Virginia Electric & Power Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 14, 1942

45 N.L.R.B. 1313 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of VIRGINIA ELECTRIC & POWER COMPANY and AMAL-
GAMATED ASSOCIATION OF STREET, ELECTRIC RAILWAY & MOTOR COACH
EMPLOYEES OF AMERICA, A. F. OF L.
Case No. R-4571.-Decided December 14, 1942
Jurisdiction : transportation division local in character of an electric and gas
utility whose activities affected interstate commerce.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re-
fusal to recognize petitioner ; contract with employer-dominated union ordered
dissolved by Boaid, held no bar to present determination; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : separateness of unit confined to
bus and streetcar operators from i emainiug employees in transportation de-
partment of Company, held appropriate. i '
Mr. Earle K. Sliawe and Dlr. Albert P. Wheatley, for the Board.
Mr. T. Justin Moore,, Mr. Edmund S. Preston, and Mr. Francis V.
Lowden, Jr., of Richmond, Va., and Mr. R. E. Miller, of Norfolk, Va.,
for the Company.
Mr. O. D' Zimrbig by Mr. Eli L. Oliver, and Mr. Floyd •W. Kreisel,
of Washington, D. C., for the Amalgamated.
Mr. Louis Colcin, of counsel to the Board. ,
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition ` duly filed by Amalgamated Association of Street,
Electric Railway & Motor Coach Employees of America, A. F. of L.,
'herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce
had arisen concerning the representation of' employees of Virginia
Electric & Power Company, Richmond, Virginia, herein called the
Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appro-
priate -hearing upon due notice before Samuel H. Jaffee, Trial Ex-
aminer. Said hearing was held at Norfolk, Virgilia, on November
18, 19, and 20, 1942. At the commencement of the hearing the Trial
Examiner denied a motion of Independent Organization of Employees
of Virginia Electric'& Power Company, herein called the Independent,
to intervene. That ruling is hereby affirmed.' The Board, the Com-
On September 24, 1942, the Board ordered the Company, among other thines, to cease
and desist from dommatin or interfering «ith the administration of the Independent
45N L R B 183
49350S-43-vol 45--S 3 1313
1314 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
participated, and,were affordedparry, and the Amalgamated appeared,
full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-exaniine witnesses,
and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's
-rulings made at the hearing =are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed.
Oli December 1 and 2,1942, respectively, the Company and-the Amal-
gamated filed briefs which the Board has considered.
Upon the entire record in the case, the-Board makes the following:
FIN DINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Virginia Electric & Power Company was incorporated in the State
of Virginia on June 29, 1909, as the Virginia Railway and Power
Company. On October 27, 1925, it adopted its present name. The
Company is engaged in the business of generating, distributing, and
selling electric energy in eastern Virginia and northeastern North
Carolina. The area served comprises approximately 13,500 square
miles, has an estimated population of 966,000, and includes the cities
of Richmond, Norfolk, South Norfolk, Portsmouth, Petersburg, Fred-
ericksburg, Williamsburg, Hopewell, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach,
Virginia, and the cities of Roanoke Rapids, 'Weldon, Williamston,
Plymouth and Ahoskie, North Carolina. In addition, the Company
furnishes for resale electric-energy to 7 municipal systems serving a
population of 27,000 and to 7 other utility systems. The Company
is also engaged in the business of supplying illuminating gas to con-
suniers situated in Norfolk, South Norfolk, and Norfolk County, Vir-
ginia. The Company likewise operates street railway and bus lines
in Richmond and, Norfolk, bus lines in Portsmouth and Petersburg,
and interurban bus lines between Richmond and Petersburg.' Its
principal office is located at Richmond, Virginia, and it maintains 15
branch offices in various cities and towns in the States of Virginia and
North Carolina. As of October 1, 1942, the Company had a total of
3,887 employees.
The Company maintains 4 hydro-electric generating plants and
2 steam generating plants with a total capacity of approximately
254,000 kilowatt hours, 5 of which are in Virginia and 1 in North
Carolina, and operates approximately 261 substations.
The Company has transmission lines interconnections with the Vii-
grnia Public Service Company at Occoquan and Lee Hall, Virginia,
and to withdraw and withhold from the Independent all recognition as representative of
its employees and completely disestablish the Independent as such representative -Matter
of Virginia Electric d Power Compa ny and Ainalaamated Association of Street , E lectric
Ratlwari d Motor Coach Employees, A F of L ., 44 N. L . R B 404; enforced , December
9, 1942 (C C. A 4).
VIRGINIA ELECTRIC- & 'POWER -COMPANY ' 1315
and at, Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, and two transmission lines
interconnections with Carolina Power and Light Company in North
Carolina. During 1941 the electric energy generated and purchased
by the Company aggregated 1,032,616,853 kilowatt hours, of which-
the Company transmitted about 283,000,000 kilowatt hours from Vir-
ginia to North Carolina, and approximately 3,000,000 kilow att hours
from North Carolina to Virginia.
The transportation system. of the Company as of December 31, 1941,
included approximately 135 miles of 'equivalent single-track, 285 pas-
senger streetcars and 397 busses. The Company's busses and street-
cars serve the United 'States Naval Operating Base in Norfolk and
the United States Navy Yard in Portsmouth.
As of December 31, 1941, the Company maintained at Norfolk, Vir-
ginia, 3 gas generating units with a total rated generated capacity,
of 11,000,000 cubic feet per day, a holder capacity of 5,273,000 cubic
feet and 380 miles of high and low pressure gas mains. During 1941;
approximately _2,036,890 kilowatt hours of power generated by the
electric department were used in the manufacturing of gas.
For the operation of its electric, transportation, and gas systems
in 1941 the Company purchased considerable amounts of materials
coining from points outside the State of Virginia. Approximately
91 percent of the coal used for the generation of electric energy origi-
nated outside Virginia . About 2,954 ,079 gallons of gasoline consumed
by the busses of the Company were purchased in the State of Virginia
but originated in sources outside the State. To produce the gas dis-
tributed by it, the Company consumed 13,755 tons of coal, all of which
was_ purchased in West Virginia, approximately 6,000 tons of coke,
which were shipped to the Company through the State of West Vir-
ginia, although purchased in Virginia, and 4,256 ,gallons of oil pur-
chased in Virginia but originating in States other than Virginia.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Amalgamated Association of Street , Electric Railway & Motor
Coach Employees of Anierica is a labor organization affiliated with
the American Federation of Labor, admitting to membership em-
ployees of the Company.
111. TIIE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On August 19, 1942, the Union requested the Company to recognize
it as exclusive bargaining representative for certain of the Company's
employees. The Company refused this request stating that it was
operating under a contract with the Independent . The contract be
tween the Independent and the Company expired on December 1, 1942.
1316 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
For this reason, and since the Independent has been found to be an
organization dominated by the Company,' the contract does not con-
stitute a bar to a present determination of representatives. A state-
ment of the Regional Director, introduced into evidence at the hearing,
indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of employees
in,the unit hereinafter found 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 National Labor
Relations Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union contends that all streetcar and bus operators of the Com-
pany at Richmond, Petersburg, Norfolk, and Portsmouth, including
the bus operators on the interurban' route between Richmond and
Petersburg, but excluding streetcar and bus dispatchers, inspectors
and supervisors, constitute a single appropriate unit. The Company
contends that all its employees, which would embrace its electric, gas,
and transportation departments, constitute a single unit, but that in
any event no unit sinaller than its entire transportation department
should be found appropriate.
The unit sought by the Union embraces all streetcar and bus opera-
tors employed by the Company. None of the employees in the electric
or gas departments of the Company are eligible to membership in the
Union and the record indicates that no bona fide labor organization
is claiming to represent any such employees either on a company-wide
or department-wide basis. Although employees of the transportation
department other than streetcar and bus operators are eligible to mem-
bership, in the Union, the record discloses that the Union has a sub-
stantial showing of representation only among the streetcar and bus
operators. There is no interchange of employees between the streetcar
and bus operators-and the remaining employees of the transportation
department, and the Company maintains separate seniority lists for
its'streetcar and bus operators and for its remaining employees. The
drk performed by the streetcar and bus operators and the remaining
employees of the transportation department is dissimilar and the Coin-
pany requires different entrance standards for the'two groups. The
streetcar and bus operators constitute a distinctly identifiable group,
and collective bargaining agreements covering,such employees only are
not unusual. , As stated above, no other bona fide labor organization
is claiming to represent the employees of the transportation depart-
2 See footnote 1.
? The ,Regional Director reported 'that the Union presented 579 authorization cards
bearing apparently genuine signatures of persons whose names appear on the Company's
pay Loll of October 5, 1942. There are approximately 1,024 employees in the unit here-
inafter found to be appropriate.
VIRGINIA ELECTRIC & POWER COMPANY 1317
mcut on a department-wide basis, nor is there any evidence of bona
fide exclusive bargaining history between the Company and any labor
organization. Under all the circumstances, we conclude that a unit
limited to bus and streetcar operators of the Company is appropriate.
We find that all bus and streetcar operators of the Company in
Richmond, Petersburg, Norfolk, and Portsmouth, including the bus
operators on the interurban route between Richmond and Petersburg,
but excluding streetcar and bus dispatchers, inspectors and super-
visors, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by means of an election by secret ballot among
the employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding 1 the date of the Direction of
Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in
the Direction. '
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue 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 Article III, Section 9, of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Virginia Electric
& Power Company, Richmond, Virginia, an election by secret ballot
shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30)
days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Fifth Region, acting in this
matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject
to Article III, Section 10, of said Rules and Regulations, among the
employees in the uni£ found appropriate in Section IV, above, who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
.date of this Direction, including any such employees who did not
work during said 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 by Amalgamated Association of Street, Electric Railway
& Motor Coach Employees of America, affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, for the purposes of collective bargaining.