Western Union Telegraph Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 19, 1941

35 N.L.R.B. 559 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter Of WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY and COM-
MERCIAL TELEGRAPHERS' UNION, LOCAL No. 112, AFFILIATED WITH THE
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR
Case No. R-2906.-Decided September 19, 1941
Jurisdiction : telegraph industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re-
fusal of Company to accord union recognition until certified by the Board ;
dispute as to appropriate unit; election necessary
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : partial system unit: all em-
ployees of the Company working in or having headquarters at Mason City,
Iowa, exclusive of the manager and messengers engaged exclusively for errand
service and/or distribution service and who are not regularly assigned
Mr. Edward C: Ziesel, of Chicago, Ill., for the Company.
Mr. Frank B. Powers, of Chicago, Ill., and Mr. Howard W. Brandon,
of Lincoln, Neb., for the Union.
Cllr. William H. Bartley, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On July 13, 1941 , Commercial Telegraphers ' Union, Local No. 112,
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, herein called the
Union, filed with the Regional Director for the Eighteenth Region
(Minneapolis, Minnesota ) a petition alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Western Union Telegraph Company, Mason City, Iowa, herein called
the Company , and requesting an investigation and certification of
representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Re-
lations Act , 49 Stat. 449 , herein called the Act. On August 12, 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.
35 N. L . R B., No 124.
559
560 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
On August 12, 1941, the Acting Regional Director issued a notice
of hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the
Union, and the American Communications Association, a labor or-
ganization directly affected by the investigation. Pursuant to notice,
a hearing was held on August 19, 1941, at Minneapolis, Minnesota,
before Guy Farmer, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Chief
Trial Examiner. The Company was represented by its division com-
mercial manager; the Union by its international president and the
secretary of Local No. 112. The American Communications Associa-
tion did not appear. The Company and the Union 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 Ex-
aminer and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The
rulings are hereby affirmed. I
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Western Union Telegraph Company, a New York corporation
with its principal office at New York City, 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. The Company maintains a vast sys-
tem of wire network throughout the United States. This proceeding
involves only employees at- the Company's offices located in Mason
City, Iowa. The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Commercial Telegraphers' Union, Local No. 112, is a labor organi-
zation affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, admitting
to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Union has requested the Company to recognize it as the ex-
clusive bargaining representative of the employees in the unit claimed
by it to be appropriate. The Company has refused to recognize the
Union until the Board certifies it as the exclusive representative of
such employees. A statement of the Trial Examiner made at the
WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY 561
hearing shows that the Union represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found 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 , anal 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 contends that all employees of the Company working
in, or having headquarters at, Mason City, Iowa; exclusive of the
office manager and messengers engaged exclusively for errand service
and/or distribution service and who are not regularly assigned , should
be included within the appropriate unit. The Company contends
that all its employees throughout its Nation-wide system constitute
an appropriate unit. However, it stated at the hearing that it would
'.adjust itself to any unit that may be determined by the Board"
herein. Where, as here , no bona fide labor organization requests a
bargaining unit more extensive than a local office area, to deprive
the employees in the localities to which union organization has ex-
tended of the right to collective bargaining until such time as the em-
ployees of the Company are organized on a Nation -wide basis would
not effectuate the policies of the Act .2 The instant findings as to the
appropriate unit will not determine the propriety and composition
of a Nation -wide unit in any subsequent proceeding , since the decision
in such proceeding will necessarily depend on all the facts in the
record then before the Board.
We find that all employees of the Company working in or having
headquarters at Mason City , Iowa, exclusive of the office manager
and messengers engaged exclusively for errand service and/or dis-
tribution service and who are not regularly assigned , constitute a
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. We
3 The Trial Examiner ' s statement shows that the Union submitted to him a petition dated
May 6, 1941 , which bore the signatures of 13 persons , 12 of whose names appeared on a
list of employees furnished by the Company . There are approximately 13 employees in the
unit hereinafter found appropriate
2 See Matter of The Western Union Telegraph Company and American Federation of
Labor, Federal Union No 22460, 30 N L R B 679.
562 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
further find that such unit will insure to the employees of the Com-
pany the full -benefit of their right to self-organization and to
collective bargaining and otherwise 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 an election by secret ballot.
The Union requested that the pay roll for the period ending
August 16, 1941, be used to determine eligibility to vote in the election
in order to forestall the Company from transferring employees from
Mason City to other offices in an attempt to influence the outcome
of the election. The Company asserted that it did not intend to
make such transfers, and the Union introduced no evidence to support
its request. In accordance with our usual practice, we shall direct
that those eligible to vote in the election shall be the employees in
the appropriate unit who are employed by the Company during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of
Election herein, subject to such additions and limitations as are
hereinafter 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 of Western Union Telegraph Company,
Mason City, Iowa, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2
(6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act. -
2. All employees of the Company working in, or having head-
quarters at, Mason City, Iowa, exclusive of the office manager and
messengers engaged exclusively for errand service and/or distribution
service and who are not regularly assigned, constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the 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 Re-
lations 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
WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY 563
with Western Union Telegraph Company, Mason City, Iowa, 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 of
Election, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Di-
rector for the Eighteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for
the National Labor Relations Board and subject to Article 111, Sec-
tion 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among all employees of the
Company working in, or having headquarters at, Mason City, Iowa,
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work
during said 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 the office manager and messengers
engaged exclusively for errand service and/or distribution service
and who are not regularly assigned, and those who have since quit.
or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they de-
sire to be represented by Commercial Telegraphers' Union, Local No.
112, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, for the
purposes of collective bargaining.
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