Iowa Public Service Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 10, 1945

60 N.L.R.B. 1153 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter Of IOWA PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY (EASTERN DIVISION)
and UNITED FARM EQUIPMENT AND METAL WORKERS OF AMERICA,
C. I. O.
Case No. 18-R-1183.-Decided March 10, 1945
Mr. Stanley D. Kane, for the Board.
Mr. B. F. Swisher, of Waterloo, Iowa, for the Company.
Mr. Ben Meyers, of Chicago, Ill., for the C. I. O.
Mr. G. A. Baldus, of Detroit, Mich., for the A. F L.
Miss Virginia A. Miller, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Farm Equipment and Metal
Workers of America, C. I. 0., herein called the C. I. 0., alleging that
a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Iowa Public Service Company (Eastern
Division), Waterloo, Iowa, herein called the Company, the National
Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due
notice before Stephen M. Reynolds, Trial Examiner. Said hearing
was held at Waterloo, Iowa, on January 26, 1945. At the commence-
ment of the hearing, the Trial Examiner granted a motion of Local
B-288, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, A. F. of L.,
herein called A. F. L., to intervene. The Company, the C. I. 0., and
the A. F. L. appeared and'participated.
All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine
and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on
the issues. During the hearing, the C. I. O. objected to the interven-
tion of the A. F. L. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing
are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties
were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
60 N. L. R. B., No. 195.
628563-45-vol . 60-74 _ 1153
-1154 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Iowa Public. Service Company is a Delaware corporation with its
principal place of business at Sioux City, Iowa. There are two divi-
sions of the Company, i. e., Eastern and Western. The Eastern Divi-
sion, which maintains an office at Waterloo, Iowa, is the only division
here involved. In its Eastern Division the Company is engaged in
generating electric power and manufacturing gas and distributing
these utilities. Byproducts, consisting of tar and drip-oil, are also
produced and sold. Annually the Company purchases raw materials
valued in excess of $297,000, all of which is shipped to it from points
outside the State of Iowa. On an annual basis the Company's by-
products are valued in excess of $11,800, all of which is shipped to
points outside the State of Iowa. Of the gas produced, approximately
52 percent is utilized by domestic consumers and approximately 48
percent is utilized by industrial consumers.
The Company concedes that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Farm Equipment and Metal Workers of America, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
Local B-288, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, af-
filiated with the American Federation of Labor, is a labor organiza-
tion admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
By letter dated December 15, 1944, the C. I. O. requested the Com-
pany to recognize it as the exclusive bargaining representative of the
employees at the gas plant of the Company. The Company refused
this request until a representative has been certified by the Board.'
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at.the hear-
ing, indicates that the C. I. O. represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
I Neither the Company nor the A. F. L. contends that the existing contract, hereinafter
discussed , constitutes a bar to the instant proceeding. -
2 The Field Examiner reported that the C . I O. submitted 28 application -membership
cards ; that there Ni ere 28 employees in the appropriate unit ; and that the cards were gll
dated during the month of December 1944 The A . F. L. did not present any evidence
of representation among the employees at the gas plant. -
IOWA PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY 1155
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 C. I: O. seeks a unit comprised of all employees at the gas plant
of the Company, but excluding supervisory employees within the
meaning of the Board's customary definition. The A. F. L., which
presently represents the employees of the electrical plant, disagrees as
to the appropriateness of the unit requested and contends that the
proper unit should be division-wide, including all non-supervisory
employees of the Company. The Company takes no position with
reference to the unit.
It appears from the record that the employees of the gas plant are
confined in their activities to a building separated from that of the
electric plant by a distance of over a mile; that the employees are not
transferred from one plant to the other; and that their duties are
not interchangeable. Likewise, there is no history of collective bar-
gaining,on a division-wide basis; on the contrary, the bargaining his-
tory at the Company's plant, as evidenced by the Company's contract
with the A. F. L.,3 indicates that collective bargaining has been con-
ducted on the basis of a unit composed of employees in the electric
plant only. In view of the foregoing facts, a unit confined to em-
ployees of the gas plant is appropriate.
We find that all employees at the gas plant of the Company, but ex-
cluding the two supervisory employees and all or any other supervisory
employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recom-
mend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act'
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 the Direction of Election
herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
On April 1, 1941, the A. F. L. and the Company entered into a collec-
tive bargaining contract covering employees at the electric plant of the
Company. This contract has been renewed annually and is now in
3 See Section V, infra.
4 See Matter of Dayton Power and Light Company, 43 N. L. R. B. 775; Matter of
Savannah Electric and Power Company, 38 N L. R. B. 47.
1156 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
effect. At no time has the Company, the employees, nor the A. F. L.
indicated that the terms of the contract applied to any employees other
than those of the electric plant. In fact, subsequent to the effective
date of the contract, an election was held among the employee of-the
gas plant to determine whether they desired to be represented by the
A. F. L., at which election no bargaining representative was selected.
The contention is not presented, nor can it be substantiated by the
evidence, that the A. F. L.'s contract covers the employees of the unit
here in question.5 Furthermore, several opportunities were afforded
the A. F. L. to present evidence of representation among the employees
at the gas plant; no such evidence was presented. In view of these
facts and our finding in Section IV, supra, we do not believe that the
A. F. L. has made sufficient showing of interest among the employees
at the gas plant to merit a place on the ballot."
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 Iowa Public Service
Company (Eastern Division), Waterloo, Iowa, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than sixty
(60) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Eighteenth 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 Regula-
tions, among the employees 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 the said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vaca-
tion 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 those employees who have since quit or been dis-
charged 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 rep-
resented by U. F. E. & M. W.,A.-C. I. 0.,7 for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
6 The contract itself does not specifically designate the employees covered ; however,
all the job classifications listed therein are confined to the electric plant, with the excep-
tion of the title "Garage Mechanic " ; employees of that job classification are now employed
at the garage which is a separate structure from both the electric plant and the gas plant.
e See Matter of Chicago Flexible Shaft Company, 60 N L. R B 848
7 The request of the C. I. O. to appear on the ballot as designated above is hereby granted.