Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 17, 1949

85 N.L.R.B. 713 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter Of PACIFIC TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY, EM-
PLOYER and COUNCIL OF INDEPENDENT PLANT TELEPHONE UNIONS
and OREGON TELEPHONE UNION AND TELEPHONE WORKERS ORGANIZ-
ING COMMITTEE, CIO and ORDER OF REPEATERMEN AND TOLL TEST-
BOARDMEN, T. W. O. C.-CIO, PETITIONER
Case Nos. 36-RC-175, 36-RC-186,. and 36-RC-220.-Decided August
1 7)1949
DECISION
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
AND
ORDER
Upon petitions duly filed, a consolidated hearing was held before
Melton Boyd, 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Gray].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds: 1
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the. National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. For reasons stated hereinafter, no question affecting commerce
exists concerning the representation of employees of the Employer
in Case No. 36-RC-175 within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1)
and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. We do, however, find that
questions affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of
employees of the Employer in Case No. 36-RC-186 and in Case No.
36-RC-220, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section
2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Employer, with its subsidiary, Bell Telephone Company
of Nevada, provides telephone and telegraph service in Washington,
1 The motion of Communication Workers of America to withdraw as a party to these
proceedings is hereby granted.
85 N. L. R. B., No. 131.
713
'714 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, and California. Since 1930 it has divided
the territory served into four geographical areas : (1) the Washington-
Idaho area, (2) the Northern California-Nevada area, (3) the Oregon
area, and (4) the Southern California area. Only the employees in
the Oregon area are involved in the instant proceeding.
The Petitioners in Case No. 36-RC-186, Oregon Telephone Union
and Telephone Workers Organizing Committee, CIO, herein jointly
called the OTU, seek a unit of all nonsupervisory employees in the
Employer's Oregon area. The Petitioner in Case No. 36-RC-175,
Council of Independent Plant Telephone Unions, herein called the
Council, requests a unit of all nonsupervisory employees in the Em-
ployer's plant department. The Petitioner in Case No. 36-RC-220,
Order of Repeatermen and Toll Testboardmen, T. W. O. C.-CIO,
herein called ORTT, seeks to represent the following employees of
the plant department in the Oregon area : transmissionmen, radio-
men, toll central office repairmen principally engaged in work on
toll terminal equipment, telegraph repeatermen, toll testboardmen,
and P. B. X. repairmen (teletype). The Employer contends that
the Board should establish either one area-wide unit, or separate
units for each department of the Employer's operations within the
Oregon area. The Employer, OTU, and the Council argue that the
skills and working conditions of the employees sought by ORTT are
not sufficiently distinct to justify a separate bargaining unit for
these employees. All parties agree to the exclusion of all professional
confidential and managerial employees, guards, and supervisors.
The Employer's operations: The Employer's operations are divided
into seven administrative departments: (1) plant, (2) traffic, (3) com-
mercial, (4) accounting, (5) engineering, (6) area-treasury, and (7)
administrative.' The plant department is responsible for the field
engineering, the construction and maintenance of all outside plant
facilities, the maintenance of all equipment within the central offices,
the maintenance of grounds and buildings, including house service, the
acquisition and maintenance of all furniture and fixtures, the acquisi-
tion and maintenance of all tools, automotive or power equipment re-
-quired to do the work, and the requisitioning, warehousing, and ac-
^counting of all supplies, material, and equipment necessary to carry
out those responsibilities. These functions include the making and
keeping of all property records and personnel records pertaining there-
to. The principal function of the traffic department, which performs
its work primarily through operators, is to complete local and long
2 The plant, traffic, commercial, and accounting departments are the main departments
in the Employer's organization, and are the only ones covered by collective bargaining
agreements with any labor organization.
PACIFIC TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY 715
distance telephone calls. It also supplies auxiliary services , such as
information and intercepting. The commercial department is re-
sponsible for the operation of the business offices of the Employer, the
production and issuance of telephone directories, and the sale of di-
rectory advertising therein. It handles contacts with customers and
the public regarding telephone service, such as making arrangements
for the installation and changing of service, the collection of the Em-
ployer's revenue, and the handling of matters pertaining to billed
charges and other service matters. The accounting department pre-
hares all customer bills and all pay checks for the State of Oregon. The
engineering department performs engineering services for. outside
plant facilities. Area-treasury is the disbursing office of the Employer,
and is responsible for the payment of approved bills, the signing and
forwarding of pay-roll checks and the reporting of all funds collected
by the Employer. The administrative department, under the direc-
tion of the vice president and general manager for the Oregon area, is
responsible for area-wide development and coordination of basic per-
sonnel policies and practices in connection with employment, training,
labor relations, benefits, and public relations, all in collaboration with
the other departments.
Each department i$ under the supervision of a department manager
who, with the exception of the accounting and area-treasury depart-
ments, reports directly to the vice president and general manager for
the Oregon area. The auditor and revenue accountant, who super-
vises the accounting department, reports to the Employer's auditor
in Seattle. The assistant secretary and treasury cashier, who super-
vises the area-treasury department, reports directly to the assistant
treasurer in San Francisco, California. Each department manager
is responsible for the efficient operation of his department and reports
only to the vice president and general manager , except as above noted.
There is no cross-supervision as between departments. Although
there is more integration within each department than there is among
the various departments, all coordinate their efforts towards the Em-
ployer's primary function-the sale of service to the public. The of-
fice of the assistant vice president is a central clearing house for labor
relations policies. New wage schedules are determined after discus-
sion among the various department managers. Operating budgets in
the Oregon area are prepared originally within the departments, are
consolidated by the engineering department, are approved by the vice
president and general manager, and are thereafter subject to change
during the course of business operations by the department heads in
accordance with their particular needs.
716 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
There is generally no temporary interchange of employees between
departments. Employees who have the necessary qualifications may
transfer between departments, but because of the difference in the job
requirements in the various departments, most interdepartmental
transfers have been by employees in the clerical classifications.3
All applicants for employment are interviewed in the general em-
ployment office. Those who are considered as eligible for employ-
ment are then referred to the department which is seeking additional
employees. The department makes the final decision as to hiring new
employees. Promotions, transfers, and discharges are all determined
within each department. Personnel records are kept on a depart-
mental basis; only a reference file is kept in the central office. All
nonsupervisory employees have the same vacation, pension, retire-
ment, and health plans. All pay-roll records are kept in the account-
ing department, and checks for all employees are made out by the
treasury cashier. There is a common wage schedule for comparable
jobs in the various departments.
Past bargaining history: 4 Prior to 1937, there were employee plans
of representation for employees in the crafts in the plant department,
traffic, and commercial department. In May 1937, the United Tele-
phone Employees of Oregon, Inc., herein called the UTEO, was organ-
ized and selected as the exclusive representative of all nonsupervisory
employees of the Employer in the Oregon area .5
The UTEO was divided into units corresponding to the depart-
mental organization of the Employer, plant, traffic, and commercial
units, each of which consisted of one or more locals.6 A council of
representatives, composed of the chairmen of the three units and
representatives of the three units, was the governing body of the
UTEO, but it did not have authority to negotiate collective bar-
gaining agreements. The executive board, composed of the chairmen
of the three units, had authority to negotiate and execute agreements
covering joint conferences, but until 1944 it did not have initial au-
thority to negotiate wage agreements.' The locals and units had au-
3 The Employer has a policy of transferring employees displaced by dial conversion to
other departments or exchanges. In 1946, the mail room, which handles the mail for all
departments, was transferred from the commercial department to the plant department.
4 The Board has never certified any labor organization as collective bargaining agent
for any of the Employer's Oregon-area employees.
' This vote was conducted on an area-wide basis among all nonsupervisory employees in
the Oregon area.
6 The commercial unit included the accounting department employees at this time.
Thereafter, the latter were set up into a unit of their own. The commercial and traffic
units were set up on a geographic basis. The plant unit, consisting of nine locals, was
organized along craft lines. Each unit had its own bylaws, as did many of the locals in
the units.
' In 1944 amendments to the UTEO bylaws permitted the executive board to initiate and
conclude collective bargaining negotiations on behalf of the units, subject to ratification by
the membership of the units involved. Theie is evidence, however, that this procedure
PACIFIC TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY 717
thority to bargain with the Employer, but all resulting agreements
had to be ratified by the employees in the unit involved, and approved
by the executive board."
In June 1937, the Employer recognized the UTEO as the collective
bargaining representative for all nonsupervisory employees in the
Oregon area, and executed a Joint Conference Agreement wherein the
Employer agreed to meet with the UTEO in later joint conferences.
The agreement provided for bargaining between representatives of
the units or locals and general department managers, with the provi-
sion that all agreements concluded by them were subject to approval
by the executive board.° During the period 1937 to 1940, inclusive,
bargaining was characterized by negotiations between the units or
locals and the general department managers,10 although there were
some negotiations carried on between the executive board of the
UTEO and the Oregon president and general manager of the
Employer.
In 1941, a second joint conference agreement, superseding the 1937
agreement, was executed by the Employer and the UTEO. This
agreement contained similar provisions with respect to bargaining
practices as the 1937 agreement. From 1941 to 1945, inclusive, bar-
gaining on all major issues was conducted on an area-wide basis
between the Oregon vice president and general manager of the Em-
ployer and the executive board of the UTEO.11 The written agree-
ments were, however, executed by the units or locals involved, and ap-
proved by the executive board.12 During this period supplemental
agreements covering fringe issues were negotiated between representa-
tives of the units or locals and the general department managers,
and approved by the executive board. In April 1945, a Memo-
randum of Agreement, embodying new wage schedules, was signed
by the Employer's Oregon vice president and general manager and
was followed even before the amendments to the bylaws. These amendments also permitted
the setting up of joint group meetings of employees in the various departments in the
areas outside of Portland.
8 The Employer has delegated full authority to its general department heads to bargain
collectively on behalf of the Employer, and to sign any contracts resulting from such
negotiations.
8 This agreement covered procedure relative to collective bargaining and to the handling
of, grievances . It did not contain provisions concerning wage rates, seniority, or other
substantive matters.
18 No substantial changes in wages, hours, or working conditions resulted from these
negotiations.
11 In 1940, negotiations for a wage increase were started at the departmental level, and
were carried up by the executive board from the departmental level of bargaining to the
area level. The resulting wage increase was negotiated at the area level.
12 In 1943 the first "Round Robin " agreement for all the plant department locals was
executed. Prior to this time, nine separate contracts for the plant locals had been exe-
cuted. The "Round Robin" contracts were signed by the officers of the nine plant locals
and the officers of the UTEO.
718 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the president of the UTEO 13 This agreement was the basis for sup-
plemental agreements later signed by the general department heads.
and the unit officials. In December 1945, as the result of bargaining-
conferences between the Employer's vice president and general man-
ager and the executive board, a Memorandum of Agreement covering-
a $5 across the board wage increase for all nonsupervisory employees-
in the Oregon area, was signed by the Employer's vice president and
general manager and the president of the UTEO. The revised wage-
schedules were incorporated in supplemental agreements signed by
the department managers and unit representatives.
In 1946, at the request of the UTEO, negotiations were conducted
at San Francisco between the Employer and a coalition of 13 unions-
within the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph system, for employees in
all areas of the system. In these negotiations the UTEO was repre-
sented by its president and counsel, and the Employer by its vice presi-
dent and general manager for the Oregon area. A Memorandum of
Agreement, setting forth the general provisions of the settlement, re-
sulted from this bargaining, and was ratified by the membership of
the UTEO. Pursuant to this agreement, separate contracts were
executed between the department managers and the commercial, traf-
fic, and plant units. Each contract was signed and approved by the
officers of the UTEO.
In February 1947, again at the request of the UTEO, bargaining
was conducted at San Francisco on a system-wide basis. The UTEO
was represented by a negotiator hired by the UTEO, and the Employer
by its general department managers. During these negotiations the
UTEO terminated all contracts, and a coast-wide strike was called 14-
The settlement agreement reached was signed by the president of the
UTEO and a representative of the Employer, and was ratified by the-
membership of the UTEO on an area-wide.ba.sis.15 This agreement
was later incorporated into four separate contracts executed by the
Employer's general department managers, the officers of the four units,.
and was approved by the executive board of the UTEO.16 These con-
tracts were not submitted to the units or locals for ratification by their
membership.17
13 This was the first agreement between the Employer and the UTEO which covered
specific matters such as wage increases.
11 There is no evidence that the Joint Conference Agreement of 1941 was canceled at this
time.
15 The vote to engage in the strike action, and the vote to adopt the strike settlement
was in accordance with the amended bylaws of 1944, which provided for a strike vote on a
membership -wide basis.
m For the first time the plant unit contract was signed by the plant unit chairman and
vice chairman, and not by the locals of the plant unit. The contract covered all non-
supervisory employees in the plant department.
"The area-wide ratification of the strike settlement was apparently considered suffi-
cient without ratification of the separate contracts executed thereafter.
PACIFIC TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY 719
On October 7, 1948, the Employer notified the UTEO that it was
-terminating the contracts because the claims of other unions (the par-
ties to this proceeding), had raised a question as to the right of the
UTEO to be the bargaining agent for the employees in the Oregon
area.` The Employer does not now have collective bargaining agree-
ments with any labor organization, covering the Oregon area.
Scope of the unit: There is no dispute as to the facts concerning the
collective bargaining history in the Employer's Oregon area. There
is, however, disagreement as to the interpretation to be given to these
facts. The OTU contends that they indicate a general tendency to-
wards industrial organization on an area-wide basis . The Council
argues that at all times bargaining has been on a departmental as well
as on an area-wide basis, and that the bargaining, even when on an
area-wide basis by the executive board of the UTEO, was on behalf of
its constituent units and locals.
Although the bargaining history might be said to be inconclusive, it
does demonstrate a trend towards industrial bargaining on an area-
wide basis. We do not consider the fact that separate contracts were
signed for the various departments, after agreement had been reached
in joint negotiations, to be significant. But even assuming that the
bargaining history had been on a departmental basis, such fact is not
necessarily conclusive on the issue-19 We have frequently held that
system-wide units are the most appropriate bargaining units for em-
ployees of a public utility,20 even where there has been a bargaining his-
tory on a less comprehensive basis 21 Although the functions of the
18 In February 1948 , the executive board of the UTEO conducted a ballot among the
membership at large on the question of affiliating with the Telephone Workers Organ-
izing Committee , CIO, herein called the TWOC. As a result of this vote , UTEO affiliated
with TWOC . At about the same time a new organization , OTU, was formed , and the
UTEO-TWOC voted to transfer its membership and assets to OTU. During this period
some locals , particularly in the plant department , dissatisfied with the manner in which
the vote was taken and opposed to the new affiliation , voted to withdraw from UTEO.
These locals formed the Plant Council in June 1948 . The UTEO did not appear at the
hearing in the instant case, and the evidence indicates that it is no longer a functioning
labor organization.
19 Employees of telephone companies , like those of other public utilities , have a common
interest in rendering service to the public . We, therefore , find without merit the argu-
ment of the Council that because the functions and operations of the various departments
are not highly integrated , a single bargaining unit of all employees should not be estab-
lished. Nor do we find merit in the Council ' s contention that the interests of the plant
department employees are so diverse from those of other employees as to provide an oppor-
tunity for conflict and dissension if a single bargaining unit is found appropriate. There is
no showing that the interests of the plant department employees involved herein differ
substantially from those of employees in other telephone companies where there has been
successful bargaining on an area -wide or system-wide basis.
20 Cf. Matter of The Ohio Associated Telephone Company, 82 N. L. R. B . 972; Matter
of Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company, 55 N. L. It. B. 1059 ; Matter of the
People 's Telephone Corporation , 69 N. L. It. B. 540; Matter of West Coast Telephone Com-
pany, 66 N . L. It. B. 1073; Matter of Illinois Consolidated Telephone Company, 61 N. L.
It. B. 447.
21 Matter of Niagara Hudson Power Corporation , 79 N. L . It. B. 1115.
720 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
plant department differ from those of the Employer's other depart-
ments, it is nevertheless an integral part of the Employer's operations.
We do not believe that these plant department employees have any
particular community of interest which would warrant establishing
them in a separate unit apart from other employees in the Oregon
area. We therefore find the unit sought by the Council to be inap-
propriate, and shall dismiss its petition.22
The toll maintenance unit: As noted above, the toll maintenance
employees are part of the Employer's plant department.23 Toll main-
tenance employees'24 including telegraph repeatermen, testboardmen,
transmissionmen, and toll central office repairmen (principally en-
gaged in work on toll terminal equipment), test, repair, and maintain
equipment used primarily for long distance transmission. More spe-
cifically, toll maintenance employees set up telegraph and teletype-
writer circuits, test and adjust repeater equipment, and deal with cus-
tomers who purchase teletypewriter and telegraph service from the
Employer. Some of these employees may use the Morse telegraph
code for communication between toll offices. Their work requires com-
munication with local exchange forces as well as with telephone em-
ployees in other areas and outside the Employer's territorial bound-
aries. They make transmission tests on all long distance lines and
equipment, locate and clear trouble on long distance lines, dispatch
exchange outside maintenance and construction forces to clear such
trouble, and establish governmental, private, and commercial long
distance circuits as demand arises. They test and monitor radio pro-
gram circuits and equipment and locate and clear trouble on such
circuits and equipment. Toll maintenance employees operate mobile
emergency point-to-point and ship-to-shore radio equipment, make
necessary patches or switches at the line and amplifier panels, and
perform routine maintenance work on toll office equipment. They
keep records associated with their work.
20 Cf . Matter of Interstate Telephone Company, 79 N. L. R. B. 637.
23 Other employees in the plant department are installers , repairmen , and central office
maintenance employees . Station installers and station repairmen , including exchange
P. B. X. installers and repairmen who care for complicated exchange equipment set up
in large factories and hotels and other large offices , install and maintain telephone equip-
ment on the premises of the subscriber . Central office maintenance employees ( including
deskmen, switchmen , framemen , central office repairmen , and powermen ) test, maintain,
and repair exchange equipment on the Employer's property . Powermen generally main-
tain equipment to furnish power for the operation of both toll and central office equipment.
"Exchange" equipment indicates equipment used primarily for local service as distinct from
long distance service.
21 Radiomen is a job category listed under toll maintenance employees. The Employer
presently hires no radiomen . Ship-to -shore and shore-to-ship services are operated by
remote control and serviced by transmissionmen or toll central office repairmen (prin-
cipally engaged in work on toll equipment).
PACIFIC TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY 721
The job categories under toll and central office employees indicate
respectively different craft skills.25 Without special training, central
office employees cannot perform toll maintenance work, and vice
versa. Toll employees regularly perform work in more than one toll
maintenance category, and a similar situation exists among central
office employees. Some employees, especially those assigned to local-
ities where the toll and central office work is light, do combination work
on both toll and central office facilities.26 The practice of the Employer
is to classify its employees as "toll" or "central office" employees, de-
pending upon the type of equipment on which each craftsman regu-
larly spends 51 percent or more of his time. As of December 31, 1948,
approximately 13 combination central office toll employees were em-
ployed in the Oregon area. As of this date, there were 2,951 employees,
including supervisors, in the plant department, of whom approxi-
mately 129 employees were classified as toll maintenance employees .27
ORTT would include in its proposed craft unit employees classified
by the Employer as toll maintenance employees, and would exclude
combination central office toll employees not so classified.
The Board, in 1940, found that the toll maintenance employees in
the Employer's Northern California-Nevada area and in the Southern
California area constitute appropriate units,"' and in 1944 found that
the toll maintenance employees in the Employer's Washington-Idaho
area might constitute a separate appropriate unit.29 Thus, the toll
maintenance employees in the Oregon area are the only ones who have
not been granted an opportunity for separate representation. It is
conceded that the functions of these employees are comparable to those
of the toll maintenance employees in the Employer's other geographic
areas, where the Board found they were a specially skilled group. of
craftsmen. The fact that these employees, who constitute a recognized
craft group, - have previously been part of a larger unit, does not
militate against their now constituting a separate unit for the purposes
25 The work of the deskmen and testboardmen is, however , comparable . These employees
similarly operate testboards for the testing of central office and toll equipment, respec-
tively. They make the tests by communicating with employees in other toll or central
offices , on outside plant, or on the premises of the Employer ' s subscribers. Exchange and
toll employees also perform comparable work on highway and urban mobile telephone units,
and on multi -channel carrier systems of the type known as "M-1-A." According to present
plans , maintenance and operation of television equipment will be jointly performed by
toll and local central office personnel, and a training program on this subject is now being
prepared for both toll and exchange personnel.
2e This results in some overlapping of supervisory jurisdiction over toll and central
office maintenance employees.
29 Thirty -one of these employees in Portland, and one employee in Astoria report to
local exchange supervision . The remainder are responsible to the district toll maintenance
superintendent , who in turn reports to the district plant manager.
28Matter of Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company, 25 N. L. R. B. 280.
29 Matter of Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company , 58 N. L. It. B. 1042.
722 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of collective bargaining.30 We find, in line with our holdings in these
prior cases, that the toll maintenance employees in the Employer's
Oregon area may constitute a separate appropriate unit if they so de-
sire.31 However, we shall make no final determination at this time, but
shall first ascertain the desires of these employees as expressed in the
election hereinafter directed. If a. majority vote for the ORTT, they
will be taken to have indicated a desire to constitute a separate appro-
priate unit.
The Employer employs PBX repairmen who work on private branch
exchange equipment and are generally classified as exchange em-
ployees. In addition to these employees, the Employer also employs
.approximately nine PBX repairmen who spend their working time
.on repair and maintenance of teletypewriters. ORTT would include
in its proposed bargaining unit of toll maintenance employees PBX
repairmen in this latter group. PBX repairmen who spend their time
on the repair and maintenance of teletypewriters, perform their work
on the premises of the subscriber or on the Employer's property, but do
not work in central office spaces where toll maintenance employees
service toll equipment. They test teletypewriters through the test-
boardmen in the toll center, just as do linemen and cablemen who
work on outside toll plant equipment. Employees who maintain the
circuit over which teletypewriter messages are sent are toll employees
who monitor the equipment in the toll office to see that the circuit is
conditioned for the service. PBX repairmen who service teletype-
writers are not classified as toll maintenance employees by the Em-
ployer, and they are not subject to toll supervision. Between 1937 and
1947, however, PBX repairmen who work principally on teletype-
writers in the Oregon area , were included in the contracts for toll
maintenance employees in that area. We shall, therefore, include in
the voting group of toll maintenance employees all PBX repairmen
who spend their working time on the repair and maintenance of
teletypewriters.
30 The toll maintenance employees constituted Local 81 of the plant unit of UTEO. In
December 1946 , and in January and February 1947, these employees attempted to leave
the UTEO and bargain separately with the Employer . In January 1948, Local 81 affili-
ated with ORTT-TWOC-CIO. In June 1948 , ORTT filed a petition seeking a unit of toll
maintenance employees in the Employer's Oregon area, but was induced to withdraw this
petition in December 1948, by the chairman of TWOC-CIO. The petition in the instant
case was filed in January 1949.
31 We find no merit in the Employer ' s contention that the toll maintenance employees
may not constitute a separate unit because there are other craft employees in the plant
department , performing comparable work, who are not sought to be included in this unit.
The toll maintenance employees in the area are clearly identifiable as a specially skilled
group of craftsmen.
PACIFIC TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY 723
We shall direct that the questions concerning representation which
have arisen be resolved by separate elections by secret ballot among
employees within the voting groups described below :
(1) All employees in the Employer's Oregon area, excluding toll
maintenance employees, guards, confidential and professional em-
ployees, and supervisors.32
(2) All toll maintenance employees in the Employer's Oregon area,
including transmissionmen, toll central office repairmen principally
engaged in work on toll terminal equipment, telegraph repeatermen,
toll testboardmen, and PBX repairmen (teletype), but excluding
guards, professional and confidential employees, and supervisors.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS 33
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, separate elections
by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later
than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case
was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees de-
scribed in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during
the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction
of Elections, including employees who did not work during said pay-
roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid
off, 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 elections, and also excluding employees on strike who are
not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether :
(1) The employees in Group 1 desire to be represented, for purposes
of collective bargaining, by Oregon Telephone Union Division No. 21,
C. W. A.-CIO; 34
32 we find, as the parties stipulated, that the employees in the engineering deparinient
should he excluded from any unit as professional employees, and that all employees ;n the
administrative department should be excluded from the unit. It was also stipulated that
five staff clerics in the plant department and one staff, clerk in the traffic department
should be excluded as confidential employees. The OTU contends that all employees in
the area-treasury department should also be excluded. The record does not show the
exact duties of the five nonsupervisory employees in area-treasury. If they are confi-
dential employees, they shall be deemed excluded from the unit.
33 Any participant in the elections herein may, upon its prompt request to, and approval
thereof by. the Regional Director, have its name removed from the ballot.
31 The request of the OTU to be designated on the ballot as Oregon Telephone Union,
Division No. 21, C. W. A.-CIO, is hereby granted. See Matter of Acme Brewing Com-
pany, 72 N. L. R. B. 1005, 1014-1.015 ; Matter of Colson Corporation, 70 N. L. R. 13. 1235.
857829-50-vol. 85-47
724 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
(2) The employees in Group 2 desire to be represented, for purposes
of collective bargaining, by Order of Repeatermen and Toll Test-
boardmen, T. W. O. C.-CIO, or by Oregon Telephone Union Division
No. 21, C. W. A.-CIO or by neither.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition filed in Case No. 36-RC-175
by Council of Independent Plant Telephone Unions be, and it hereby
is, dismissed.