Paisley Steamship Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 31, 1944

55 N.L.R.B. 945 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter Of PAISLEY STEAMSHIP COMPANY and NATIONAL MARI-
TIME UNION OF AMERICA (CIO)
Case No. 8-R-1325.-Decided March 31, 1914
Johnson & Branand , by 111r. John T. Jaeger, of Cleveland, Ohio,
for the Company.
Mr. Frank Jones, of Cleveland, Ohio, for the Union.
Mr. Seymour J. Spelman, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by National Maritime Union of Amer-
ica (CIO), herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Paisley Steamship Company, herein called the C'onmpany, the Na-
tional Labor Relation Board provided for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice before Frank L. Danello, Trial Examiner. Said
hearing was held at Cleveland, Ohio, on December 13, 1943. The
Company and the Union appeared and participated. All parties
were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-ex-
amine witnesses, to introduce evidence bearing on the issues and to
file briefs with the Board. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. On
December 18, the Company filed a request for oral argument before
the Board. Said request is hereby denied.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Paisley Steamship Company, a Delaware corporation with its
managing office in Cleveland, Ohio, owns and is engaged in operating
one ship, the S. S. Ben E. Tate, on the Great Lakes, its connecting
and tributary waters. The volume of business done by the Com-
55 N. L. R. B., No. 167.
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946 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
pany from the period January 1, 1943, to November 1, 1943, is in
excess of $50,000.
We find that the Company is engaged in traffic, transportation, and
commerce among the several States, and that the unlicensed personnel
employed by the Company aboard its vessel are directly engaged in
such traffic, transportation, and commerce.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
National Maritime Union of America is a labor organization affil-
iated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The parties stipulated that on November 6, 1943, the Union notified
the Company by telephone and wire that it represented a majority
of the Company's employees and requested a meeting; and that the
Company did not reply, since on November 9 it received a communi-
cation from the Regional Director of the Board stating that, on
November 8, the Union had filed the petition in the instant proceeding.
A statement of the Trial Examiner made at the hearing indicates
that the Union represents a substantial number of employees in the
unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union contends that all unlicensed personnel aboard the steam-
ship S. S. Ben E. Tate constitute an appropriate bargaining unit.
The Company is in general agreement with the proposed unit, except
that it would exclude the conveyor or boom man and the hoisters.
The evidence discloses that the S. S. Ben E. Tate is a self-unloader
type of vessel, in that it carries with it its own equipment for loading
and unloading cargo. To operate this equipment, the Company
employs what it calls a conveyor or boom man and two hoisters.
These three individuals are permanent members of the ship's per-
sonnel and are under the direction and supervision of the Master
and the Chief Engineer. Their duties are to operate the machines
'The Trial Examiner reported that the Union submitted a petition which bore 26 ap-
parently genuine original signatures ; that the names of 21 persons appearing on the peti-
tion were listed on the Company's pay i oil of October 31, 1943, which contah,ed the names
of 24 employees in the appropi iate unit, and that the petition was dated November 1, 1943.
PAISLEY STEAMSHIP COMPANY 947
which load and unload the ship's cargo, and, while the ship is in
voyage, to repair this machinery and keep it in running order. They
are unlicensed, are not classified as seamen, and receive a higher rate
of pay than the other unlicensed personnel. Although they are not
directly concerned with the actual navigation, they are, on this par-
ticular type of vessel, an integral part of the working force. If they
were to be excluded from the bargaining unit, they would be the
sole members of the unlicensed personnel without representation in
collective bargaining. In view of these facts, we shall include them
in the unit.
We find that all unlicensed personnel aboard the steamship, S. S.
Ben E. Tate, including the conveyor or boom man and the hoisters,
but excluding all supervisory employees with authority to hire, pro-
mote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status
of employees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERJIINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen
can best be resolved by an election by secret ballot. The record dis-
closes that at the present time the ship is laid up, awaiting the opening
of the 1944 Great Lakes shipping season in spring. Under the circum-
stances, we shall direct that the election to determine representatives
be held at such time after the ship has resumed operations in the 1944
season as the Regional Director shall fix. Both the Company and the
Union agree that, if an election is held during the early part of the
1944 season, a then current pay roll should be used to determine the
elgibility of employees to participate therein. We shall therefore di-
rect that the question concerning representation which has arisen be
resolved by an election by secret ballot among the employees in the
appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period im-
mediately preceding the date of the election herein, subject to the lim-
itations and additions set forth in the Direction.
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 Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Paisley Steamship
Company, Cleveland, Ohio, an election by secret ballot shall be con-
948 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ducted at such time after the Company's ship S. S. Ben E. Tate, has
resumed operations in the 1944 season as the Regional Director shall
fix, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for
the Eighth 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, above, who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the election herein, in-
cluding employees who did not work during said pay-roll period
because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and includ-
ing employees in the armed forces of the United States who present
themselves in person at the polls, but excluding those employees 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 National Maritime Union of
America (CIO), for the purposes of collective bargaining.