Public Service Electric and Gas Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 19, 1944

54 N.L.R.B. 1532 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of PUBLIC SERvIOE ELECTRIC AND GAS COMPANY and
UNITED ASSOCIATION OF JOURNEYMEN, PLUMBERS, AND STEAMFITTERS
OF U. S. AND CANADA, LOCAL 274B, AFL
In the Matter of PuBLIc SERVICE` ELECTION AND GAS COMPANY and
CAMDEN GAS DISTRIBUTION ASSOCIATION
Cases Nos. 4 R-1f345 and 4-R-1257 respectively.Decided
February 19, 1944
Messrs. Charles H. Spoehrer and Edward F. Neff, of St. Louis, Mo.,
for the Company.
Messrs. Jacob Friedland and Frank DeNike, of Jersey City, N. J.,
for the A. F. of L.
Messrs. Charles Hill and Morris Condon, of Camden, N. J., for the
Independent.
Mrs. Augusta Spaulding, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon separate petitions duly filed by United Association of Journey-'
men, Plumbers, and Steamfitters of U. S: and Canada, Local 274B,
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, herein called the
A. F. of L., and by Camden Gas Distribution Association, an un-
affiliated organization, herein called the Independent, each alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Public Service Electric and Gas Company,
Newark, New Jersey, herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate consolidated hearing
upon due notice before Herman Lazarus, Trial Examiner. Said hear-
ing was held at Camden, New Jersey, on January 14, 1944. The
Company, the A. F. of L., and the Independent appeared, partici-
pated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and
cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the
54 N. L. R. B., No. 244.
1532
PUBLIC SERVICE ELECTRIC AND GAS COMPANY 1533
issues: The Trial Examiner's rulings made,at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were
afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board.2
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Public Service Electric and Gas Company is engaged in the pro..
duction, purchase, distribution, and sale of electricity and gas in New
Jersey. During-the year ending September 30, 1943, the Company
purchased raw materials, consisting principally of anthracite coal,
bituminous coal, coke, Bunker C fuel oil, gas and enrichment oil,
city water, chlorine, soda ash, mercury, and lubricants, valued in
excess of $15,000,000, of which approximately 94 percent was shipped
to the Company's plants from points outside New Jersey. During
the same period, the Company operated a transmission line which
connected with lines of other concerns in adjoining States. The
Company furnished gas and electricity to more than 3,000,000 persons,
to railroads which are common carriers in interstate commerce, and
to numerous companies whose products move in interstate commerce.
The Company furnishes gas and electricity to branches of the United
States Post Office and other Government buildings, to Western Union
Telegraph Company, to New Jersey Bell Telephone Company, and to
radio stations. During the year ending December 31, 1942, the Com-
pany's gross operating revenues exceeded $100,000,000.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce, within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act.
IT. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Association of Journeymen, Plumbers, and Steamfitters of
U. S. and Canada, Local 274B, is a labor organization affiliated with
the American Federation of Labor, admitting to membership em.
ployees of the Company.
Camden Gas Distribution Association is an unaffiliated labor or-
ganization, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
I During the course of the hearing , the petitions and other formal papers were amended
to disclose the correct names of the Company and the A F. of L ., respectively.
2 Subsequent to the close of the hearing , the parties stipulated that a certain correction
should be made in the transcript of the record made at the hearing . Later, the Company
moved that certain other changes be made and served copies of its motion upon the parties.
No objections to the Company ' s motion have been received . We grant the motion and
direct that the corrections be made as indicated by the stipulation and by the Company's
motion. The stipulation is hereby made and is part of the official record in these
proceedings.
1534 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The A. F. of L. on or about September 9, 1943, and the Independent
on or about September 23, 1943, asked the Company for recognition as
bargaining representative of employees in units which they respec-
tively alleged were appropriate for bargaining. The Company
refused to recognize either of the organizations until the Board should
determine what unit was appropriate for the employees concerned
and which organization, if either, represented a majority of employees
therein. The A. F. of L., on September '13, 1943, and the Inde-
pendent, on September 23, 1943, filed the respective petitions in these
proceedings.
A statement prepared by the Field Examiner and introduced into
evidence at the hearing indicates that the A. F. of L. represents a
Substantial number of employees in the unit herein found appropriate
for bargaining.3
' We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees,of the Company, within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Company is engaged in the generation, distribution, and sale of
gas and electricity in New Jersey. It divides its activity into two
main separate administrative departments, covering employees in its
as and electric services, respectively. The Company manufactures
gas in eight plants located at different points throughout the State.'
The Company divides the geographical area through which it distrib-
utes gas into six territorial gas divisions known as the Bergen, Passaic,
Essex, Hudson, Central, and Southern Divisions, respectively. Each
gas division is in turn subdivided into three or more local operating
districts. The Southern Division, which covers Mercer, Burlington,
and Camden Counties, and part of Gloucester County, which is the
only division involved in this proceeding, is subdivided into three
operating districts known as the Trenton, Burlington, and Camden
Districts, respectively. The A. F. of L. contends that gas distribution
employees in the Company's Southern Division constitute a separate
appropriate bargaining unit. The Independent contends that gas
distribution employees in the Camden District of the Southern Di-
9 The A. F. of L. submitted 107 authorization cards, of which 7 were undated and the
remaining dated between August and November 1943, all of which bear names of employees
in the Company's Southern Division on the October 13, 1943, pay roll.
There are approximately 150 employees in the appropriate unit.
The Association submitted a petition, undated, bearing the names of 50 employees in the
Company's Camden District on-the October 13, 1943, pay roll. There are approximately 60
employees of the Company in the Camden District.
4 Several unaffiliated and independent labor organizations represent the Company's em-
ployees at the several gas generating plants in New Jersey.
PUBLIC SERVICE ELECTRIC AND GAS COMPANY 1535
vision constitute an appropriate bargaining unit. The Company takes
no position with respect to the scope of the bargaining unit for these
employees.
Each of the six administrative divisions of the gas department is
in charge of a supervising engineer. Each operating district within
the division is in charge of a district supervisor under the control of
the supervising engineer of his division. A distribution shop within
each district constitutes district headquarters. The distribution
shop of the Camden Division at Camden is also the headquarters of
the Company's Southern Division, where the supervising engineer of
the Southern Division has his office.
The supervising engineer in each division has a considerable de-
gree of independence in directing the work of the distribution districts
within his division. There is some permanent transfer of employees
from one division of the Company's operation to another. The Com-
panydepends in part upon seniority in making promotions. Em-
ployees do not lose their seniority by transfer. One welder is em-
ployed for the distribution shops in the three districts in the Southern
Division and he is transferred from one shop to the other, as welding
work may be required. Otherwise, there is little interchange of em-
ployees among the three districts within the Southern Division.
Each district makes out its own pay rolls, but these pay rolls are ap-
proved by the supervising engineer of the Southern Division before
they are honored at the Company's Newark office, from which checks
are issued to all employees of the Company. District supervisors have
authority to make decisions with respect to lay-off, but employees may
appeal from their decisions to the supervising engineer of the division.
Wages, hours; and working conditions of employees in the three dis-
tricts of the Southern Division are uniform.
As noted above, the Company divides its gas distribution geograph-
ically into six separate territorial divisions. The Company recog-
nizes the A. F. of L. as exclusive bargaining representative of
employees of the Bergen and Central Divisions, respectively. A
consent election-has lately been held among the employees of the
Passaic Division. The Company has recently consented to sign an
agreement for a consent election covering employees in the Hudson
Division. The Company has thus recognized that distribution division
lines appropriately define the scope of bargaining units with respect
to its gas distribution employees.5
The Company's electric department consists of four main generat-
ing plants and a number of distribution divisions. Distribution em-
ployees in the Company's electric department have also been organ-
E The record does not disclose that employees in the Essex Division have been organized
at this time.
1536 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ized on divisional lines. There is somewhat greater centralization of
authority in the Company's main office at Newark over employees in
the electrical department than over employees in the gas department.
The same labor organization has been certified as the exclusive bar-
gaining representative for employees in each one of the electric dis-
tribution divisions and has bargained with the Company with respect
to these employees and has executed one over-all contract on their
behalf.
The A. F. of L. admits to memb.ership all distribution employees
in the Company's Southern Division within its proposed bargaining
unit. The Independent restricts its membership to distribution em-
ployees in the Camden District of the Southern Division. The
Independent is barred by its constitution from receiving into mem-
bership other employees of the Company. If the organization of
the Company's employees were in an initial stage and were limited
to the Camden District, we might properly find that, under such cir-
cumstances , this small administrative section of the Company's opera-
tions could constitute an appropriate bargaining unit. This is not
the case. ' Organization among the Company's gas employees is well
advanced. Organization of the Company's employees in both the
gas and electric departments has proceeded along divisional lines.
We note that the Independent did not make any demand upon the
Company for recognition as bargaining representative of employees
in the Camden District until after the A. F. of L. had filed its
petition in these proceedings . Under these circumstances, we find
that employees in the Southern Division of the Company's gas de-
partment constitute an appropriate bargaining unit and that a unit
restricted to the Camden District is not appropriate for bargaining
at this time. For this reason , we will dismiss the petition filed by
the Independent herein.
The A. F. of L. would include within the bargaining unit all dis-
tribution employees in the Company 's Southern Division , including
working foremen and inspectors , but excluding all supervisory em-
ployees within the Board's usual definition of that term. The
proposed unit includes employees in the categories included in other
bargaining units covering employees in the Company's divisions for
which the A. F. and L . is the recognized bargaining representative.
Working foremen accompany and supervise street gangs with whom
they work. They perform manual work. They have authority upon
occasion to hire day laborers who ask them for work on the street,
but as a group , they do not have supervisory authority within the
Board's usual definition of that term over the employees with whom
they regularly work. We shall therefore include them as a group
in the bargaining unit and shall exclude all supervisory employees
within our usual definition of that term.
PUBLIC SERVICE ELECTRIC AND GAS COMPANY 1537
'We find that all distribution employees in the Southern Division
of the Company's gas department, including working foremen and
inspectors, but excluding all supervisory employees with authority
to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes
in the status of employees or effectively recommend such action,
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning the representation of the
Company's employees can best be resolved by an election by secret
ballot.
The record indicates that the Independent represents a substantial
number of employees in the Company's Camden District, and thereby
some considerable number of employees in the Company's Southern
Division. The record, however, clea!ly indicates that the Independent
does not desire to represent employees of the Company who work
outside the Camden District. Since we have determined that the
Southern Division of the Company's gas department defines the
scope of the bargaining unit of the employees therein, we shall make
no provision for the participation of the Independent in the election
among such employees, which we shall now direct.
Those eligible to vote in the election shall be all employees of the
Company within the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above,
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.
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 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Public Service
Electric and Gas Company, Newark, New Jersey, 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 Fourth Region, acting
in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and
subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regula-
tions, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section
567900-44-vol 54-98
1538 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
IV, above,who,were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not
work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation
or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces
of the United States who present themselves in person at the,polls,
but excluding any who have since quit or been discharged for cause
and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election,
to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by United
Association of Journeymen, Plumbers, and Steamfitters of U. S. and
Canada, Local 274B, A. F. L., for the purposes of collective bargaining.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and the entire record in
this proceeding, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders
that Case No. 4-R-1257 be served from Case No. 4-R-1245, and that
the petition for investigation and certification of representatives of
employees of Public Service Electric and Gas Company, Newark,
New Jersey, filed by Camden Gas Distribution Association, in Case
No. 4-R-1257 be, and it hereby is, dismissed.