Public Service Electric & Gas Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 4, 1944

59 N.L.R.B. 51 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter Of PUBLIC SERVICE ELECTRIC & GAS COMPANY and UTILITY
DISTRIBUTION CO-WORKERS ASSOCIATION, TELEPHONE OPERATORS Di-
VISION, UTILITY Co-WORKERS AFFILIATE
Case No. 2-R-4873.-Decided November 4, 1944
Mr. Joseph V. Suter, of Newark, N. J., for the Company.
Mr. Leon Dreskin, of Newark, N. J., for the Union.
Mr. A. Sumner Lawrence, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Utility Distribution Co-Workers
Association, Telephone Operators Division, Utility Co-Workers Af-
filiate, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting com-
merce had arisen concerning the employees of Public Service Elec-
tric & Gas Company, herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due no-
tice before Richard J. Hickey, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was
held at New York City on October 2, 1944. The Company and the
Union appeared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity
to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses and to introduce
evidence bearing on the'issues. 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.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
s
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Public Service Electric & Gas Company, a New Jersey corpora-
tion with its principal office and place of business in Newark, New
Jersey, is engaged principally in the generation, transmission, sale,
and distribution of gas and electricity throughout the State of New
IIncorrectly described in the petition and other formal payers as "Public Service Elec-
tric & Gas Co. of New Jersey" and corrected by motion at the hearing.
59 N. L. R. B., No. 16.
51
- 52 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Jersey. During the period from-August 1, 1943, to July 31, 1944,
the Company purchased and used in its business within the State of
New Jersey, raw materials valued in excess of $8,000,000, of which
approximately 90 percent was obtained from points outside the State
of New Jersey. During the salve period the Company furnished
to various interstate facilities approximately 200,000,000 kilowatt
hours of electrical energy. The Company's total operating revenues
from all sources, including its sales of electricity to concerns whose
products move in interstate commerce, exceeded $100,000,000 for the
period beginning August 1, 1943, and ending July 31, 1944.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
If. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Utility Distribution Co-Workers Association, Telephone Operators
Division, affiliated with Utility Co-Workers Association, is a labor
organization admitting to membership employees of the Company.'
Ili. 11IE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union contends that the telephone operators in 4, of 26 tele-
phone exchanges, comprising the Company's telephone department,'
excluding the chief operator and other supervisory employees, con-
stitute an appropriate unit. The Company, on the other hand, con-
tends that the unit should be coextensive with the telephone department
which covers telephone exchanges of the Company throughout the
State of New Jersey.
The record discloses that the telephone operators, wherever located
in the telephone department, perform similar duties, and enjoy sub-
stantially the same wages and working conditions; that while the tele-
phone operators in the four exchanges herein concerned are in some
respects treated by the Company as a group,3 they do not actually con-
stitute a subdivision of the telephone'department4 or fall within the
type of unit recogiaized as most clearly appropriate for telephone em-
ployees.5 In addition thereto, it appears that although organization
2 The telephone department comprises 163 non -supervi.ory telephone employees , of which
27 are within the 4 exchanges claimed as the basis of the appropriate unit
3 The four exchanges , which are located in adjacent coin munities within the county of
Bergen , are under the same immediate supervision due to geographical and other consid-
erations
a The claim of the Union that the four exchanges comprise the 'Bergen Division ,",of the
telephone department is not supported b5 any formal designation to this effect in the
company organization.
5In a recent case involving the question of the ielative merits of telephone units based
upon individual exchanges as compared with a telephone unit company-wide in extent, the
Board stated that "attempts at bargaining in the telephone communications industry
which fail ultimately to contemplate organization in company-wide units , are not practical "
See- Matter of Sonthe''n Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company, 55 N. L R B. 1058.
PUBLIC SERVICE ELECTRIC & GAS COMPANY 53
among the Company's telephone employees has been limited by the
Union to the exchanges claimed as the basis of the appropriate unit,
such organization has been achieved without apparent difficulty within
a relatively short period of time; 6 there is no indication that organi-
zation of the employees in the other exchanges would not suceed or,
progress similarly, if attempted.?
In view of the functional interrelationship, the similarity of duties
and working conditions, and particularly the inchoate state of organi-
zation,8 we find that the unit proposed by the Union is inappropriate.
We shall, therefore, dismiss the petition herein.
IV. THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Since the bargaining unit sought to be established by the petition
is not appropriate as found in Section III, above, we find that no ques-
tion has arisen concerning representatives of employees of the Com-
pany within the meaning of Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition for investigation and certifi-
cation of representatives of employees of Public Service Electric &
Gas Company, Newark, New Jersey, filed herein by Utility Distribu-
tion Co-Workers Association, Telephone Operators Division, Utility
Co-WTorkers Affiliate, be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
MR. JOHN M. HOUSTON took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Order.
G An examination of the dates on the Union 's autlioiization cards as set forth in the
statement of the Field Examiner, reveals that during the 2 months immediately preceding
the filing of the present petition, the Union obtained authorizations for more than 50 per-
cent of the employees in the four exchanges clauued as the basis of the appropriate unit
7 The evidence discloses that during the period of organization of employees in the four
exchanges, the Union refrained from attempting to organize and declined to accept appli-
cations for membership from employees in the other telephone exchanges pending the com-
pletion of the organizing campaign in the four exchanges herein concerned.
8 See Hatter of Newnan Cotton Mills , 57 N. L R B 917.