Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

In the Matter of PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY and INTERNA- TIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS In the Matter Of PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY and INTERNA- TIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS In the Matter Of PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY and INTERNA- TIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS In the Matter of PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY and INTERNA- TIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS In the Matter Of PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC COMPANY and UTILITY WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE (CIO) In the Matter of PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC COMPANY and UTILITY WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE (CIO) In the Matter Of PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC COMPANY and UTILITY WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE (CIO) Cases Nos. R-4405 thru R-4-01, respectively.--Decided November 11, 1942 Jurisdiction : electric and gas utility industry. Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : re- fusal to grant recognition to any union until certified by the Board; elections necessai y. Units Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : separate units comprising outside employees in 7 of Company's 13 geographical divisions with specified inclusions and exclusions. Mr. T. J. Straub, Mr. J. Paul St. Sure, and Miss Anne McDonald, of San Francisco, Calif., for the Company. Mr. Charles J. Janigian and Mr. George A. Mulkey, of San Fran- cisco, Calif., for the I. B. E. W. Gladstein, Grossman, Margolis & Sawyer, by Mr. BertramEdises, of San Francisco, Calif., for the U. W. O. C. Mrs., Augusta Spaulding, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon petitions duly filed by International Brotherhood of Elec- trical Workers, herein called the I. B. E. W., and by Utility Workers 45N.L R.B,No 78 - 536 PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY 537' Organizing Committee (CIO), herein called the U. W. O. C., each alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concel;ning the representation of employees of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Francisco, California, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an' appropriate hearing, upon due notice, before Richard A. Perkins, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at San Francisco, California, on October 12, 1942. The Company, the I. B. E. W., and the U. W. O. C. appeared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross- examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju- dicial error and are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. 1 HE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Pacific Gas and Electric Company is a public utility corporation, which has its principal office and place of business at San Francisco, California. It is engaged principally in the business of generating, buying, transmitting, selling, and distributing electrical energy; of buying, transporting, selling, and distributing natural gas; and of manufacturing, transporting, selling, and distributing manufactured gas. All such gas and electricity is used for light, heat, and power purposes in central and northern California. The Company owns and operates 49 hydroelectric generating plants and 12 steam electric gen- crating plants in the State. As an incident to its gas and electric busi- ness, the Company sells gas and electric appliances at retail. In cer- tain small cities and towns in rural areas it distributes and sells water for domestic and irrigation purposes. It purchases and sells steam to customers in San Francisco and Oakland, California, and it oper- ates a streetcar and bus system at Sacramento, California., ' Lighthouses and aids to navigation along the coast of central and northern California are operated by electricity furnished by the Com- pany. Railroads, telegraph and telephone systems, and radio broad- casting stations in the same area are dependent upon the Company for the electric power indispensable to their respective operations. In 1936 the Company purchased raw materials, consisting principally of steel, pipe, transformers, cables, switches, wire, gas and electric ap- pliances, poles, insulators, fittings, and other similar materials, valued at nearly $2,000,000, all of which were manufactured or originated outside California. Since that time the business of the Company and 1 Employees of the Sacramento streetcar and bus system have bargained with the Com- pany collectively as a unit since 1938. 538 DECISIONS OF' NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD its operations have increased in extent and volume . In 1939' the Company acquired the physical properties and operations' of San Joaquin Light and Power Company, which it is now merging into its already extensive utility system.2 II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is a labor organi- zation affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, admitting to membership employees of the Company. Utility Workers Organizing Committee is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION Before the I. B. E. W. and the U. W. O. C. filed their several re- spective petitions in this consolidated proceeding, their representatives conferred with the Company. The Company took the position that the only unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining was a system-wide unit coextensive with the Company's utility opera- tions and that the Company would not recognize any bargaining rep- resentative for employees within any other unit. A statement prepared by an attorney in the Board's Regional Office and other evidence introdliced at the hearing indicate that the I. B. E. W. represents a substantial number of employees in its several pro- posed units and that the U. W. O. C. represents a substantial number of employees in its several proposed units.s We find that questions affecting commerce have 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. ' At the hearing the parties stipulated that the entire record in Case No R-274 and the entire record in Cases Nos. R-4087 to R-4092. inclusive , former representation proceedings involving employees of the Company, should be made pact of the record in the instant con- solidated proceeding and that the Board should resort to any part of the records for its findings with respect to the issues herein. The entire record in Case No . R-274 and the entire record in Cases Nos R-4087 to R-4092, inclusive, including the pleadings , the evi- dence taken , the testimony heard, the exhibits submitted , and the several orders entered thereon, are hereby made part of the record in the instant consolidated proceeding. See Matter of Pacific Gas and rlectrie Company and United Electrical d Radio Workers of America, 3 N L R. B 835; 4 N L R B 180 ; Matter of Pacific Gas and Electric Company and United Electrical and, Radio Workers of America ; Matter of Pacific Gas and Electric Company and United Electrical, Radio and Mae Line 1 17oi keis of America, 13 N L. R B. 268 ; Matter of Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Utility Workers Organdzinp Committee, 0. I 0., 40 N L. R B 591 ; 41 N. L R B. 1182; Matter of Pacific Gas and Electric Coin- pany and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers , et al , 44 N L. R B 665 3The I B. E. W. and the U. W. 0. C submitted certified copies of their official L member- ship rosters as of September 8, 1942. The Company submitted its pay roll of September 1, 1942. The evidence indicates the disttibution of union representation among the Com- pany's employees in the proposed divisional units as follows : [Footnote 3 continued on next page] PACIFIC GAS 'AND ELECTRIC COMPANY IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNITS 539 Subject to the right of each party to urge upon the Board the appro- priateness of a system-wide bargaining unit of the Company's employ- ees now or at any future time, the parties agree that a bargaining unit or units appropriate for employees in the San Francisco, Stockton, DeSabla, Colgate, Coast Valleys, North Bay, and San Jose Divisions of the Company should include all employees in the outside forces of the Company, in each respective division, including outside field em- ployees and field clerks, workers employed in the generating stations, sub-stations, gas plants, steam plants, and other shops and plants, clerks in generating stations, meter readers, combination meter readers and collectors, collectors, salesmen, estimators, mappers, inspectors, watchmen, building service employees; subforemen and other working foremen who work along with their crews and who do not have the power to hire or to discharge employees under their supervision, but excluding other foremen, officials, executive officers, comptometer op- erators; and clerical and office employees.4 In the two prior representation proceedings concerning employees of the Company cited in footnote 2, above, the Board considered the wide extent of the Company's public utility operations and the functional relation of the 13 adininistrative geographical divisions of such operations to its whole utility system. In case No. R-274 the Board found that employees in the East Bay Division constituted an appropriate bargaining unit apart from employees in other geographi- cal divisions and operating departments of the Company's opera- Footnote 3 continued Proposed sectional unit I B. E ur showing U W 0 C showing Totil number of employees listed on do isional pay roll of Sept . 1, 1942 Total number of employees estimated by the company to be within the proposed unit as of June 1942 Stockton 229 (') I 607 590 DeSabla 96 (`) 259 301 Colgate --------------------------------------- 95 (') 210 202 Coast Valleys ------------------------------- 89 (') 165 155 San Francisco -------------------------------- 237 467 1,177 1,155 No7th Bay----------------------------------- 46 108 353 384 San Jose 35 199 425 417 The U W 0 C submitted no evidence with respect to the extent of its membership among em- ployees in these divisions The I B F W and the U. IV 0 C agree that each orgam7a- tion represents asuflicient number of employees in each of the proposed units to entitle it to participate in any electiomwhich the Board may direct among such employees 4 The categories of employees which the parties agree should be included in a unit or units appropriate for employees in the named geographical divisions include employees in categories which the Board has included in the geographical units hitherto found appropri- ate separate bargaining units. 540 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD tions. In Cases Nos. R-4087 to R-4092, inclusive, the Board found that employees in the Company's Sacramento, Shasta, Humboldt, and Drum Divisions and employees in certain other operating de- partments of the Company's operations constituted separate bargain- ing units. Employees in the Stockton, DeSabla, Colgate, Coast Val- leys, North Bay, San Francisco, and San Jose Divisions, respectively, bear substantially the same relation to the Company's entire utility system as do the employees in the several other geographical divi- sions of its operations previously considered by the.Board. The U. W. 0. C., however, would include in the bargaining unit for employees in the Company's San Francisco Division, janitors, elevator operators, and watchmen employed at the Company's "gen- eral office" at 245 Market Street, San Francisco, California. The I. B. E. W. contends that these employees should not be included in the same bargaining unit with employees of the San Francisco Divi- sion. The Company takes no position with respect to this issue. The Company maintains its headquarters or general office in a 17- story building at 245 Market Street, San Francisco, California. This building houses the Company's executive offices, its system-wide su- pervisory staff, its legal division, its accounting division, and its clerical employees. The physical care of the building and the jani- tors, elevator operators, and watchmen employed therein are under the supervision of the building superintendent of the. general office' and lie outside the administrative control of the manager of the San Francisco Division. These employees are listed on the general office pay roll and their work is entirely confined to the general office building. Divisional and general office employees are not inter- changed. Permanent transfers of all categories of employees from one geographical division to another or from a geographical division to 'a department of the general office are effected only through the personnel department in the general office. In the previous representation proceedings noted above, the Board found that the geographical divisions of the Company's utility system had sufficient cohesion and autonomy to function successfully for independent bargaining units for employees working therein. Since employees of the Company's general office at 245 Market Street do not constitute an administrative part of the San Francisco Division , of the Company's operations, even though they work regularly within the confines of the city of San Francisco, we find that they should be excluded from a bargaining unit otherwise confined to employees in a separate administrative division of the Company's operations. We find that all employees in the outside forces of the Company in its San Francisco, Stockton, DeSabla, Colgate, Coast Valleys, North 1Bay, and San Jose Divisions, respectively, including outside field enl- PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY 541 ployees and field clerks, workers employed in the generating stations, substations, gas plants, steam plants, and other shops and plants, clerks ih generating stations , meter readers , combination meter readers and collectors, collectors, salesmen, estimators, mappers, in= spectors, watchmen, building, service employees , and subforemen and other' working foremen who work along with their crews and who do not have the power to hire or to discharge employees under their supervision , but excluding other foremen , officials, executive officers, comptometer operators , and clerical and office employees , constitute separate units appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We find that the questions concerning representation which have arisen can best be resolved by separate elections by secret ballot. Although the U. W. O. C . did not disclose the extent of its in- terest among employees in the Stockton , DeSabla, Colgate, and Coast Valleys Divisions , the I. B. E. W. concedes that the U. W. O. C. has sufficient membership among such employees to entitle the U. W. O. C. to participate in the elections. The I. B. E. W. has disclosed that it has some representation among employees in all the units herein found appropriate . We shall , therefore, provide that both the I. B. E. W . and .the U. W. O. C. participate in the several elections which we shall direct. , Those eligible to vote in the several elections shall be all employees in each respective bargaining unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elections, subject to the limi- tations and additions set forth therein. DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor Relations' Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Re- lations 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 represent- atives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Francisco, California, separate elections 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 supervision of the Regional Director for the Twentieth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Re- 542 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD lations Board and subject to Article III, Section 10, of said Rules and Regulations, among all employees of the Company within each respective unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or in the active military service or training of the United States, or tempo- rarily laid off, but excluding employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether they desire to be repre- sented by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, or by Utility Workers Organizing Committee, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither. MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Elections.