Southern Indiana Gas and Electric Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 8, 1941

28 N.L.R.B. 960 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of SOUTHERN -INDIANA GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY and
INDEPENDENT UTILITY WORKERS UNION, LOCAL NUMBER 1, INC.
Case No. B-2187.-Decided January 8,19411 -
Jurisdiction : gas and electric utility industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : par-
ties stipulated that the Company will not recognize either organization until
one is certified by the Board; pay roll agreed to by parties directed to be used;
election necessary. -
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : production, transmission, and `dis-
tribution employees, excluding specified employees ; employees where work-is
closely related to that of employees upon whose exclusion parties are agreed,
excluded from the unit.
Mr. Paul H. Schmidt, of Evansville, Ind., for the Independent.
Mr. A. C. Hopkins, of Evansville, Ind., and Mr. Harry M. Curzon,
of Moweaqua, Ill., for the I. B. E. W.
Messrs. Ortmeyer, Bamberger ct Ortmeyer, by Mr. Edmond F.
Ortmeyer, of Evansville, Ind., for the Company.
Mr. Norman M. Neel, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On June 7, 1940, Independent Utility Workers Union, Local Num-
ber 1, Inc., herein called the Independent, filed with the Regional
Director for the Eleventh Region (Indianapolis, Indiana) a petition
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the
representation of employees of Southern Indiana Gas and Electric
Company, Evansville, Indiana, herein called the Company, and re-,
questing an investigation and certification of representatives pursuant
to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449,
herein called the Act. On November 26, 1940, 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 Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered
an investigation and directed the Regional Director to conduct it and
to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
28 N. L. R B., No. 147.
960
SOUTHERN INDIANA GAS AND' ELECTRIC COMPANY- 961
On December 2, 1940, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear-
ing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the In-
dependent,' and upon International Brotherhood of Electrical Work-
ers, Local No. 702, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor,
herein called the I. B. E. W., a labor organization claiming to rep-
resent employees directly affected by the investigation. Pursuant to
the notice, a hearing was held on December 9, 1940, at Evansville,
Indiana, before Arthur R. Donovan, the Trial Examiner duly desig-
nated by the Board. The Company, the Independent, and the I. B.
E.. W. were represented by counsel- and participated in the hearing.
Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses,
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 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 FAOT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Southern Indiana Gas and Electric Company stipulated to and we
find the following facts with respect to its business : "
The Company is and has been since June 10, 1912, a corporation duly
organized under and existing by virtue of the, laws of the State of
Indiana, having its principal office and place of business in the City
of Evansville, County of Vanderburgh, State of Indiana, and is now
and has been continuously engaged at a place of business-in the City
of Evansville, County of Vanderburgh, State of Indiana, hereinafter
called the Evansville Plant, in the manufacture, sale,, and distribution
of electricity, artificial and natural gas, steam and hot-water heating,
water, and motor-bus operations.
In the course and conduct of its business the Company causes and
has continuously' caused a portion of electrical appliances, commer-
cial equipment, pipes, poles, power generator equipment, coal, and
other essential materials used in the production and transmission of
electricity, steam, and gas, and in the operation of its motor-bus oper-
ations, to be purchased, delivered, and transported in interstate com-
merce from and ' through the States of,the United States other than
the State of Indiana to its Evansville Plant. It sells electricity to
Chicago and Eastern. Illinois Railroad Company, Illinois Central
i The formal papers did not indicate service of the notice of hearing upon the Independ-
ent, but-that organization acknowledged service at the hearing.
962 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Railroad Company, Evansville and Ohio Valley Railway Company,
and other interstate railroad carriers, which electricity is used by
said interstate railroad carriers to operate their trains and/or to
operate facilities necessary to the operation of their interstate trans-
portation system in interstate commerce.
The Company sells, electricity and heat to the United States Post
Office located in the City of Evansville, and other Federal, State, and
municipal authorities for the operation of airports, bridges; river
transportation, signals, tunnels and highways, which 'act as arteries
for the flow of interstate commerce to and from the State of Indiana.
It sells electricity to commercial radio stations WGBF and WEOA
in the city of Evansville, operating on a frequency of 630 and 1370
kilocycles, respectively, under and by virtue of licenses granted by the
Federal Communications Commission. It is the sole supplier of elec-
tric current in the City of Evansville and sells electricity to Chrysler
Corporation, Briggs Indiana Corporation, Swift Packing Company,
Servel, Inc., Sunbeam Electric Company, H. Fendrich, Inc., Mead
Johnson Company, and other corporations, partnerships, and indi-
viduals having their offices and plants located in the city of Evans-
ville, which are engaged in and constitute instrumentalities of inter-
state commerce, within the meaning of Section 2, subdivisions (6) and
(7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
The Company is the sole supplier of electrical current to the West-
ern Union Telegraph Company, Postal Telegraph Company, and the
Indiana Bell Telephone Company, located in Evansville, Indiana,
which companies produce or transmit, from and through Evansville,
Indiana, telephonic and telegraphic communications as an integral
part of communications between Evansville, Indiana, and other States
of the United States and foreign countries.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
, Independent Utility Workers Union, Local Number 1, Inc. is a
labor organization admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union No.
702, is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation
of Labor and admits to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The parties stipulated at the hearing that the Company will not
recognize either organization as the exclusive representative of all
the employees in the appropriate unit for the purpose -of, collective.
bargaining until one of, them is certified as, exclusive representative
by the Board.
SOUTHERN INDIANA GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY 963
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of
employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
I N_
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 parties are in accord with respect to the appropriate unit except
as to the inclusion of Paul Hartman, surveyor, and Oliver W. Sum-
mers, test engineer, whom the I. B. E. W. would exclude as engineers.2
We shall consider the duties of these men in relation to the duties of
others upon whose exclusion the parties are agreed.
Hartman is employed to assist in the surveying of proposed lines.
Besides the actual surveying involving the use of instruments, his
duties include the securing of rights of way and easements for build-
ing the lines. He works in a group of four men under Marvin Evans.
The other members of the group are electrical engineers, but they are
all presently engaged in doing civil engineering work. According to
the testimony of the superintendent of distribution of the Company,
Hartman may qualify, through experience, for a position such, as that
held by Evans, his immediate superior. The parties are agreed upon
the exclusion of Evans and the others in the group. Since Hartman's
work is closely related to that of employees upon whose exclusion the
parties are agreed, we find that he should be excluded from the unit.
Oliver W. Summers is the Company's only test engineer. His
duties consist of testing mechanical equipment such as meters, test-
ing water, and maintaining, combustion controls on the Company's
900-pound boiler. His work is manual and is largely laboratory and
field work, including special tests for efficiency. It requires particular
experience and training. We are of the opinion that the nature of
his duties sets him apart from the bulk of the employees whom the
parties desire to include in the unit, and likens him, in some degree;
to the engineers upon whose exclusion the parties are agreed. We
find that he should be excluded from the unit:
2 The position of the other parties in this regard is not entirely clear. It seems, how-
ever, that the Independent favors their inclusion in the unit. -
413597-42-vol. 28-62
'964 DECISIONS 'OF -NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We find that all production, transmission, and distribution em-
ployees of the Company, excluding supervisory, office, and clerical
employees, Hartman and Summers and all other employees on Board
Exhibit No. 5 in evidence, and all employees covered by the contract
between the Company and Amalgamated Association of Street &
Electric Railway and Motor Coach Employees of America, covering
bus operators and bus-garage employees, constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining and that said unit will insure
to the 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
We find that the question which has arisen concerning representa-
tion can best be resolved by, and we shall accordingly direct, an elec-
tion by secret ballot.
The parties agreed at the hearing that the' pay roll as of November
30, 1940, in evidence, should be used to determine eligibility to vote in
the election. Since such pay roll is reasonably current and its use
will facilitate determination of questions of eligibility which may
arise at the election, we approve this agreement. Accordingly, we
shall direct that all employees in the appropriate unit whose names
appear on this pay roll, including employees who did not work dur-
ing suchpay-roll period because they were ill, on vacation, or tem-
porarily laid off, and excluding those who have since quit or been
discharged for cause, shall be eligible to vote in the election.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Southern Indiana Gas and Electric Com-
pany, Evansville, Indiana, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and
Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All production, transmission, and distribution employees of the
'Company, excluding supervisory, office, and clerical employees, Hart-
man and Summers and all other employees on Board Exhibit No. 5
in evidence, and all employees covered by the contract between the
'Company and Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Rail-
way and Motor Coach Employees of America, covering bus operators
and bus-garage employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
.of the National Labor Relations Act.
- SOUTHERN INDIANA GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
965
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, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation ordered by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Southern Indiana Gas and Electric Company, Evansville, In-
diana, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as
possible but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this
Direction, under the direction and, supervision of the Regional Di-
rector for the'Eleventh 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 all production, transmis-
sion, and distribution employees of the Company, whose names ap-
pear on the Company's November 30, 1940, pay roll in evidence in-
cluding employees who did not work during such pay-roll period be-
cause they were ill, on vacation, or temporarily laid off, but exclud-
ing supervisory, office, and clerical employees, Hartman and Summers
and all other employees on Board Exhibit No. 5 in evidence, all
employees covered by the contract between the Company and Amal-
gamated Association of Street and Electric Railway and Motor Coach
Employees of America, covering bus operators and bus-garage em-
ployees, and those who have since quit or been discharged for cause,
to determine whether they desire- to be represented by Independent
Utility Workers Union, Local Number 1, Inc., or International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local No. 702, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor,.for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining, or by neither.
CHAIRMAN HARRY A. MILLIS took no part in the consideration of
the above Decision and Direction of Election.