Missouri Utilities Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 24, 1943

54 N.L.R.B. 37 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of MISSOURI UTILITIES COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, AFL, LOCAL UNION B-702
Case No.14-R-766.Decided December 24,1943
Mr. R. B. Oliver, Jr., of Cape Girardeau, Mo., for the Company.
Messrs. J. 0. Jones and H. E. Nunn, of West Frankfort, Ill., for the
Union.
Misses Muriel J. Levor and Frances Lopinsky, of counsel to the
Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers, AFL, Local Union B-702, herein called the Union, alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Missouri Utilities Company, Cape Girar-
deau , Missouri, herein called the Company, the National Labor Rela-
tions Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Keith W. Blinn, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at
Cape Girardeau, Missouri, on October 14, 1943. The Company and'
the Union appeared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity
to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, to introduce evi-
dence bearing on the issues, and to file briefs with the Board. The
Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudi-
cial error and are hereby affirmed.
The Company made a motion to dismiss the petition alleging the
Union's failure to show substantial interest up to the time of the hear-
ing. Ruling was reserved to the Board. The motion is hereby denied
for reasons hereinafter set forth.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Missouri Utilities Company, a Missouri corporation with its prin-
cipal office at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, is engaged in the manufacture
54 N. L. R. B., No. 7.
37
38 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and distribution of electrical energy, gas, light, and water. The
Company, formerly a subsidiary of Community Power & Light Com-
pany, was reorganized in accordance with an order of the Securities
and Exchange Commission, and is now an independent utility with its
stock held in substantially all the States of the United States. During
the year 1942 the Company purchased 41,332 tons of coal and 16 car-
loads of oil, which were shipped from points outside the State of
Missouri; household appliances valued at $46,427 and service equip-
ment valued at approximately $86,644, of which the major portion was
shipped from points outside the State of Missouri; and natural gas
valued at $121,209, which originated in the State of Texas. The Com-
pany's total revenue during the year 1942 amounted to $1,818,639, of
which $1,316,000 was received from the sale of, electrical energy.
Among the Company's customers are such instrumentalities of inter-
state commerce as the "Frisco," Missouri Pacific and the Cotton Belt
Railroads, Ozark Trails Bridge Company, Western Union Telegraph
Company, Southeastern Missouri Telephone Company, and Radio
Station KFBS. The Company also numbers among its customers
United States Government Post Offices and aircraft landing fields, and
numerous firms engaged in interstate commerce.
The Company admits, and we find, that it engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union
B-702, is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation
of Labor, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
By letter dated August 13, 1943, the Union asserted a claim to
represent a majority of,the Company's production, construction, and
maintenance employees, and requested a conference for collective
bargaining purposes. The Company refused to recognize the Union
as the bargaining agent of its employees on the ground that it does
not represent a majority of them.
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 hereinafter found appropriate.'
' The Regional Director reported that the Union submitted 56 designations , of which 50
bore apparently genuine original signatures corresponding with names on the Company's
pay roll of September 15, 1943 , which contains 124 names . The Con'pany argues that
since the Union did not produce cards for a majority of its employees , it has not shown a
substantial interest . There is no merit in this contention . See Matter of James Doak,
Jr., Co., 52 N. L. R. B. 378.
MISSOURI UTILITIES COMPANY 39
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 Union claims as appropriate for collective bargaining purposes
a unit composed of the production, construction, and maintenance
employees of the Company's Cape Girardeau Group, with certain
inclusions and exclusions noted below. The Company contends that
the Senath-Paragould Group should be included in the unit, or, in
the alternative, that the employees at Senath should be included, ex-
cluding the Paragould employees in accordance with the Union's claim
that they do not come within its jurisdiction. The Union has limited
its organizational efforts to the employees in the Cape Girardeau
Group.
The Company operates four small systems of power stations and
transmission lines called, respectively, the Western, the Central, the
Cape Girardeau, and the Senath-Paragould Groups. The Company
claims that the last two groups together constitute a single division
known as the Southeastern Missouri Division. Both groups are under
the general supervision of T. A. Martin, assistant general manager
and division engineer, stationed at Sikeston, and L. A. Byron, chief
production engineer, stationed at Cape Girardeau. However, em-
ployees with diverse titles, having authority which varies with the
number of employees involved, exercise supervision over the employees
at the sundry locations and plants which comprise the groups. Bills
are issued from various localities for the surrounding area; Senath
and Paragould are among these places. The Cape Girardeau Group
is not physically connected by electric transmission lines to the Senath-
Paragould Group ; the closest point between the transmission lines of
these two groups is 39 miles; the closest point between locations where
employees are regularly stationed is 53 miles. Although the electric
energy in the Cape Girardeau Group is produced by the Company at
various electric generating plants located within that group, the elec-
tric power for the Senath-Paragould Group is purchased from an
outside source, the electric plant at Paragould being a reserve source
used only during peaks. Cape Girardeau is in constant communica-
tion with other localities in that group; hourly signals are exchanged
between the Cape Girardeau and Poplar Bluff plants by frequency
control. There is no such connection system between the Senath-
Paragould Group and the Cape Girardeau Group. There is little
interchange of employees between the Cape Girardeau and Senath-
Paragould groups. It appears that 'on only one occasion since 1927
did employees from Senath work at Cape Girardeau, and reverse
40 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
transfers are limited to the annual working of two meter testers from
the Cape Girardeau Group at Senath for 2 weeks during the cotton
season, and to rare emergencies amounting to four occasions during
the 2-year period prior to the hearing. Employees in similar job
classifications throughout the entire system have similar duties, and
the same rules, policies, and benefits likewise are extended to all em-
ployees. From this record it is clear that the employees of the Cape
Girardeau Group constitute an integrated and identifiable group, which
can effectively function as a unit for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining 2 pending organization of employees in other divisions. Under
these circumstances, we find that a unit limited to the employees in
the Cape Girardeau Group is appropriate. Our finding in this
respect, however, does not preclude a later determination that a larger
unit is appropriate when effective organization has extended to em-
ployees in other parts of the Company's system.'
The Union desires the exclusion from the unit of ice plant em-
ployees since they are within the jurisdiction of a different labor
organization. The Company requests their inclusion on the -ground
that the distribution of electric energy is dependent on these employees.
Gas and water department employees who have no connection with
either the generation or distribution of electric power, are included
in the proposed unit.
At Sikeston and Charleston the ice plant and the electric plant are
housed in the same building. It appears that the ice plant employees
are required to be qualified electricians. They operate electric circuits,
and must be familiar with the plant switchboard, which they operate
during emergencies. It would be necessary for the Company to
maintain electricians for the purpose of doing the switching at the
Sikeston plant irrespective of whether part of their time was employed
in ice manufacturing. Certain of the ice plant employees work with
the local line gangs during the winter months, or when their presence
is not necessary at the ice plant. In connection with the ice plant it-
self, these employees must operate electric motors and other facilities.
In view of these circumstances, we find that-the work of the ice plant
employees is integrated with the work of the regular electrical em-
ployees, and we shall accordingly include them in the unit.
The Company lists-on its pay roll the following classifications
which are customarily held to be supervisory. The Company con-
tends, however, that the titles are given for long and meritorious
service and do not carry' with them supervisory authority. Both
parties seek to include the employees so classified.
2In a former proceeding , Matter of Missouri Utelities Company, 43 N. L. R. B. 908, the
Company urged the appropriateness of a unit coinciding with the Cape Girardeau Group.
Matter of Central Maine Power Company , 45 N. L. R. B. 328.
MISSOURI UTILITIES COMPANY 41
Boiler foremen electric. There is one employee classified as
"boiler foreman electric ," at Cape Girardeau , whose job consists
largely of checking the boiler operations , the quantity of water, and
the functioning of the automatic devices. He does not have author-
ity over the firemen, although he may call the lowness of the water
to a fireman 's attention . He has no authority to change , or to recom-
mend effectively changes in the status of fellow employees . We shall
include the boiler foreman electric in the unit.
Foremen, line foremen , and "local managers ." Foremen and line
foremen work in company with and direct the activities of from
three to six employees . They spend 75 to 80 percent of their time
doing the work of linemen. The "local managers" at Lilbourn,
Chaffee, and Fornfelt , do substantially the same work as foremen
and line foremen . None of these employees has authority to change
or to recommend effectively changes in the status of employees.
However, each is the highest in authority in his own sphere of
action. To the public and to the men working with him, he is the
representative of management . We shall , therefore , exclude fore-
men, line foremen and all local managers from the unit. 4
There are certain other employees of the Company classified as
chief operators , chief engineers , and chief plant engineers , whom the
Union seeks to exclude from the unit and the Company to include.
Since they have authority to recommend effectively changes in the
status of their fellow employees , we find that they are supervisory
employees and we shall exclude them as such.
The Union seeks to exclude and the Company to include an em-
ployee classified as yardman and helper . Approximately 50 percent
of this employee 's time is spent in yard work and the remainder as
janitor and general handy man . Since the unit sought by the Union
is an industrial one, and since a substantial portion of the time of
the yardman and helper is spent on work similiar to that of a gen-
eral utility man, we shall include him within the unit.
We find that all production , construction , and maintenance em-
ployees of the Company 's Cape Girardeau Group ,5 including ice
plant employees , the yardman and helper , and the boiler foreman
electric, but excluding foremen and line foremen , all local managers
including those stationed at Lilbourn, Chaffee, and Fornfelt, chief
operators , chief engineers , chief plant engineers , and all supervisory
employees having authority to hire, promote , discharge , discipline,
4 See Matter of Maryland Drydock Co ., 49 N. L. It. B. 733 ; Matter of Virginia Electric h
Power Co, 49 N. L. R. B. 1095; Matter of Milwaukee Gab Light Co., 49 N. L. R. B. 1398;
Matter of Rockland Light c€ Power Co , Inc., 53 N. L R. B 798.
" Cape Girardeau , Poplar Bluffs, Charleston , Sikeston , Fornfelt, Chaffee, Gordonville,
Dutchtown , Ancell , Illmo, Delta, Kelso, Commerce , Benton, Oran , Morley, Blodgett, Van-
duser, Bertrand , Anniston , East Prairie, Matthews, Canalou, Morehouse , Essex, Dexter,
Bloomfield , Bernie, Townley, Parma, Catron , Lilbourn, Risco, Dudley, Fisk , and Crowder.
42 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively
recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the Act.
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
Election 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 Rela-
tions 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 Missouri Utilities
Company, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, 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 supervision
of the Regional Director for the Fourteenth 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 any 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 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL, Local
Union B-702, for the purposes of collective bargaining.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election. -