The Ohio Fuel Gas Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 25, 1956

115 N.L.R.B. 1132 (N.L.R.B. 1956)

1132 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Ohio Fuel Gas Company and International Chemical Work-
ers Union, AFL-CIO,' Petitioner. Case No. 9-RC-2658. April
25,1956
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Orville E. Andrews, a hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. We find that no question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees -of the Employer, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the
following reasons :
The Petitioner seeks a unit limited to the employees in the West Ohio
District of the western division of the pipelines subdepartment of the
Employer's transmission department, excluding the district and field
office clerks, the district foreman, the line foremen, and all other super-
visors as defined in the Act. The Employer contends that this unit is
inappropriate.
The Employer is engaged in the production, transmission, and dis-
tribution of natural gas within the State of Ohio. It has three operat-
ing departments, namely, production and storage, transmission, and
distribution. The transmission department is responsible for the
transportation of gas from wells operated by the production and stor-
age department, as well as from other sources, through high-pressure
pipelines to the corporate limits of towns. From that point the gas is
delivered to the Employer's customers at reduced pressure by the
distribution department. The transmission department is divided into
four subdepartments, namely, compressor, gas control, measurement,
and pipelines. The special function of the pipelines subdepartment is
to operate and maintain the high-pressure lines. It is divided geo;
graphically into a southeastern division, a northeastern division, and a
western division. The West Ohio District is one of several districts in
the western division, and it is the 18 physical employees in this district
who are sought by the Petitioner.'
The employees in the West Ohio District are under the separate
immediate supervision of the district foreman, who reports to the
i The AFL and CIO having merged, we are modifying the designation of the Petitioner
accordingly
2 These employees are classified as welders, line repairmen, truckdrivers, and control
station operators
115 NLRB No. 177.
THE OHIO FUEL GAS COMPANY 1133
superintendent of the, western division of the pipelines subdepartment,
who is responsible in turn to the general superintendent of that sub-
department. He, in turn, is subordinate to the assistant manager and
manager of the transmission department. The West Ohio District is
not coterminous with any particular pipeline; its boundaries are de-
termined solely by the number of miles of pipe contained therein.
Employees in the unit sought may receive instructions directly by
radio from persons other than their immediate supervisor. Such in-
structions may come from the assistant manager of the transmission de-
partment or from the superintendent of pipelines, or, when it is neces-
sary to increase the supply of gas in the lines to maintain minimum
pressure , from the gas control subdepartment. There is frequent
contact, cooperation, and interchange between employees in the West
Ohio District and other employees. Thus, welders from the West Ohio
District do inspection work throughout the State, and employees from
other districts were at the time of the hearing assisting the West Ohio
District in carrying out a program of leak repair. While some perma-
nent transfers occur, there was no evidence as to the frequency thereof.
The district foreman initiates personnel actions within his district,
subject to the approval of higher management. He may adjust griev-
ances, subject to review, upon appeal, by his superiors. Labor rela-
tions policies for all the Employer's employees are determined by the
employee relations director.
The instant unit was found appropriate by the Board in a case de-
cided in October 1952.3 However, in December 1952, the Board found
inappropriate a unit of employees at the Employer's McMahon com-
pressor station, which was 1 of 12 relatively similar units within the
Employer's northern compressor division 4 The Board there referred
to its policy in favor of broad units in public utilities, and stated that
the proposed unit, which is comparable to the one here sought, did
not "conform to any major organizational subdivision of the
Employer." B
We deem the October 1952 decision to have been overruled, in effect,
by the later case , and we find in agreement with that case that, as the
Employer is a public utility and the instant unit does not conform to
any major subdivision of the Employer, it is not appropriate for pur-
poses of collective bargaining. We will, accordingly, dismiss the
petition.
[The Board dismissed the petition.]
3 Case No. 9-RC-1638 ( not.reported!in printed volumes,of'Board Decisions and-Orders).
The petitioner in that case failed to receive a majority of the votes cast in the election
directed by the Board . There has been no collective bargaining for the employees in the
unit
4 That division was a segment of the compressor subdepartment of the transmission
department
5 8-RC-1789 ( not reported in printed volumes of Board Decisions and Orders). Accord :
Tennessee Gas Transmission Co., 96 NLRB 1385. .