The Western Union Telegraph Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 24, 1941

36 N.L.R.B. 1209 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY and
WESTERN UNION EMPLOYEES UNION No. 22506, AFFILIATED WITH
A. F. OF L.
Case No. R-3081.-Decided November 24, 1941
Jurisdiction : telegraph industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re-
fusal to accord union recognition until certified by the Board, probationary
employees held eligible to vote ; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees at the Portland, Ore-
gon, office of the Company, including employees at the Vancouver and Oregon
City branch office and regular messengers, 'but excluding plant department
employees who in another proceeding voted to be affiliated by a labor organi-
zation other than the organization, involved, and excluding other specific
classes of employees.
Mr. M. T. Cook , of San Francisco , Calif., for the Company.
Mr. James Landye , of Portland , Oreg., for the Union.
1M19. Louis Cokin, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On August 19, 1941, Western Union Employees Union No. 22506,
affiliated with the A. F. of L., herein called the Union, filed with the
Regional Director for the Nineteenth Region (Seattle, Washington)
a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen
concerning the representation of employees of The Western Union
Telegraph Company, Portland, Oregon, herein called the Company,
and requesting an investigation and certification of representatives
pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49
Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On September 17, 1941, the National
Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to
Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to
conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
36 N L. R. B., No. 247.
1209
1210 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
- On September 30, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the
Union, Commercial Telegraphers' Union, and upon American Com-
munications Association. Pursuant to notice; a hearing was held
on October 13, 1941, at Portland, Oregon, before Harry George, the
Trial Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The
Company and the Union were represented and participated in the
hearing. American Communications Association and Commercial
Telegraphers' Union did not appear at the hearing. Full oppor-
tunity 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 Union moved to amend its
petition to correctly set forth the unit. The Trial Examiner re-
served ruling thereon. The motion is hereby granted. 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 these rulings and finds that no prejudicial errors were
committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
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 at New York City. It is engaged
throughout the United States and in various foreign countries in the
receiving and transmission by telegraph and cable of intrastate,
interstate , and international communications . In the operation of
its national and international communications ' system, the Com-
pany 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 miles of ocean
cable, and 19,543 telegraph offices. The Company maintains an
office at Portland, Oregon, with which we are here concerned. It
admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
Act.
IT. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Western Union Employees Union No. 22506 is a labor organization
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. It admits to
membership employees at the Portland, Oregon, office of the
Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On August 15, 1941, the Company refused to recognize the Union
as exclusive representative of its employees at Portland until such
THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY 1211
time as the Union is certified by the Board. A statement of a Field
Examiner of the Board, introduced in evidence at the hearing, shows
that the Union represents a substantial number of employees in the
unit which it alleges is appropriate.-'
We find that' a, question has arisen concerning the representation of
employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union and the Company agree that all employees at the Port-
land office of the Company, including employees at the Vancouver
and Oregon City branch offices, but excluding the chief clerk in dis-
trict superintendent's office, district superintendent, district manager,
chief delivery clerk, superintendent, confidential stenographers, chief
clerk in commercial department, manager of delivery department,
E. L. McCauley, sales manager, night traffic managers, chief clerk
in traffic department, statistical clerk in traffic department, time
clerk, traffic managers, manager of accounting center, "other employ-
ment" employees, distribution messengers, and temporary employees,
constitute an appropriate unit.2 The only controversy with respect
to the unit concerns plant department employees. The Company
urges that such employees be included in the unit and the Union that
they be excluded.
Pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Election 3 issued by the
Board, an election was recently held among the plant department
employees at the Portland office to determine whether or not they
desired to be represented by International Brotherhood of Elec-
trical Workers. The results of that election show that a majority
of the plant department employees voted to be represented by that
'The Field Examiner reported that the Union presented membership cards signed by
148 persons who appear on the Company ' s pay roll for the Portland office . There are 269
employees at the Portland office
2 The Company stated that although it considered a Nation -wide unit appropriate, it
had no objection to the setting up of functional cities , such as Portland, as separate
bargaining units.
3Matter of IVestemn Union Telegraph Company and' Commercial Telegraphers Union
et at, 34 N. L R B., No. 77
1212 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
organization. Under these circumstances we find that the plant
department employees should be excluded from the unit.
The Union urges that regular messengers be included in the unit.
The Company took no position with respect to the messengers pend-
ing the Board's determination of the question of including or exclud-
ing messengers raised in the case involving the Chicago office of the
Company. For the reasons indicated in our Decision in the Chicago
case,4 we find that regular messengers in the Portland office should
be included in the unit.
We find that all employees at the Portland office of the Company,
including employees at the Vancouver and Oregon City branch offices
and regular messengers, but excluding plant department employees,
chief clerk in district superintendent's office, district superintendent,
district manager, chief delivery clerk, superintendent, confidential
stenographers, chief clerk in commercial department, manager of de-
livery department, E. L. McCauley, sales manager, night traffic man-
tigers, chief clerk in traffic department, statistical clerk in traffic
department, time clerk, traffic managers, manager of accounting center,
"other employment" employees, distribution messengers, and tempo-
rary employees,5 constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining and that such unit will insure to employees of
the Company the full benefit of their right to self-organization and
to collective bargaining and otherwise will effectuate the policies of
the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Union seeks to be certified on the basis of the record. The Com-
pany stated that it desired that an election be held to determine the
bargaining representative of its employees at the Portland office.
Under these circumstances, we find that the question concerning repre-
sentation which has arisen can best be resolved by the holding of an
election by secret ballot.0
We shall direct that the employees of the Company eligible to vote
in the election shall be those 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.
4 .Matter of The Western Union Telegraph Company and Telegraph Workers Independent
Union et al., 36 N. L. R. B. 812
'The term "temporary employees" as used herein does not apply to probational em-
ployees ( see Section VI, infra ), but only to employees occasionally hired for the per-
formance of specific tasks with the knowledge that their work Is to be temporary See
Matter of The Western Union Telegraph Company and Telegraph Workers Independent
Union, et at ., 36 N. L. R. B 812.
6 See Matter of Armour & Company and United Packinghouse Workers Local Industrial
Union No 13, of Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee , affiliated with C I. 0 ,
13 N. L. R. B. 567.
THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY 1213
The Union and the Company agreed at the hearing that employees
with less than 3 months' continuous service with the Company at, the
date of the Direction of Election should be excluded from voting in
the election. It appears that such employees are not temporary but
-are considered by the Company as probational employees . It is the
Company's intention to retain such employees on its pay roll after
their 3 months' probational period and their seniority rights are deter-
mined by the date of their -entrance into the service of the Company.
We find that such employees are entitled to participate in the deter-
mination of representatives.
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. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of The Western Union Telegraph Company,,
Portland, Oregon, within the meaning of Section 9 ( c) and Section
2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All employees at the Portland office of the Company, including
employees at the branch offices at Vancouver and Oregon City and
regular messengers, but excluding plant department employees, chief
clerk in district superintendent's office, district superintendent, district
manager, chief delivery clerk, superintendent, copfidential stenog-
raphers, chief clerk in commercial department, manager of delivery
department , E. L. McCauley , sales manager, night traffic managers,
chief clerk in traffic department, statistical clerk in traffic department,
time clerk, traffic managers, manager of accounting center, "other
employment" employees, distribution messengers, and temporary em-
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National
Labor Relations Act.
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 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, Portland, Oregon, an
election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but hot
later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction, under the
direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Nineteenth
1314 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations
Board and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regula-
tions , among all employees at the Portland office of the Company who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
date of this Direction, including employees at the Vancouver and Ore-
gon City branch offices, regular messengers, and employees who did
not work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vaca-
tion or in `the active military service or training of the United States,
or temporarily laid off, but excluding plant department employees,
chief clerk in district superintendent's office, district superintendent,
district manager, chief delivery clerk, superintendent , confidential
stenographers , chief clerk in commercial department , manager of de-
livery department, E. L. McCauley, sales manager, night traffic man-
agers , chief clerk in traffic department , statistical clerk in traffic
department , time clerk , traffic managers , manager of accounting center,
"other employment" employees, distribution messengers, temporary
employees ,' and employees who have since quit or been discharged for
cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by
Western Union Employees Union No. 22506, affiliated with the Amer-
ican Federation of Labor, for the purposes of collective bargaining.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the Consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Election.
° See footnote 5, supra.