Central Ohio Light and Power Co.

In the Matter of CENTRAL OHIO LIGHT AND POWER Co. and UTILITY WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, LOCAL 271 (CIO) Case No. B-5564.-Decided July 20, 1943 Miles & O'Brien, by Mr. Seymour O'Brien, of Baltimore, Md.; Mr. Marcus C. Downing of Findlay, Ohio; and Mr. Thomas F. Veach, of Cleveland, Ohio, for the Company. Mr. Francis M. McMahon, of Dayton , Ohio, and Mr. Bennie R. Shafer, of Bluffton, Ohio, for Local 271. Klingshirn & Snow , by Mr. William Snow, of Toledo, Ohio, and Mr. R. A . Betts, of Findlay, Ohio, for the Group. Mrs. Augusta Spaulding, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon petition duly filed by Utility Workers Organizing Commit- tee, Local 271 (CIO), herein called Local 271, alleging that a ques- tion affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Central Ohio Light and Power Co., Findlay, Ohio, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Max W. Johnstone, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Findlay, Ohio, on June 21, 1943. The Company, Local 271, and P. D. & T. Group,' herein called the Group, appeared, participated, and were afforded full op- portunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues.2 The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : 1 The initials "P D & T." stand for Production, Distribution and Transmission. 2 At the commencement of the hearing the Group filed a petition for investigation and certification of representatives of the Company in a plant unit. This petition was filed in support of the Group's motion to intervene, which was granted by the Trial Examiner. 51 N. L. R. B., No. 96. 522 CENTRAL OHIO LIGHT AND POWER CO . 523 FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Central Ohio Light and Power Co. is engaged in the production, 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 electrical equipment, valued at approximately $100,000, most of which is manufactured outside Ohio but purchased by the Company within the State. y None of the electric energy produced by the Company is transmitted outside Ohio and its properties are located wholly within that State. The annual sales of the Company's electric energy approximate $2,000,000. The Company sells electric energy at wholesale and retail. The Company's commercial customers are various, and include -ga- rages, stores, banks, restaurants, filling stations, manufacturing com- panies, 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. II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED Utility Workers Organizing Committee, Local 271, is a labor organi- zation affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, ad- mitting to membership employees of the Company. P. D. & T. Group is an unaffiliated labor organization, admitting to membership employees of the Company. M. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION In February 1943, Utility Workers Organizing Committee, herein called the U. W. O. C., began organizing the Company's employees. In March 1943, the employees formed the Group, a labor organization restricted to employees of the Company. In March the Company re- fused, upon request, to recognize the U. W. O. C. as bargaining repre- sentative of the power plant employees, contending that the proposed unit was not appropriate for bargaining. In April the Group asked the Company for recognition as bargaining representative of em- 524 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD ployees in an industrial unit. The Company so refused to recognize the Group, in view of the conflicting claim of the U. W. O. C. A statement prepared by the Trial Examiner and read into the record at the hearing indicates that the Group represents a substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.3 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 The U. W. O. C. contends that all power plant employees working at the Company's power plants at Bluffton, Findlay, and St. Marys, Ohio, excluding executives, supervisors, foremen, and clerks, consti- tute an appropriate bargaining unit. The Group contends that all employees of the Company, excluding managerial, supervisory, and clerical employees, constitute an appropriate bargaining unit. The Company contends that the industrial unit is the only appropriate bargaining unit for its employees. The Company is engaged in the production, transmission, and dis- tribution of electric energy for light and power purposes. It serves central Ohio. Purchases for the entire system, all pay rolls, and all service records are centralized at the Findlay office. All new em- ployees are hired or approved, and policies concerning wages, hours, and working conditions are determined, at Findlay. A single group of executives-a general manager, a general superintendent of opera- tions, and a superintendent of production and distribution at Find- lay-directs the Company's entire operations and determines uniform policies. The Company divides its territory into two divisions known as the Western and Eastern Divisions. In the Western Division the Com- pany maintains power plants at Bluffton and at Findlay, where it regularly produces electricity, and a power plant at St. Marys, which it operates as a "cold standby" and substation. The Company partially serves its Western Division with electricity that it produces. The Company buys all the electricity with which it serves its customers in its Eastern Division and controls the transmission of such electricity at a substation at Wooster. The generating and transmission system of the Western Division is not physically connected with the trans- 8 The Group submitted 58 authorization cards bearing apparently genuine signatures of employees on the, pay roll of April 12, 1943. There are approximately 97 employees in the appropriate bargaining unit. The U W. 0 C. submitted 20 authorization cards , all dated in February 1943, bearing apparently genuine signatures of power plant employees on the pay roll of April 12, 1943. None of these cards bear the signatures of employees at the power plant at St. Marys. There are approximately 43 power plant employees. CENTRAL OHIO LIGHT AND POWER CO. 525 mission and distribution system of the Eastern Division. The Com- pany's principal service shops and stores are at Findlay, the largest town in the Western Division and at Wooster, the largest town in the Eastern Division. These shops are the headquarters of all distribu- tion, transmission, and meter employers-all employees except power plant and clerical employees. All work orders issue from these divi- sion headquarters. The Company owns and maintains a telephone line connecting its several plants and shops. The Company's employees include 43 production employees who work in and about the 3 power plants,-' 43 line employees,5 1 patrolman, 2 janitors,1 night watchman, and 7 meter employees. The Bluffton power plant, with 22 employees, generates about 98 percent of electric energy produced by the Company; the Findlay plant, with 17 employees, 2 percent. The St. Marys plant, with 4 employees, normally generates no electricity. The 3 power plants are connected by a transmission line. St. Marys is about 45 miles distant from Bluffton, the nearer of the 2 plants. Power plant employees are not necessarily limited to working within the power plant. They sometimes assist line employees in installing equipment in adjacent substations, and they may operate outdoor switches.. The power plant employees at Findlay operate the central hot water heating system in Findlay, and in this connec- tion they perform service work outside the power plant. They work on the hot water heating line and on occasion go into the customers' homes to make adjustments as to the system. Meter and service employees are in emergencies called in to the power plants to make repairs. Meter and service employees are often called in to work in the repair and operation of substations not adjacent to power plants. Line employees and power plant employees jointly repair and operate substations near power plants. Line, meter, and service employees operate and maintain the company-owned inter-plant com- munication system. There is active cooperation among the several classes of employees when emergencies call upon their services. All operations are directed from the Findlay office. Although the U. W. 0. C. contends that it chartered Local 271, the petitioner in this proceeding, as a local union expressly for the power plant employees of the Company, the record clearly discloses that the U. W. 0. C. is organizing the Company's employees on an indus- 4At the St. Marys plant there are 4 shift engineers (one on each shift and a relief man) who, operate voltage regulator equipment, read meters , and open and close switches. At the Findlay and Bluffton plants there are 8 shift engineers, 10 boiler operators , 9 oilers, -3 general utility men , 1 hot water maintenance man, 1 hot water beat man, 1 electrician, 5 maintenance men, and 1 apprentice technical engineer. 6 There are 4 working line and service foremen , 13 linemen„ 1 ground man, 3 truck drivers, 1 mechanic, 1 maintenance man, 1 tree trimmer, 12 service men, 1 appliance service man, 2 storekeepers, and 4 service station operators. 526 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD trial basis and has not limited its organizational activity to the unit which it urges in the petition. The U. W. 0. C. has no members among employees at the St. Marys power plant, whom it would include in the three-plant unit. The Company's integrated utility service, the small size of the Company's operations, and the related functions of the departments therein clearly indicate that a system- wide unit is the appropriate bargaining unit for the Company's employees. Since the U. W. 0. C. is an industrial union actively engaged in organizing the Company's employees on an industrial basis, and since the Group represents employees in all the several departments of the Company's operations and has filed a petition for investigation and certification herein, we see no reason to set up a unit smaller than a system-wide unit of the Company's employees for the purposes of collective bargaining.6 The parties agree, and we find, that clerical employees and all non- working supervisory employees should be excluded from the bargain- ing unit. They would include working foremen within the unit- shift engineers in the power plants and line and meter foremen. These working foremen do not hire or discharge or recommend the hire or discharge of employees with whom they work. The U. W. 0. C. and the Group disagree as to the inclusion in the unit of the chief maintenance foreman at Findlay and the chief plant engineer at the St. Marys power plant. The U. W. 0. C. would exclude both, and the Company and the Group would include them. The chief maintenance foreman at Findlay is a salaried employee because his hours are somewhat irregular and he is subject to call. He is working foreman with two helpers. The chief plant engineer at the St. Marys power plant is one of the three regular shift engineers. He operates the plant during, the morning shift. An extra shift man relieves the regular shift men on their days off and 3 days per week assists the chief plant engineer on repair work at the plant. The two other regular shift engineers work alone on their shifts. The record does not disclose how far the working foremen have authority to discipline or effect changes in the status of employees with whom they work or effectively recommend such action. We shall include within the bargaining unit all working foremen who have no such authority. We find that all production and maintenance employees of the Company, including working foremen who have no authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in te status of employees under them or effectively recommend such action, but excluding all other supervisory employees, executives, and clerical 6 Matter of Florida Power and Light Company, 42 N. L. It B. 742. CENTRAL OHIO LIGHT AND POWER CO. 527 employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collec- tive bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen can best be resolved by an election by secret ballot. Since the U. W. O. C. is engaged in organizing the Company's employees on an industrial basis, although the record does not dis- close the extent of its representation among employees other than power plant employees, we shall direct that the U. W. O. C. and the Group both appear upon the ballot, provided, however, that the U. W. O. C. may withdraw its name by notifying the Regional Di- rector within five (5) days of the date of the issuance of this Direc- tion of Election that it does not desire to participate in the election. Those eligible to vote in the election shall be all employees of the Company in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction. 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 Labor Rela- tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain represent- atives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Central Ohio Light and Power Co., Findlay, Ohio, 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 Eighth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Section 10, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees of the Company 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 em- ployees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including em- ployees in the armed forces of the United States who present them- selves in person at the polls, but excluding employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether they desire to be represented by P. D. & T. Group, or by Utility Workers Or- ganizing Committee, C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective bargain- ing, or by neither.