Public Case No. R 1975-107
(Cross Reference R 1975-106)International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 95 and Service & Hospital Employees, Local 50 v.
City of Monett, Missouri
IBEW, Local 95 filed a petition for all employees within the Electrical Department of the City of Monett, excluding managerial, administrative, clerical, and supervisory employees. Service & Hospital Employees, Local 50 filed a second petition asking for employees in the Street, Park, Sanitary, and Waste Departments, but excluding clerical, fire, police and electrical departments employees. The City maintained that the appropriate unit should be citywide and include all the positions sought by the two (2) unions, as well as employees from the Fire Department and the Telephone Service Operators and Dispatchers.
The Board declined IBEW’s request to sever the electrical employees from the other city employees, despite the electrical workers’ special training and the union’s specialty in representing electrical workers. The Board said that the severance of a craft unit should depend on all relevant factors, and no rigid rules may be set. Here, the Board found that the separate community of interest shared by the electrical workers had been submerged in the broader community of interest.
The Board found that it was impossible to make a fair and equitable determination of the community of interest of the clerical employees and Telephone Dispatchers based on the evidence in the transcript. The Board, therefore, excluded them from the unit. The Board found substantial evidence to indicate that Fire Fighters did not share a community of interest with other employees, and therefore excluded them. The Board also excluded the secretary of the Utility Department as confidential.
The Board certified the unit to include all non-supervisory labor and trade employees in the Street, Park, Sanitation, and Waste Departments, excluding supervisors and clerical employees, Dispatchers, Fire Fighters, and police.
Date Issued:April 16, 1976