Detroit Edison Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 8, 1943

46 N.L.R.B. 890 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

, R-
In the Matter of DETROIT EDISON COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, AFL, LOCAL B=1325
Case No;R-/Q^LDecided January 8, 1943
Jurisdiction : electric utility industry.
Investigation and Certification . of Representatives : existence of question :
refusal to accord recognition without Board certification ; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees engaged as dispatchers
in the Detroit line board dispatching office, including relief line board foremen
but excluding line board foremen. ---
Mr. P. J. Savage, Mr. Lynden J. Kaufmann, Mr. W. W. Williams,
Mr. Fred' W.'Bagnall and Mr. John W. Drummond, of Detroit, Mich.,
for the Company. -
Mr. Frank J. Santschi, Mr. William M. Sullivan, Mr. Robt. C. Over-
stedt, Mr. Robert L. Brooks and Mr. Douglas C. Diem, of Detroit,
Mich., for the Union.
Mr. William C. Baisinger, Jr., of counsel to the Board.
DECISION,
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers, AFL, Local B-1325, herein called the Union, alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Detroit Edison Company, Detroit, Michi-
gan, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board
provided for all' appropriate hearing upon due notice before Harold
A. Granefield, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Detroit,
Michigan, on December 1, 1942. The Company and the Union ap-
peared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard,
to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence
bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Subsequent to the hearing the Company filed with the Board a stipu-
lation admitting that, for the purpose of this proceeding, it was
engaged in interstate commerce within the meaning of the National
46 N. L R. B., No. 98.
890 -
DETROIT EDISON COMPANY 891
Labor Relations Act. The stipulation. is hereby made a part of
the record herein. • ,
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes.the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Detroit Edison Company is a New York corporation 'with its prin-
cipal office and place of business in Detroit, Michigan. The principal
business of the Company is the production and sale of electricity.
It is the only private company engaged as a public utility selling elec-
tricity to the public in the area which it services, which includes
approximately 7,000 square miles in southeastern Michigan and en-
,compasses -a ' ll of Detroit and its suburbs. The Company operates
several steam plants which generate the electricity it sells. These
steam plants use approximately 2 million tons of coal annually, all
of which is shipped to the Company from points outside the State
,of Michigan. The Company also annually purchases generating
equipment, repair parts, wire, and transformers exceeding 1 million
dollars in value from manufacturers outside the State of Michigan.
Several General Motors and Chrysler manufacturing plants and many
other manufacturing companies in the Detroit area are entirely de-
pendent upon the Company for their electric energy. - The Company
also sells electric energy to interstate carriers, to interstate means of
communication, and to Federal Government agencies . The Com-
pany admits that it is engaged in interstate commerce within the
meaning of the Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local B-1325,
is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On or about October 1, 1942, the Union. requested recognition as the
exclusive bargaining representative of the Company's employees in
the alleged appropriate unit, but the Company refused to so recognize
the Union unless and until it is properly certified by some competent
authority.
A report prepared by the Regional Director indicates that the Union
represents a substantial number of employees in 'the unit hereinafter
found appropriate.
' The Report of the Regional Director states that the Union submitted to him, 22
membership cards,. 19 of which were dated ' between August 1 and September 29, 1942,
bearing apparently genuine signatures of employees whose names appear on the Company's
pay roll of November 30, 7 942, which contains 22 names.
892 DECISIONS OF 'NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of the employees of the Company within the mean-
ing of Section 9 ( c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. 'THE'APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union claims that all employees of the Company engaged as
dispatchers in the Detroit line board dispatching office, including line
board foremen and relief line board foremen, constitute an appro-
priate bargaining unit. ' The Company contends that line board fore-
men and line board relief foremen should be excluded from the unit
because of their supervisory duties.
The Detroit line board dispatching force ' comprises 4 line board
junior dispatchers , 12 line board dispatchers , 3 line board relief fore-
men, and 3 -line board foremen. It is - an operating unit which dis-
patches working crews to repair damage and restore service whenever
it involves a failure of overhead lines. The line board office is a com-
munications center at which reports of line failure are received and
from which orders to working crews are dispatched . The nature of
the operation is such that a supervisory employee must be in charge at
all times . This supervisory employee is ordinarily a foreman or relief
foreman who sits at a large desk apart from the operating board itself
and operates a monitor system which distributes the incoming calls
among the dispatchers at the board. It appears that the foremen and
relief foremen frequently move over to the board itself to act as
dispatchers.
The relief foremen serve as dispatchers during 3 of the 5 shifts per
week, while the regular foremen serve as dispatchers only when an
emergency arises which requires the services of all available foremen
and relief foremen on the board . During such an emergency the senior
line foreman or the lines supervisor , or the assistant operating engineer
supervises the work of the line board dispatchers , including the line
board foremen and relief foremen who are acting as dispatchers. The
line board foremen and relief foremen include in their duties the in-
struction and training of junior dispatchers and, although lacking
authority to hire or discharge , their recommendations as to discharge
and other disciplinary measures carey important weight with the man-
agement. The line board foremen are responsible for calling out extra
crews of workers when necessary. There is a definite progressive,
gradation in salary from the junior dispatchers to the senior of the
line board foremen. Inasmuch as the duties of the line board fore-
men are'in the main supervisory and since they act as dispatchers only
in times of emergency , we shall exclude them from the unit. We shall
include in the unit the relief line'board foremen because they spend
more than 50 percent of their time working as dispatchers on the line
board itself and may be termed working foremen.
DETROIT EDISON COMPANY 893
We find that all employees of the Company engaged as dispatchers
in the Detroit line board dispatching office, including relief line board
foremen but excluding line board foremen, constitute a unit appropri-
ate for the purposes of collective bargaining - within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the Act. I
V. TIIE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of our Direction of Elec-
tion herein , subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
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
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Detroit Edison
Company, Detroit, Michigan , an election by secret ballot shall be con-
ducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from the
date of this Direction , under the direction and supervision of the Re-
gional Director for the Seventh Region , acting in this matter as agent
for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III,
Section 10 , of said Rules and Regulations , among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in Section. IV, above, who were employed dur-
ing the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direc-
tion, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period
because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off , and 'in-
eluding employees in the armed forces of the United States who present
themselves in person at the polls, but excluding employees who have
since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not
they,desire to be represented by International Brotherhood of Elec-
trical Workers, AFL, Local B-1325, for the purposes of collective
bargaining.