Two States Telephone Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 18, 1950

90 N.L.R.B. 2008 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of Two STATES TELEPHONE COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
COMMUNICATIONS WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 16-RC---530.-Decided August 18, 1950
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Benjamin E. Cook, hearing
officer. 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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman Herzog and Member Reynolds and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The Petitioner and the Intervenor, Local Unions Nos. B-943 and
B-1506, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL, are
labor organizations claiming to represent certain employees of the
Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit; the determination of representatives:
The Employer is a Texas corporation engaged in the business of
receiving and transmitting telephone messages and communications
and providing local toll and long distance service.. Its general office is
at Dallas, Texas. It maintains telephone exchanges at Texarkana,
in Texas and Arkansas, and at Annona, Clarksville, Jacksonville, Sul-
phur Springs, and New Summerfield, all in Texas. There are em-
ployees at four of the exchanges; the other two are unattended dial
exchanges. The communications network includes approximately
14,500 telephone stations.
At the time of the hearing, all the stock of the corporation was owned
by, and all its assets had been transferred to, the Southwestern Asso-
ciated Telephone Company, herein called Southwestern, a subsidiary
90 NLRB No. 287.
2008
TWO (STATES TELEPHONE COMPANY 2009
of the General Telephone Company of New York; and proceedings
had been instituted for the dissolution of the Employer and the con-
solidation of its facilities with those of Southwestern. It was con-
templated that Southwestern would continue to operate the Employ-
er's exchanges with the Employer's employees. Since the hearing,
counsel for the Employer has notified the Board that these plans have
been consummated.
The Petitioner seeks primarily a unit of all nonsupervisory employ-
ees of the Employer, excluding plant employees whom it already
represents. If the Board does not deem such a unit appropriate, the
Petitioner requests either (1) a unit of all nonsupervisory employees
of the Employer, including plant employees, or (2) a system-wide unit
of nonsupervisory employees of the Southwestern Associated Tele-
phone Company, including employees of the Employer. The Em-
ployer contends that a company-wide unit is appropriate, and would
include therein either all nonsupervisory employees in its commercial,
traffic, accounting, and plant departments, or all such employees ex-
cept those in the plant department. The Intervenor seeks separate
units confined to employees of single exchanges of the Employer.
The parties agree that the individuals in the classifications listed in
Appendix A, attached hereto, are supervisors within the meaning of
the Act, and should therefore be excluded from the unit. They dis-
agree, however, as to the inclusion or exclusion of employees in certain
classifications, discussed below.
The Employer's operations are carried on in four departments-
traffic, commercial, accounting, and plant. The traffic department em-
ployees operate the switchboard equipment; the commercial depart-
ment employees act as the Employer's business representatives, col-
lecting accounts and making records of telephone service changes ;
the accounting department employees keep the accounting records ;
and the plant department employees install and maintain the equip-
ment. The heads of all four departments are located in the Employer's
general office at Dallas, where the Employer's policies are determined.
The skills and duties of the employees are substantially the same at
all the exchanges ; and employees are sometimes transferred from one
exchange to another. All the departments collaborate to furnish ef-
ficient telephone service to the Employer's subscribers.
The Petitioner and the Employer are currently operating under a
contract covering all plant employees of the Employer.' The Inter-
venor and the Employer have two current contracts, covering, re-
'The contract was executed by Southwestern Division 20, Communications workers of
America.
2010 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
spectively, traffic employees at Texarkana and Jacksonville 2 All bar-
gaining has been the result of voluntary recognition. Petitioner's Di-
vision No. 20 is the certified bargaining representative of the traffic
and commercial department employees of Southwestern 3
From the above facts, and on the record as a whole, it is clear that
the Employer's operations, like those of most telephone companies,
are highly integrated and interdependent, that there exists similarity
of tasks and employment conditions throughout its system, and that
there is centralized control of personnel policies. We have frequently
held that in public utilities, where these factors are present, system-
wide units are the most appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining, even in the face of a history of collective bargaining on a less
comprehensive basis.4 Accordingly, notwithstanding the fact that
the Employer has in the past recognized and bargained with the Inter-
venor as the representative of traffic employees at two of its exchanges,
we reject the Intervenor's contention that such single-exchange units
are appropriate.
On the other hand, the unit proposed by the Petitioner-employees
in the Employer's accounting, traffic, and commercial departments-
corresponds generally with the system-wide unit previously found
appropriate for employees of Southwestern. Neither the appro-
priateness of this established unit nor the Petitioner's representative
status therein is cl3allenged'in this proceeding. In view of the merger
of the operations of the Employer with those of Southwestern, we
believe that the employees whom the Petitioner now seeks to represent
may properly form part of the established unit at Southwestern, and
that they should be permitted an opportunity, by means of an elec-
tion, to express their desires with respect to representation as part of
such unit. As plant employees were not included in the unit at South-
2 The Texarkana contract was executed by Local Union #B-943 of the International
Brotherhood of Electrical workers ; the Jacksonville contract , by Local Union #B-1506
of-the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
8 Southwestern Associated Telephone Company and Prescott Arkansas Telephone Cor-
poration, 76 NLRB 1105 , decided April 2, 1948 ; certification issued May 19, 1948. The
unit found appropriate was : All telephone operating and clerical employees in the traffic
and commercial departments at the various exchanges of Southwestern Associated Tele-
phone Company and Prescott Arkansas Corporation , and in their general offices at Lubbock,
Texas, including operators, part-time operators , occasional operators , cashiers , assistant
cashiers, district clerks, and district stenographer -cashiers, but excluding agents, operators
and all employees at agency exchanges , professional employees , guards, chief operators,
evening chief operators , operator -cashiers , and other supervisors . The Board noted that
since September 1941, the petitioner therein, the predecessor of the Petitioner in the
instant proceeding , had represented all plant construction and maintenance employees of
Southwestern.
& New England Telephone and Telegraph Company, 90 NLRB 639; The Ohio Bell
Telephone Co., 87 NLRB 1555; Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company, 85 NLRB 713,
Southwestern Associated Telephone Company and Prescott Arkansas Telephone Corpora,
tion, supra.
TWO STATES TELEPHONE COMPANY 2011
western, and as the employees in the Employer's plant department are
already represented, we shall not include them in the voting group."
There remains for consideration the question of including or exclud-
ing employees in the following classifications, with respect to which
the parties are in disagreement .6
(1) Secretary to the district manager at Texarkana: Although there
was no employee in this classification at the time of the hearing, the
Employer had set up the job and expected to fill it within 30 days.
The secretary will perform stenographic and clerical duties under the
direct supervision of the district manager. The Employer would
exclude her from the unit as a confidential employee. The Petitioner
contends that the record fails to show that she will have access to con-
fidential data pertaining to general labor relations.
The district manager does not participate directly in bargaining
negotiations. However, it appears that he is consulted by the Em-
ployer's personnel manager as to the Employer's over-all labor rela-
tions policies; and his secretary will have access to correspondence and
other material relating to such matters. We therefore find that she is
a confidential employee, within our definition of that term .7 Accord-
ingly, we shall exclude her from the voting group.
(2) Beginners: The Employer urges the exclusion of beginners, or,
in the alternative, the exclusion, for a minimum of 90 days, of begin-
ners in the traffic department without previous experience. The
Petitioner and the Intervenor would include these employees. ,
In support of its position, the Employer contends that beginners
are really "learners" 8 and are on probation for a period of 6 months,
and that there is a larger turnover during this period than any other
time. It also relies on the fact that beginners without previous experi-
ence are specifically excluded, for a period of 90 days, from the cover-
age of the contracts between the Employer and the Intervenor. The
record shows, however, that beginners are usually hired with a view
to their becoming permanent employees; that they have no fixed period
of instruction ; and that their conditions of employment, with some
5 Although the Intervenor , the only other labor organization involved herein , apparently
desires to go on the ballot in any election ordered by the Board , it does not specifically
seek to represent plant employees , nor is there any showing that it represents any employees
in this group.
9 The parties also disagree as to whether the construction foreman at Texarkana is a
supervisor within the meaning of the Act. As he is employed in the plant department,
and as we have excluded plant employees from the voting group, we find it unnecessary
to resolve this issue.
' Inter-Mountain Telephone Company, 79 NLRB 715.
According to the Employer 's personnel manager , it takes 6 months, on the average,
for an inexperienced operator to become proficient enough to be left to handle an assignment
on the switchboard alone.
2012 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
minor exceptions,° are the same as those of the other employees. In
view of these circumstances, and because they can normally anticipate
steady employment, we believe that they have a community of interest
with the other employees.10 Accordingly, we shall include them in the
voting group.
We shall direct an election in the following voting group."' If a
majority of the employees in the voting group cast their ballots for
the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to be a
part of the existing unit of telephone operating and clerical employees
of the Southwestern Associated Telephone Company, and the Peti-
tioner may bargain for such employees as part of this unit.
Voting Group
All. nonsupervisory employees of the Employer in its traffic, com-
mercial, and accounting departments, including beginners, but exclud-
ing the secretary to the district manager at Texarkana and all super-
visors as defined in the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 12
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 super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was
heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in
the voting group described in paragraph numbered 4, above, who
were employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the
date of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not
work during said payroll 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 rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining,
B For the first 6 months of their employment , employees are not covered by group life
insurance and have no sick benefits ; they receive no vacation for the first year.
10 Del Rio & Winter Garden Telephone Company, 85 NLRB 199.
The Employer , in its brief , requests that balloting be by mail . As the Regional
Director is authorized to conduct elections in such manner as he deems advisable and
expedient under the circumstances presented , we shall leave the determination of the
method to be employed in the conduct of the instant election to the Regional Director's
discretion . Del Rio & Winter Garden Telephone Company, 85 NLRB 199.
12 Any participant in the election may, upon its prompt request to, and approval thereof
. by, the Regional Director , have its name removed from the ballot.
TWO STATES TELEPHONE COMPANY
by Communications Workers of America, CIO, or by Local Unions
Nos. B-943 and B-1506, International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers, AFL, or by neither.
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APPENDIX A
Supervisors in traffic,
Texarkana:
District Manager.
commercial, and accounting departments
Assistant Secretary and Assist-
ant Treasurer.
Cashier.
Chief Operator.
Night Chief Operator.
Evening Chief Operator.
Assistant Chief Operator.
Chief Operator-Cashier.
Evening Chief Operator.
Jacksonville :
Chief Operator.
Evening Chief Operator.
Assistant Chief Operator.
Sulphur Springs:
Chief Operator-Cashier.
Evening Chief Operator.
Clarksville :