Sedalia Marshall Boonville Stage Lines, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 12, 1953

103 N.L.R.B. 489 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

SEDALIA MARSHALL BOONVILLE STAGE LINES, INC . 489
The Board has carefully analyzed the evidence adduced in the pres-
ent proceeding and finds no reason to depart from the findings set
forth at some length in its decisions in the representation proceeding
mentioned above, where we considered the issue of the unit placement
•of work tasks of the type here disputed. Under these circumstances,
and on the basis of the entire record, we conclude that special lighting
effects are included in the lighting duties which characterize stage
electricians, and that employees operating special effects projectors
have interests in working conditions more closely related to those of
stage electricians than to those of engineers. Accordingly, the Board
finds that the disputed work tasks appropriately are included in the
bargaining unit presently represented by IATSE.
Determination of the Dispute
On the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, and upon the entire
record in this case, the Board makes the following determination of
dispute pursuant to Section 10 (k) of the amended Act:
1. The operation of special effect projectors at the Company's tele-
vision station, WNBT, New York City, is included in the bargaining
aunt presently represented by Theatrical Protective Union, Local 1,
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving
Picture Machine Operators of the United States and Canada, AFL,
and not in the bargaining unit now represented by National Associa-
tion of Broadcast Engineers and Technicians, CIO.
2. Within ten (10) days from the date of this Decision and Deter-
mination of Dispute, National Broadcasting Company, Inc., National
Association of Broadcast Engineers and Technicians, CIO, and The-
atrical Protective Union, Local 1, International Alliance of Theatrical
Stage Employees and Moving Picture Machine Operators of the
United States and Canada, AFL, shall each notify the Regional Di-
rector for the Second Region, in writing, of the steps it has taken to
comply with the terms of this Decision and Determination of Dispute.
SEDALIA MARSHALL BOONVILLE STAGE LINES, INC. and TEAMSTERS
UNION, LOCAL No. 90, AFFILIATED WITH INTERNATIONAL BROTHER-
HOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF
AMERICA, A. F. L., PETITIONER. Case No. 18-RC-1778. March 12,
1953
Decision and Order
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Erwin A. Peterson, hearing
103 NLRB No. 69.
490 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free front
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Murdock and Peterson].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
(1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the following reasons:
Petitioner seeks a unit limited to the Employer's men who drive the
highway post office buses. The Employer contends that the drivers
of these vehicles constitute only a fragment of the appropriate unit,
as it fails to include the drivers of the Employer's passenger buses.
The Employer, a Missouri corporation with principal offices in Des
Moines, is engaged as a common carrier in the transportation of bus
passengers in Iowa, Missouri, and South Dakota. The Employer also
operates, under a contract with the U. S. Post Office Department, a
number of highway post office buses, commonly known as "hipos.'r
Aside from a different interior' and only minor differences in the
exterior,2 the hipos are similar in appearance to the passenger buses; in
fact, several of the hipos are merely converted passenger buses. The,
record discloses that the motors, steering gear, front and rear axle,
transmission, and other moving mechanical parts are the same for
hipos and passenger buses. Both types of vehicles are garaged in the
same place and maintained and repaired by the same mechanics;
furthermore, both must also comply with Federal and State safety
regulations Because of the latter requirement, the qualifications of
all the drivers of both types of vehicles are substantially the same.
Insofar as the nature of the cargo is concerned, both carry mail, the
hipos carrying mail and the post office personnel, the others, mail
and passengers. There is no essential difference in the duties per-
' The passenger buses are equipped with seats for passengers and with racks for their
baggage. The hipos have no seats except a stool for the post -office clerk , who rides in them
and is in charge of the mail . Hipos are equipped with racks and tables for assorting the
mail. There is generally no partition between the driver 's seat and the passengers in the
passenger buses, whereas the hipos do have a partition behind the driver's seat.
2 The hipos have 2 center doors rather than 1 and the number of windows are not the
same.
a In addition , the hipos must also be constructed in compliance with the contract of the
Post Office Department.
WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY, INCORPORATED 491
formed by either the hipo operator or the passenger bus operator.
Thus, the hipo operator drives over specified routes to designated post
offices. Similarly, the passenger bus driver also drives over specified
routes to designated passenger line terminals. For both hipos and
passenger bus drivers, wage rates are substantially the same, and both
groups are subject to the same general working conditions.- There
is regular interchange between the two groups. There is no evidence
in the record that either group has separate supervision apart from
the other.
We find that because the proposed unit would exclude the passenger
bus drivers, whose duties, functions, and working conditions are vir-
tually the same as the hipo drivers and because hipo and passenger
bus drivers interchange regularly with one another and there does not
appear to be any separate supervision, the proposed unit confined to
the hipo drivers is too limited in scope and not sufficiently autonomous
to be appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining; we shall,
therefore, dismiss the petitions
Order
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition filed herein be, and it hereby
is, dismissed.
Vacations, profit sharing, and facilities, such as lockers, showers, rooms, and notices,
apply to all drivers.
5 See F. L. Roberts & Company, Inc., 81 NLRB 67; George F. Burnett Company, Inc., 90
NLRB 277.
WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY, INCORPORATED and COMMUNICATIONS
WORKERS OF AMERICA, (C. W. A.) C. I. 0., PETITIONER. Case No.
18-RC-1744. March 12,1953
Decision and Direction of Elections
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Hjalmar Storlie,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Styles and Peterson].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1., The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
103 NLRB No. 56.