Sand Quarry and Gravel Pit Operators

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 30, 1969

177 N.L.R.B. 534 (N.L.R.B. 1969)

534 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Sand Quarry and Gravel Pit Operators ; and Dump
Truck Operators Employers Council and
International Union of Operating Engineers Local
139 and Drivers, Salesmen, Warehousemen, Milk
Processors, Cannery , Dairy Employees and
Helpers Union Local No. 695 , of the International
Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs,
Warehousemen and Helpers of America. Case
30-UC-44
June 30, 1969
DECISION AND ORDER GRANTING
PETITION TO CLARIFY UNCERTIFIED
BARGAINING UNIT
BY MEMBERS FANNING, BROWN, AND ZAGORIA
Upon a petition of Sand Quarry and Gravel Pit
Operators; and Dump Truck Operators Employers
Council for clarification of unit duly filed on
February 17, 1969, under Section 9(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held on April 21, 22, and 23, 1969,
before James F. Bard, Hearing Officer. On April
29, 1969, the Regional Director for Region 13
issued an order transferring the case to the Board.
Thereafter, briefs were filed by the Petitioner and
Unions.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
powers in connection with this case to a
three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's
rulings made at the hearing and finds that they are
free from prejudicial error. The rulings are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board
finds:
1. The Employers are engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the Act, and it will effectuate
the policies of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The Unions are labor organizations within the
meaning of the Act, and both claim to represent
certain employees of the Employers.
3. The Employer-Petitioners filed the petition
herein in order to seek clarification as to whether
certain employees referred to as "pit truck
operators" should properly be included in the
bargaining unit represented by Operating Engineers
Local 139 or the bargaining unit represented by
Teamsters Local 695, herein called Operating
Engineers and Teamsters. All parties agree that the
Board's procedures for clarifying units are properly
brought into play in this case.'
The Petitioners and Operating Engineers allege
that the pit truck operators have been historically
'See generally the discussion in Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and
Enginemen . 145 NLRB 1521, 1523-24 , and Seaway Food Town, Inc , 171
NLRB No 107, involving clarification of noncertified bargaining units.
represented by the Operating Engineers at the
locations involved herein. In addition, they maintain
that the Operating Engineers contract clearly
provides for inclusion of pit truck operators, while
the Teamsters contract clearly specifically excludes
such employees. They request that the Board clarify
the existing units accordingly and thereby put to rest
the current controversy regarding the unit placement
of the pit truck operators.
The Teamsters maintain that the prevailing
industry practice is for the pit truck operators to be
represented by the Teamsters. The Teamsters
further point out that the type of equipment utilized
in the pit truck operation is signiftm- because the
Teamsters contract covers all truckdrivers and
thereby necessarily includes pit truck operators.
Therefore, the Teamsters contend that the existing
units should be clarified by the Board by the
inclusion of pit truck operators in the Teamsters
unit.'
On or about May 14, 1968, Madison Sand and
Gravel Co., Inc., hired Oscar Nelson as a pit truck
operator. Nelson was hired "off of the street" and
was not affiliated with either of the Unions, both of
whom had contracts with the above Employer. Once
employed, Nelson was first approached concerning
union membership by the Teamsters and
subsequently by the Operating Engineers. It appears
that the employer refrained from advising Nelson as
to which Union he should join. Nelson was merely
told that he would eventually have to sign up with
the Union. Nelson signed a Teamsters application,
an action which gave rise to the instant unit issue
between the parties herein.
The record shows that since 1962 the Sand
Quarry and Gravel Pit Operators, an association
comprised of nine employers engaged in pit and
quarry operations, has had a series of
collective-bargaining agreements with the Operating
Engineers. Until 1966, these agreements included a
job classification described as "dumpster operator."
In the 1966 agreement this classification was
changed to "pit truck operator."' Since 1962, the
Dump Truck Operators Employers Council, an
association comprised of approximately 30
employers engaged in hauling sand, gravel, and
aggregate, as well as some pit operations, has had a
'The Teamsters as a first alternative position contend that the employees
performing the duties of a pit truck operator should he included within the
unit and its contract only where the individual employer-members of the
pit operators multtemployer group have an operative labor agreement with
it, and employ other truckdrivers which would make such contract
operative As an alternative the Teamsters state that in the event the Board
determines that the unit definition of the multiemployer pit operators must
be drawn without reference to whether or not each employer-member has
employees covered by both union contracts , the Teamsters request the
Board to find that the employees working as pit truck operators , for all
employer members of the council be included in the Teamsters unit
'The unit consisted of all employees in the classifications of mechanic
and welder, proportionary plant operator , millwright , shovel, crane &
dragline, dozer & tractor operator, high lift & end loader operator , crusher
operator , pit truck operator , blaster, blaster helper, large drill operator,
small drill operator , feeder man , and miscellaneous labor
177 NLRB No. 59
SAND QUARRY AND GRAVEL PIT OPERATORS
series of collective-bargaining agreements, with the
Teamsters.' There are eight employers who are
members of both Associations and thereby have
association contracts with the Operating Engineers
as well as the Teamsters. However, the record shows
that only two of these eight employers, Madison
Sand and Gravel Co., Inc., and Madison Stone Co.,
Inc., presently employ pit truck operators at their
facilities on a regular basis to transport the raw
material from the quarries to the crushers. All other
members of the Association who have pit operations
employ portable conveyors and/or material crushers
right in their pits, thus eliminating the use of pit
trucks. Although Madison Stone Co., Inc., is a
member of both associations, it does not have a
contract with the Teamsters nor does it employ
over-the-road drivers, and its pit operations
including the use of two pit trucks are exclusively
handled by the Operating Engineers with whom it
has a collective-bargaining agreement.
The record herein discloses that the pit unit
employees perform the functions of digging out the
raw aggregate from the pit with the use of power
equipment and moving such, either by the use of pit
trucks or portable conveyors to crushing machines.
All of the equipment used in performing the above
tasks, including the crushing machines, are operated,
serviced, and repaired by pit employees who work
exclusively within the pit and are in the unit
represented by Operating Engineers. Pit truck
operators have work contacts and common
supervision with pit employees. The Teamsters unit
employees perform nonpit work. They belong to the
unit of truckdrivers who are engaged in the delivery
of over-the-road orders of graded aggregate and
belong to the Teamsters.
Concerning the use of pit trucks at Madison Sand
and Gravel Co., Inc., the evidence discloses that
employees belonging to both units have performed
the duties of pit truck operators.` In addition, the
evidence shows that at peak periods during the busy
'The unit covered by the Teamsters contract is "all employees
excluding office , clerical, sales and administrative employees, supervisors
and those employees under the jurisdiction of the operating engineers
and common laborers"
'Employees Lovell, Gresheim , Butters, Williamson, Lee, and Gosdeck,
all members of the Operating Engineers, had operated the pit trucks for
considerable lengths of time Employee Deneen, who was a Teamster and
is now an Operating Engineer, and employee Zaemisch , who was a
reamster - Operating Engineer - Teamster , also operated the pit trucks
Employee Martinson , a Teamster , operated a pit truck from the spring
through the fall of 1967 Martinson had been hired as an over - the-road
driver but due to a drinking problem was reassigned to a pit truck which
required no registration or chauffeurs license as it was used exclusively on
private property Employee Kohlman, who was a student , worked during
the 1968 summer season and during that period belonged to the Teamsters
535
season over-the-road drivers have been assigned with
their trucks to the pit to haul raw aggregate to the
crusher when demand exceeded the normal supply of
material. Unlike over-the-road drivers, pit truck
operators need not be licensed as they do not leave
their employer's premises and the equipment usually
used does not meet the same standards.
Although the record before us shows that
employees represented by the Teamsters have
operated pit trucks for several members of the Sand
Quarry and Gravel Pit Operators, the evidence fails
to establish that such use resulted from any
contractual arrangement between the parties or from
an established practice. The evidence shows that at
Hartland-Verma Sand & Gravel Co., this
arrangement resulted from an informal agreement
between the Employer and Operating Engineers.
The evidence further discloses that this was allowed
due to the fact that it entailed the use of registered
trucks ahd was utilized for a temporary period until
the Employer's portable dredge system was made
operational, thus eliminating the use of these trucks
as pit trucks.
In light of the foregoing facts, including
particularly the location and nature of the work
performed by "pit truck operators," which is clearly
seen to be the same as that performed by employees
formerly classified as dumpster operators, the long
inclusion of dumpster operators in this unit of pit
employees represented by the Operating Engineers,
the exclusion from the unit represented by the
Teamsters of employees within the jurisdiction of
the Operating Engineers, and the community of
interests shared by the "pit truck operators" and
other pit employees by virtue, inter alia , of their
work contacts and common supervision, we find that
the pit truck operators are included within the unit
represented by the Operating Engineers, and we
shall clarify the unit accordingly.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the existing contract unit
represented by International Union of Operating
Engineers Local 139, be, and it hereby is, clarified
by specifically including all employees who are
employed as pit truck operators by
employer-members of the Sand Quarry and Pit
Operators Association.
He was employed as an over-the-road driver and because of difficulties in
finding addresses was reassigned to drive a modified dump truck which was
used as a pit truck and worked within the pit the remainder of his
employment except for occasional over- the-road deliveries