Western Union Telegraph Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 26, 1941

35 N.L.R.B. 834 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY and COM-
MERCIAL TELEGRAPHERS' UNION, LOCAL #10, AFFILIATED WITH THE
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR
Case No. R-9790.Decided September 26,1941
Jurisdiction : telegraph industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : Com-
pany refused to accord recognition to any union until certified by the Board ;
employees temporarily laid off held eligible to vote ; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : partial system unit: all employees
of the Company employed in the, Omaha, Nebraska, office and the Council
Bluffs, Iowa, branch office, excluding supervisory employees, confidential
clerks, temporary employees, "other employment" employees, and distribution
messengers.
Mr. E. R . Riddle, of Chicago, Ill., Mr. A. C. Nerness , of Omaha,
Nebr ., and Mr. E. J. Townley, of Omaha, Nebr., for the Company.
Mr. Roy M . Brewer , of Grand Island, Nebr ., and Mr. Jess Payne, of
Kansas City, Mo., for the C. T. U.
Mrs. Theresa A. Shoemaker , of Omaha, Nebr., and Miss Florence
Seagren, of Omaha, Nebr., for the United.
Mr. Robert S. Fousek , of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On February 14, 1941, Commercial Telegraphers' Union, Local
#10, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, herein called
the C. T. U., filed with the Regional Director for the Seventeenth
Region (Kansas City, Missouri) a petition alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Western Union Telegraph Company, Omaha, Nebraska,
herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation and certi-
fication of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On July
2, 1941, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board,
acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act, and Article III, Section 3,
35 N. L. R. B., No. 177.
.834
WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY 835
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.
On July 16, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the C. T. U., and
The United Telegraphers' Union, herein called the United, an un-
affiliated labor organization claiming to represent employees directly
affected by the investigation.' Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held
on July 24, 1941, at Omaha, Nebraska, before Joseph A. Hoskins, the
Trial Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The
Company, the C. T. U., and the United were represented by counsel
or other official representatives and participated in the hearing. Full
opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and
to introduce evidence bearing upon the issues was afforded all parties.
During the course of the hearing, the Trial Examiner made 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.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE Bt SINESS OF THE COMPANY
Western Union Telegraph Company is a New York corporation
having its principal office in New York City. It is engaged in the
receiving and transmission by telegraph and cable of intrastate, in-
terstate, and international communications. In operating its com-
munications system, the Company, as of December 31, 1939, owned
and/or operated 211,530 miles of pole lines, 4,070 miles of landline
cable, 1,876,876 miles of wire, 30,324 nautical miles of ocean cable,
and 19,543 telegraph offices not including approximately 16,208 tele-
graph agency stations. At the close of 1939 the Company employed
44,299 persons, of which number 1,333 were located outside the United
States and about 300 were connected with the cable service in the
United States.
The Company admits that,it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the Act.
The present proceeding is concerned with employees of the Com-
pany employed in its offices in Omaha, Nebraska and Council Bluffs,
Iowa.
1 Notice was also served upon the American Communications Association and Telegraph
Workers Independent Union, but neither of these organizations appeared at the hearing.
451270-42-vol. 35-54
836 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Commercial Telegraphers' Union, Local #10, is a labor organiza-
tion affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
The United Telegraphers' Union is an unaffiliated labor organiza-
tion admitting to-membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company refuses to recognize any labor organization unless
it has been certified by the Board as exclusive representative of em-
ployees in an appropriate unit. Evidence introduced at the hearing
discloses that the C. T. U. and the United each represent a substantial
number of the employees in the unit hereinafter found to be appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining.2
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 C. T. U. requests a unit composed of all employees of the
Company, with certain exclusions discussed below, working in the
Omaha, Nebraska, city limits and under the authority of the Omaha,
Nebraska, office of the Company. The United and the Company
contend that employees in the Council Bluffs, Iowa, branch office
should also be included in the unit. Council Bluffs is a city con-
tiguous to Omaha and the Council Bluffs office is a branch office of
the Omaha office, employing a branch manager, two full-time clerks,
one part-time clerk who also works in the Omaha office, and two or
three messengers. Employees are interchanged and employees of
2 There are approximately 180 employees in the alleged appropriate unit. A statement
of a Field Examiner discloses that the C . T. U. submitted 119 signed applications for mem-
bership cards , of which 82 bore 1940 dates, 35 bore 1941 dates , and 1 was undated . Ninety-
eight of the cards bore signatures of persons on the Company 's pay roll of March 12, 1941.
The United submitted 36 signed authorization cards, of which 29 bore 1940 dates, 3 bore
1941 dates , 3 bore the designation "October," and 1 was undated. Twenty-five of the sig-
natures are names of persons on the Company 's pay roll of March 12, 1941.
WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY 837
the two offices are in the same seniority group. One superintendent
has supervision over both offices. Under the circumstances, we are of
the opinion that employees in the Council Bluffs branch office should
be included in the unit together with the employees in the Omaha
office.
The Company, the C. T. U., and the United agree in general, that
supervisory employees should be excluded from the appropriate unit.3
They disagree, however, as to whether the following supervisory
employees fall within the scope of this exclusion: the sales manager,
testing and regulating chief, automatic chief, telephone supervisor,
morse supervisor, and automatic supervisors. The C. T. U. and the
Company would exclude the sales manager in the commercial depart-
ment. The United opposes this exclusion . The sales manager has
direct charge of sales work. He is responsible for the training of
the employees who are calling on the public, and he reports to the
superintendent- on the qualifications of ' these employees. He can
reprimand and recommend the dismissal of employees. The Com-
pany and the C. T. U. would also exclude the testing and regulating
chief and the automatic chief in the traffic department. The testing
and regulating chief has charge of the general wire layout and main-
tenance of equipment. He has supervision over from 12 to 14
employees, and has authority to discipline and can make recommenda-
tions as to dismissal . He exercises control over the advancement
of subordinates. The automatic chief has supervision over one em-
ployee. He relieves the traffic manager when the latter is on vaca-
tion and can reprimand employees for petty offenses . The Company
seeks to exclude the telephone, morse, and automatic supervisors in
the traffic department. The C. T. U. and the United would include
them. The work of the telephone, morse, and automatic supervisors
is very similar. Each spends a considerable portion of time assign-
ing work to subordinates, and has a general responsibility for work
done by these subordinates. We find that the work of all the fore-
going employees definitely places them in the category of supervisory
employees. We shall, therefore, exclude them from the unit.
The Company and the C. T. U. would also exclude certain confi-
dential clerks from the appropriate unit. The United would include
them. There are two such confidential clerks in the commercial de-
partment. They handle communications of a confidential nature in-
cluding those relating to labor relations. The chief clerk in the traffic
department is the confidential clerk to the traffic manager. She is
the only confidential clerk available to him and is given access to
8 All partie , agree, and we find, that the folloising are supervisors who should be excluded
from the unit : the superintendent, chief clerk, district superintendent , district sales man-
ager, manager of the delivery department , traffic manager , night traffic managers, account
ing center manager, and plant foreman.
838 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
information concerning the Company's business policies. The ac-
counting department also includes a confidential clerk to the account-
ing center manager' It appears that the same general type of infor-
mation is available to the confidential clerk to the accounting center
manager as is available to confidential clerks in the commercial and
traffic department. We shall exclude all these confidential clerks from
the appropriate unit.
,The Company and the C. T. U. would exclude the cashier. The
United opposes this exclusion. The cashier is a bonded employee
and has one subordinate. While he establishes rules concerning col-
lections of cash, remittances, disbursements, and banking, and reports
infractions of his orders to the superintendent, we are of the opinion
that the cashier has no supervisory or confidential duties which require
his exclusion. He shall be included in the unit.
The C. T. U. also seeks to exclude the timekeeper. The United
opposes this exclusion while the Company takes no position. The
timekeeper knows the rates of pay of all employees and also knows
matters concerning absences and their causes. The information which
the timekeeper may possess does not relate directly to the problem of
labor relations. The possession of important information is of itself
insufficient to justify exclusion from the right to collective bargaining.
We shall include the timekeeper in the unit.
Both the C. T. U. and the United would exclude temporary em-
ployees, "other employment" employees, and distribution messengers.-
Temporary employees are employees hired for the performance of
specific tasks with the knowledge that their work is to be temporary.
The "other employment" employees are employees who are carried
on the pay roll of other concerns. Their primary interest is with the
other concerns and their services are utilized by the Company only in
cases of emergency. Distribution messengers are hired to perform
certain special tasks which occur incident to the communications in-
dustry, such as to distribute packages or advertising material. Their
work is of a temporary character and the number who may be at work
varies from day to day. We shall exclude all these employees from
the unit.
We find that all the employees of the Company employed in the
Omaha, Nebraska, office and the Council Bluffs, Iowa, branch office,
excluding supervisory employees, confidential clerks, temporary em-
ployees, "other employment" employees, and distribution messengers,
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
and that said unit will insure to employees of the Company the full
benefit of their right to self-organization and to collective bargaining
and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act. o
A The record is not entirely clear , but it appears that the united would include this confi-
dential clerk.
WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY 839
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question which has arisen can best be resolved
by an election by secret ballot. We shall. direct that an election by
secret ballot be held among the employees of the Company in the ap-
propriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period immedi-
ately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, subject to such
limitations and additions as are set forth in the Direction. In the
Direction we provide that employees who have been temporarily laid
off should be eligible to vote. This shall include the employees of
the Company classified as furloughed forced-reduction employees.
These are employees who have been laid off because of a reduction in
work.
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 em-
ployed in the Omaha, Nebraska, and Council Bluffs, Iowa, offices,
within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All employees of the Compnay in the Omaha, Nebraska, office
and the Council Bluffs, Iowa, branch office, excluding supervisory
employees, confidential clerks, temporary employees, "other employ-
ment" employees, and distribution messengers, constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) 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 Rela-
tions 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 Western Union Telegraph Company at its offices in Omaha, Ne-
braska, and Council Bluffs, 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, under the direction and supervision of
the Regional Director. for the Seventeenth Region, acting in this mat-
ter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board and subject to
Article III, Section, 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among all em-
840 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ployees of the Company employed in the Omaha, Nebraska, office and
the Council Bluffs, Iowa, branch office, who were employed during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, in-
cluding 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
supervisory employees, confidential clerks, temporary employees,
"other employment" employees, distribution messengers, and em-
ployees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to deter-
mine whether they desire to be represented by Commercial Teleg-
raphers' Union, Local #10, affiliated with the American Federation
of Labor, or by The United Telegraphers' Union, for purposes of
collective bargaining, or by neither.