Texas Public Service Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 18, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 372 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of TEXAS PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY, PORT ARTHUR
DIVISION, EMPLOYER and UTILITY WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA,
C. I. 0., PETITIONER
Case No. 16-RC-147.-Decided November 18, 1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. 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-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Texas Public Service Company is composed of three divi-
sions located in Galveston, Austin, and Port Arthur, Texas. This
proceeding concerns only the Port Arthur Division. At Port Arthur,
the Employer is engaged in the distribution of natural gas and the
sale of gas appliances. It serves the cities of Port Arthur, Port
Neches, and Nederland, and several smaller towns and unincorporated
areas, all in the State of Texas. During 1947, the Employer pur-
chased natural gas valued at $193,849, all within the State of Texas,
and materials and appliances valued at $368,441, of which $238,956
represented purchases made outside Texas. For the same period, the
Employer's sales, all made within the State amounted to $1,277,546.
For the year 1947, the number of the Employer's customers aver-
aged 20,600, of whom 19,481 were residential consumers, 1,105 com-
mercial consumers, 6 industrial consumers, and 8 public authority
consumers. The commercial consumers were principally stores, hotels,
and doctors' offices. The public authority consumers were schools, the
post office, and the like. Among the industrial consumers was the Gulf
States Utilities Company, which we have heretofore found to be en-
gaged in interstate commerce.' Contrary to the contention of the
*Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Gray.
Matter o f Gulf States Utilities Co, 42 N. L. R. B. 988.
80 N. L. R.. B., No. 81. '
372
TEXAS PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY 373
Employer, we find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act.
2. The labor organization named below claims to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. We find, in accord with the agreement of the parties, that the
following employees of the Employer constitute a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9
(b) of the Act.
All employees engaged in gas distribution, maintenance, installa-
tion, and service work in the Port Arthur Division of the Texas Public
Service Company, excluding all technical and professional em-
ployees, the distribution engineer, all general office employees (includ-
ing meter readers, bill deliverer, janitor-mail clerk, sales department
employees, and clerical employees), all dispatchers and clerks em-
ployed in the warehouse (including chief dispatch clerk, night dis-
patch clerk, assistant dispatch clerk, and engineer clerk), and all su-
pervisors (including construction labor foreman, meter regulator
foreman, general construction foreman, construction foreman and
welder, heating and air-conditioning foreman, storekeeper, and gen-
eral service foreman).
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election 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 su-
pervision of the Regional Director for the Sixteenth Region, and sub-
ject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the employees
in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
date of this Direction, 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
discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to
the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who
are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they
desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by
Utility Workers Union of America, C. I. O.