Appalachian Electric Power Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 28, 1942

38 N.L.R.B. 630 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of APPALACHIAN ELECTRIC POWER Co. and INTERNA-
TIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, L. U. B-1182
A. F. L.)
Case No. R3351.--Decided January 28, 1942
Jurisdiction : electric utility.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence-of question: dis-
pute as to appropriate unit; refusal to accord union recognition ; election
necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees in one of two oper-
ating units constituting a division of the Company, held appropriate notwith-
standing desire of the Company for a division-wide unit where among other
considerations organization has extended only to employees in the unit con-
tended for by the sole organization involved, and where the operations of the
two operating units are almost completely separated ; meter readers are in-
cluded and sales, accounting, clerical, supervisory employees, surveyors and
rodmen, and janitors are excluded from the unit found appropriate.
Mr. Robert W. Knadler, for the Board.
Hunton, Williams, Anderson, Gay d Moore, by Mr. T. Justin Moore
and Mr. Edmund Preston, of Richmond, Va.; and Mr. John L. Abbot,
of Lynchburg Va., for the Company.
Mr. Joseph C. McIntosh and Mr. Lawson Wimberly, of Washington,
D. C., for the Union.
Miss Mary E. Perkins, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On August 12, 1941, International Brotherhood of Electrical Work-
ers, L. U. B-1182 (A. F. L.), herein called the Union, filed with the
Regional Director for the Fifth Region (Baltimore, Maryland) a
petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of Appalachian Electric
Power Co., Roanoke, Virginia, herein called the Company, and re-
questing an investigation and certification of representatives pursuant
to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449,
38 N. L. R. B., No. 126.
630
APPALACHIAN ELECTRIC POWER CO. 631
herein called the Act. On October 27, 1941, the National Labor Rela-
tions 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 inves-
tigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to
provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice . On November 17,
1941 , the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing, copies of which
were duly served upon the Company and the Union.
Pursuant to notice , a hearing was held on December 2 and 3, 1941,
at Lynchburg , Virginia , before Mortimer Riemer, the Trial Examiner
duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner . The Board , the Com-
pany, and the Union were represented by counsel and all participated
in the hearing . Full opportunity to be heard , to examine and cross-
examine witnesses , and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues
was afforded all parties . In the course of the hearing , the Trial Ex-
aminer made several rulings on motions and on objections to the admis-
sion of evidence . The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial
Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The
rulings are hereby affirmed . On December 29, 1941 , the Company filed
a brief which the Board has considered.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Appalachian Electric Power Co. is a corporation organized under
the laws of the State of Virginia , having its principal office at Roanoke,
Virginia.
The Company is engaged in the production , transmission , and dis-
tribution of electric power in the States of West Virginia and Vir-
ginia. In both of these States the Company operates a number of
generating plants, connected by a 132,000-volt transmission line which
extends from the Ohio River, where it joins with a line of the Ohio
Power Company , south to Logan , West Virginia, and thence eastward
to Lynchburg, Virginia . This transmission line acts as a power pool,
into which all the generating plants of the Company pour power to
make up a supply which flows across ' two States , and which is taken
off as needed at the various substations of the Company and distributed
to its customers . At two points on the Tennessee border the line con-
nects with the lines of the Carolina Power and Light Company.
A more detailed description of the relationship of the Company's
operations in the Lynchburg District , which are involved in this
proceeding , to the whole system of the Company is set ' forth below
under Section V.
632 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, L. U. B-1182
is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Efforts to organize the Company's employees were made by the
Union in August 1939, lapsed for a period, and were renewed in April
1940. A charter was issued to the Local on May 20, 1940, and the
Union has been active among the Company's employees in the Lynch-
burg District since that time. In the spring of 1941 it was decided
to seek an agreement with the Company, and a representative of the
Union met with J. E. Jackson, the Lynchburg District manager, in
July and August 1941, stating that the Union represented a majority
of the Company's employees in the District, and requesting that it
be recognized as their representative. Jackson expressed doubt as
to the appropriateness of the unit requested by the Union; and at
a conference between representatives of the Union, the Company,
and the Board on September 3, 1941, the Company declined to partici-
pate in a consent election among the Lynchburg District employees,
on the ground that it did not consider that unit appropriate and urged
that the question be referred to the Board.
A statement of the Regional Director which was introduced into
evidence shows that the Union represents a substantial number of
the Company's employees in the unit hereinafter found to be appro-
priate.
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
UPON CO1VI11IERCE
We find- that the question concerning representation which has
arisen , occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, and in Section V below, has a close,
intimate, and substantial relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among
several States, and tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and ob-
structing commerce and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union urges that the Company's employees in the Lynchburg
District, with certain exclusions considered below, constitute an appro-
' The Regional Director's statement shows that 42 person,, who were employed by the
Company on August 29, 1941, in the Lynchburg District, have signed "authorizations for
membership " in the International Brotherhood of Electrical workers since July 1941. The
unit hereinafter found to be appropriate is composed of about 90 persons.
APPALACHIAN ELECTRIC POWER CO. 633
priate unit. The Company contends that a unit consisting of its
employees in the Roanoke-Lynchburg Division, with exclusions sim-
ilar to those desired by the Union, is appropriate.
The Company's system consists of four main divisions, of which two
are located in West Virginia, one in Virginia, and one partly in
each of these States. The easternmost of these Divisions, located en-
tirely in Virginia, is known as the Roanoke-Lynchburg Division, and
serves these two cities and surrounding rural areas. The Division
contains five generating plants, four hydroelectric plants, and one
steam plant, with a total generating capacity ranging from 13,000 to
26,000 kilowatts, depending on water supply. Since the peak demand
for power in the Division is considerably in excess of this amount, the
Division draws on power generated in plants outside the Division to
make up its power supply. The operations of the Division thus
consist in large part of distribution and servicing. The Division em-
ploys about 490 persons,2 of whom about 230 are classified as account-
ing, sales, clerical, and supervisory employees, and who, by agreement
of the parties, would be excluded from either a division or a district
unit for the purposes of collective bargaining. The remainder, con-
sisting of about 260 persons, is made up mainly of line, service, and
operating employees.
The Roanoke-Lynchburg Division is divided into two main operat-
i ng units, the Roanoke and the Lynchburg Districts. About 95 of the
line, service, and operating employees of the Division are employed
in the Lynchburg District; the remainder are employed at Roanoke
or at small local offices in the Division. As operating units, the two
districts are almost completely separated, the only important services
which are shared in common by the two districts being those of -a
construction engineer who inspects and supervises construction in
both districts; those of the rural or mapping department which does
work for the Division as a whole; and those of a trouble man located
at Bedford, between the two districts, who is on the Roanoke District
pay roll, but whose time is charged to the Lynchburg District when he
performs work for that district. Infrequently, in time of emergency,
line gangs of one district are assigned to assist those of the other.
Wages, hours, and vacations are uniform throughout the Division;
there is no interchange of employees between the districts, however,
and the loose seniority policy adhered to by the Company in making
lay-offs and promotions does not appear to operate on a Division-wide
basis. While the Assistant Division Manager's signature is necessary
to make effective any discharges, hirings, promotions, or demotions,
2 About 230 so-called "system-wide" employees of the Company are located at Roanoke,
the principal office of the Company, but are not considered by either of the parties to be
employees of the Roanoke-Lynchburg Division , and hence are not involved in this
proceeding
634 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the employment records are kept in the District offices and the initial
decisions on such matters and on grievances are made locally subject
only to the assistant division manager's approval.
The Company has for some years had an operating agreement with
an independent labor organization of its employees at its Cabin Creek
generating plant near Charleston, Nest Virginia, one of the largest
of its power plants. The number of employees covered by this agree-
ment does not appear. Other than this, there is no history of col-
lective bargaining between the Company and its employees.
The Union made attempts in the fall of 1940, through visits of its
representatives and by mail, to organize the employees of the Com-
pany in the Roanoke District,? but has failed to secure any members
among these employees. Roanoke is about 50 miles from Lynchburg.
In the light of all the facts in this case, we are of the opinion that the
Lynchburg District can constitute a separate appropriate unit and
that the present state of the employees' self-organization indicates its
propriety in this case.4 Our findings in this respect, however, does not
preclude a later determination that a larger unit is appropriate when
organization has extended to employees in other parts of the Com-
pany's system.
The Union stated in its petition that the unit should include all
employees in the Lynchburg District, excluding accounting, sales,
clerical, and supervisory employees. The petition was amended at
the hearing to list, according to the classifications on the Company's
pay roll, the employees whom the Union desires to include and ex-
clude.5 The Company agrees in general with the inclusions and
exclusions suggested by the Union. Disagreement exists, however, as
to the status of the following groups which the Union wishes to
include :
Line foremen, the appliance service foreman, and the assistant store-
keeper. The Company contends that these employees should be
excluded because they are supervisory employees. The Union, on
the other hand, desires to include them. The three line foremen work
in the field and supervise line crews of eight or nine men each, assign-
ing and directing the work of the men under them; they do not, how-
ever, do any substantial amount of work themselves. They have the
power to discipline the men under them and have an important voice
"The Union ' s charter gives it jurisdiction over the Company ' s employees in the "Roanoke
Division "
* See Matter of Southern California Cas Company and Utility Workers Organizing
Committee, Local 114, C I. 0 , 31 N. L it. B., No. 70.
5 The amended petition would include line foremen , Linemen , groundmen , laborers , street-
light cleaners , trouble men , electricians , electricians ' helpers, operators, motormen, cut-in
men, meter helpers, meter readers, appliance service nmen , the appliance service foreman,
the assistant storekeeper , the storeroom helper , maintenance men, mechanics ' helpers, in-
spectors , and car washers It would exclude surveyors , rodmen, janitors , and sales, ac-
counting , clerical, and supervisory employees.
APPALACHIAN ELECTRIC POWER CO. 635
in recommending hirings and discharges. The appliance service
foreman supervises the work of four servicemen and only occasionally
goes out on servicing work himself. The assistant storekeeper is in
charge of the Company's Lynchburg storeroom. He performs the
clerical work necessary in keeping the inventories and other records
of the storeroom, and has one helper. The duties of the line fore-
men and the appliance service foreman are almost entirely super-
visory in character; those of the assistant storekeeper are supervisory
and clerical. The Union agrees that other employees in supervisory
or clerical positions should be excluded. We see no reason for treat-
ing line foremen, the appliance service foreman, and the assistant
storekeeper differently ; accordingly, we shall exclude them from the
unit.
Meter readers. The Company wishes to exclude from the unit its
meter readers, of whom there are five, on the ground that they are
classified under the accounting department and do some clerical work.
These employees spend about half their time in the field reading
meters and the rest of the time checking their readings in the ac-
counting department. Although they have little contact with other
field employees, it appears that they are promoted to be meter testers
and meter installers, rather than to positions in the accounting depart-
ment, and the Union asserts that for this reason they are properly
included in the unit. We shall include them.
Disagreement also exists as to the following employees whom the
Union wishes to exclude :
Surveyors and rodmen. Three surveyors are employed in the Lynch-
burg District to survey the lines, properties, and rights of way of the
Company. They are assisted by a rodman. The union representative
testified that it is not customary for the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers to, represent surveyors in other utility companies,
and the Union has not sought to represent them here. We shall exclude
them.
Janitors. The Company employs five janitors to clean and main-
tain its shops and office building in Lynchburg, and urges that they
should be included in the unit. They are classified under the account-
ing department. Most of the maintenance work at the Company's
powerhouses and subsi ations is performed by men who are employed
to do other work at those places and whom the Union would include
in any event, under the classification of "maintenance men," "opera-
tors," or "helpers." The Union wishes to exclude the janitors in ques-
tion, however, who work in Lynchburg and who do not appear to come
in contact with the field employees generally. We shall exclude the
janitors from the unit.
We find that all linemen, groundmen, laborers, street-light cleaners,
trouble men, electricians, electricians' helpers, operators, metermen,
636 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
cut-in men, meter helpers, meter readers, appliance servicemen, the
storeroom helper, maintenance men, mechanics' helpers, inspectors,
and car washers, employed by the Company in the Lynchburg, Vir-
ginia, District, excluding surveyors, rodmen, and janitors, and sales,
accounting, clerical, and supervisory employees, constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purpose of collective bargaining, and this the said
unit will insure to employees of the Company the full benefit of their
right to self-organization and to collective bargaining, and will other-
wise 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 an election by secret ballot.
The Union requested that eligibility for voting be determined by
a pay roll as close as possible to July 3, 1941, the date upon which
recognition was first requested, on the ground that new employees have
been added since that date. The fact that there have been personnel
changes is no reason, in the absence of circumstances not here present,
for departing from our usual practice of choosing a current eligibility
date. Moreover, the record shows that there has been no marked turn-
over or significant variation in the number of employees since recog-
nition was first requested. We shall direct that those eligible to vote
in the election shall be those persons in the appropriate unit who were
employed by the Company during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of our Direction of Election, subject to the limita-
tions and additions set forth in the Direction.
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and the entire rec-
ord 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 Appalachian Electric Power Co., Roanoke,
Virginia, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and
(7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All linemen, groundmen, laborers, street-light cleaners, trouble
men, electricians, electricians' helpers, operators, metermen, cut-in
men, meter helpers, meter readers, appliance servicemen, the store-
room helper, maintenance men, mechanics' helpers, inspectors, and
car washers employed by the Company in the Lynchburg, Virginia,
District, excluding surveyors, rodmen, and janitors, and sales, ac-
counting, clerical and supervisory employees, constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
APPALACHIAN ELECTRIC POWER CO.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
637
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 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation ordered by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Appalachian Electric Power Co., Roanoke, Virginia, an election
by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later
than thirty (30) clays from the date of this Direction of Election,
under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the
Fifth 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 linemen, groundmen, laborers, street-
light cleaners, trouble men, electricians, electricians' helpers, oper-
ators, metermen, cut-in men, meter helpers, meter readers, appliance
servicemen, the storeroom helper, maintenance men, mechanics'
helpers, inspectors, and car washers who were employed by the Com-
pany in the Lynchburg, Virginia, District during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, in-
cluding any such employees who did not work during that 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 surveyors, rodmen, and janitors, and sales, accounting, cler-
ical, and supervisory employees, and employees who have since quit -or
been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to
be represented for the purposes of collective bargaining by Interna-
tional Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, L. U. B-1182 (A. F. L.).