In the case of Virginia Electric & Power Co. v. National Labor Relations Board, 1942, the U.S Supreme Court ruled in favor of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The dispute arose when Virginia Electric & Power Company refused to bargain with a union that had been elected by its employees as their representative for collective bargaining purposes. The company argued that it was not obliged to negotiate with this particular union because there were other unions within its workforce and thus no single one could claim majority representation. However, NLRB ordered the company to recognize and negotiate with this specific union since it represented a significant number of employees in an appropriate unit for collective bargaining under Section 9(b) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). On appeal, the Supreme Court upheld NLRB's decision stating that NLRA does not require all employees or even a majority thereof be represented by one labor organization but allows for multiple units based on craft, department or plant if such division promotes effective dealings and stability in labor relations.

In the dissenting opinion for Virginia Electric & Power Co. v. National Labor Relations Board, Justice Frankfurter disagreed with the majority's interpretation of Section 2(3) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). He argued that Congress did not intend to include supervisors within its definition of "employees" under this act, as they are fundamentally different from rank-and-file workers in terms of their responsibilities and interests. The justice believed that including supervisors would create a conflict between management and labor, which could undermine collective bargaining efforts. Furthermore, he pointed out that other sections of NLRA explicitly distinguished between employees and supervisors or managers. Therefore, he concluded that it was inconsistent to interpret Section 2(3) differently without clear evidence showing Congressional intent to do so.