Buckeye Rural Electric Co-Operative, Inc.,

In the Matter of BUCKEYE RURAL ELECTRIC CO-OPERATIVE, INC., EM- PLOYER and INTERNATIONAL BROTIIERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL No. 317, AFL, PETITIONER Case No. 9-RC-560.-Decided January 18, 1950 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Alan A. Buck- ner, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing 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 [Chaifinan Herzog and Members Reynolds and Murdock]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer, an Ohio corporation. with its office and principal place of business at Gallipolis, Ohio, is a retail distributor of electric energy, purchased at wholesale rates from the Ohio Power Company. The Employer services parts of eight Ohio counties.' It is a non- profit organization, receiving loans from the Rural Electrification Administration. All its consumers are members.' During the year 1948, the Employer purchased electric energy within the State of Ohio in the amount of $32,000. During the same year, its income was about $239,000, of which 95 percent was derived from the, sale of electric energy within the State. From October 1948 to October 1949, the Employer bought line and service entrance material, transportation equipment, and office equipment amounting to about $218,000, all of which was purchased and received from points outside Ohio. Eighty percent of the Employer's customers are farmers, 131/2 percent nonfarmers, and the remainder commercial. In the latter category are about 25 coal mines, the B & 0 Railroad,,and the Ohio Fuel and Gas Company.3 Also among the Employer's cus tomers are public buildings and schools. ' The counties serviced are Gallia , Meigs , Lawrence , Jackson, Vinton, Scioto , Athens, and Ross. 2 Presently , the Employer has 5 ,929 members. 3 All of which are engaged in interstate commerce , with the exception of five of the coal mines. 88 NLRB No. 44. 196 BUCKEYE RURAL ELECTRIC CO-OPERATIVE, INC. 197 Contrary to the Employer's contention, we find that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act .4 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 appropriate unit : The Petitioner requests a unit of all maintenance, construction, storeroom, and stake employees at the Employer's Gallipolis, Ohio, plant. Although the record is not explicit on the point,. we assume that the unit requested in effect constitutes all the production and main- tenance employees at the Gallipolis plant. The Employer contends that clerical employees should be included. The Petitioner does not object to the inclusion of clericals, should the Board determine that such a grouping is proper. We find no justification for a departure from our customary practice of excluding office clericals from a unit of rank-and-file production and maintenance employees. Accordingly, we shall exclude them froln the unit sought herein .-5 There remains for consideration certain other employees. General ,foreman: The parties are in disagreement with respect to the inclusion of the general foreman. This employee outlines the work of maintenance and construction crews, and reports upon their efficiency. As he has the authority responsibly to direct the work of other employees, we shall exclude him. Right-of-way men: The Petitioner would exclude, and the Employer would include, two full-time and two part-time right-of-way- men. These employees are engaged primarily in contacting property owners to obtain easements, handling public relations problems, investigating claims against the Employer, and making recommendations with respect to settlement. They are required to have some basic knowledge of the sufficiency of easements. Their duties are considerably differ- ent from those of the other employees sought herein. Furthermore, it appears that the interests of the right-of-way men are more closely identified with management than the rank-and-file employees. We shall, accordingly, exclude them from the unit.6 Stakers: The Petitioner would exclude, and the Employer would include, two employees who are classified as stakers.' The stakers Texas Electric Service Company, 77 NLRB 1258 , and cases cited therein. Hall Level & Manufacturing Works, 72 NLRB 165 ; Deeco Company, 71 NLRB 692. e Lake Superior District Power Company, 87 NLRB 8. ' One of these employees is a graduate engineer. 198 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD work on maps, stake lines, check contractors' material, and oversee the placement of poles. They are required to have knowledge of terrain, familiarity with use of the transit, and ability to figure tangents and curves. Their work is of a technical nature, and their employement conditions are different from those of production and maintenance employees. We find that the stakers are technical em- ployees similar to the general classifications of draftsmen, blueprint, operators, and field surveyors, whom we have excluded from pro- duction and maintenance employee groups because their interests are. dissimilar.8 We shall, therefore, exclude the stakers. We find that all maintenance, construction, storeroom, and stake employees s at the Employer's Gallipolis, Ohio, plant, including chain men, the warehouse clerk, and the meter reader,10 but excluding the general foremen, right-of-way men, stakers, office and clerical em- ployees, and supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appro- priate for the purpose 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 pur- poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by 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 payroll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during said payroll 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 re- instated 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 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local No. 317, AFL. Lake Superior District Power Company, footnote 6, supra. The record is not clear as to whether the stake employees claimed in the petition are the same as the stakers whom we have excluded. If they are not, as no issue has been raised by the parties concerning them, stake employees are included within the unit. io The parties agreed to the inclusion of chainmen, the warehouse clerk, and the meter reader.