Michigan Bell Telephone Co.

632 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Michigan Bell Telephone Company and United Telephone Workers, Ind., Petitioner . Case 7-RC-9542 May 21, 1970 DECISION AND ORDER By CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS FANNING AND JENKINS Upon the petition duly filed by the United Telephone Workers, Ind., Petitioner herein, under Section 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing was held before Hearing Officer Stephen M. Glasser. Following the hearing and pursuant to Section 102.67 'of the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations and Statements of Procedure, Series 8, as amended, and by direction of the Regional Director for Region 7, this case was transferred to the National Labor Relations Board for decision. Briefs have been timely filed by the Employer , the Petitioner , and the Intervenor , Communication Workers of America, AFL-CIO, which was permitted to intervene on' the basis of a contractual interest. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel. The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer ' s rulings made at- the hearing and finds that they are free from prejudicial error . They are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in this case , the Board finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act and it will effectuate the purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein. 2. The Intervenor and the Employer contend that the Petitioner is not a labor organization . The record shows that the Petitioner was formed to represent tele- phone employees with respect to wages, hours, and other conditions of employment . The Petitioner has officers, accepts dues voluntarily offered , has formed committees , and has had meetings where as many as 100 employees have attended . At least one-third of the employees have signed authorization cards enabling the Petitioner to file its petition in this case . The record thus establishes that employees participate in the activi- ties of the Petitioner and that it exists for the purpose of engaging in collective bargaining with the Employer. We therefore find that the Petitioner is a labor organiza- tion within the meaning of Section 2(5) of the Act.' 3. The petitioner seeks an election in a unit of all Switching Systems Department employees of the Employer , excluding all other employees covered by collective-bargaining agreements , all other office clerical employees , guards, and supervisors as defined in the Workers, AFL-CIO, 159 NLRB 137 Act. The Intervenor and Employer contend that a con- tract covers these employees and bars the petition. With respect to the contract urged as a bar, the Employer and Intervenor signed a collective-bargaining agreement on August 28, 1968, which is to terminate on May 1, 1971. The contract admittedly covers precisely the same switching system employees for whom the Petitioner has requested an election. , The Petitioner contends , that the contract is not a bar because it is, in effect, a premature extension of a prior contract or contracts. The record discloses that the Employer and Intervenor executed collective-bar- gaining agreements on October 4, 1966, covering respec- tively, the Plant, Traffic, and Comptroller Departments which were to terminate on October 2, 1969, 3 years later. On May 1, 1968, in the belief that the contracts, of October 2, 1966, contained an illegal union-security provision, the Employer and Intervenor executed new contracts, amending the union-security provision, with a termination date of May 1, 1971. On June 15, 1968, the Employer began the reorganiza- tion of its operations which ultimately resulted in the formation of the Switching System Department. The purpose of the establishment of this department was to bring together under a single department head a group of related functions concerning the use and mainte- nance of certain telephone equipment in the area of Southeastern Michigan. Employees were transferred to the new department from the Plant, Traffic, and Opera- tions Staff Departments. On August 28, 1968, the Employer and the Intervenor executed a collective-bar- gaining agreement concerning the Switching Systems Department employees with a termination date of May 1, 1971. The current petition for such unit was filed on August 1, 1969. The record thus establishes that the Switching System Department is a newly created unit consisting of employ- ees drawn from other departments of the Employer's telephone system. The Petitioner has petitioned for these employees as an appropriate unit and does not challenge the validity of the contract other than its contention that it is a premature extension of prior contracts. Since the recently formed Switching Systems Department con- stitutes a new and separate departmental unit, prior contracts covering other units in the Employer's opera- tions can have no impact on the contract between the Employer and the Intervenor covering the employees in this unit, and we therefore perceive no valid reason why it should not be recognized as a bar to an election in this case. Accordingly we shall dismiss the petition. ORDER It is hereby ordered that the petition filed herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed. ' Grand Lodge International Association of Machinists and Aerospace 182 NLRB No. 105