Illinois Power Co.

In the Matter Of ILLINOIS POWER COMPANY, EMPLOYER and INTERNA- TIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS , LocAL B-309, AFL, PETITIONER Case No. 14-R-1412.-Decided August 30, 1946 Mr. John H. Mitchell, of Decatur, Ill., for the Employer. Mr. Roy Camerer, of East St. Louis, Ill., for the Petitioner. Miss Ruth E. Blie field, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND 'DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Belle- ville, Illinois, on June 12, 1946, before Elmer L. Hunt, Trial Exam- iner. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER Illinois Power Company is an Illinois corporation maintaining its principal office in Monticello, Illinois. This proceeding involves only certain of the employees of the Employer at Belleville, Illinois. The Employer's operations cover 441 communities in the geographic ter- ritory from Galesburg and La Salle, Illinois, on the north, to Cairo, Illinois, on the south, including the cities named. The Employer is engaged in the production, distribution and sale' of electrical energy, gas and water, and in the operation of the public transportation system for the city of Peoria, Illinois. It supplies and sells electrical energy to all radio "stations, telephone companies, Western Union and railroad companies, in the above-named geo- graphic area ; supplies gas to 54 communities in the territory covered by its operations, including East St. Louis, Wood River, Collinsville, Jacksonville, Galesburg, and La Salle, Illinois; owns the water plants' and sells and distributes water in the cities of Mount Vernon, Mound City, Cairo, and Marseilles, Illinois; and through its integrated com- mon carrier transportation system in Peoria, Illinois, transports pas- 70 N. L. R. B., No. 84. 1043 712344-47-vol. 70-67 1044 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD sengers to and from industrial areas that are engaged in interstate commerce. The Employer has a number of inter ,connections between its lines of operation and the lines of operation of the following companies : Commonwealth Edison Company, Central Illinois Public Service Company, Central Illinois Light Company, and Union Electric Com- pany of Illinois. It supplies and sells electrical energy to the follow- ing companies, all of which are engaged in interstate commerce : United Electric Coal Company, DuQuoin, Illinois; General Steel Castings Company, Granite City, Illinois; and Alpha Cement Com- pany, La Salle, Illinois. Approximately 90 percent of the Employer's electrical energy is purchased from the Union Electric Company of Illinois, Common- wealth Edison Company and Central Illinois Light Company. Ap- proximately 10 percent of the electrical energy is generated by seven generating stations owned by the Employer. Power is ultimately received by the Employer through connecting lines from generating plants at Keokuk Dam on the Mississippi River and Bagnell Dam located in the State of Missouri. During 1945, the Employer sold and distributed 1,189,266,400 kilo- watt hours of electricity. During the same period its operating rev- enue was $22,629,343. The Employer admits, and we find, that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION ' The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive bargaining representative of certain of its employees until the Peti-, tioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit. We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT; THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES The Petitioner desires to include all load dispatchers of the Belle- ville plant in the unit of production and maintenance employees in the southern division which it presently represents pursuant to a con- tract with the Employer. The Employer is 'not in agreement, how- ever, contending that (1) the load dispatchers sought are supervisory employees, and (2) if the Board finds that they are not supervisory ILLINOIS POWER COMPANY 1045 employees there should in any event be a separate system -wide group; ing of all load dispatchers. The Employer's operations are divided into three sections, namely : the northern, central and southern divisions. The Employer has approximately 15 labor agreements with various unions, principally locals affiliated with the International of the Petitioner. Local B-51, affiliated with the same International as the Petitioner, has had a con- tract with the Employer since 1935 covering all physical employees in the northern and central divisions, including maintenance, transmis- sion and distribution employees. Local B-1306, also affiliated with the Petitioner's International, has a contract covering a system-wide unit of all ice plant and office employees . And the Petitioner has a contract with the Employer covering all physical employees in the southern district, including maintenance, transportation and distribution em- ployees. Although the Petitioner has had contractual relations with the Employer since 1923, load dispatchers have never been included in any of the collective bargaining contracts. Load dispatchers, or system supervisors as they are termed by the Employer, are employed in the dispatching office located at Belleville, Illinois, which is in the southern division, and in the dispatching of- fice at Decatur, Illinois, which is outside the southern division. Load dispatchers direct the assumption of loads and cut-off of power at the various generating plants or interconnections throughout the Em- ployer's system in order to meet changing requirements in power, or to balance mechanical failures of power . This is accomplished by telephoning necessary orders to-various employees throughout the sys- tem. Switches in all substations and power plants are opened or closed only upon the express orders of load dispatchers , who are re- quired to be cognizant at all times of the status of every switch and piece of rotating equipment. It appears that the orders issued by the load dispatchers are only as to the mechanical operations to be per- formed by employees . The employees to whom load dispatchers give orders are supervised by others in the actual performance of their duties. Thus, they are not truly subordinates of the load dispatchers. Moreover, although the record shows that load dispatchers may criti- cize the work of persons to whom they give directions, there is no persuasive evidence that they have the authority to hire, promote, dis- charge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em- ployees, or effectively to recommend such action. The load dispatchers in the Belleville office control the operations in the southern district and those in the Decatur office control opera- tions in the northern and central districts. There is interconnection of functions between load dispatchers of the two offices only in case of an emergency, and there is no interchange of load dispatchers between the two offices. 1046 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD It appears that the load dispatchers are not supervisory employees, as contended by the Employer, but highly skilled and highly trained workers. The, load dispatchers in the Belleville plant work in the same administrative division as do the physical employees now repre- sented by the Petitioner, and their contact is mainly with such physical employees. Hence, it appears that there is a strong community of interest between the load dispatchers in the southern division and the physical employees of that division. In view of the foregoing facts, we are of the opinion that the load dispatchers, in the Belleville plant may, if they so desire, be bargained for as part of the existing unit of physical employees in the Employer's southern district now repre- sented by the Petitioner. We shall, accordingly, direct an election among all load dispatchers (or system supervisors) at the Employer's Belleville, Illinois, plant, 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. In the event a majority of the employees in this voting group select the Petitioner as their bargaining representative they thereby will have indicated their desire to be merged with the unit of all physical employees in the southern district now represented by the Petitioner. DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Illinois Power Company, Belle- ville, Illinois, 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 Direc- tor for the Fourteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations- Series 3, as amended, among the employees in the voting group de- scribed 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, Local B-309, AFL, for the purposes of-collective bargaining. MR. JAMES J. REYNOLDS, JR., took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election.