The Western Union Telegraph Co.

In the Matter of THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY and COM- MERCIAL TELEGRAPHERS ' UNION, LOCAL #48, A. F. OF L. Case No. R-3163-Decided November 29, 19 f1 Jurisdiction : telegraph industry. Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re- fusal of Company to grant union recognition until certified by the Board : elec- tion necessary; employees with less than three months' service with the Com- pany held, eligible to vote since they are not temporary, but are considered by the Company as probational employees. Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees in the traffic, com- mercial, and accounting departments at the Los Angeles, California, office of the -Company, including all branch managers,, monitors, and regular mes- sengers, and excluding specific categories of employees Mr. M. T. Cook, of San Francisco, Calif., for the Company. Mr. A. H. Petersen and V. Dorothy 1'Veiman, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the C. T. U. Mr. Bruce Risley, of San Francisco, Calif., for the A. C. A. Mr. Louis Cokin, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION 11 STATEMENT OF TIIE CASE On July 25, and September 4 and 11, 1941, respectively, Commercial Telegraphers' Union, Local #48, A. F. of L., herein called the C. T. U., filed with the Regional Director for the Twenty-first Region (Los Angeles, California) a petition and amended petitions alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa- tion of employees of The Western Union Telegraph Company, Los Angeles, California, herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On October 1, 1941, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered an investigation and 37 N. L R. B, No. 22. 166 THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY 167 authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice: On October 13, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear- ing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the C. T. U., and upon American Communications Association, herein called the A. C. A. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on October 20, 1941, at Los Angeles, California, before Maurice J. Nicoson, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Com- pany, the C. T. U., and the A. C. A. were represented and participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross- examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was •aforded'all'parties. During the course of the hearing the C. T. U. moved to strike evidence adduced by the A. C. A. The Trial Exam- iner reserved ruling thereon. The motion is hereby denied. During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings on motions and on objections to the admission of evidence . The Board has reviewed these rulings and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed. On November 3, 1941, the A. C. ,A. filed a brief which the Board has considered. Upon- the lentire-record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS-OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY The Western Union Telegraph Company is a New York corpora- tion with its principal office at New York City. It is engaged through- out the United States and in various foreign countries in the receiving and transmission by telegraph and cable of intrastate, interstate, and international communications. In the operation of its national and 'international communications'system, the Company owns and/or oper- ates 210,311 miles of pole lines, 4,082 miles of land-line cable, 1,878,197 miles of wire, 30,312, nautical miles of ocean cable, and 19,140 telegraph offices. At the close of 1940, the Company employed 51,153 persons. The Company maintains an office at Los Angeles, California, with which we are here concerned. It admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED Commercial Telegraphers' Union, Local #48, is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. It admits to mem- bership employees at the Los Angeles; California, office of the'Com- pany. 168 DECISIONS .OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD American Communications Association is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Company refuses to recognize the C. T. U. as exclusive repre- sentative of its employees at Los Angeles until such time as the C. T.U. is certified by the Board. A statement of the Trial Examiner during the hearing shows that the C. T. U. represents a substantial number of employees in the unit which it alleges is appropriate? We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Company. IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON COMMERCE We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company described in Section 1 above, has a close, intimate, and substantial rela- tion to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce and the free flow of commerce. V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The C. T. U. urges that all employees in the traffic, commercial, and accounting departments at the Los Angeles office of the Company, in- cluding 32-named branch managers, monitors, automatic supervisors, telephone supervisors, distributing-center supervisors, and service- department supervisors, but excluding confidential file clerks, confi- dential secretaries, confidential stenographers, plant-department em- ployees, "other employment" employees, nurse, supervisors in-the ac- counting. section, 13-named branch managers, superintendent, chief clerk in commercial department, manager of delivery department, sales manager, city commercial manager, commercial representatives, cashier, manager of credits and collections, personal-service repre- sentatives, night manager, division traffic supervisor, traffic managers, assistant chief operators, T. & R. chief, automatic chief, chief clerk in traffic department, manager of accounting center, and distribution messengers, constitute an appropriate unit. The only controversy with respect to the unit concerns the 13-named 'branch managers, 'The Ttial Examiner repotted that the C . .T U presented authorization cards signed by 559 persons whose names appear on the Company's pay roll for the Los Angeles office There are 1456 employees at the Los Angeles office THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY 169 plant-department employees, automatic supervisors, telephone super-- visors, distributing-center supervisors, and service-department super- visors.2 Thirteen-named branch managers. The Company and the C.T. U. urge that these employees be excluded from the unit and the A. C. A. that they be included. As stated above, all the parties are in agree- ment that 32 other branch managers should be' included in the unit. The 13-named branch managers have authority to hire and discharge messengers only. They have no such authority with respect to the other employees at the branch offices. Under the circumstances and in accordance with our usual practice, we shall include the 13-named branch managers in the unit. Plant-department employees. The Company urges that such em- ployees be included in the unit and the C. T. U. that they be excluded. The A. C. A. took no position with respect to these employees. Pur- suant to a Decision and Direction of Election 3 issued by the Board, an election was recently held among the plant-department employees at' the Los Angeles, office to determine whether or not they desired to be represented by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The results of that election show that a majority of the plant-depart- ment employees voted to be represented by that organization and it has been certified as such representative.4 Under these circumstances, we find that the plant-department employees should be excluded from the unit. Automatic supe7visors, telephone supervisors, distributing-center supervisors, service-department supervisors. The C. T. U. urges that all such employees be included in the unit and the A. C. A. that they be excluded. The Company took no position with respect to these employees. These persons have from 12 to 18 employees working under them and they receive a substantially higher salary than the employees working under them. We shall exclude such employees from the unit. Messengers. The C. T. U. and the A. C. A. urge that regular messengers be included in the unit. The Company points to the large turn over of messengers and their immaturity and for these reasons suggests that messengers be designated as a separate appropriate bar- gaining unit or that messengers who have not been in the employ of the Company for a substantial period of time be denied the right to vote in an election. We are not persuaded by these contentions. The 2 The Company stated that although it considered a Nation-wide unit appropriate, it had no objection to the setting up of functional cities, such as Los Angeles, as separate bargaining units. 3Matter of Western Union Telegraph Company and ,Commercial Telegraphers Union, et al, 34 N L. R B, No. 77. 4 36 N. L. R. B. 945. -170 , DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD interests of the,messengers with respect to wagesi-hour-s;.and working- conditions are substantially similar to the interests of other employees within the unit. We shall, therefore, include the regular messengers in the units Temporary employees. All the parties agree that temporary em- ployees should be excluded from the unit. Under the circumstances and in accordance with our usual practice, we shall exclude temporary employees from the unit.,' We find that all employees in the traffic, commercial, and accounting departments at the Los Angeles office of the Company, including all branch managers, monitors, and regular messengers, but excluding plant-department employees, automatic supervisors, telephone super- visors, distributing-center supervisors, service-department super- visors, confidential file clerks, confidential secretaries, confidential stenographers, "other employment" employees, nurse, supervisors in the accounting section, superintendent, chief clerk in commercial department, manager of delivery department, sales manager, city com- mercial manager, commercial representatives, cashier, manager of credits and collections, personal-service representatives, night man- ager, division traffic 'supervisor, traffic managers, assistant chief operators, T. & R. chief, automatic chief, chief clerk in traffic depart- ment, manager of accounting center, distribution messengers, and temporary employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining and that such unit will insure to employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise will effectuate the policies of the Act. VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen can best be resolved by the holding of an election by secret ballot. The A. C. A. stated at the hearing that it did not claim to represent any employees at the Los Angeles office of the Company and did not wish to appear on the ballot in the event the Board directs an election among the employees at that office. We shall direct that the employees of the Company eligible to vote in the election shall be those in the appropriate unit who were em- ployed 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. 5 See Hatter of The Western Union Telegiaph Company and Telegraph Workers Indus- trial Union, et al, 36 N L R B 812. The term "temporary employees" as used herein does not apply to probational em- ployees (see Section VI, infra), but only to employees occasionally hired for the per- formance of specific tasks with the knowledge that their work is to be temporary. THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY 171 The C. T. U. urges that only employees who have been in the employ of the Company for a period of 3 months at the date of the Direction of Election should be eligible to vote. The A. C. A. stated that all regular employees of the company should be allowed to vote in the election irrespective of their length of service with the Company. It appears that employees with less than 3 months' service with the Com- pany are not temporary but are considered by the Company as proba- tional employees . It is the Company's intention to retain such employees'on its pay roll after their 3 months' probational period and their seniority rights are determined by the date of their entrance into the service of the Company . We find that such employees are entitled to participate in the determination of representatives. Upori the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre- sentation of employees of The Western Union Telegraph Company, Los Angeles , California, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 ( 6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. All employees in the traffic, commercial, and accounting depart- ments at the Los Angeles office of the Company, including all branch managers, monitors, and regular messengers , but excluding plant- department employees, automatic supervisors , telephone supervisors, distributing-center supervisors, service-department supervisors, confi- dential file clerks , confidential secretaries , confidential stenographers, "other employment" employees, nurse, supervisors in the accounting section, superintendent, chief clerk in commercial department, man- ager of delivery department , sales manager, city commercial manager, commercial representatives , cashier, manager of credits and collections, personal-service representatives , night manager, division traffic super- visor, traffic managers, assistant chief operators , T. & R. chief, auto- matic chief, chief clerk in traffic department, manager of accounting center, distribution messengers , and temporary employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining , within the meaning of Section 9 ( b) of the National Labor Relations Act. 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 Relations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby 172 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation, authorized by the Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with The Western Union Telegraph Company, Los Angeles, California, 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 Director for the Twenty- first Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among all employees in the traffic, commercial, and accounting departments at the Los Angeles office of the Company who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including all branch managers, monitors, reg- ular messengers, and 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 plant-department employees, automatic supervisors, tele- phone supervisors, distributing-center supervisors, service-department supervisors, confidential file clerks, confidential secretaries, confiden- tial stenographers, "other employment" employees, nurse, supervisors in the accounting section, superintendent, chief clerk in commercial department, manager of delivery department, sales manager, city com- mercial manager, commercial representatives, cashier, manager of credits and collections, personal-service representatives, night man- ager, division traffic supervisor, traffic managers, assistant chief op- erators, T. & R. chief, automatic chief, chief clerk in traffic department, manager 'of accounting center, distribution messengers, temporary employees,' and employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Commercial Telegraphers' Union, Local #48, affiliated with - the American Federation of Labor, for the purposes of collective bargaining. 7 See footnote 6, supra.