Danbury & Bethel Gas & Electric Light Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 17, 1951

94 N.L.R.B. 642 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

642 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Carbon Corporation, in the unit found to be appropriate as their
representative for the purpose of collective bargaining and that, pur-
suant to Section 9 (a) ''of the Act, as amended, the said organization
is the exclusive representative of all the employees in such unit for
the purpose of collective bargaining with respect to rates of pay, wages,
hours of employment, and other conditions of employment.
MEMBERS MURDOCK and STYLES took no part in the consideration of
the above Decision and Certification of Representatives.
DANBURY & BETHEL GAS & ELECTRIC LIGHT Co. and INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF, ELECTRICAL WORKERS, AFL, . PETITIONER. Ca3e
No. 2-RC-3231. May 17, 1951
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before D. J. Sullivan, hear-
ing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed."
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 [Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Murdock].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the,
Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
' Employer urges in its brief that evidence which was not introduced at the hearing
be considered at this time . Employer further asks , if the Board will not comply with
this request , that it may have an opportunity to present evidence at a supplementary
hearing. The evidence offered for consideration is to the effect that the Petitioner in
this proceeding entered into a contract in July 1950 with a New York utility ; that the
'Petitioner in this proceeding and six of its locals entered into a contract with a Con-
necticut utility ; and that in both of these contracts meter readers were included in a
unit with operating employees.
Assuming, arguendo, that this evidence is sufficient to establish that Petitioner has
contracts in which meter readers are included in a unit with operating employees , never-
theless we shall , for reasons hereinafter stated , exclude meter readers from the unit
found appropriate herein. Accordingly , as the Employer 's request for a supplementary
hearing would serve no useful purpose, the request is hereby denied.
94 NLRB No. 100.
DANBURY & BETHEL GAS Sc ELECTRIC LIGHT CO.. 643
4. The appropriate unit :
The Petitioner desires to be certified as the bargaining representa-
tive of all electrical and' gas division employees at the Employer's
Danbury, 'Connecticut, plant, excluding office clerical employees,
watchmen, guards, professional employees, and supervisors within the
meaning of the Act. The only question at issue between the parties
with respect to the appropriate unit is whether meter readers should
be excluded. The Petitioner, over the objection of the Employer,
wishes to exclude from the unit meter readers as clerical employees.
The meter readers, who are under common supervision with book-
keepers in the bookkeeping department, report to the Employer's
executive office 2 in the morning, depart for their different territories
with their meter,books, enter electric and gas readings in the books,
and return their books to the office in the afternoon. The Employer
makes out bills for the services it renders based on these entries. If
the meter readers discover in the meters any condition which requires
attention, it is their responsibility to see that the information is con-
veyed to the meter testers in the meter department for adjustment.
Meter readers spend less than 25 percent of their time reporting con-
ditions to the meter testers. Moreover, the meter readers do no work
with the tools or instruments used by the meter testers. Although
on occasion the employees in question have been called upon to lend
a hand with repairs in cases of emergency, ordinarily they do not
engage in repair work or work with or under the same supervision as
production and repair personnel.
From the foregoing facts and upon the entire record, we find that
the duties and interests of the meter readers are more closely allied
with those of the office clerical employees excluded from the unit sought
herein; we shall exclude them.3
We find that all electrical and gas division employees at the Em-
ployer's Danbury, Connecticut, plant, excluding meter readers, office
clerical employees, watchmen, guards, professional employees, and
supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for
collective bargaining purposes within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
2 The men who work in gas production or repair report to a different building.
'Appalachian Electric Power Company, 91 NLRB 1376; The Connecticut Power
Company, 88 NLRB 653.