Carnegie Natural Gas Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 15, 1943

53 N.L.R.B. 1331 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter Of CARNEGIE NATURAL GAS COMPANY and OIL WORKERS
INTERNATIONAL UNION (CIO)
Case No. 6-R-823.-Decided December 15, 1943
Messrs. Nicholas Unkovic and Ira R. Hill, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for
the Company.
Mr. W. R. Wonsettler, of Oil City, Pa., and Mr. 0. W. Singleton, of
Charleston, W. Va., for the Union.
Miss Frances Lopinsky, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Oil Workers International Union.
(CIO), herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Carnegie Natural Gas Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided
for an appropriate hearing 1 upon due notice before S. Craig Carnes,
Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
on November 1, 1943. The Company and the Union appeared and
participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard,
to examine and cross-examine witnesses, to introduce evidence bearing
on the issues, and to file briefs with the Board. The Trial Examiner's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Carnegie Natural Gas Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the
United States Steel Corporation of New Jersey, is a Pennsylvania
, District 50, United Mine Workers of America , herein called the U. M. W. A, filed a
petition in Case No . 6-R-789 concerning the same employees , wheieupon , on October 12,
1943, the Board ordered Cases No. 6-R-789 and 6-R-823 consolidated A consolidated
hearing was had at which the U. M. W. A did not appear The U M W A subsequently
requested and was granted leave to withdraw its petition
53 N. L. R. B., No. 242.
1331
1332 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
corporation. The Company is engaged in the production, purchase,
transportation, and sale of natural 'gas and the production and sale
of crude oil, and in the transportation but not the sale of coke oven
gas. During the 12-month period preceding the hearing the Company
purchased, produced, and transported from the State of West Virginia
natural gas amounting to 9,600,000,000 cubic feet, and purchased and
produced 4,000,000,000 cubic feet of natural gas in the State of Pennsyl-
vania. During the same period it purchased in Pennsylvania steel
tubing and other steel products having a value in excess of $100,000,
50 percent of which was utilized in West Virginia. The Company's
gross income for the 12 months was in excess of $3,500,000. Ninety
percent of its total sales was to industrial concerns in the Pittsburgh
area whose products move in interstate commerce; the balance was to
domestic consumers and public utilities.
For the purposes of this proceeding only, the Company admits
that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National
Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Oil Workers International Union is a labor organization affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to member-
ship employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of its employees until the Union
is certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of the Regional Director introduced into evidence at
the hearing indicates that the Union represents a substantial number,
of employees in the unit herein found to be appropriate.2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and'Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Company's operations are divided into four divisions termed :
Waynesburg, West Virginia, Leechburg, and Homestead. The
Waynesburg and West Virginia divisions are contiguous, while the
Leechburg and Homestead divisions are each separate from the con-
tiguous divisions and separate from each other. The type of work
2 The Regional Director reported that the Union submitted 159 applications for member-
ship cards , all of which bore apparently genuine original signatures , 150 of which corre-
sponded with names appearing on the Company' s pay rolls for September 14 and 16, 1943,
which together contained names of 282 employees in the appropriate unit.
CARNEGIE NATURAL GAS COMPANY 1333
done in Leechburg is identical with that done in Waynesburg and
in West Virginia but that done in Homestead differs somewhat be-
cause Homestead is the only division that handles byproduct gas.
Interchange 'of personnel between the Leechburg and Homestead
divisions is slight but there is a constant interchange between em-
ployees of the Waynesburg and West Virginia divisions. Control of
the four divisions is central.
The Union requests a system-wide unit. The Company contends
that the Waynesburg and West Virginia divisions constitute an ap-
propriate unit for bargaining and that the Leechburg and Homestead
divisions each constitute separate units, on the ground that distance,
in the case of Leechburg, and type of work in the case of Homestead,
require the segregation of the latter two divisions from the others.
Since the four divisions are but parts of a system, all subject to the
same ultimate control, all engaged in identical or related activities, all,
though not contiguous, serving the same general area, it is the opinion
of the Board that bargaining for the employees of these divisions can
best be carried on in a system-wide unit. Since the Union has organ-
ized on a system-wide basis, that optimum unit can be established at
the present time .3
The Company would exclude from and the Union would include in
the unit all salaried employees and employees whom the Company
terms "casuals ." All persons hired by the Company are designated as
casuals until they have been employed continuously by the Company
for a year. These include seasonal employees, employees hired for a
particular job, and permanent employees. As a reasonable number of
them are substantially sure of permanent or recurring employment
with the Company, we shall include the so-called casual employees
in the unit.4 Since the Company offered no basis of differentiation
between salaried and other employees except method of payment, and
since some salaried employees clearly belong in the unit, we shall not
exclude salaried employees, as such, from the unit.
We find that all production, maintenance, and compressor station
employees and all other employees of the Company including "casuals"
employed in its Waynesburg, West Virginia, Leechburg and Home-
stead divisions, excluding executives, office clerical employees, and all
supervisory employees authorized to hire, promote, discharge, disci-
pline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees or effec-
tively recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the
pt}rposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the Act.
3 See Matter of Northern States Power Company of Wisconsin , 37 N L R B 991
4 See Matter of Smith-Wood Products Company, 45 N L R. B 787.
1334 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
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 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Carnegie Natural
Gas Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, an election by secret ballot
shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30)
days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Sixth Region, acting in this
matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject
to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among
the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
date of this Direction, including employees who did not work during
said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily
laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United
States who present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding
those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and
have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election,
to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Oil
Workers International Union (CIO) for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Election. ,