Hartford Gas Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 29, 1944

58 N.L.R.B. 654 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of HARrFORD GAS COMPANY and UNITED MINE WORKERS
OF AMERICA , DISTRICT 50
Case No. 1-R404O.-Decided September 0, 19-Ij -11
Shipinan ct Goodwin, by Mr. Walfrid G. Lundborg, of Hartford,.
Conn., for the Company.
Grant cC Angoff, by Mr. Harold B. Roitman, of Boston, Mass., for
the Union.
Mr. Louis Cokin; of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by United Mine Workers of America, Dis-
trict 50, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Hartford Gas Company, Hartford, Connecticut, herein called the
Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appro-
priate hearing upon due notice before Samuel G. Zack, Trial Exam-
iner. Said hearing was held at Hartford, Connecticut, on September
8, 1944. The Company and the Umon ' appeared, participated, and
were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-
examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues.
During the course of the hearing counsel for the Company moved to
dismiss the petition. The Trial Examiner reserved ruling thereon.
The motion is hereby denied. The Trial Examiner's rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. TILE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Hartford Gas Company is a Connecticut corporation with its prin-
cipal office at Hartford, Connecticut. The Company is engaged in
the manufacture, sale, and distribution of illuminating and fuel gas
58 N. L. R. B, No. 134.
654
HARTFORD GAS COMPANY 655.
within a geographical area having a radius of-15 miles from Hartford,
Connecticut. The Company does not sell any gas to customers located
outside the State of Connecticut. From February 1, to July 31, 1944,
the Company's sales amounted to $1,577,106. During the same period
it purchased materials valued at about $669,648, 20.5 percent of which
was shipped to it from points outside the State of Connecticut. Ap-
proximately 9.6 percent of the Company's total revenue during the
above-mentioned period, was received from sales to industrial con-
sumers. The Company's industrial customers include airplane, fire-
arm, and other war products manufacturers.
We find, contrary to the contentions of the Company, that the Com-
pany's business affects commerce within the meaning of the National
Labor Relations Act.
11. THE OI:GANIZATION INVOLVED
United Mine Workers of America, District 50, is a labor organiza-
tion, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company refuses to recognize the Union as the exclusive col-
lective bargaining representative of its employees because it contends
that it is not subject to the jurisdiction of the Act.
A statement of 'a Field Examiner of the Board, introduced into
evidence at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a sub-
stantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found to be
appropriate.'
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the
representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union urges that all production and distribution employees of
the' Company at Hartford and Manchester, Connecticut, including
meter readers, elevator operators, and janitors, but excluding execu-
tives, office and clerical employees, and supervisory employees, con-
stitute an appropriate unit. The only controversy with respect to the
unit concerns meter readers. The Union would include all such em-
ployees in the unit, while the Company would exclude them.
The Company employs meter readers who are carried on its account-
ing department pay roll. There is no interchange of employees be-
6
'The Field Examiner reported that the Union presented 52 authorization cards bearing
the names of persons appearing on the Company ' s pay roll for the period ending August.
12, 1944 There are appioximately 124 employees in the appropriate unit
656 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tween the production and distribution departments and the account-
ing department. The record further discloses that the work of the
meter readers is purely clerical in nature. We shall exclude the meter
readers from the unit.
We find that all production and distribution employees of the Com-
pany at Hartford and Manchester, Connecticut, including elevator
operators and janitors, but excluding meter readers, office and clerical
employees, executives, and all supervisory employees with authority
to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in
the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining,
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by means of an election by secret ballot-among
the employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of
Election 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 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Hartford Gas
Company, Hartford, Connecticut, an election by secret ballot shall be
conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from
the date of this Direction under the direction and supervision of the
Regional Director for the First Region, acting in this matter as agent
for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III,
Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among the em-
ployees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction, including employees who did not work during said
pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily
laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United
States who present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding any
who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been
rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented by United Mine Workers
of America, District 50, for'the purposes of collective bargaining.