Portland Gas and Coke Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 22, 1937

2 N.L.R.B. 552 (N.L.R.B. 1937)

In the Matter of PORTLAND GAS AND COKE COMPANY and GAS SL' COKE
WORKERS UNION, LOCAL No. 19591, AFFILIATED WITH THE AMERICAN
FEDERATION of LABOR, and GASCO EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION
Case No. R-11.5
Gas lfanufacturint and Distrihating Industi lt-Elcct,on Ordered: prior to
decision ; controversy concerning representation of employees-rival organiza-
tions-question affecting Commerce. confusion and unrest among employees-
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bari/aining: comnnunity.of interest; established
labor organizations in plant; eligibility for membership in both rival organiza-
tions-Cert,fieati on of Representatives
Mr. E. J. Eagan for the Board.
Laing d Gray, by Mr. Henry S. Gray, of Portland, Ore., for the
Company.
Green, Tanner d Boesen, by Mr. Chris Boesen, of Portland, Ore.,
for the Union.
Mr. Herbert L. Swett, of Portland, Ore., for Gasco Employees
Association.
Mr. Joseph Ro.tenfarb, of counsel to the Board.
DIRECTION FOR ELECTION
January 22, 1937
The National Labor Relations Board, having found that a question
affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees in the Operating Department (including the production, dis-
tribution, utilization, and supply bureaus) of the Portland Gas and
Coke Company, Portland, Oregon, and that the said employees con-
stitute one unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, 49 Stat. 449, and acting pursuant to the power vested in
the National Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of said Act, and
pursuant to Article III, Section 8 of National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, hereby
DIRECTS that as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with the Portland Gas and Coke Company, an election by secret bal-
lot shall be conducted within a period of ten (10) days after the pro-
552
'DECISIONS AND ORDERS 553
d u tlou by the Portland Gas and' Coke Company 'of its payroll lists
in accordance with the stipulation entered into by the Portland Gas
and Coke Company and the Regional Director for the Nineteenth
Region on December 17, 1936, under the direction and supervision of
said Regional Director, acting in this matter as the agent of the
National Labor Relations Board and subject to Article III, Section 9
of said Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, among the
employees in the Operating Department of the Portland Gas and
Coke Company, who were on the payroll as of November 15, 1936;
excepting, as provided by said stipulation, "executives and their chief
assistants, Office help, foremen, or temporary employees not regu-
larly carried on the payroll,", to =determine whether they desire to be
represented by Gas & Coke Workers Union, Local No. 19591, or the
Gasco Employees Association.
[SAME TITLE
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
11avc7z 9, 1937
STATEMENT OF CASE
On September 26, 1936, Gas and Coke Workers Union, Local No.
19591, hereinafter called the Union, filed with the Regional Director
for the Nineteenth Region (Seattle, Washington) a petition for an
investigation and certification of representatives of employees en-
gaged in the Operating Department of the Portland Gas and Coke
Company, Portland, Oregon, hereinafter called the Company.
Thereafter the National Labor Relations Board, hereinafter called
the Board, authorized the Regional Director to conduct an investi-
gation and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
A notice of hearing was issued and duly served and pursuant
thereto a hearing was held on December 22, 1936, before Harry
Hazel, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The
Gasco Employees Association, hereinafter called the Association, ap-
peared specially at the hearing and moved through its counsel to dis-
miss the proceedings on the ground that the Board has no jurisdiction
in the matter. The motion was denied, and this denial is hereby af-
firmed. The Union and the Company likewise appeared through
counsel, and the Association as well as the Union called witnesses and
introduced evidence.
554 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
On December 17, 1936, a stipulation was entered into between the
Company and the Regional Director for the Nineteenth Region,
whereby the Company agreed to cooperate with the Board in holding
an election or elections in the matter and that it would not challenge
the jurisdiction of the Board to hold a hearing to determine the unit
appropriate for collective bargaining, to hold an election or elections,
or to certify the result of such election or elections.
After examining the record- in the,case, the Board concluded that
a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa-
tion of the employees in the Operating Department of the Company
and on the basis of such conclusion, and acting pursuant to Article
III, Section (8) of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regu-
lations-Series 1, as amended, issued a Direction of Election on Janu-
ary 22, 1937, in which it was found that the employees in the Operat-
ing Department constitute one unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining. Merely for the purpose of expediting the elec-
tion and thus to insure to the employees of the Company the full
benefit of the right to collective bargaining as early as possible the
Board directed the election without at the same time issuing' a deci-
sion embodying complete findings of fact and conclusions of law.
The election was conducted on February 4 and 5 at and about
Portland, Oregon. Pursuant to Article III, Section 9 of said Rules
and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, an Intermediate Report
upon the election was subsequently prepared by Charles W. Hope,
who conducted the election as agent of the Board, and duly served
upon the parties. The Intermediate Report found that the Union
had been selected by a majority of the employees in the Operating
Department of the Company. No objections to the ballot or to the
Intermediate Report were filed by the parties.
Upon the record in the case, the stenographic report of the hear-
ing, and all the evidence, including oral testimony, documentary and
other evidence offered and received at the hearing, and the stipula-
tion hereinbefore mentioned, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE COMPANY AND ITS BUSINESS 1
The Company is a corporation organized and existing under the
laws of the State of Oregon with its principal office and place of
business at Portland, Oregon.
The Company's principal business is converting petroleum into gas
for domestic and commercial purposes and as an incident to such
1 Most of the facts concerning the Company's busiuess are taken from the aforementioned
stipulation
DECISIONS AND ORDLRS 555
business the Company manufactures and sells briquets, bensol, road
tar, and other by-products. Besides distributing gas in the State of
Oregon, the Company also distributes some gas outside of the State.
The Company itself transports the gas outside of the State of Ore-
gon in pipes and mains owned and operated by the Company. The
Company also sells and ships 20 per cent of its by-products outside
of the State of Oregon.
About 25 employees in the Operating Department of the Com-
pany are employed in the loading of briquets into trucks and into
railroad cars. Ten or twelve truck drivers of the Company are
engaged in the transportation of briquets into the State of Wash-
ington. All of the employees in the Distribution Bureau of the
Operating Department are concerned with the maintenance and care
of the pipes of the Company leading into the State of Washington.
About 325 men are employed in the Operating Department of the
Company. This Department comprises four bureaus:
The Production Bureau manufactures ,,is and its by-products at
the Company's gas works located at G,aco, Oregon, approximately
seven miles from the headquarters of the other bureaus. Employees
of the Production Bureau also load by-products for local delivery
and for shipment. Employees of this Bureau consist of carpenters,
pipe fitters, painters, machinists, machine operators, ditch diggers-
in fact, they range all the way from common to highly skilled labor.
The Distribution Bureau has charge of the tr^'nsmission and dis-
tribution of the manufactured gas from the outlet of the plant com-
pressors to the inlet of customers' meters, as well as the maintenance
and reconstruction of mains and facilities between such points.
It also has charge of the teamsters and crews who deliver briquets
within hauling distance. This Bureau also includes garage workers
nnho service and inaintain the Company's automotive equipment.
Like the employees in the Production Bureau, the employees of the
Distribution Bureau comprise those engaged all the way from com-
mon labor to skilled craft labor.
The Utilization Bureau has charge of the utilization.of the manu-
factured gas, including the installation, removal of and repairs to
meters and governors, and of adjustments to customers' appliances
for the utilization of the manufactured gas.
The Supply Bureau consists of three or four men engaged in the
provision and distribution of supplies to the other Bureaus.
The entire Operating Department consisting of the foregoing
Bureaus is under the general supervision and management of E. L.
Hall, the Company's operating manager who maintains his office in
the Public Service Building in the City of Portland.
556 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
A. The Union
The Union was organized on May 10, 1934, as a federal labor union
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor . It later became a
local of the International Union of Gas and Coke Workers, an affil-
iate of the American Federation of Labor. All- einployees ,-exclusive
of office help and supervisory employees engaged in the gas and coke
industry , whatever their occupation , are eligible to membership in
the Union. It appears from the evidence that in February, 1935,
an election was held by the old National Labor Relations Board
among the employees of the Operating Department of the Com-
pany to determine the collective bargaining agency. The employees
of the Production, Distribution, and Utilization Bureaus were
treated for the purpose of the election as three separate collective
bargaining units. A majority of the employees in the Production
Bureau voted in favor of the Union as their collective bargaining
representative, and the Company has since recognized the-Union as
the exclusive collective bargaining agency of the employees in the
Production Bureau. All of the employees in the Production Bureau
are now members of the Union. The rest of the union membership
is distributed between the Distribution and the Utilization Bureaus.
B. The Association
The Gasco Employees Association was organized in the fall of
1934 by workmen in the Operating Department. It originally rep-
resented all employees in the Operiting• Department, but following
the Company's recognition of the Union as exclusive bargaining
agency in the Production Bureau, it has represented the Distribution
and Utilization Bureaus. All employees engaged in gas and coke
work are eligible to membership in the Association. Since its organ-
ization, it has been officered mostly by straw bosses.
III. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
It is the position of the Union in this case that the employees
throughout the entire Operating Department of the Company,
excepting executives and their chief assistants, office help, foremen,
and temporary employees not regularly carried on the payroll, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
The position of the Association, however, is that the Board should
conduct separate elections in the Bureaus comprising the Operating
Department, as appropriate units for collective bargaining.
DECISION S Al D ORDERS 55
As shown above, the work both in the Production and Distribu-
tion Bureaus consists of a similarly wide range of labor both skilled
and unskilled. Indeed, the employees in the two Bureaus are inter-
changeable. At present 40 employees in the Production Bureau are
transferees from the Distribution Bureau. The problem of who
should represent the transferees is one which is productive of con-
fusion under a division of the Operating Department into three
units but would be non-existent if the collective bargaining agency
represented the whole Operating Department. Likewise, the prob-
lem of seniority of transferees is a difficult one now under the tri-
partite di Vision of the Operating Department, but would not present
an abnormal problem under a unitary arrangement of the whole
Operating Department. Furthermore, the same economic and other
factors which have caused a vertical alignment of labor in the plant
of the Company (as witness the membership both in the Union and
in the Association) are operative in making it logical that the em-
ployees of the Operating Department as a whole organize as a unit
to bargain collectively with the Company. The evidence is clear
that the same standards of wages and working conditions must pre-
vail throughout the Operating Department for corresponding work
in the various Bureaus. This was asservatecl by Hall, the operating
manager of the Company, and admitted by A. R. McLean, secretary
of the Association. It follows therefore that only one bargaining
agency for the whole Operating Department could effectively repre-
sent the employees.
The objection of distance-that the Production Bureau is seven
miles from the Distribution and Utilization Bureaus-is not of seri-
ous weight. Frank R. Downing, Association representative, ad-
mitted that it is not unusual for labor organizations in the indus-
try to have members scattered over 50 miles and that the Associa-
tion had members in Salem. a place apparently further removed
from the Distribution and Utilization Bureaus than is the Produc-
tion Bureau. Furthermore, the distance did not prevent the Asso-
ciation from representing the employees in the Production Bureau
before the election of 1935.
To designate the Operating Department as one unit for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining would promote the harmony and soli-
darity of the employees in that Department, whose interests are the
same in all Bureaus, and would thereby facilitate the processes of
collective bargaining already established.
We therefore find that the employees in the Operating Depart-
ment, consisting of the Production Bureau, Distribution Bureau,
Utilization Bureau, and Supply Bureau, constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining. However, in ac-
558 RATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
cordance with the stipulation entered into, we shall except execu-
tives and their chief assistants, office help, foremen, and temporary
employees not regularly carried on the payroll.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION OF REPRESENTATION ON COMMERCE
The question of representation which has arisen bids fair to cause
confusion and unrest among the employees in the Operating Depart-
ment of the Company, and tends to lead to labor disputes burdening
and obstructing commerce and the free flow of commerce.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
Upon the basis of the above findings, the following conclusions of
law are made by the Board :
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of the employees in the Operating Department of the
Portland Gas and Coke Company, within the meaning of Section 9
(c) and Section 2, subdivisions (6) and (7) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
2. The employees in the Operating Department, consisting of the
Production Bureau, Distribution Bureau, Utilization Bureau, and
Supply Bureau, except executives and their chief assistants, office
help, foremen, and temporary employees not regularly carried on
the payroll, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of col-
lective barganninv,. within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the
National Labor Relations Act.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
A petition for certification of representatives having been duly
filed, and an investigation and hearing having been duly author-
ized and conducted, and an election by secret ballot having been con-
ducted on February 4 and 5, 1937, among the employees of the Op-
erating Department of the Portland Gas and Coke Company located
at Portland, Oregon, pursuant to the National Labor Relations
Board's Direction of Election dated January 22, 1937, and an Inter-
mediate Report upon the secret ballot finding that the Gas and Coke
Workers Union, Local No. 19591, affiliated With the American Fed-
eration of Labor, had been selected by a majority of the employees
in the bargaining unit, having been prepared by Charles W. Hope,
the agent of the Board designated to conduct the election, and duly
served upon the parties, and no objections to the ballot and to the
Intermediate Report having been filed with the Board by the par-
ties, pursuant to Article III, Section (9) of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended,
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 559
THEREFORE, 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 (8) of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1,
as amended,
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Gas and Coke Workers Union, Local
No. 19591, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, has
been selected by a majority of the employees in the Operating De-
partment (including the Production, Distribution, Utilization and
Supply Bureaus) of the Portland Gas and Coke Company, Portland,
Oregon, excepting executives and their chief assistants, office help,
foremen, and temporary employees not regularly carried on the
payroll, as their representative for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining, and that pursuant to the provisions of Section 9 (a) of
said Act, Gas and Coke Workers Union, Local No. 19591, affiliated
with the American Federation of Labor, is the exclusive representa-
tive of all such employees for the purposes of collective bargaining
in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment and other
conditions of employment.