Equitable Gas Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 1, 1955

111 N.L.R.B. 453 (N.L.R.B. 1955)

EQUITABLE GAS COMPANY 453
Mitchell said, `People don't worry me.' Nichol then said that
people like Mitchell help companies break strikes. Mitchell said
that at least he was working and the others were out pounding the
bricks. Nichol then said something about there having been a
strike at Locke Insulator where some people helped to break the
strike but after everything was over the Company got rid of all
the strikebreakers. Nichol told Mitchell that he was a young man
and he, Nichol, didn't know if Mitchell had any other jobs or had
only worked at Miller that when you are known as a scab you
carry the name for the rest of your days. Nichol said that he has
known cases where scabs have had things falling on their heads
because strikebreaking was a very serious matter."
"I do not recall Nichol making any remark about `bleeding at
the throat' or any similar remark."
EQUITABLE GAS COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELEC-
TRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL UNION No. 149, A. F. L., PETITIONER. Case
No. 6-RC-1506. February 1, 1955
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 Elmer E. Hope, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
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.
4. The Petitioner desires to represent all physical employees in
the planning and development department, gas measurement division,
,of the Employer's gas utility system, comprising three classifications
of meter inspectors, either in a separate unit, or as part of the broad
unit it now represents. The instant petition is a sequel to one which
the Petitioner filed in 1953 requesting a segment of these meter inspec-
tors, which petition was dismissed as inappropriate because of the
narrow scope of the group sought.' The Petitioner contends that its
present request for all like meter inspectors throughout the system
corrects the defect of its prior petition. The Employer, on the other
hand, urges that the group now requested is still too narrow in scope
1 Case No 6-RC-1202 ( not reported in printed volumes of Board Decisions and Orders).
111 NLRB No. 60.
454 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
to warrant an election, on the ground that it excludes many closely
related physical employees in the operating departments who are also
unrepresented by a union.
The Employer is engaged in the production, transmission, purchase,
storage, distribution, and sale of fuel gas. Its utility system runs
north-south from Armstrong County, just north of Pittsburgh, Penn-
sylvania, to Jerry Fork, West Virginia, about 300 miles to the south.
The entire system is served by general offices located at 17th and Whar-
ton Streets in Pittsburgh. There are four operating departments
(compressing station, production and transportation, land and real
estate, and distribution), each of which is subdivided mainly along
geographical lines. Only the employees of the distribution depart-
ment located in Pennsylvania, 509 in number, are represented by a
union; 2 the remaining employees in the operating departments, about
425 in number, have had no history of collective bargaining. The
Petitioner currently represents a unit comprising almost all of the
employees, 386 in number, in the Employer's general or administra-
tive departments, such as sales, purchasing, personnel, planning and'
development, treasury, accounting, and commercial.3
The gas measurement division, within which the requested meter
inspectors are located, is responsible for the installation and main-
tenance of large displacement and orifice meters which require high
pressure measurement.4 The division is under the separate supervi-
sion of a superintendent who reports to the manager of the planning
and development department.5 There are 27 employees in the gas
measurement division : 11 meter inspectors, the employees sought here-
in ; 11 measurement clerks, who are within the Petitioner's existing
broad unit; 6 and 5 supervisors.' The meter inspectors install, inspect,
2 Local 12050 , District 50, UMW , has bargained for these employees since 1937, when it
was certified as bargaining representative for such unit by the Pennsylvania Labor Rela-
tions Board See United Mine Workers 'of America , Local 12050 , Distract 50, 101 NLRB
425, 428
In 1952, upon a consent election , the Petitioner was certified by the Board as the
exclusive baigaining agent of employees at the Employer's Pittsburgh general offices, dis-
trict sales offices, and telephone department , excluding all physical , production, and main-
tenance employees , general stores division of the purchasing department , meter shop di-
vision , appliance service division, and division A, B, C, D , and E of the distribution depart-
ment ( The Petitioner had represented substantially the same employees as part of a
multiemployer unit since 1948 See the UMW case , supra, pp. 428 and 429 ) Sub-
sequently , the general stores division employees were found to be part of this unit . Ibid.,
p 434
4 Small customer meters are the responsibility of a separate division under the operat-
ing manager , the employees of which exercise substantially different skills from the meter
inspectors involved herein
5 For a number of years prior to 1951 , the gas measurement division was a subdivision
of the production and transportation department , but in that year , apparently for reasons
totally unrelated to work functions performed , it was shifted to the planning and develop-
ment department
9 There are 57 employees in the entire planning and development department , 30 of whom
are in the Petitioner 's existing broad unit
7 There is no disagreement as to the supervisory status of two chief meter inspectors
within the meaning of the Act
EQUITABLE GAS COMPANY 455
test, maintain, and repair meters and incidental instruments at in-
dustrial plants, at compressing stations, and at other field locations
within the system.' They are each assigned to 1 of 6 shop headquar-
ters spaced along the length of the system, but they devote about three-
fourths of their time to making field visits. In the course of such
visits, they frequently work close to and in conjunction with other
physical employees in the operating departments. During less than
10 percent of their time, the meter inspectors prepare reports on the
various phases of their work for submission to the main office of the
division in Pittsburgh where the reports are recorded or further proc-
essed by the measurement clerks.
From the foregoing, it appears that the subject meter inspectors
have close work ties with other physical employees in the operating
departments and that therefore they might, in some circumstances,
be appropriately included in a comprehensive systemwide unit of
physical employees.9 On the other hand, it is also evident that the
requested meter inspectors, unlike the group sought in the prior case,"
comprise all like physical employees in the Employer's utility; that
they share common supervision and are functionally integrated with
measurement clerks who are already in the Petitioner's broad unit;
and that, apart from professional employees, they are the only un-
represented employees in the planning and development department
represented by Petitioner. Moreover, there is no established system-
wide unit of physical employees and no labor organization seeks to
represent meter inspectors as part of such a systemwide unit. Under
the present circumstances, therefore, we find that the meter inspectors
have a sufficient community of interests with the employees in the gen-
eral departments now represented by the Petitioner to warrant their
inclusion in the same unit if they so desire. Accordingly, we shall
direct a self-determination election in the following group : All un-
represented physical employees in the planning and development de-
partment, gas measurement division, of the Employer's Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, gas utility, including all meter inspectors, industrial
field meter inspectors, and orifice meter testers, but excluding all pro-
fessional employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
If a majority of the employees vote for the Petitioner, they will be
included in the broad unit of the Employer's employees at present
represented by the Petitioner. The Regional Director conducting the
election is directed to issue a certificate of results of election in accord
with the foregoing.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
8 It appears that all three classifications of meter inspectors perform the same duties.
U E. g Alabama-Tennessee Natural Gas Company, 110 NLRB 390; Paevfe Gas and Elec-
tric Company, 87 NLRB 257, 275.
10 See footnote 1, supra.