34:13B-16 Definitions.

16. (a) The term "public utility" shall include autobusses; bridge companies; canal companies; electric light, heat and power companies; ferries and steamboats; gas companies; pipeline companies; railroads; sewer companies; steam and water power companies; street railways; telegraph and telephone companies; tunnel companies; water companies.

(b) The term "person" means any individual, firm, copartnership, corporation, company, association, or joint stock association; and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee, or personal representative thereof.

(c) The term "representative" means any person or persons, labor union, organization, or corporation designated either by a utility or group of utilities or by its or their employees to act or do for them.

(d) The term "collective bargaining" shall be understood to embody the philosophy of bargaining by employees through representatives of their own choosing, and shall include the right of representatives of employees' units to be consulted and to bargain upon the exceptional as well as the routine wages, hours, rules, and working conditions.

(e) The term "labor dispute" shall involve any controversy between employer and employees as to hours, wages, and working conditions. The fact that employees have amicable relations with their employers shall not preclude the existence of a dispute among them concerning their representative for collective bargaining purposes.

(f) The term "employee" shall refer to anyone in the service of another, actually engaged in or connected with the operation of any public utility throughout the State.

(g) The term "construction work on a public utility" shall, in connection with the construction of any public utility in the State, mean construction, reconstruction, installation, demolition, restoration, and alteration of facilities of the public utility. The term "construction work on a public utility" shall not be construed to include operational work, including flaggers, snow plowing, vegetation management in and around utility rights of way, mark outs, janitorial services, landscaping, leak surveyors, meter work, and miscellaneous repairs.

L.1946, c.38, s.16; amended 2007, c.343, s.1.