shall issue a Second Direction of
Election, directing that an 'election be held among the employees in
the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of our Second Direction of Election,
subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction.
3 Matter of Miller it Miller Motor Freight Lines , 59 N. L R B 203 ( separate units of
over-the-road drivers, and of pick-up and delivery drivers, dockmen and warehousemen
at a single terminal ) ; Matter of Merrill Motor Line , 58 N. L R . B 828 ( unit of over-the-
road drivers ) Matter of English Freight Company , 58 N L . R B. 67 ( unit of over-the-
road drivers ) Matter of Sunset Motor Lines, 59 N L R B 1434 . ( u nit of pick-up and
delivery drivers and dockmen at single terminal) , Matter of Johnson Motor Lines, 60
N L R. B . 761 (unit of pick-up and delivery drivers, warehousemen and dockmen at
single terminal ) , Matter of Central Freight Lines , Ineorpoiated , et at, 58 N L R B 263
(system -wide unit).
* Matter of T. S C. Motor Freight 7 ,ines, 61 N L R B. 638.
i Matter of Sunset Motor Lines, supra.
662514-46-vol 63-39
596 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
SECOND 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 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for , the purposes of collective bargaining with Miller & Miller
Motor Freight Lines, Wichita Falls, Texas ; an election by secret bal-
lot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty
(30) days from the date of this Second Direction , under the direction
and supervision of the Regional Director for the Sixteenth Region,
acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board,
and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and
Regulations , among the , employees in the unit found appropriate in ,
Section IV of the Board's Decision and Direction of Election issued
on May 35 1945 , who were employed during the pay-roll period immedi-
ately preceding the date'of this Second Direction , including employees
who did not work during the said pay -roll period because they were
ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including employees
in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in
person at the polls, but excluding any who have since quit or been
discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to
the date of the election , to determine whether or not they desire to be
represented by International Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs,
Warehousemen and Helpers , Local Union No. 47 , AFL, for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining.