Central Ohio Light and Power Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 18, 1946

69 N.L.R.B. 625 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of CENTRAL OHIO LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY and
UTILITY WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA, LOCAL 271 ( CIO )
Case No. 8-R4177.-Decided July 18, 1946
Messrs. Thomas F. Veaeh and George D. Bonebrake, of Cleveland,
Ohio; Mr. Clyde Y. Morris, of Baltimore, Md., and Mr. Marcus Down-
ing, of Findlay, Ohio, for the Company.
Messrs. Sam Sponseller and C. C. Smith, of Cleveland, Ohio, and
Mr. William H. Munger, of Akron, Ohio, for the CIO.
Margaret H. Patterson, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF TIIE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Utility Workers Union of America,
Local 271 (CIO 1,1 herein called the CIO, alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Central Ohio Light and Power Company, Findlay, Ohio,
herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board pro-
vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before George F.
Hayes, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Findlay, Ohio, on
May 23,1946. The Company, the CIO and the PD & T Group,2 herein
called the Group, appeared and participated. All parties were afforded
full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses,
and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner
referred to the Board for ruling the motion to dismiss the petition
made by the Company and the Group. For reasons set forth in Section
III, infra, the motion is granted. The Trial Examiner's rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby a.flirnmed.
All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
' At the hearing the CIO moved to amend the formal papers to name "Local 271" as the
petitioner, the designation "Local 217" being in error . The motion is hereby granted.
The initials "PD & T" stand for Production , Distribution and Transmission.
69 N. L. B. B., No. 76.
701592-47-vol. 69--41 625
626 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Central Ohio Light and Power Company is engaged in the produc-
tion, 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 elec-
trical equipment, valued at approximately $100,000, most of which is
manufactured outside Ohio but purchased by the Company within
the State.
None of the electric energy produced by the Company is trans-
mitted outside Ohio and its properties are located wholly within that
State. The annual sales of the Company's electric energy approxi-
mate $2,000,000. The Company sells electric energy at wholesale and
retail. The Company's commercial customers are various, and include
garages, stores, banks, restaurants, filling stations, manufacturing
companies, 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.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Utility Workers Union of America, Local 27, is a labor organization
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
PD & T Group is an unaffiliated labor organization, admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the CIO as the
exclusive bargaining representative of the Company's employees.
In the Matter of Central Ohio Light and Power Company,3 the CIO
petitioned for a unit of all powerhouse employees at the Company's
3 51 N. L. R. B. 523, decided July 20, 1943.
CENTRAL OHIO LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY 627
Bluffton, Findlay and St. Marys, Ohio, plants. The Group inter-
vened and requested a unit of all the Company's production and main-
tenance employees in a system-wide unit. The Board found appro-
priate the unit requested by the Group and directed an election therein..
The CIO withdrew from the ballot, the Group won the election, and on
August 23, 1943, it was certified as exclusive bargaining representative
in the above-described system-wide unit. In November 1944, in Case
No. 8-R-1700, the CIO petitioned the Board for a unit of production
and maintenance employees at the Company's Woodcock generating:
plant at Bluffton, Ohio. On December 29,1944, the Regional Director
dismissed the case on the ground that the unit requested was inappro-
priate. On November 20, 1945, the -CIO again petitioned the Board,
in Case No. 8-R-2046, for a unit of production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Company's Woodcock generating plant at Bluffton,
Ohio, and on January 23, the Regional Director again refused to issue
a notice of hearing on the ground that the unit requested was inappro-
priate.
On January 28, 1946, the CIO filed an appeal from the Regional
Director's order dismissing its petition in Case No. 8-R-2046. On
January 29, the Group and the Company entered into a new 1-year
contract covering the system-wide unit previously found appropriate
by the Board.4 On April 5, 1946, the CIO filed its present petition
requesting the system-wide unit approved by the Board in the original
case. On April 9, the Board sustained the Regional Director's refusal.
to issue a notice of hearing in Case No. 8-R-2046.
The Company and the Group moved that the petition be dismissed
contending that the contract entered into on January 29 is a bar to the
present proceeding. In view of the fact that the petition in this pro-
ceeding was not filed until April 4, 1946, their contention is clearly
correct..5 The only argument to the contrary urged by the CIO is that
its petition in Case No. 8-R-2046, which was still pending by virtue
of an appeal, should prevent the operation of this contract as a bar_
We find no merit in the CIO's contention, inasmuch as that petition,
being for an inappropriate unit, was fatally defective, as determined
by both the Regional Director and the Board. It was, therefore,
unavailing as against the contract.'
For the reasons indicated above, we find that the contract of Jan-
uary 28, 1946, between the Group and the Company constitutes a bar
4 Following the Board 's certification of the Group in August 1943 , the Group and the
Company entered into a series of 1-year contracts covering the system -wide unit found
appropriate by the Board . On January 19, 1946, the then current contract between the
Group and the Company expired.
5 See Matter of General Electric X-Ray Corporation , 67 N. L. R. B. 997.
° See Matter of North Range Mining Company , 47 N. L. R. B. 1306, in which we hell
that after the dismissal of a petition, the request or claim upon which it was based is no,
longer operative.
628 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
to an investigation of representatives and we shall accordingly dismiss
the petition.
ORDER
The National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the petition
for investigation and certification of representatives of employees
of Central Ohio Light and Power Company, Findlay, Ohio, filed by
Utility Workers Union of America, Local 271, affiliated with the CIO,
be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
V