Tennessee Electric Power Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 4, 1939

11 N.L.R.B. 947 (N.L.R.B. 1939)

In the Matter of TENNESSEE ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY and INTER-
NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS
Case No. R-667
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND
ORDER
March 4, 1939
In the above-entitled proceedings the National Labor Relations
Board, herein called the Board, issued on May 5, 1938, a Decision and
Direction of Election,' on May 21, 1938, an Amendment to Decision
and Direction of Election,2 and on May 28, 1938, a Second Amend-
ment to Decision and Direction of Election.3 The Direction of Elec-
tion, as amended, provided that an election by secret ballot be con-
ducted within forty (40) days from the date of the Direction, under
the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Tenth
Region, among all employees of Tennessee Electric Power Company,
Chattanooga, Tennessee, herein called the Company, throughout the
Company's electrical utility system in Tennessee and Georgia, in-
cluding Hales Bar and South Pittsburgh, and all employees in the
businesses of the Company other than the electrical utility system
who engaged in, or devoted all or a substantial amount of their time
either regularly or at definite periods during the year to, the produc-
tion, transmission, or distribution of electricity, or the operation, con-
struction, and maintenance incident thereto, or electrical work, in
general, whose names appeared on the pay-roll list filed by the Com-
pany with the Board on February 25, 1938, excluding meter readers,
bill deliverers, collectors, civil engineers and draftsmen, surveyors,
nurses, clerical employees of all types, office workers, janitors and
building-service employees, watchmen, storeroom workers, and sales-
men, if any, provided, that any of these employees thus excluded who
devoted a substantial amount of time as aforesaid were included, and
excluding also supervisory employees of the rank of general fore-
man and higher, as well as foremen and superintendents who had a
7 N. L., R. B. 24.
2 7 N L. R. B. 37.
87N L. R. B. 37.
11 N. L. R. B., No. 77.
947
948 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
right to hire and discharge, or to discharge, temporary employees,
and employees listed in said list as "No Longer Employed," or who
had since October 31, 1937, quit or been discharged for cause, to de-
termine whether or not they desired to be represented by Inter-
national Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, herein called the Brotherhood, for
the purposes of collective bargaining.
Pursuant to the Decision and Direction of Election, as amended,
an election by secret ballot was conducted on June 13, 14, and 15, 1938,
under the direction and supervision of Charles N. Feidelson, the
Regional Director for the Tenth Region (Atlanta, Georgia). Full
opportunity was accorded to all parties to the election to participate
therein and to make challenges. Thereafter, on June 20, 1938, the
Regional Director, acting pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of Na-
tional Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as
amended, herein called the Rules and Regulations, issued and served
upon the parties on June 22, 1938, an Intermediate Report Upon
Secret Ballot. No objections or exceptions to the Intermediate Report
were filed by any of the parties.
As to the results of the secret ballot, the Regional Director reported
as follows :
Total number eligible to vote------------------------------- 1362
Total number of ballots cast------------------------------- 1186
Total number of ballots cast for International Brotherhood
of Electrical Workers, affiliated with American Federation
of Labor----------------------------------------------- 514
Total number of ballots cast against International Brother-
hood of Electrical Workers, affiliated with American Feder-
ation of Labor------------------------------------------- 571
Total number of challenged ballots-------------------------- 98
Total number of void ballots------------------------------ 2
Total number of blank ballots ----------------------------- 1
On June 25, 1938, the Brotherhood lodged with the Board a peti-
tion to set aside the election, which petition is hereby ordered filed
instanter, alleging, in substance, that the conduct of the election was
in certain particulars not in accordance with the Decision and the
Rules and Regulations, and praying that the election be set aside
and a new one held within thirty (30) days. Thereafter the Board
directed the Regional Director to make an investigation of the mat-
ters set forth in said petition. The Regional Director has made such
investigation and has submitted to the Board his report thereon
showing that no substantial or material issue with respect to the
conduct of the ballot is raised by the said petition. The Board ap-
proves the report of the Regional Director and finds that the peti-
tion raises no substantial or material issue with respect to the con-
duct of the ballot. Said petition is hereby denied.
TENNESSEE ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY ET AL. 949
The results of the secret ballot show that the Brotherhood received
514 votes out of the 1,183 counted as valid. The Regional Director
reported to the Board that 79 of the 98 challenged ballots were chal-
lenged by the Brotherhood itself. For the purposes hereof, we shall
acquiesce in the position of the Brotherhood, as taken in its chal-
lenges, and shall assume that the 79 ballots were improper and should
not be counted.4 Accordingly the total number of ballots properly
cast would be 1,104, and assuming further that all the remaining
challenged ballots, viz, 19, were cast for the Brotherhood, the Broth-
erhood still would not have received, and did not receive a majority
of the total number of votes here considered as validly cast. We,
therefore, find that no collective bargaining representative has been
designated by a majority of the employees of the Company in an
appropriate unit, and will order that the petition for investigation
and certification of representatives of employees of the Company
be dismissed.
ORDER
By virtue of Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act,
49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Sections 8 and 9, of Na-
tional Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as
amended,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition for investigation and certifi-
cation of representatives of employees of Tennessee Electric Power
Company, Chattanooga, Tennessee, filed by International Brother-
hood of Electrical Workers, be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
MR. DONALD WAKEFIELD SMITH took no part in the consideration
of the above Supplemental Decision and Order.
4 Cf. Matter of Waggoner Refining Company , Inc., and W. T. Waggoner Estate and
International Association of Oil Field, Gas Well and Refinery Workers of America,
8 N. L. R . B. 789, p. 790 ; Elliott Bay Lumber Company, Elliott Bay Mill Company and
Plywood and Veneer Workers Union, Local No. 26, 9 N. L. R. B. 3.
164275-39-vol. xi-61