The Western Union Telegraph Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 18, 1942

38 N.L.R.B. 1396 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY and
TELEGRAPH WORKERS FEDERAL LABOR UNION #22679, DISTRICT No. 3
CHAPTER, AFFILIATED WITH A. F. OF L.
Case No. B-35,97 .-Decided February 18, 1942
Jurisdiction : telegraph industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : Com-
pany suggested that union refer any claims it might have for recognition to
the Board ; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees in the offices located
in District No. 3 of the Gulf Division of the Company, including regular and
part-time messengers and managers , but excluding employees in divisional
cities and temporary employees.
Mr. C. J. Ince and Mr. C. R. Nichols, of Dallas, Tex., for the
Company.
Mr. Herbert S. Thatcher, of Washington, D. C., for local 22679.
Mr. Louis Cokin, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On January 16, 1942, Telegraph Workers Federal Labor Union
#22679, District No. 3 Chapter, affiliated with A. F. of L., herein
called Local 22679, filed with the Regional Director for the Sixteenth
Region (Fort Worth, Texas) a petition alleging that a question af-
fecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees in District No. 2 in the Gulf Division of The Western Union
Telegraph Company, 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 February 4, 1942, 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.
38 N. L . R. B., No. 246.
1396
THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY 1397
On February 3, 1942, the Company, Local 22679, and Commercial
Telegraphers' Union entered into a Stipulation waiving notice and a
hearing in this proceeding, and agreeing that the records in Cases
Nos. R-3102-3108, R-3110-3142, R-3173-3189, and R-3310, be incorpo-
rated by reference in this proceeding. The Stipulation and the
records in the above enumerated cases are hereby incorporated into
and made a part of the record in this proceeding.
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
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 Company owns
and/or operates 214,220 miles of pole lines, 4,160 miles of land-line
cable, 1,876,993 miles of wire, 30,344 nautical miles of ocean cable, and
20,445 telegraph offices. At the close of 1940, the Company employed
approximately 49,000 persons. This proceeding involves employees
in the offices located in District No. 3 of the Gulf Division of the
Company. The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Telegraph Workers Federal Labor Union #22679, District No. 3
Chapter, is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federa-
tion of Labor. It admits to membership employees in District No.
3 of the Gulf Division of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company suggested to Local 22679 that it refer any claims it
might have for recognition to the Board. Statements of the Trial
Examiner made during the hearings of the cases incorporated by
reference in this proceeding, show that Local 22679 represents a sub-
stantial number of employees in the unit which it alleges is appro-
priate. ff
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of
employees of the Company.
1398 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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
Local 22679 and the Company agreed that all employees in the
offices located in District No. 3 of the Gulf Division of the Company,
excluding employees in divisional cities, constitute an appropriate
unit.' The only controversy with respect to the unit concerns mes-
sengers and managers.
Messengers. Local 22679 urges that regular messengers be included
in the unit but that part-time messengers be excluded from the unit.
The Company took no definite position with respect to the messengers
but referred the Board to the facts concerning messengers presented
in connection with the case involving the Chicago office of the Com-
pany. Part-time messengers work a few hours per week and there
is a 50-percent turn-over among them every month. They work
every week. For the reasons indicated in our decision in the Chicago
case 2 we find that regular and part-time messengers should be in-
cluded in the unit.
Managers. These employees are in charge of the various district
offices throughout District No. 3 of the Gulf Division of the Company.
Local 22679 urges that such employees who spend over 50 percent of
their time performing supervisory functions should be excluded from
the unit and that the remainder should be included. The Company
asks that all of these employees be excluded from the unit, contending
that such employees represent the management in the various local-
ities in which they work and have the authority to hire and discharge
messengers. The managers and the other employees at the district
offices are under the supervision of a district superintendent. The
local managers have authority to settle only minor grievances, and
representatives of Local 22679 have discussed grievances with the
Company on behalf of local managers. It appears from the testi-
mony that many of the managers are members of Local 22679. Under
1 The Company stated that although it considered a Nation-wide unit appropriate, it had
no objection to the setting up of districts as separate bargaining units.
2 Hatter of The Western Union Telegraph Company and Telegraph Workers Independent
Union, at at., 36 N. L. It. B. 812.
THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY 1399
these circumstances, we find that all managers of district offices in
District No. 3 of the Gulf Division of the Company should be included
in the unit.
Local 22679 urges that temporary employees be excluded from the
unit. The Company took no position with respect to these employees.
Temporary employees are hired solely for a temporary period of
time and are so told at the time they are hired. Under the circum-
stances, we shall exclude temporary employees from the unit.
We find that all employees in the offices located in District No. 3
of the Gulf Division of the Company, including regular and part-
time messengers and managers, but excluding employees in divisional
cities and temporary employees, 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
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen can best be resolved by the holding of an election by secret
ballot. 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.
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 in District No. 3 of the Gulf Division of The
Western Union Telegraph Company, within the meaning of Section
9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All employees in the offices located in District No. 3 of the
Gulf Division of the Company, including regular and part-time
messengers and managers, but excluding employees in divisional cities
and temporary employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses 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
1400 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Act and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation ordered by the Board to
ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with The Western Union Telegraph Company, 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 Sixteenth Region, acting
in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board and
subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among
all employees in the offices located in District No. 3 of the Gulf Divi-
sion of the Company who were employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including regular
and part-time messengers, managers, and 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 employees in divisional cities,
temporary employees, and employees who have since quit or been
discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be
represented by Telegraph Workers Federal Labor Union #22679,
District No. 3 Chapter, affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor, for the purposes of collective bargaining.