Rochester Gas & Electric Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 28, 1944

55 N.L.R.B. 96 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

1
In the Matter oft ROCHESTER GAS ' & ELECTRIC CORPORATION and
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF'ELECTRICAL WORKERS, AFL
Case No. 3-R-fi'%2. Decided February 08,19-11k4
Goodwin, Nixon, Hargrave, Middleton, iDevans, by Messrs. T.
Carl Nixon and Arthur L. Stern, of Rochester, N. Y., for the Company.
Mr. John P. Daly, of West Hempstead, Long Island, N. Y., and'Mr.
Jerome Winterhalt,'for the Union.
Mr. Robert E. Tillman, of counsel to the, Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers, AFL, herein called the Union, alleging that a question af-
fecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Rochester Gas & Electric Corporation,' Rochester, New
York, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board
provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before, Peter J.
Crotty, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was, held at Rochester, New
York, on January 12, 1944. The Company and the Union appeared,
participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to ex-
amine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing
on the issues. , The rulings of the Trial Examiner made at the hearing
are free from, prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties
were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
The Company moved at the hearing to dismiss the petition of the
Union on the ground that the unit proposed therein was not appro-
priate. For the -reasons stated in Section IV, infra, the motion to
dismiss is hereby denied.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
' In the formal papers of this proceeding, the Company is designated as "Rochester Gas
& Electric Company." Its name appears in the caption and body of this decision as It was
amended at the hearing.
55 N L. R. B., No. 17.
96
- -I
ROCHESTER , GAS & ELECTRIC CORPORATION
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
97
Rochester Gas & Electric Corporation, a New York corporation,
maintains its general offices and principal plants in Rochester' New
York, where it is engaged in the production and distribution of elec-
tricity, gas, and steam. The area served by the Company includes
the city of Rochester and its environs. Many of the consumers of its
services are engaged in interstate commerce. The Company admits
that it is subject to the jurisdiction of the Board.
IT. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is a labor organ-
ization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, admitting
to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
After filing its petition, representatives of the Union conferred
with officials of the Company and representatives of the Board's Re-
gional Office in an effort to obtain a consent election agreement. How-
ever, the Union and the Company were unable to agree on the appro-
priate unit.
A statement of a Field Examiner of the Board introduced into evi-
dence at the. hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial
number of employees in the unit hereinafter found to be appropriate.2
We find that a question affecting commerce 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
In its petition, the Union seeks a unit -of all production and main-
tenance employees in the line maintenance, line operation, under-
ground, and electric meter departments of the Company. At the
hearing the Union clarified its position on the unit by stating that it
desired to include all production and maintenance employees in the
Electric Department of the Company who were engaged in the trans-
mission or distribution of electric current after generation. The Com-
pany contends that all its production and maintenance employees be-
low the rank of supervisor who are paid at an hourly rate constitute
an appropriate unit.
2 The Field Examiner stated that the Union submitted 87 application-for-membership
cards to him, all bearing apparently genuine original signatures ; and that 53 of the cards
bore names of persons whose names appeared on the Company 's pay roll of November 9,
1943, which listed 158 persons in the alleged appropriate unit.
578129-44-vol. 55-8
98 DECISONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS. BOARD
The Company is divided into six departments, namely,, Electric,
Gas, Suburban, Transportation, General Maintenance, and Stores,
The Electric Department, in turn, is subdivided into a generation divi-
sion and a distribution and transmission division, each under the con-
trol of a separate superintendent. The unit, as requested by the
Union, would include only employees of the latter division. The lat-
ter division comprises the following seven subdivisions : electric
meter and testing, line operation, line maintenance, subway; mapping-
records, station maintenance, and office. At the hearing the Union
specifically indicated that the unit it sought included the employees
of the first three of the above subdivisions and excluded the employees
of the last four subdivisions.
The record is clear that the six departments of the Company func-
tion together as integral parts in the production and distribution of
gas, steam and electricity, so that a company-wide unit of production
and maintenance employees would be particularly appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining. Moreover, the Union not only
does not deny that such a unit is ultimately to be desired, but admits
that in its organization of the Company's employees, its efforts were
not confined to the employees in the distribution and transmission
division of the Electric Department. On the other hand, the Com-
pany has no history of collective bargaining, and the divisions of its
Electric Department, both administratively and from an operational
standpoint, are clearly. separable from other departments so that
collective bargaining confined to the employees of one division would
appear to be feasible. The Union has been successful only in organ-
izing the employees of the distribution and transmission division.
Under all the circumstances we are of the opinion that these em-
ployees should not be deprived at this time of their rights to bargain
collectively under the Act, and we find, therefore, that they may
comprise a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
Our present determination does not preclude a later findirng that a
larger unit is appropriate when organization has extended more fully
to other employees of the Company.
The precise scope of the appropriate unit within the distribution
and transmission division of the Electric Department remains to be
determined. As stated above, the Union seeks to include only the
production and maintenance employees in the electric meter and test-
ing, the line operation, and the line maintenance subdivisions. There
is no question that the employees in those three subdivisions are en-
gaged in production and maintenance work. Of the four subdivisions
whose employees are not sought to be included in the unit by the
Union, one is the office which consists of office and clerical employees
and is, therefore, properly excluded- from a production and mainte-
ROCHESTER -GAS & ELECTRIC CORPORATION '99
Hance unit. Another is' the• mapping-records subdivision where rec-
ords are maintained of the underground electric, gas; and'-steam lines
cousttuctecl by the Company. The employees therein perform only
w6rk^of a clerical nature and are,-therefore, likewise, 'properly excluded
front a unit of production and maintenance employees. The remain-
ing' two subdivisions, i. e., the station maintenance and the subway
subdivisions, pose'a problem. The subway subdivision handles the
coiistruction, maintenance, and cleaning of underground subways in
which'cables are carried, and the installation of underground ducts.
The'station maintenance 'subdivision has as its function the examina-
tion and maintenance of electric apparatus in the bass and electric
plants and stations.' The record is not any more' explicit on the work
performed by the above two subdivisions. We` find that, if there are
employees in the,two subdivisions performing work of the general
nature described, they are maintenance employees and they should be
included in the unit. %
We find that all production and maintenance employees in the dis-
tribution and transmission diiision of the Electric Department of the
Company, excluding employees of the office and the mapping-records
subdivisions, and all supervisory employees having 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 bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of our Direction of Elec-
tion herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth therein.
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 Libor Rela-
tions 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 Rochester Gas ^C
Electric Corporation , Rochester , New York, 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 super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Third Region , acting in this
100 DECISONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject
to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations,
among the employees in the,unit found appropriate in Section 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 those employees 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 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL, for the
purposes of collective bargaining.