The Athens Home Telephone Co.

In the Matter of TIIE ATHENS HOME TELEPHONE COMPANY, EMPLOYER and THE OHIO FEDERATION OF TELEPHONE WORKERS, INC., PETITIONER Case No. 9-RC-.x,59.-Decided August 9, 1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before William Nai- mark, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hear- ing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection. with this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Gray]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em- ployees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa- tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The Petitioner seeks to represent all employees of the Employer in a single company-wide unit. The Employer contends that there should be a separate unit for each of its three departments : plant, traffic, and commercial. The Employer's operations are centered in a single building at Athens, Ohio, where all but 6 of its total personnel of 58 are located. The plant department, responsible for installing and maintaining all physical properties of the Employer, occupies 1 floor. The commer- cial department, responsible for pay roll, billing, collection, and cor- respondence, shares a floor with the traffic department. The employees in the traffic department are engaged,exclusively in handling toll calls. Local calls do not require the service of operators, being transmitted through automatic switch type equipment. The departments are 85 N. L. R. B., No. 114. 618 THE ATHENS HOME TELEPHONE COMPANY 619' directed by the plant superintendent, the commercial manager, and the chief operator, each of whom does all hiring for his respective department. • All employees at the Athens office are hourly paid, have the same vacation privileges, and may qualify under the same bonus plan. The Employer concedes the interdependence of its departments and the high degree of integration of its over-all operation. It contends, how- ever, that in large companies, employees of plant departments are never included in the same unit with the employees of the other depart- ments whose work is so different in character, and that the small size of its own operation should not affect the standards for determining the appropriate unit. However, we have frequently recognized such a unit as appropriate.' Accordingly, we find that all the employees of the Employer may constitute a single unit. The unit placement of the following categories is in dispute : Line foremen: There are two line foremen who spend about 10 per- cent of their time in actual physical labor. However, as the record clearly establishes that the foremen spend the rest of their time in supervision and have the right to discipline and discharge the men working under them, we shall exclude them as supervisors. Toll supervisors: There are three "toll supervisors." The majority of their time is spent in directing other operators, although some time is spent in relieving operators and completing records of calls. The Employer testified that the toll supervisors have authority to disci- pline operators and effectively to recommend their discharge. We shall exclude them as supervisors. We find that all employees of the Employer at the Athens office and at agency exchanges, excluding line foremen, toll supervisors, and all other supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appro- priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by 'Matter of The Lorain Telephone Company, 58 N. L. It. B. 478 ; Matter of Illinoia Consolidated Telephone Company , 61 N. L . R. B. 1073; Matter of West Coast Telephone Company, 66 N. L. R. B. 1073: Matter of Peoples Telephone Corp., 69 N. L. R. B. 540; Matter of Interstate Telephone Company, 77 N. L. R. B . 637 ; Matter of Inter-Mountain Telephone Co., 79 N. L. R. B. 715. Cf. Matter of Elyria Telephone Company, 58 N. L. It. B. 402 ; Matter of Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company, 55 N. L. R. B . 1361 ; Matter of Michigan Bell Telephone Company, 63 N. L. R. B . 941; Matter of Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Co., 74 N . L. R. B. 536; Matter of Southeastern Associated Telephone Company, 76 N. L. It. B. 1105. `620 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super- vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were 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 temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein- stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement,'to determine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargain- ing, by The Ohio Federation of Telephone Workers, Inc.