Kansas City Power & Light Company

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 31, 1939

12 N.L.R.B. 1461 (N.L.R.B. 1939)

In the Matter Of KANSAS CITY PowER & LIGHT COMPANY and
LOCAL UNION B-412 1 INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL
WORKERS
Case No. R-298.-Decided May 31, 1939
Electric Utility Industry-Investigation of Representatives: controversy con-
cerning representation of employees : employer doubts propriety of more than one
bargaining unit in a single company ; closed-shop contract with company-
dominated union, no bar to; refusal to recognize because of above-mentioned
contract-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: production-department
employees, excluding supervisory employees ; history and extent of self-organiza-
tion; contention of system-wide unit not considered where organization is com-
pany dominated; employees in local unit not to be denied benefits of collective
bargaining because employer-unit not yet organized ; claim not opposed by organ-
ization free from company domination-Election Ordered: election to be con-
ducted at such time as the Board shall in the future direct ; company-dominated
union excluded from ballot; ballots of those employees permitted to vote in view
of record failing to resolve dispute concerning their status to be segregated in
event vote challenged on ground of being supervisory.
Mr. Paul F. Broderick, for the Board.
Mr. Thad B. Landon, and Mr. Ludwick Graves, of Kansas City,
Mo., for the Company.
Mr. Charles V. Garnett, of Kansas City, Mo., for the Brotherhood.
Mr. Ruby D. Garrett, and Mr. Fred Ruark, of Kansas City, Mo.,
for the Association.
Mr. Harry A. Sellery, Jr., of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On August 21, 1937, Local Union B-412, International Brother-
hood of Electrical Workers, herein called the Brotherhood, filed with
the Regional Director for the Seventeenth Region (Kansas City,
Missouri) a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had
arisen concerning the representation of employees of Kansas City
'Incorrectly designated as Local Union 1i-142 in the order directing an investigation.
12 N. L. R. B., No. 138
1461
1462 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Power & Light Company, Kansas City, Missouri, herein called the
Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of repre-
sentatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations
Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On September 11, 1937, the
National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting
pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1,
as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional
Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice.
On September 17, 1937, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the
Brotherhood, and upon Association of Employees of the Kansas City
Power & Light Company, herein called the Association, a labor
organization purporting to represent employees directly affected by
the investigation. Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held on
September 24 and 25, 1937, at Kansas City, Missouri, before Lawrence
J. Kosters, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The
Board, the Company, and the Brotherhood were represented by
counsel and participated in the hearing. The Company filed an
answer, dated September 24, 1937, admitting that the Company was
engaged in interstate commerce, and stating in substance that on
July 3, 1937, the Company and the Association entered into a pre-
liminary contract whereby the Company recognized the Association
as the exclusive bargaining representative of all the Company's em-
ployees and on September 23, 1937, entered into a 3-year contract
effective as of July 3, 1937, providing for a closed shop to become
effective on November 1, 1937.2
At the opening of the hearing, the Association appeared by counsel
and moved to intervene in the proceeding. In its motion to inter-
vene the Association alleged in substance: (1) that it was a voluntary
unincorporated association of the Company's employees with a sub-
stantial majority of the Company's non-supervisory employees as
2 On October 28 a charge and on December 13, 1987, an amended charge were filed by
the Brotherhood in Matter of Kansas Cit y Power ct Light Company and International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union B-Itl, Case No C-451, alleging that the
Company had engaged in unfair labor practices affecting commerce within the meaning
of the Act, including an allegation that the Company had dominated and interfered with
the formation and administration of the Association and contributed support to it. In a
Decision and Order in Case No C-451, issued this day, the Board found that the Com-
pany had dominated and interfered with the formation and administration of the Associa-
tion and had contributed support to it, and that the contracts of July 3 and September
23, 1937, by and between the Company and the Association were void and of no effect,
and ordered the Company to cease and desist from such domination, interference, and
support, and from giving effect in any manner to such contracts or to any other contract
or agreement which the Company may have entered into with the Association in respect
of rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, or other conditions of work, and towithdraw
recognition from and completely to disestablish the Association as representative of any
of the Company 's employees.
KANSAS CITY POWER & LIGHT COMPANY 1463
members; (2) that it had theretofore entered into an agreement with
the Company whereby the Company recognized the Association as
the sole bargaining agent of all the Company's non-supervisory em-
ployees; and (3) that all the non-supervisory employees of the
Company constitute an appropriate bargaining unit, and that a unit
composed of the employees in the production department is not ap-
propriate. Without objection, the Trial Examiner granted the
Association's motion to intervene, and thereafter the Association was
represented by counsel and participated in the hearing.
Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine wit-
nesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded
all parties. During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner
made several rulings on other motions and on objections to the
admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the
Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed.
The rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Kansas City Power & Light Company is a Missouri corporation
and has its principal office and place of business in Kansas City,
Missouri. It has suboffices in Brunswick, Carrollton, Glasgow,
North Kansas City, and Sweet Springs, Missouri, and in Elkhart,
Ottawa, and Overland Park, Kansas.
The Company is principally engaged in the production , transmis-
sion, and distribution of electrical current to domestic , commercial,
and industrial customers in Missouri and in Kansas . It is also
engaged in the generation and distribution of steam heat in Kansas
City, Missouri; the purification and sale of water in Brunswick and
Carrollton, Missouri , and in Elkhart, LaCynge, and Lyndon, Kansas;
the sale of ice in Carrollton , Missouri ; and the sale at retail of
electrical appliances in all the communities in which it operates.
It operates two electric-generating plants, the Northeast and the
Grand Avenue plants, in Kansas City, Missouri , and two stand-by
electric-generating plants, one at Carrollton, Missouri, and the other
at Elkhart, Kansas . In 1936 the Company generated and purchased
811,326,331 kilowatt-hours of electricity, of which 695,584,363 kilo-
watt-hours were generated and purchased in Missouri . During 1936
the Company sold 584,477 ,305 kilowatt-hours of electricity in Mis-
souri and 36 758,147 kilowatt-hours in Kansas. During 1936 it
purchased $810,000 worth of lamps, bulbs, water heaters, refrigerators,
and other appliances for sale at retail . Substantially all these arti-
1464 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Iles were manufactured outside Missouri. The Company also pur-
chased 593,358 tons of coal from sources in Missouri, Kansas, and
Oklahoma, and natural gas coming from Texas.
In 1936, the Company's total earnings amounted to $14,808,614.25
of which $13,194,878 was received from sales in Missouri and
$911,459.66 from sales in Kansas. It had in its employ about 1,700
regular employees as of August 31, 1937. The Company admits that
it is engaged in interstate commerce.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Local Union B-412, International Brotherhood of Electrical Work-
ers, is a labor organization , affiliated with the American Federation
of Labor. It admits to membership employees in the Company's
production department , except certain supervisory employees.
Association of Employees of the Kansas City Power & Light Com-
pany, an unincorporated association , is a labor organization, ad-
mitting to membership all non-supervisory employees of the
Company.
III. THE QUESTION OONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On July 3, 1937, the Company and the Association entered into a
preliminary contract recognizing the Association as the exclusive
bargaining representative of the Company's non-supervisory em-
ployees, and providing for the institution of a closed shop and a
check-off system for the collection of dues in the Association.
On July 1, 1937, Independent Union of Power Workers, herein
called the Power Workers, a labor organization which admitted to
membership only the employees of the production department, re-
quested a collective bargaining conference with the Company and
recognition as the sole bargaining representatives of such employees.
At conferences between representatives of the Company and the
Power Workers on July 9 and 13, 1937, the Company stated that
it could not recognize or negotiate with the Power Workers as the
collective bargaining representative of the employees of the produc-
tion department for two reasons: (1) because the contract of July 3,
1937, recognized the Association as the sole bargaining representa-
tive of all the Company's non-supervisory employees; and (2) be-
cause the Company was in doubt as to the propriety of more than
one bargaining unit in a single company.
At a meeting held on August 2, 1937, its members voted to dis-
solve the Power Workers. Thereafter many of the members of the
Power Workers joined the Brotherhood. On September 23, 1937,
the Company and the Association executed a detailed contract to be
KANSAS CITY POWER & LIGHT GUMPANY 1465
effective for a period of 3 years from July 3, 1937. The contract
provided for a closed shop to become effective on November 1, 1937.
The Brotherhood, like the Power Workers, claims that the
employees in the production department constitute an appropriate
bargaining unit. At the hearing the Company took the same posi-
tion with regard to the Brotherhood as it had previously taken
regarding the Power Workers. The Company stated it could not
recognize the Brotherhood because of the above-mentioned contracts
with the Association and because of the Company's doubts as to the
propriety of more than one bargaining unit in a single company.
In Case No. C-451, decided this day, we have found that the con-
tracts between the Company and the Association are void and of no
effect and have ordered the Company to cease and desist from giving
effect to them." The contracts, therefore, offer no bar to an investi-
gation and certification of representatives by the Board.
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of
employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States, and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Brotherhood claims that the non-supervisory employees in
the Company's production department constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining. The Company's produc-
tion department consists of two elegtrical generating stations in
Kansas City, known as the Northeast and Grand Avenue plants, and
a steam-generating plant in Kansas City, known as the Baltimore
Avenue plant.
The production department is assigned to a company vice presi-
dent who directs its operation. The employees in the production
department, except for a few employees, such as janitors and clerical
and stenographic employees, are electricians and machinists. Only
the employees in the production department work in the three plants
which comprise that department, except for certain temporary con-
8 footnote 2, supra.
1466 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
struction employees who work there from time to time. The produc-
tion department differs from other departments in regard to rates of
pay and also in regard to hours of work, the production department
operating on the basis of three 8-hour shifts, while the other depart-
ments do not. There is little interchange of personnel between the
production and the various other departments of the Company.
The Company does not assert that the unit claimed by the Brother-
hood is not appropriate, but in its answer has set forth that it has
entered into the above-mentioned contracts with the Association,
recognizing it as the bargaining agency representing all the Com-
pany's non-supervisory employees including those in the production
department. As stated above, we have found, in Case No. C-451,
that the contracts are null and void and have ordered the Company to
cease and desist from giving effect to them.4 And since, as a result
of our Decision and Order in Case No. C-451, the Association' s claim
for certification as the representative of the employees in a system-
wide unit is to be disregarded, we do not consider its contentions as
to the appropriate unit. This case, therefore, is one in which the
Brotherhood's claim is not opposed by any labor organization free
from company domination.5
The employees in the production department are a homogeneous
group having qualifications and duties different from those of other
employees. They are allied by common problems of skill and com-
munity of interest and have been organized as a separate unit apart
from the other employees, first by the Power Workers and now by
the Brotherhood. No other labor organization free from company
domination is trying to organize the Company's employees. No rea-
son appears why the production-department employees should be
denied the benefits of the Act until the employees in other depart-
ments of the Company are organized .6
We find that the employees of the production department of the
Company, excluding supervisory employees, constitute a unit ap-
4 See footnote 2, supra.
" In a number of cases involving electrical utilities , the Board has found a system-wide
unit appropriate Matter of Pacific Gas and Electric Company and United Electrical
& Radio Workers of America, 3 N. L. R . B 835; Matter of Wisconsin Power and Light
Company and United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America , Local No. 1134,
6 N L R B 320; Matter of Tennessee Electric Power Company and International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 7 N. L R B . 24; Matter of Consumers Power Com-
pany and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 876, 9 N. L R. B.
742 In all these cases the employees had been organized on a system -wide basis by
one or all of the unions involved Compare Matter of Southern California Gas Company
and Utility Workers Organizing Committee, Local No. 132, 10 N. L It. B. 1123, and
Matter of Wisconsin Telephone Company and Telephone Operators Union, Local 175-A,
International Brotherhood of Electrical Woikers, etc, 12 N. L. It. B. 375, where the Board
found smaller units appropriate.
9 Matter of R. C. A. Communications, Inc and American Radio Telegraphists' Associa-
tion , 2 N. L It. B. 1109; Matter of Gulf Oil Corporation and International Brotherhood
of Boilermakers, Iron Shipbuilders, Welders & Helpers of America, 4 N L It. B 133;
Matter of Associated Press and The American Newspaper Guild, 5 N L. R B 43.
KANSAS CITY POWER & LIGHT COMPANY 1467
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining and that said
unit will insure to,employees of the Company the full benefit of their
right to self-organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise
effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
While the Brotherhood claims to represent a majority of the em-
ployees of the production department, it does not contend that it can
be certified as the representative of such employees without the hold-
ing of an election. An election by secret ballot is necessary to
resolve the question concerning representation. We will direct the
holding of an election, but since we have found in Case No. C=451
that the Company has engaged in unfair labor practices, we will not
at this time fix a date for holding the election. At the time we fix
the date of the election we will determine the pay-roll date to be
used in ascertaining the eligibility of the employees in the appropri-
ate unit to vote. Since we have found in Case No. C-451 that the
Association has been dominated, interfered with, and supported by
the Company, and have ordered the Company to withdraw recog-
nition from and to disestablish the Association as representative of
any of the Company's employees for the purpose of dealing with the
Company concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay,
hours of employment, or conditions of work, the Association will not
appear upon the ballot.
According to the Company's records there are 383 employees in
the appropriate unit, of whom 316 are non-supervisory. The
Brotherhood, on the other hand, claims that there are 343 non-
supervisory employees in the unit. The record does not enable us to
resolve this dispute. In conducting the election among the employees
of the production department, as directed in the Direction of Election
below, in the event that the right of any employee to vote is chal-
lenged on the ground that such employee is a supervisory employee,
the Regional Director shall permit such employee to vote, but shall
segregate and place the ballots of such employees in sealed containers,
pending such disposition as may be made of them by the Board
hereafter.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONcIusIONs OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Kansas City Power & Light Company,
Kansas City, Missouri , within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and
Section 2 ( 6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
1468 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
2. The employees of the production department of the Company,
excluding supervisory employees , constitute a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining , within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
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 Rela-
tions Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1,
as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the
Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective
bargaining with Kansas City Power & Light Company, Kansas
City, Missouri , an election by secret ballot shall be conducted at such
time as the Board shall in the future direct, under the direction
and supervision of the Regional Director for the Seventeenth Region,
acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board,
and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations,
among the employees of the production department of Kansas City
Power & Light Company employed by said company during a period
or at a time to be determined by the Board in the future , excluding
supervisory employees , to determine whether or not they desire to be
represented by Local Union B-412, International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers, for the purpose of collective bargaining.