New York Mail & Newspaper Transportation Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 19, 1938

4 N.L.R.B. 1066 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter of NEW YORK MAIL & NEWSPAPER TRANSPORTATION
Co. and COMMITTEE FOR INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION , ON BEHALF OF
THE EMPLOYEES OF THE NEW YORK MAIL & NEWSPAPER TRANSPORTA-
TION CO.
Case No. R-401.-Decided January 19, 1938
Mail Transportation Company-Investigation of Representatives : stipulation
that question 'had arisen concerning representation of employees-Unit Appro-
priate for Collective Bargaining : mail handlers , maintenance men, and repair-
men; uniformity in wage and hour bases-Election Ordered
Mr. Will Maslow, for the Board.
Lord, Day c Lord, by Mr. Parker HeCollester, of New York City,
for the Company.
Liebman, Robbins, Pressman, & Leider, by Mr. Harold I. Cammer,
of New York City, for the United.
Mr. Harry E. Selekman, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On September 17, 1937, the Committee for Industrial Organization 1
filed with the Regional Director for the Second Region (New York
City) a petition, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen
concerning the representation of employees of New York Mail & News-
paper Transportation Co., New York City, herein called the Company,
and requesting an investigation and certification of representatives
pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49
Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On November 1, 1937, the National
Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to
Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, ordered
an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it
and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
1 At the hearing the name of the petitioning union was amended to United Mail Tube
Workers Local Industrial Union No. 474 , affiliated with the Committee for Industrial
Organization , herein called the United.
1066
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 1067
On November 17, 1937, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and
upon the United . Pursuant to the notice , a hearing was held on
November 26, 1937, at New York City, before Emanuel Bloch, the
Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board, the
Company, and the United were represented by counsel and partici-
pated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard , to examine and
to cross-examine witnesses , and to introduce evidence bearing on the
issues was afforded all parties. During the course of the hearing the
Trial Examiner made several rulings on motions and on objections
to the admission of evidence . At the commencement of the hearing,
the Company moved that the petition be dismissed on the ground
that the Board was without jurisdiction over the Company. The
motion was denied by the Trial Examiner. The Board has reviewed
the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors
were committed . The rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case , the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY 2
The New York Mail & Newspaper Transportation Co., a New
York corporation, owns and operates 26.45 miles of underground
pneumatic tubing through which are carried daily about 6,000,000
pieces of mail between various post offices in Manhattan and Brook-
lyn, New York . Pursuant to contracts with the United States Post
Office Department , the Company has since 1896, with the exception
of the period between 1918 and 1922 , transported local , intrastate,
interstate , and foreign mail through its tubing . Under the present
contract 3 the Company agrees to transmit and convey by pneumatic
tubing all the mail which, in the judgment of the Postmaster ( subject
to the approval of the Postmaster General ), should be transmitted on
Route 507011 in New York City, and between the general post office
at Brooklyn , New York, and the general post office at New York
City. The Company also agrees to operate and to maintain the tub-
ing, and, at the termination of the contract , to remove the tubing
from the post office stations if the Postmaster General so requests.
Under the contract the Company is authorized to hire and dis-
charge employees, to fix the hours of work, rates of pay, and other
conditions of employment . The Postmaster General is authorized'to
direct the dismissal of employees , but he has done so only four times
2 Except where otherwise indicated , the facts set forth in this section are taken from
Board ' s Exhibit No. 3, a stipulation entered into by the Company and by the Board
3 Board ' s Exhibit No. 4
1068 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
within the past 30 years. Each employee is required under the con-
tract to take the oath prescribed by Section 32 of the Postal Laws
and Regulations of 1924. The Company files federal and state in-
come tax returns and pays social security taxes to the United States
Government.
The Company employs about 135 workers, whose activities it super-
vises and coordinates with those of the employees of the Post Office
Department. At the various post office stations, postal clerks place
the mail in metal carriers which are handed to the Company's em-
ployees. The latter lock the carriers and place them in the pneumatic
tubes. After the carriers reach their destination, the employees of
the Company remove them from the tubes and place the mail on
tables for sorting by postal clerks. At no stage of the operations
do the employees of the Company touch the mail.
The Company contends that it is not an employer within the mean-
ing of Section 2 (2) of the Act, and that the employment of the mail
handlers is exempt from the provisions of the Act since such em-
ployees are in actual effect or indirectly employees of the United
States Government. In view of the facts set forth above, we feel
that the contention. of the Company cannot be sustained. We find
that the Company is an employer within the meaning of Section 2 of
the Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Mail Tube Workers Local Industrial Union No. 474 is
a labor organization affiliated with the Committee for Industrial
Organization, admitting to its membership all mail handlers, mainte-
nance men, and repairmen of the Company, excluding supervisory
and office employees.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company and the United stipulated 4 that a question has arisen
concerning representation of the persons employed by the Company.
We find that a question has arisen concerning representation of
employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
4 Board's Exhibit No. 3.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 1069
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States, and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
In its petition the United alleged that the mail handlers, mainte-
nance men, and repairmen, excluding supervisory and office employees,
constitute a unit appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining.
The evidence showed that the mail handlers were often assigned to do
repair and maintenance work, that all employees worked the same
number of hours, and that all were paid on an hourly basis. The
Company raised no objection to the unit which the United deemed
appropriate.
We find that the mail handlers, maintenance men, and repairmen,
excluding supervisory and office employees, constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining and that said unit
will insure to employees of the Company the full benefit of their
right to self-organization and collective bargaining and otherwise
effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
There was introduced in evidence at the hearing the Company's
pay roll 8 of November 10, 1937, which showed that on such date the
Company employed 112 persons within the appropriate unit. The
president of the Company testified that only a few changes occurred
in the personnel of the Company during the year. The United intro-
duced in evidence 84 membership application cards 6 which its offi-
cials testified had been signed in their presence or had been handed
to'them by the persons signing the cards. Of this number nine of the
cards were duplicates and the names on 30 cards did not appear on
the Company's pay roll of November 10, 1937. The secretary-treasurer
of the United testified that he had received initiation fees of 99 em-
ployees, but that 56 of such employees had not paid their November
dues at the time of the hearing.
We find under these circumstances that the question which has
arisen concerning the representation of the employees of the Com-
pany can best be resolved by the holding of an election by secret
ballot. Those employees in the appropriate unit who were on the
Company's pay roll of November 10, 1937, excluding supervisory
6 Board's Exhibit No. 2.
6 Union's Exhibit Nos 1-8 Most of these cards were application cards for member-
ship in the Committee for Industrial Oiganization and were signed before the United was
organized.
1070 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and office employees and those who quit or were discharged for cause
between such date and the date of election, shall be eligible to vote.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of New York Mail & Newspaper Transporta-
tion Co., New York City, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and
Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The mail handlers, maintenance men, and repairmen of the Com-
pany, excluding supervisory and office employees, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
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, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as
amended,
IT IS HEREBY DIRECTED, that as part of the investigation ordered by
the Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective
bargaining with New York Mail & Newspaper Transportation Co.,
New York City, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted within
fifteen (15) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction
and supervision of the Regional Director for the Second Region, acting
in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and
subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations-Series
1, as amended, among the mail handlers, maintenance men and repair-
men of New York Mail & Newspaper Transportation Co., who were on
the Company's pay roll of November 10, 1937, excluding supervisory
and office employees and those who quit or were discharged for cause
between such date and the date of election, to determine whether or not
they desire to be represented by United Mail Tube Workers Local
Industrial Union No. 474, for the purposes of collective bargaining.