The Western Union Telegraph Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 8, 1941

35 N.L.R.B. 251 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY and
LOCAL 40, DIVISION 2, COMMERCIAL TELEGRAPHERS' UNION, AFFILI-
ATED WITH THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR
Cases Nos. R-0753 to R-2768, inclusive. Decided September 8, 1941
Jurisdiction : telegraph and cable communications industry.
Investigation and Certification : existence of question: Company refused to ac-
cord union recognition until it is certified by the Board; election necessary.
Units Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : separate units: all employees of
the Company employed at each of several cities in the State of Washington,
namely : the Port Angeles, Hoquiam, Ellensburg, Chehalis, Bellingham, Aber-
deen, Wenatchee, Tacoma, Olympia, Longview, Everett, and Yakima offices
respectively, but excluding managers, the plant department employee in the
Yakima office, and specifically named individuals ;
Practice and Procedure : petitions of union dismissed where proposed units are
each composed of one employee ; petition of union dismissed where it made
an inadequate showing of representation among employees in a proposed unit.
Mr. Patrick H. Walker, of Seattle, Wash., for the Board.
Mr. M. T. Cook, of Piedmont, Calif., Mr. R. E. Peters, of Portland,
Oreg., and Mr. G. S. Paul, for the Company.
Mr. C. E. Hughes, of Seattle, Wash., for the C. T. U.
Mr. Robert S. Fousek, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
ORDER
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On February 17 and March 25, 1941, respectively, Local 40, Divi-
sion 2, Commercial Telegraphers' Union, affiliated with- the American
Federation of Labor, herein called the C. T. U., filed with the Re-
gional Director for the Nineteenth Region (Seattle; Washington)
petitions and amended petitions alleging that questions affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
The Western Union Telegraph Company,'- herein called the Company,
1 At the hearing there was introduce(] a stipulation correctly designating the Company as
set forth above.
35 N. L. R. B , No. 52.
251
252 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
employed in the Company's offices at Wenatchee, Vancouver, Tacoma,
Olympia, Longview, Everett, and Bremerton, all located in Wash-
ington , and requesting investigations and certifications of representa-
tives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act,
49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On March 25, 1941, the C. T. U.
filed similar petitions concerning the representation of the Company's
employees at Yakima, Toppenish, Port Angeles, Hoquiam, Ellensburg,
Chehalis, Centralia, Bellingham, and Aberdeen, Washington. On
June 30, 1941, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called
the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article
III, Section 3 and Section 10 (c) (2), of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered a con-
solidation of the cases and an investigation and authorized the Re-
gional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate
hearing upon due notice.
On July 7, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the C. T. U.,
and the American Communications Association. Pursuant to notice,
a hearing was held on July 17 and 18, 1941, at Seattle, Washington,
before Henry J. Kent, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the
Chief Trial Examiner . The Board, the Company, and the C. T. U.
were represented and participated in the hearing. Full opportunity
to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce
evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties. During the
course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings on
motions and on objections to the admission of evidence. The Board
has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no
prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
At the hearing the C. T. U. requested that its petition be dismissed
as to the Vancouver office as that unit is covered by a petition apply-
ing to the Portland office. The petition will be dismissed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Western Union Telegraph Company is a New York corpora-
tion with its principal office in New York City. It is engaged in
the receiving and transmission by telegraph and cable of intrastate,
interstate, and international communications. The Company main-
tains a vast system of wire networks throughout the United States.
In the operation of its national and international communications
system the Company owns and/or operates 211,530 miles of pole lines,
4,070 miles of land line cable, 1,776,876 miles of wire, 30,324 nautical
WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY 253
miles of ocean cable, and 19,543 telegraph offices. This proceeding
involves the following 16 offices, all located in Washington, where the
Company employs approximately 109 employees : Wenatchee, Van-
couver, Tacoma, Olympia, Longview, Everett, Bremerton, Yakima,
Toppenish, Port Angeles, Hoquiam, Ellensburg, Chehalis, Centralia,
Bellingham, and Aberdeen.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Local 40, Division 2. Commercial Telegraphers' Union, affiliated
with the American Federation of Labor, is a labor organization
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company was requested to recognize the C. T. U. as the exclu-
sive bargaining representative for the Company's employees in each
of the named offices. The Company refused until such time as the
C. T. U. secured certification by the Board.
A statement of the Field Examiner introduced in evidence at the
hearing shows that the C. T. U. represents a substantial number of
employees in each of the above-named offices with the exception of
Bremerton 2 Because of the inadequate showing in Bremerton, the
petition with reference to that office will be dismissed.
Only one non-supervisory employee is employed by the Company
in both the Centralia and Toppenish offices. The principle of col-
lective bargaining presupposes that there is more than one eligible
person who desires to bargain. The Act does not empower the Board
to certify where only one employee is involved, although it does not
prevent a single employee from designating a representative to act for
him. The petitions for investigation and certification of representa-
I See the following table:
Listed by Listed by
Nons u-
Non
Company Nonsu. Companyand Signed and Signeds
employ- signed cards but
pervisory
employ- signed but notC^ty ees listed member- but not City ees listed member- cards
by the ship or listed by by the ship or listed by
Com an authors - Company Company authori- Companyp y ration zation
cards cards
Bremerton ------ 9 2 1 Bellingham ----- 6 5 __________
Everett......... 6 5 1 Centralia------- 1 2 ----------
Longview------- 4 3 1 Chelais _________ 2 2 ----------
Olympia -- ------ 9 6 3 Ellensburg------ 2 1 ----------
Tacoma -------- 25 23 3 Hoquiam _______ 2
_
2 ----------
Vancouver- ----- 4 3 _ Port Angeles- __ 2 3 ----------
Wenatchee _ 11 10 1 Toppemsh ___-__ 1 1 ----------
Aberdeen ------- 5 2 __________ Yakima________ 20 17 __________
254 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
fives of employees of the Toppenish and Centralia offices will therefore
be dismissed
We find that questions have arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company in the ' Everett, Longview, Olympia,
Tacoma, Wenatchee, Aberdeen, Bellingham, Chehalis, Ellensburg,
Hoquiam, Port Angeles, and Yakima offices.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
UPON COMMERCE `
We find that the questions concerning representation which have
arisen , occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, have a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and
tend to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce and
the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNITS
The C. T. U. alleges that all employees in each office, excluding
managers in offices employing five or more persons, and the plant-
department employees in the Tacoma and Yakima offices, constitute
an appropriate bargaining unit. The Company urges the exclusion
of all managers but takes no position upon the exclusion of members
of the plant departments.
Office managers in offices employing less than five employees have
numerous duties and spend a preponderantly greater amount of their
time performing duties not strictly of a managerial nature. • How-,
ever, all managers exercise supervisory authority, including the au-
thority to hire and discharge, over employees in their offices. We shall
exclude all managers from the unit.
At the hearing it was disclosed that clerks Hoffman and Rudeen, in
the Tacoma and Yakima offices, have supervision over the delivery
department with power to hire and discharge messengers. Appar-
ently the C. T. U. would include these employees in the units. Be-
cause of the clear supervisory function which these clerks perform,
we find that they are supervisors and that Hoffman and Rudeen should
be excluded from the appropriate units.
No reason was assigned by the C. T. U. for the request that plant-
department employees in the Tacoma and Yakima offices be excluded.
While there are no plant-department employees in any of the other
offices considered in this proceeding, we have frequently included
plant-department employees in city units 4 We have recently ex-
8 Matter of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and Motion Picture Producers Ass'n., et al.
and Screen Writers' G2uild, Inc, 8 N. L R. B. 858.
'Matter of Western Union Telegraph Company and American Federation of Labor, Com-
mercial Telegraphers' Union, 30 N L R . B. 1169.
WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY 255
eluded the plant-department employees in the Tacoma office from a
unit of plant-department employees in a geographical area in a pro-
ceeding arising upon a petition by the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers.5 In the same proceeding, however, we included
the plant-department employee in the Yakima office in a unit with
other plant-department employees in a geographical district. Under
all the circumstances, we shall include the plant-department employees
in the unit with other employees in the Tacoma office in this proceeding
and shall exclude the plant-department employee in the Yakima
office from the unit of other Yakima office employees.
We find that all employees of the Company employed at the Port
Angeles, Hoquiam, Ellensburg, Chehalis, Bellingham, Aberdeen,
Wenatchee, Tacoma, Olympia, Longview, Everett, and Yakima offices
respectively, but excluding managers, the plant-department employee
in the Yakima office, and Hoffman and Rudeen, each constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, and that such
units will insure to employees of the Company the full benefit of
their right to self-organization and to collective bargaining and other-
wise effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. TIIE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the questions concerning representation which have
arisen can best be resolved by elections by secret ballot. The parties
took no position as to the date to be used to determine eligibility. In
accordance with our usual practice, we find that the employees of
the Company eligible to vote in the elections shall be those employees
in the appropriate units who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elections
herein, subject to such limitations and additions as are set forth in the
Direction.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following:
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. Questions affecting commerce have arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of The Western Union Telegraph Company,
employed in the offices in Port Angeles, Hoquiam, Ellensburg, Che-
halis, Bellingham, Aberdeen, Wenatchee, Tacoma, Olympia, Long-
view, Everett, and Yakima, Washington, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
5 Matter of The Western Union Telegraph Company and Commercial Telegraphers' Union
and Matter of The Western Union Telegraph Company and International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers, 34 N. L. R. B. 579.
256 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
2. All employees of the Company employed at the Port Angeles,
Hoquiam, Ellensburg, Chehalis, Bellingham, Aberdeen, Wenatchee,
Tacoma, Olympia, Longview, Everett, and Yakima offices respectively,
but excluding managers, the plant-department employee in the Yakima
office, and clerks Hoffman and Rudeen, each constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
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, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National
Labor Relations Board_ Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with The Western Union Telegraph Company at its Port Angeles,
Hoquiam, Ellensburg, Chehalis, Bellingham, Aberdeen, Wenatchee,
Tacoma, Olympia, Longview, Yakima, and Everett offices, elections
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 direc-
tion and supervision of the Regional Director for the Nineteenth
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Rela-
tions Board and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and
Regulations, among all employees in each office who were employed
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this
Direction, including employees who did not work during such pay-roll
period because they were ill or on vacation or in the active military
service or training of the United States, or temporarily laid off, but
excluding managers, the plant-department employee in the Yakima
office, clerks Hoffman and Rudeen, and employees who have since
quit or been discharged, for cause, to determine whether or not they
desire to be represented by Local 40, Division 2, Commercial Tele-
graphers' Union, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor,
for the purposes of collective bargaining.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petitions for investigations and 'cer-
tifications of representatives of employees in the Vancouver, Bremer-
ton, Centralia, and Toppenish offices of The Western Union Company,
filed by Local 40, Division 2, Commercial Telegraphers' Union, affili-
ated with the American Federation of Labor, be, and they hereby are,
dismissed. ' I -