Consumers Power Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 1, 1939

11 N.L.R.B. 848 (N.L.R.B. 1939)

In the Matter of CONSUMERS POWER COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL 876
Case No. B-1004
Election Ordered: run-off.
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND
SECOND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
March 1, 1939
On November 8, 1938, the National Labor Relations Board,
herein called the Board, issued a Decision and Direction of
Election 1 in the above-entitled proceedings. On November 23, 1938,
and on December 22, 1938, the Board issued Amendments to its De-
cision and Direction of Election.2 The Direction of Election, as
amended, directed the Regional Director for the Seventh Region,
acting as agent for the Board, and subject to National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, to conduct
an election by secret ballot among all employees of Consumers
Power Company, herein called the Company, excluding general and
assistant foremen, plant supervisors, crew foremen, and other super-
visory employees except as expressly included below, office employees,
office building janitors and watchmen, collectors, connected load in-
spectors, electrical, mechanical, and civil engineers, efficiency men and
junior engineers, draftsmen, surveyors, chemists, architects, temporary
common laborers hired for a specific job and for not more than 6
months, part-time local service men and local service men who do not
perform mechanical work in the regular course of employment, and
storekeepers with supervisory powers who do not ordinarily do me-
chanical work, but including load dispatchers, meter readers and bill
distributors, plant janitors and watchmen, and storekeepers other
than those excluded above, who were on the pay roll of the Company
for the pay-roll period next preceding August 29, 1938, except those
who had since quit or been discahrged for cause, to determine whether
they desired to be represented by International Brotherhood of
19 N. L. R B. 742.
2 9 N. L. R. B. 751; 10 N. L. R. B. 780.
11 N. L. R B., No. 63.
848
CONSUMERS POWER COMPANY ET AL. 849
Electrical Workers, Local 876, herein called I. B. E. W., or by Utility
Workers Organizing Committee, herein called U. W. O. C., for the
purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither. The Direction, as
amended, provided for the holding of the election within 70 days
of the date of the original Decision and Direction of Election.
Pursuant to said Direction of Election, as amended, the Regional
Director conducted an election by secret ballot from January 10 to
January 13, 1939.
On January 21, 1939, the Regional Director caused to be served
on the parties his Intermediate Report on the conduct of the ballot.
No exceptions to the Intermediate Report have been filed by any of
the parties.
As to the results of the secret ballot, the Regional Director reported
the following :
Total number of employees eligible------------------------- 2, 977
Total number of ballots cast------------------------------ 2,806
Total number of votes for International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers, Local 876-------------------------- 1,072
Total number of votes for Utility Workers Organizing
Committee---------------------------------------------- 1,164
Total number of votes for neither------------------------ 506
Total number of challenged ballots-- ----------------------- 52
Total number of blank ballots--------------------------- 1
Total number of void ballots------------------------------ 11
Upon the expiration of the period for filing exceptions to the
Intermediate Report, the Regional Director forwarded it to the Board
in Washington, D. C. Thereafter, the Board received a letter, dated
January 31, 1939, from Allan S. Haywood, chairman of U. W. O. C.,
in which he requested that the Board certify U. W. O. C. as repre-
sentative of the employees of the Company within the appropriate
unit, on the basis of the election theretofore held. By letter dated
February 4, 1939, the Secretary of the Board informed Haywood
that such certification would not be in accordance with the policy
established by the Board, where no union had received a majority of
votes validly cast in an election. By letters dated, respectively, Feb-
ruary 2, 1939, and February 6, 1939, counsel for U. W. O. C. and the
chairman thereof requested the Board to direct the holding of a run-
off election among the employees of the Company, providing for a
choice for or against U. W. O. C. By letters dated February 8, 1939,
pursuant to a request which had been previously made by D. W.
Tracy, international president of International Brotherhood of Elec-
trical Workers, the Secretary of the Board notified the Company,
I. B. E. W., and Tracy that the Board would direct the holding of a
run-off election unless objection thereto was received within 5 days
from the date of the letters. By letter dated February 11, 1939,
850 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
counsel for I. B. E. W. informed the Board that it had no objection
to the holding of a run-off election in which the name of I. B. E. W.
was included on the ballot, but that it did object to the holding of any
such election in which that organization's name was not so included.
I. B. E. W. also requested a hearing before the Board for the purpose
of oral argument concerning its right to appear on the ballot.
On February 24, 1939, pursuant to notice duly served upon
I. B. E. W., U. W. O. C., and the Company, a hearing for the purpose
of oral argument was held before the Board in Washington, D. C.
I. B. E. W. and U. W. O. C. were represented by counsel and par-
ticipated in the argument.
In Matter of Interlake Iron Corporation and Amalgamated Asso-
ciation of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers of North America, Local No.
16,57, 4 N. L. R. B. 55, the Board, in reaffirming its policy of provid-
ing a space on the ballot, in elections involving two or more rival
unions, in which a voter may indicate that he does not desire either
of the named unions to represent him, stated that, "In the event that
the election in the present case results in none of the three preferences
obtaining a majority of the votes cast, we will, upon request of the
labor organization receiving the greater number of votes, promptly
direct a run-off election in which the ballot will allow employees the
opportunity to vote for or against this organization." This policy
has, since its formulation, been consistently followed by the Board.:`
We have considered the questions raised in the I. B. E. W. letter
of February 11, 1939, and the considerations advanced by counsel for
I. B. E. W. at the oral argument, and find no reason to depart from
our established practice in cases of this kind.
A majority of the employees of the Company in the appropriate
unit have indicated a desire to bargain collectively with the Company,
although they have accorded neither of the rival unions a majority.
As noted above, U. W. O. C., which received the greater number of
votes validly cast in the election, has requested the holding of a run-
off election. The Board finds that the question concerning representa-
tion which has arisen can best be resolved by the holding of a run-off
election in which the employees in the appropriate unit will be given
the opportunity to decide whether or not they desire to be represented
by U. W. O. C. We will so direct. In the holding of this election
the Regional Director is expressly authorized to use the United States
mail in the manner provided in the first Amendment to Decision and
a Matter of Fedders Manufacturing Company and Lodge No. 1753, Amalgamated Associa-
tion of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers of North America, through Steel Workers Organizing
Committee, 4 N. L. It. B. 770 ; Matter of J. J. Little & Ives Company and Bindery Women's
Union Local No. 43, 6 N. L. It. B. 411; Matter of L. A. Nut House and United Cracker,
Bakery & Confectionery Workers of America, 8 N. L. It . B. 502; and Matter of Unit Cast
Corporation and Steel Workers Organizing Committee, 8 N. L. R . B. 831.
CONSUMERS POWER COMPANY ET AL. 851
Direction of Election in this proceeding, except that the date fixed
by the Regional Director for the return of mailed ballots shall not
in any event be later than the expiration of the period within which
balloting is to be conducted by him.
SECOND 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 Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to determine representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Consumers Power Company, Jackson, Michigan, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted within forty-five (45) days from the
date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the
Regional Director for the Seventh Region, acting in this matter as
agent of the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article
III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among all the em-
ployees of the Company, excluding general and assistant foremen,
plant supervisors, crew foremen, and other supervisory employees ex-
cept as expressly included below, office employees, office building
janitors and watchmen, collectors, connected load inspectors, elec-
trical, mechanical, and civil engineers, efficiency men and junior en-
gineers, draftsmen, surveyors, chemists, architects, temporary
common laborers hired for a specific job and for not more than 6
months, part-time local service men and local service men who do
not perform mechanical work in the regular course of employment,
and storekeepers with supervisory powers who do not ordinarily do
mechanical work, but including load dispatchers, meter readers and
bill distributors, plant janitors and watchmen, and storekeepers other
than those excluded above, who were on the pay roll of the Company
for the pay-roll period next preceding August 29, 1938, except those
who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether
or not they desire to be represented by Utility Workers Organizing
Committee, for the purposes of collective bargaining.