Gloucester Gas Light Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 3, 1953

102 N.L.R.B. 931 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

GLOUCESTER GAS LIGHT COMPANY 931
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. Pacific Maritime Association is an employer within the meaning of Section
2 (2) of the Act.
2. International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, Local 10,
ILWU, is a labor organization within the meaning of Section 2 (5) of the Act.
3. By causing the PMA to discriminate against employees and prospective
employees in violation of Section 8 (a) (3) of the Act, the Union has engaged
in and is engaging in unfair labor practices within the meaning of Section
8 (b) (2) of the Act.
4. By restraining and coercing employees and prospective employees of the
PMA in the exercise of rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act, Respondent
has engaged in and is engaging in unfair labor practices within the meaning of
Section 8 (b) (1) (A) of the Act.
5. The aforesaid unfair labor practices are unfair labor practices affecting
commerce within the meaning of Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
[Recommendations omitted from publication in this volume.]
GLOUCESTER GAS LIGHT COMPANY and EVERETT E. WILE, PETITIONER
and LOCAL UNION 320, THE BROTHERHOOD OF UTILITY WORKERS OF
NEW ENGLAND, INC. Case No. 1-RD-131. February 3, 1953
Decision and Order
Upon a petition for decertification duly filed under Section 9 (c)
of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Sid-
ney A. Coven, hearing 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 Murdock and Peterson].
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 Petitioner asserts that the Union is no longer the repre-
sentative, as defined in Section 9 (a) of the Act, of the employees
designated in the petition. The Union, a labor organization, is the
currently recognized representative of the Employer's employees in a
unit which includes the employees designated in the petition as
amended at the hearing.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
I The hearing officer referred to the Board the motion of the Union to dismiss the petition
on the ground that the unit was not appropriate . For the reasons hereinafter stated this
motion is hereby granted
102 NLRB No. 94.
932 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the following
reasons:
The Petitioner requests an election in a unit limited to the employees
of the Employer's distribution department, including street and serv-
ice employees, but excluding sales department employees, treasury
department employees, office and clerical employees, guards, profes-
sional employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act. The Union
contends that the Petitioner's requested unit is inappropriate because
of the overall integration of the Employer's operations, and because it
excludes clerical employees in the distribution department and treasury
department employees who have been represented as part of a unit
of distribution and treasury employees since 1935. The Employer
states that it has no objection to a unit limited in effect to the physical
employees of the distribution department.
The Employer is a public utility engaged in the sale and distribu-
tion of gas and gas appliances 2 It is a subsidiary of the New England
Electric System. The principal function of the distribution depart-
ment is the servicing and installation of gas appliances and the laying
and maintenance of gas mains in the territory served. The depart-
ment employs two clerical employees classified as service trouble order
clerks. These clerks receive calls from customers who have incurred
service troubles and prepare the necessary orders for their correction.
The treasury department handles customer accounts and furnishes the
general accounting services for the Employer.
Although the distribution department clericals and the commercial
accounts clericals in the treasury department perform a substantial
amount of work 3 for the Gloucester Electric Company, the electric
service subsidiary of the New England Electric System in the Glou-
cester territory, and are in part compensated by the Electric Company,
the clerks in question are nevertheless considered employees of the
Employer only. Together with the physical employees of the distri-
bution department, they have been bargained for as a single unit
since 1935.4 Their collective-bargaining agreements have provided
for both plantwide and departmental, or class, seniority, and transfers
between physical and clerical classifications are permitted subject to
seniority and qualification for the job.
In view of the 17-year history of collective bargaining for a unit
including both physical and clerical employees, the high degree of
integration in the Employer's operations as a public utility, the right
2 The Employer discontinued its production department on September 8, 1952, when it
substituted natural gas for the manufactured product. At such time the production de-
partment employees were separately represented by Local Union 13413, District 50. United
Mine Workers of America , of which the Petitioner was a member.
8 The record shows that the physical employees in the distribution department also
perform a small amount of work for the Electric Company.
4 The Employer ' s attorney conceded that such bargaining has existed for at least 8 years.
KIMBLE GLASS COMPANY 933
of transfer between physical and clerical employee classifications, and
the community of interest existing between both groups of employees,
we find that the Petitioner's proposed unit, limited to the physical
employees in the distribution department, is inappropriate.5 As the
Petitioner has evinced no desire to proceed to an election in the larger
unit, we shall dismiss his petition.
Order
IT Is HEREBY ORDERED that the petition involved herein be, and it
hereby is, dismissed.
5 East Ohio Gas Company , 94 NLRB 61.
KIMBLE GLASS COMPANY 1 and DISTRICT LODGE No. 1, INTERNATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, AFL, PETITIONER .. Cases Nos. 4-RC-
1692 through 4-RC-1703. February 3,1953
Decision, Order, and Direction of Elections
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, a hearing in the above-consolidated
cases 2 was held before Joseph A. Weston, hearing officer. The hear-
ing officer's rulings made at' the hearing are free from prejudicial
error and are hereby affirmed.8
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 [Members Houston, Murdock, and Styles].
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 organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.4
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.
i The Employer 's name appears as amended at the hearing.
2 On August 25, 1952, the Regional Director, pursuant to Section 102.64 ( b) of the
Board's Rules and Regulations , Series 6, consolidated the proceedings in these cases.
3 The hearing officer referred to the Board the Employer 's motion to dismiss the petitions
filed in this proceeding. For the reasons stated herein , we deny the motion with respect
to Cases Nos . 4-RC-1692, 4-RC-1697 , 4-RC-1698, and 4-RC-1703, and grant the motion
with respect to the remaining petitions.
4 The hearing officer granted the motion to intervene at the hearing by American Flint
Glass Workers ' Union of North America, AFL, hereinafter called the Intervenor, acting
on the behalf of itself and its Locals Nos. 44, 132 , 145, and 701 , on the basis of a current
contractual interest.
102 NLRB No. 85.
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