Wayland Distributing Co. Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 25, 1973

204 N.L.R.B. 459 (N.L.R.B. 1973)

WAYLAND DISTRIBUTING COMPANY 459
Wayland Distributing Company Inc. and International
Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs , Warehouse-
men and Helpers of America , Ind., Local Union No.
999, Petitioner . Case 15-RC-5084
June 25, 1973
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
BY CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS FANNING
AND JENKINS
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing
was held before Hearing Officer Ronald T. Russell of
the National Labor Relations Board. Following the
close of the hearing the Regional Director for Region
15 transferred this case to the Board for decision.
Thereafter, the Employer filed a brief.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au-
thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's rul-
ings made at the hearing and finds that they are free
from prejudicial error. They are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this proceeding, the
Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act and it will effectuate the pur-
poses of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The Petitioner is a labor organization claiming
to represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concern-
ing the representation of certain employees of the
Employer within the meaning of Sections 9(c)(1) and
2(7) of the Act.
4. The parties stipulated that the Employer is an
Alabama corporation with home offices located in
Birmingham, Alabama. It is engaged in the contract
handling of mail for the United States Postal Service,
and it annually receives revenues in excess of $100,000
from the United States Postal Service for the service
of handling mail both inside the State and outside the
State of Alabama.
The Petitioner requests a unit consisting of all
truckdrivers, shop and maintenance employees I lo-
cated in Mobile, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida.
The Employer's position is that the only appropriate
unit would be a unit of all unrepresented drivers and
shop employees of Wayland Distributing Company,
Inc., wherever located.
i There are no shop and maintenance employees in Mobile or Pensacola
at the present time
The Employer has drivers stationed in Nashville,
Tennessee; St. Louis, Missouri; New Orleans, Louisi-
ana; Memphis, Tennessee; Mobile, Florence, and
Birmingham, Alabama; Atlanta, Georgia; Columbia,
South Carolina; Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tennes-
see; Jacksonville, Florida; and Jackson, Mississippi.
There are no shop employees stationed anywhere
other than Birmingham. With the exception of the
terminals located in Jacksonville, Florida, Jackson,
Mississippi, and Mobile, Alabama, and driver dis-
patched on a run is dispatched out of Birmingham.
The terminal manager at Mobile is J. R. McCauley
who is responsible for dispatching, seeing that sched-
ules are adhered to, and getting equipment in and out.
McCauley also distributes the driver's paychecks and
is responsible for keeping the time for all the drivers
in the Mobile area. He also effectively recommends
employees for hire and discharge, and according to
C. G. Wayland, president of the Employer, he has the
authority to discharge an employee for misconduct.
There are approximately eight drivers in the Mobile
area. They all have regularly scheduled runs which
begin and end in Mobile. They are hourly paid and
the wage determination for each route is contained in
the contract between the Employer and the Postal
Service. In addition, there is one regular driver in
Pensacola, Florida, who is apparently also supervised
by McCauley.
There is little temporary interchange with drivers at
other locations, and although it is permissible for a
driver to transfer from one contract run to another,
based on seniority, very few transfers occur. There is
no prior history of bargaining 2 and no labor organiza-
tion seeks to represent these drivers on any other ba-
sis. We find in these circumstances that the
single-terminal unit,' with the addition of the Pensa-
cola driver, requested by the Petitioner is appropriate.
Accordingly, we find that the following unit is ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act:
All drivers and shop and maintenance employ-
ees of the Employer based in either Mobile, Ala-
bama, or Pensacola, Florida, excluding office
clerical employees, professional employees,
guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Direction of Election and Excelsior footnote omit-
ted from publication.]
2 Pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Election in Case 12-RC-4225,
a union was certified as the bargaining representative for the drivers em-
ployed by the Employer at its Jacksonville, Florida, terminal . Negotiations
were scheduled to begin on the day of the hearing in the instant case
7 Groendyke Transport, Inc, 171 NLRB 997
204 NLRB No. 72