Southern Union Gas Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 6, 1969

175 N.L.R.B. 870 (N.L.R.B. 1969)

870 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Southern Union Gas Company and International
Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs,
Warehousemen and Helpers of America, Local
Union No. 492 ( Ind.), Petitioner. Case
28-RC-1877
May 6, 1969
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF
ELECTION
BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS
BROWN 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 Gordon J.
Jorgensen. Following the hearing, pursuant to
Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations and Statements of
Procedure, Series 8, as amended, this case was
transferred to the National Labor Relations Board
for decision.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
powers in connection with this case to a
three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's
rulings made at the hearing and finds no prejudicial
error. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board
finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act, and it will effectuate the
purposes 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
concerning the representation of employees of the
Employer within the meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and
Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The evidence indicates that the Employer
operates and maintains natural gas systems in
Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. Its
Albuquerque, New Mexico, district, which is
involved in the instant proceeding, distributes and
sells natural gas to the consuming public. The
Employer's Albuquerque district is headed by a
district manager under whose supervision falls the
district's commercial and service divisions. The
employees comprising the service division are
represented by a union. None of the employees
comprising the commercial division, which is divided
into the meter department, billing department, etc.,
is currently represented by any labor organization,
and there is no collective-bargaining history for any
of these employees.
The Petitioner requests an election in a unit
composed of some four meter readers comprising
the Employer's meter department. The Employer,
while not suggesting an appropriate unit, urges that
the petition be dismissed on the ground that the
meter readers are part of the Employer's overall
operation and should not be segregated from the
remaining employees.
The meter readers perform the normal functions
of the job. Thus, they go to the customers' homes,
take readings, record, and submit them to their
department supervisor. The meter department
supervisor in turn submits the readings to the billing
department of the commercial division which is also
under separate supervision. Unlike the other
employees in the various departments of the
commercial division, the meter readers wear
uniforms in the performance of their work. There is
no standard line of progression to or from the meter
department. With the exception of emergency
situations, there is no interchange of employees
between meter reading and any other department of
the Employer. Transfers in or out of the Meter
Department are only on a permanent basis and at
the option of the affected employee.
On the basis of the foregoing, and particularly in
view of the lack of functional integration, the
absence of interchange between meter readers and
the Employer's other employees, and the separate
immediate supervision of the meter readers by the
meter reading superintendent, we find that the
following employees constitute an appropriate unit
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act:
All gas meter readers employed by
Employer in its meter reading department at
Albuquerque, New Mexico, but excluding all
other employees, office clerical employees, guards
and supervisors as defined in the Act.'
[Direction of Election' omitted from publication.]
'Cf El Paso Electric Company, 168 NLRB No 136, wherein a unit
limited solely to the Employer 's meter readers was deemed inappropriate.
In that case, contrary to the facts herein, the meter readers were shown to
be an integral part of the accounting department, enjoying common
supervision and frequent temporary job interchange , as well as job
progression , with the other clerical employees composing the accounting
department.
In order to assure that all eligible voters may have the opportunity to
be informed of the issues in the exercise of their statutory right to vote, all
parties to the election should have access to a list of voters and their
addresses which may be used to communicate with them Excelsior
Underwear Inc.. 156 NLRB 1236; N L R B. v. Wyman-Gordon Company,
394 U S. 759. Accordingly, it is hereby directed that an election eligibility
list, containing the names and addresses of all the eligible voters, must be
filed with the Regional Director for Region 28 within 7 days of the date of
this Decision and Direction of Election The Regional Director shall make
the list available to all parties to the election. No extension of time to file
this list shall be granted by the Regional Director except in extraordinary
circumstances. Failure to comply with this requirement shall be grounds
for setting aside the election whenever proper objections are filed.
175 NLRB No. 141