Saginaw Dock & Terminal Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 29, 1940

25 N.L.R.B. 1093 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

In the Matter Of SAGINAW DOCK & TERMINAL COMPANY and NATIONAL
MARITIME UNION (C. I. 0.)
Case No. R-1783
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 09, 1940
On May 7, 1940, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called
the Board, issued its Decision and Direction of Election in the above-
entitled proceedings., Pursuant to the Direction of Election, an elec-
tion by secret ballot was conducted on June 14 and 18, 1940, under
the direction and supervision •of the Regional Director for the Sev-^
enth Region (Detroit, Michigan) among certain employees of Sagi-
naw Dock & Terminal Company, Saginaw, Michigan, a party to
these proceedings, herein called the Company. On June 20, 1940,
the Regional Director, acting pursuant to Article III, Section 9,
of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2,
as amended, issued an Election Report upon the secret ballot, copies
of which were duly served upon the parties.
As to the balloting and its results, the Regional Director reported
as follows :
Total on eligibility list------------------------------------ 49
Total ballots cast----------------------------------------- 246
Total blank ballots--------------------------
Total void ballots----------------------------------------- p
Total ballots challenged----------------------------------- 2
Total valid votes cast=------------------------------------ 44
Votes cast for National Maritime Union, affiliated with the
Congress of Industrial Organizations--------------------- 35
Votes cast against National Maritime Union, affiliated with
the Congress of Industrial Organizations----------------- 9
Since the two challenged ballots cannot affect the results of the
election, we find it unnecessary to pass upon the challenges.
1 23 N L R B 630.
2 A ballot and instructions for returning the same were mailed to 11 of the eligible voters.
Nine such ballots ,were received by the Regional, Director and were preserved unopened until
June 18, 1940, when they were opened and commingled with other ballots cast in the election.
25 N. L. R. B, No. 111.
1093
28303 6-42-vof 25--70
1094 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
On June 25, 1940, the Company filed with the Regional Director
its Objections to the conduct of the ballot and the Election Report.
Therein it objected to effect being given the election returns for the
reasons (1) that an election among members of the crew occupying
unlicensed positions on the various ships of the Company, excluding
all others, "listed on the shipping articles of each Company's steam-
ships while last in operation during the 1939 navigation season," with
certain qualifications, violated a stipulation -of the Company and Na-
tional Maritime Union, a party herein, entered into at the hearing,
that "all members of the crew occupying unlicensed positions on the
various ships of the Company, excluding all others, constitute a unit
appropriate for collective bargaining"; (2) that three employees on
the Steamer Saginaw, owned by the Company, were not permitted to
vote in the election, although they were in the collective bargaining
unit heretofore found herein to be appropriate; (3) that nine per-
sons who were not employees of the Company and who were not
within the said collective bargaining unit were permitted to vote in
the election; and (4) that "The order entered in this cause directing
an election is contrary to the law made and provided, and to the facts
in this case." On June 25, 1940, the Regional Director issued a Re-
porton Objections, copies of which were duly served upon the parties,
in which he stated that the first and fourth objections already had
been considered and determined by .the Board in the Decision and
Direction of Election; that the second objection related to three em-
ployees on the Steamer Saginaw, who were first hired by the Com-
pany in •1940 and, consequently, were not eligible to participate inthe
election under the terms of the Decision and Direction of Election ;
and that the third objection concerned nine employees who occupied
unlicensed positions on the ships of the Company, who were listed
on the shipping articles of the Company's steamships, when last in
operation during the 1939 navigation season, who have not since quit
or been discharged for cause, and, llence, who were eligible to vote
under .the terms of the Decision and Direction of Election.
The objections involve issues which on the whole have heretofore
been considered by the Board in the Decision and Direction of Elec-
tion. They do not raise any substantial or material issue regarding
the conduct of the ballot or the Election Report. With respect to
the stipulation to which the Company refers, that stipulation related
generally to the group or class of employees constituting at all times
material herein an appropriate collective bargaining unit, and did not
concern itself with fixing eligibility for voting purposes by reference
to persons in such unit at a.particular time. As regards the three
employees on the Steamer Saginaw who were not permitted to vote
in the:,election and the nine employees to whose participation in the
SAGINAW DOCK & TERMINAL COMPANY 1095-
election the Company objected, their eligibility, as pointed out by the
Regional Director , was determined in the Decision and Direction of
Election upon principles which need not be restated here. We see
no reason in this connection for finding or concluding otherwise than
as- we there did., Moreover , in nowise can the inclusion of three
and the exclusion of the nine persons as eligible voters affect the
results of the' election. If the three employees had voted and cast
their ballots against National Maritime Union and if the nine em-
ployees had not been permitted to vote, and if, further , these nine
all had voted against National Maritime Union in the election, that
labor organization would nonetheless have obtained a majority of the
ballots cast in the election , i. e., 26 of 40 ballots cast . We hereby over-
rule the Objections of,the Company to the conduct of the ballot and
the Election Report.
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Re-
lations Act , 49 Stat. 449 , and pursuant to Article III, Sections 8
and 9, of National' Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
Series 2, as amended,
IT "IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that National Maritime Union, affiliated
with Congress,of Industrial Organizations, has been designated and
selected by .a majority of all members of the crew of Saginaw Dock
&,Terminal- Company, Saginaw, Michigan, occupying unlicensed po-
sitions on the various ships of the Company, excluding all others, as
their representative for the purposes of collective bargaining, and that,
pursuant to Section 9 (a) of the National Labor Relations Act, Na-
tional Maritime Union, affiliated with Congress of Industrial Or-
ganizations , is the exclusive representative of all such employees for
the purposes of collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages,
hours of employment ,- and other conditions of employment.
MR. WII.l .I,1m M. LEISERSON took no , part in the .consideration of the
above Supplemental Decision and Certification of Representatives.