The United Illuminating Co.

In the Matter of THE UNITED ILLUMINATING COMPANY and UNITED ELECTRICAL EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION OF CONNECTICUT Case No R-3930 -Decided July 1,19492 Jurisdiction : electric utility industry , Investigation and Certification of Representatives ,, existence of question re- fusal to accord petitioner recognition, election necessary Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees, including the as- sistant dispatcher, but excluding executives, supervisory employees, watch engineers, line foremen, guards, police, watchmen, technical employees, confi- dential employees, pii\ate secretaries, persons having access to corporate books and pay rolls, dispatchers, and receptionists diiect]y connected with executive offices, stipulation as to Wig gin c Dana, by Mr Arnon D Thomas and Mr. John Q. Tilson, Jr, of New Haven, Conn, for the Company Mr Herman A. Cooper and Mr Moss K Schenck, of New York City, for the Union Mr Charles W Schneider, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon petition duly filed by United Electrical Employees Associa- tion of Connecticut, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the iepresentation of em- ployees of The United Illuminating Company, New Haven, Connecti- cut, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before James C Paradise, Trial Examiner Said hearing was held at New Haven, Connecticut, on June 8, 1942 The Company and the Uriion appeared and participated 1, All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evi- dence beating on the issues 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 Board makes the following r International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (AFL) was served with notice of the hearing but did not appear The Congress of Industrial Organizations submitted no evi- dence of representation 42N L R B,No 1 ' 472814-42-vol 42-1 1 2 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD FINDINGS OF FACT I THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY The United Illuminating Company is a Connecticut corporation engaged in the generation, sale, and distribution of electrical energy in the towns of New Haven, East Haven, North Haven, West Haven, Hamden, Woodbridge, Orange, North Branford, Milford, Bridge- port, Fairfield, Stratford, Easton, and Trumbull, all in the State of - Connecticut. The Company is the sole distributor of electricity in the above-described area, except in a portion of the town of North Branford, and except for electricity furnished to the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company in the town of Milford The principal raw materials and merchandise used by the Company - mIi connection with its operations are coal, copper, electrical appli- ances and devices, line materials, steel wile, lumber, cable, and glass and porcelain insulation During 1941 the Company purchased for use in its operations materials and merchandise valued- at appi oxi- mately $3,000,000, over 50 percent of whic,u was shipped to the Company from points outside the State of Connecticut During the same period the Company sold a total of 539,546,547 kilowatt hours of electrical energy valued at $11,411,442 01 The Company is a source of electrical energy for numerous mayor industrial firms engaged in commerce in the area which the Company serves, and for a number of instrumentalities- of commerce, such as iaihoads, steamship lines, airports, and radio stations The Company contends that it is not engaged in conunei ce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act We find, however, that the operations of the Company have a close, intimate, and substantial relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States 2 -. II THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED United Electrical Employees Association of Connecticut is an unaffiliated labor organization admitting to membership employees of the Company III THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION On November 10, 1941, the Union requested the Company to iecog- nize it as the collective bargaining representative- of the Company's employees. The Company declined to recognize the Union as such representative and referred-it to the Board A report of the Regional Director introduced into evidence at the hearing indicates that the 2 See Consolidated Edison Co v N L R B, 305 U 8 197 THE UNITED ILLUMINATING COMPANY c3 Union represents a substantial number of employees in the unit which we hereinafter find to be 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 We find, in accordance with a stipulation of the parties, that all employees of the Company, Including the assistant dispatcher, but excluding executives, supervisoiy employees, watch engineers, line foremen, guards, police, watchmen, technical employees, confidential employees, private secertaries and persons having access to corpo- rate books_and pay rolls, dispatchers, and receptionists directly con- nected with executive offices, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. V THE DE'EER111INATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We shall diiect that the question concerning iepiesentation which has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period nnmediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction DIRECTION OF ELECTION By vii tue 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 Ai tide III, Sections 8 and 9, of National Labor Relations Boaid Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is heieby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board to ascertain iepresentatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with The United Illuminating Company, New Haven, Connecticut, an election by seciet ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not latei than thirty (30) days fiom the date of this Direction of Election, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Diiectoi for the Second Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article "The Union submitted to the Regional Director 464 application for membership cards bearing apparently genuine original signatures Of these, 78 were undated, 362 varn- ously dated from January to December 1941, and 24 dated from January to March 1942 Three hundred and ninety-five of the signatures appear on the Company's pay roll of February 21, 1942, listing 669 employees in the appropriate unit 4 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS =' BOARD III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees of the Company in the unit found to be appropriate in Section IV, 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 such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or in the active military service or training of the United States, or temporarily laid off, but excluding any who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented for the purposes of collective bargain- ing by United Electrical Employees Association of Connecticut.