Central Ohio Light and Power Co.

In the Matter of CENTRAL OHIO LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY and UTILITY WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA, LOCAL 271 ( CIO ) Case No. 8-R4177.-Decided July 18, 1946 Messrs. Thomas F. Veaeh and George D. Bonebrake, of Cleveland, Ohio; Mr. Clyde Y. Morris, of Baltimore, Md., and Mr. Marcus Down- ing, of Findlay, Ohio, for the Company. Messrs. Sam Sponseller and C. C. Smith, of Cleveland, Ohio, and Mr. William H. Munger, of Akron, Ohio, for the CIO. Margaret H. Patterson, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND ORDER STATEMENT OF TIIE CASE Upon a petition duly filed by Utility Workers Union of America, Local 271 (CIO 1,1 herein called the CIO, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em- ployees of Central Ohio Light and Power Company, Findlay, Ohio, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board pro- vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before George F. Hayes, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Findlay, Ohio, on May 23,1946. The Company, the CIO and the PD & T Group,2 herein called the Group, appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner referred to the Board for ruling the motion to dismiss the petition made by the Company and the Group. For reasons set forth in Section III, infra, the motion is granted. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby a.flirnmed. All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : ' At the hearing the CIO moved to amend the formal papers to name "Local 271" as the petitioner, the designation "Local 217" being in error. The motion is hereby granted. The initials "PD & T" stand for Production , Distribution and Transmission. 69 N. L. B. B., No. 76. 701592-47-vol. 69--41 625 626 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Central Ohio Light and Power Company is engaged in the produc- tion, transmission, and distribution of electric energy for light and power purposes in central Ohio. The principal raw materials used by the Company in its utility operations are coal, poles, conductors, hard- ware, and electrical equipment. The Company purchases annually for its use approximately 60,000 tons of coal, valued at approximately $250,000. This coal is purchased by the Company through an Ohio concern having its offices at Cincinnati, but the coal has its origin in Kentucky. The Company purchases conductors, hardware, and elec- trical equipment, valued at approximately $100,000, most of which is manufactured outside Ohio but purchased by the Company within the State. None of the electric energy produced by the Company is trans- mitted outside Ohio and its properties are located wholly within that State. The annual sales of the Company's electric energy approxi- mate $2,000,000. The Company sells electric energy at wholesale and retail. The Company's commercial customers are various, and include garages, stores, banks, restaurants, filling stations, manufacturing companies, municipalities, other power companies, and cooperatives of the Rural Electrification Administration. The Company serves rural areas as well as towns, villages, and cities. In addition to its electric light and power business, the Company furnishes hot water heating service to customers at Findlay, Ohio. The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED Utility Workers Union of America, Local 27, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the Company. PD & T Group is an unaffiliated labor organization, admitting to membership employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Company has refused to grant recognition to the CIO as the exclusive bargaining representative of the Company's employees. In the Matter of Central Ohio Light and Power Company,3 the CIO petitioned for a unit of all powerhouse employees at the Company's 3 51 N. L. R. B. 523, decided July 20, 1943. CENTRAL OHIO LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY 627 Bluffton, Findlay and St. Marys, Ohio, plants. The Group inter- vened and requested a unit of all the Company's production and main- tenance employees in a system-wide unit. The Board found appro- priate the unit requested by the Group and directed an election therein.. The CIO withdrew from the ballot, the Group won the election, and on August 23, 1943, it was certified as exclusive bargaining representative in the above-described system-wide unit. In November 1944, in Case No. 8-R-1700, the CIO petitioned the Board for a unit of production and maintenance employees at the Company's Woodcock generating: plant at Bluffton, Ohio. On December 29,1944, the Regional Director dismissed the case on the ground that the unit requested was inappro- priate. On November 20, 1945, the -CIO again petitioned the Board, in Case No. 8-R-2046, for a unit of production and maintenance em- ployees at the Company's Woodcock generating plant at Bluffton, Ohio, and on January 23, the Regional Director again refused to issue a notice of hearing on the ground that the unit requested was inappro- priate. On January 28, 1946, the CIO filed an appeal from the Regional Director's order dismissing its petition in Case No. 8-R-2046. On January 29, the Group and the Company entered into a new 1-year contract covering the system-wide unit previously found appropriate by the Board.4 On April 5, 1946, the CIO filed its present petition requesting the system-wide unit approved by the Board in the original case. On April 9, the Board sustained the Regional Director's refusal. to issue a notice of hearing in Case No. 8-R-2046. The Company and the Group moved that the petition be dismissed contending that the contract entered into on January 29 is a bar to the present proceeding. In view of the fact that the petition in this pro- ceeding was not filed until April 4, 1946, their contention is clearly correct..5 The only argument to the contrary urged by the CIO is that its petition in Case No. 8-R-2046, which was still pending by virtue of an appeal, should prevent the operation of this contract as a bar_ We find no merit in the CIO's contention, inasmuch as that petition, being for an inappropriate unit, was fatally defective, as determined by both the Regional Director and the Board. It was, therefore, unavailing as against the contract.' For the reasons indicated above, we find that the contract of Jan- uary 28, 1946, between the Group and the Company constitutes a bar 4 Following the Board 's certification of the Group in August 1943 , the Group and the Company entered into a series of 1-year contracts covering the system -wide unit found appropriate by the Board . On January 19, 1946, the then current contract between the Group and the Company expired. 5 See Matter of General Electric X-Ray Corporation , 67 N. L. R. B. 997. ° See Matter of North Range Mining Company, 47 N. L. R. B. 1306, in which we hell that after the dismissal of a petition, the request or claim upon which it was based is no, longer operative. 628 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD to an investigation of representatives and we shall accordingly dismiss the petition. ORDER The National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the petition for investigation and certification of representatives of employees of Central Ohio Light and Power Company, Findlay, Ohio, filed by Utility Workers Union of America, Local 271, affiliated with the CIO, be, and it hereby is, dismissed. V