The United Illuminating Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 1, 1942

42 N.L.R.B. 1 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of THE UNITED ILLUMINATING COMPANY and UNITED
ELECTRICAL EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION OF CONNECTICUT
Case No R-3930 -Decided July 1,19492
Jurisdiction : electric utility industry ,
Investigation and Certification of Representatives ,, existence of question re-
fusal to accord petitioner recognition, election necessary
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees, including the as-
sistant dispatcher, but excluding executives, supervisory employees, watch
engineers, line foremen, guards, police, watchmen, technical employees, confi-
dential employees, pii\ate secretaries, persons having access to corporate books
and pay rolls, dispatchers, and receptionists diiect]y connected with executive
offices, stipulation as to
Wig gin c Dana, by Mr Arnon D Thomas and Mr. John Q. Tilson,
Jr, of New Haven, Conn, for the Company
Mr Herman A. Cooper and Mr Moss K Schenck, of New York
City, for the Union
Mr Charles W Schneider, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by United Electrical Employees Associa-
tion of Connecticut, herein called the Union, alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the iepresentation of em-
ployees of The United Illuminating Company, New Haven, Connecti-
cut, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board
provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before James
C Paradise, Trial Examiner Said hearing was held at New Haven,
Connecticut, on June 8, 1942 The Company and the Uriion appeared
and participated 1, All parties were afforded full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evi-
dence beating on the issues The Trial Examiner's rulings made at
the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following
r International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (AFL) was served with notice of the
hearing but did not appear The Congress of Industrial Organizations submitted no evi-
dence of representation
42N L R B,No 1 '
472814-42-vol 42-1 1
2 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
FINDINGS OF FACT
I THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The United Illuminating Company is a Connecticut corporation
engaged in the generation, sale, and distribution of electrical energy
in the towns of New Haven, East Haven, North Haven, West Haven,
Hamden, Woodbridge, Orange, North Branford, Milford, Bridge-
port, Fairfield, Stratford, Easton, and Trumbull, all in the State of
- Connecticut. The Company is the sole distributor of electricity in
the above-described area, except in a portion of the town of North
Branford, and except for electricity furnished to the New York, New
Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company in the town of Milford
The principal raw materials and merchandise used by the Company -
mIi connection with its operations are coal, copper, electrical appli-
ances and devices, line materials, steel wile, lumber, cable, and glass
and porcelain insulation During 1941 the Company purchased for
use in its operations materials and merchandise valued- at appi oxi-
mately $3,000,000, over 50 percent of whic,u was shipped to the
Company from points outside the State of Connecticut During
the same period the Company sold a total of 539,546,547 kilowatt
hours of electrical energy valued at $11,411,442 01 The Company
is a source of electrical energy for numerous mayor industrial firms
engaged in commerce in the area which the Company serves, and
for a number of instrumentalities- of commerce, such as iaihoads,
steamship lines, airports, and radio stations
The Company contends that it is not engaged in conunei ce within
the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act We find, however,
that the operations of the Company have a close, intimate, and
substantial relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several
States 2 -.
II THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Electrical Employees Association of Connecticut is an
unaffiliated labor organization admitting to membership employees
of the Company
III THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On November 10, 1941, the Union requested the Company to iecog-
nize it as the collective bargaining representative- of the Company's
employees. The Company declined to recognize the Union as such
representative and referred-it to the Board A report of the Regional
Director introduced into evidence at the hearing indicates that the
2 See Consolidated Edison Co v N L R B, 305 U 8 197
THE UNITED ILLUMINATING COMPANY c3
Union represents a substantial number of employees in the unit
which we hereinafter find to be appropriate 3
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
We find, in accordance with a stipulation of the parties, that all
employees of the Company, Including the assistant dispatcher, but
excluding executives, supervisoiy employees, watch engineers, line
foremen, guards, police, watchmen, technical employees, confidential
employees, private secertaries and persons having access to corpo-
rate books_and pay rolls, dispatchers, and receptionists directly con-
nected with executive offices, constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the Act.
V THE DE'EER111INATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall diiect that the question concerning iepiesentation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the
employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the
pay-roll period nnmediately preceding the date of the Direction of
Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth
in the Direction
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By vii tue 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 Ai tide III, Sections 8 and 9, of National
Labor Relations Boaid Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
it is heieby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the
Board to ascertain iepresentatives for the purposes of collective
bargaining with The United Illuminating Company, New Haven,
Connecticut, an election by seciet ballot shall be conducted as early
as possible, but not latei than thirty (30) days fiom the date of this
Direction of Election, under the direction and supervision of the
Regional Diiectoi for the Second Region, acting in this matter as
agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article
"The Union submitted to the Regional Director 464 application for membership cards
bearing apparently genuine original signatures Of these, 78 were undated, 362 varn-
ously dated from January to December 1941, and 24 dated from January to March
1942 Three hundred and ninety-five of the signatures appear on the Company's pay
roll of February 21, 1942, listing 669 employees in the appropriate unit
4 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS =' BOARD
III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees
of the Company in the unit found to be appropriate in Section IV,
above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including employees
who did not work during such pay-roll period because they were
ill or on vacation or in the active military service or training of
the United States, or temporarily laid off, but excluding any who
have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or
not they desire to be represented for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing by United Electrical Employees Association of Connecticut.