Santa Fe Trail Transportation Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 2, 1937

2 N.L.R.B. 767 (N.L.R.B. 1937)

In the Matter Of SANTA FE TRAIL TRANSPORTATION COMPANY and
THE BROTHERHOOD OF RAILROAD TRAINMEN
Case No. R-126.-Decided April 2, 1937
Motor Bus Industry-Investigation of Representatives: controversy concerning
representation of employees-refusal by employer to recognize and negotiate
with union as exclusive representative; majority status disputed by employer;
rival organizations-question affecting commerce : employees directly engaged
in interstate commerce-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: craft; eli-
gibility for membership in petitioning union ; no controversy as to-Representa-
tives: proof of choice : membership in union ; application for membership' in
union ; written designation-Certification of Representatives: after investigation
but without election.
Mr. David C. Shaw for the Board.
Mr. J. W. Blood and Mr. D. E. Souder, of Wichita, Kan., for the
Company.
Mr. W. P. Nutter, of Wichita, Kan., for the Union.
Mr. Stanley S. Surrey, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
STATEMENT OF CASE
On December 24, 1936, the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen,
hereinafter referred to as the Union , by W. P. Nutter, filed with the
Regional Director for the Seventeenth Region (Kansas City, Mis-
souri ) a petition for an investigation and certification of representa-
tives of employees engaged as motor bus operators by the Southern
Kansas Stages Lines,' Wichita, Kansas. Thereafter , the National
Labor Relations Board, hereinafter called the Board, authorized the
Regional Director to conduct an investigation and to provide for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice . A notice of hearing was issued
and duly served , and pursuant thereto a hearing was held on March
8, 1937, at Wichita, Kansas before Charles A . Wood, the Trial Ex-
aminer duly designated by the Board. Full opportunity to be heard,
to examine and cross-examine witnesses and to introduce evidence
bearing on the issue , was afforded to all parties. Nearly all of the
evidence received at the hearing was stipulated to by counsel for the
Board and for the Santa Fe Trail Transportation Company.
I Name latei changed to the Santa Fe Trail Transportation* Company. . See, infra.
767
768 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Upon the record in the case, the stenographic report of the hearing,
and all the evidence, including oral testimony and documentary evi-
dence, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE COMPANY
The Santa Fe Trail Transportation Company, hereinafter referred
to as the Company, is a Kansas corporation with its principal office
at Wichita, Kansas. Prior to February 11, 1937, it was known as
the Southern Kansas Stage Lines Company, but on that date its
name was duly changed. The majority of the capital stock of the
Company is, owned and controlled by the General Improvement Com-
pany, Chicago, Illinois, which in turn is a wholly-owned subsidiary
of-the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company, Topeka,
Kansas.
The Company operates an interstate bus transportation system ex-
tending through the States of Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Colorado,
and Arkansas, transporting for hire persons, express and mail.
Terminal facilities of the Company are located at Wichita, Kansas;
Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma; Kansas City, Missouri; Fort
Smith, Arkansas ; Pueblo, Colorado, and elsewhere. In addition the
Company owns the entire capital stock of three operating bus trans-
portation companies, the Cardinal Stages Company, a Kansas corpo-
ration, The Santa Fe Trail Stages, Inc., an Arizona corporation, and
The Santa Fe Trail Stages of Illinois, Inc., an Illinois corporation.
The operations of the Company and these subsidiaries constitute an
integrated interstate bus transportation system, known as the Santa
Fe Trailways System, excending from Chicago, Illinois, to Los
Angeles and San Francisco, California, and transporting for hire
persons, express and mail. The companies comprising the Santa Fe
Trailways System in turn are units of the National Trailways Sys-
tem, a transcontinental interstate system of voluntarily associated
companies engaged in the transportation by motor bus for hire of
persons, express and mail, and extending from the East coast to the
West coast. The affiliated companies constituting the National
Trailways System publish joint time tables and coordinate their
transportation schedules and tariffs. The operations of the Santa
Fe Trailways System are also coordinated with those of the Atchi-
son, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company, both transportation
systems in general serving the same areas and localities. Certain
terminal facilities are used jointly, certain tickets are interchange-
able, and the tariffs and time tables of the Railway Company include
information pertaining to the Santa Fe Trailways System.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 769
We find that the Company is engaged in transportation and com-
merce among the several States.
11. THE UNION
The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen is a labor organization.
While membership in the Brotherhood was originally confined to cer-
tain classes of railroad employees, as a result of changes in its Con-
stitution and negotiations with other labor organizations it now
admits bus operators to membership. The Brotherhood of Railroad
Trainmen, Santa Fe Lodge No..529, was chartered by this organiza-
tion on February 1, 1937.
III. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Company employs betweei 450 and 500 employees. Of this
number about 124, and not more than 128, are motor bus operators.
The Union admits only that class of bus transportation employees
to membership and states that the bus operators constitute an ap-
propriate unit for the purposes of collective bargaining. Two sub-
sidiaries of the Company, Cardinal Stages Company and Santa Fe
Trail Stages, Inc., have recently concluded agreements with the
Union extending only to the bus operators employed by them. The
Company has in addition stipulated that the motor bus operators
employed by it constitute such an appropriate unit. We therefore
find on these facts that the motor bus operators employed by the
Company constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment
and other conditions of employment. The employees in this unit
are directly engaged in transportation and commerce among the
several States.
1V. EXISTENCE OF A QUESTION OF REPRESENTATION AFFECTING COMMERCE,
On December 26, 1936, the Union requested the Company to bar-
gain collectively with it for the purpose of arriving at an agreement
covering the rates and working conditions of the motor bus opera..
tors employed by it. The Company refused to meet with the Union,
claiming that it had not been authorized by a majority of the oper-
ators as their representative for collective bargaining. Moreover,
an organization known as the Motor Transportation Workers Union
claimed to represent a majority of the operators. That organiza-
tion, however, did not appear at the hearing, although it had been
duly served. The doubt thus cast on the Union's claims and the
refusal of the Company to bargain collectively with the Union have
given rise to,a question concerning representation. This question,
770 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
according to a representative of the Union, if not settled, may lead
to a strike of the Company's employees. We find that a question
concerning representation exists which tends to lead to labor dis-
putes burdening and obstructing commerce and the free flow of
commerce.
V. DESIGNATION OF THE UNION BY A MAJORITY OF THE EMPLOYEES IN
THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
There are about 124 bus operators in the appropriate unit, the
upper limit being 128 bus operators. The record shows that 80 of
these bus operators have affirmatively in writing designated the
Union as their representative for collective bargaining with the
Company. Of these 80 operators, at the time of the hearing 59
were members of the Union and 16 were applicants for membership,
of which latter group five had paid'their dues in full and the others
had promised payment by March 10, 1937. It was stipulated at the
hearing, and we so find from these facts, that a majority of the bus
operators have designated the Union as their representative for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Company in respect to
rates of pay, wages, hours of employment and other conditions' of
employment. The Company announced at the hearing that if the
Board certified the Union as the exclusive representative of the
motor bus operators, it would bargain collectively with it on that
basis. Inasmuch as the proof of designation by a majority is
clear and an election therefore unnecessary, we will make such a
certification.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact, the Board makes
the following conclusions of law :
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of the motor bus operators employed by the Santa Fe
Trail Transportation Company, within the meaning of Section
9 (c) and Section 2, subdivisions (6) and (7) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
2. The motor bus operators employed by the Santa Fe Trail
Transportation Company constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the National Labor Relations Act.
3. The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, having been desig-
nated by a majority of the motor bus operators employed by the
Santa Fe Trail Transportation Company as their representative for
the purposes of collective bargaining, is, by virtue of Section 9 (a)
of the National Labor Relations Act, the exclusive representative
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 771
of all such motor bus operators for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment
and other conditions of employment.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
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 8 of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended,
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen
has been designated by a majority of the motor bus operators em-
ployed by the Santa Fe Trail Transportation Company, Wichita,
Kansas, as their representative for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining with the Santa Fe Trail Transportation Company, and
that, pursuant to the provisions of Section 9 (a) of the National
Labor Relations Act, the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen is the
exclusive representative of all such motor bus operators for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Santa Fe Trail Transporta-
tion Company in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employ-
ment and other conditions of employment.
MR. DONALD WAKEFIELD SMITH took no part in the consideration
of the above Decision and Certification of Representatives.
5727-37-vol. 11-50