West Texas Utilities Co., Inc.

In the Matter Of WEST TEXAS UTILITIES COMPANY, INC., EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL 898, AFL, PETITIONER Case No. 16-RC-413.-Decided January 18, 1950 DECISION AND ORDER a Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Evert P. Rhea, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.' Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Reynolds]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The labor organization involved claims to represent employees of the Employer. 3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa- tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the following reasons:' The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of powerhouse employees at one of the Employer's power plants.,' The Employer contends that the unit is inappropriate and that the powerhouse employees should I The Employer's request that it be furnished with a copy of the hearing officer 's report is hereby denied. See J. I. Case Company, 80 NLRB 217 ; Alabama Textile Products Corpo- ration, et at., 73 NLRB 1192. 2 On November 29, 1949, the Employer filed a motion to dismiss the petition herein, or, in the alternative, to consolidate this petition with the petition filed by International Brother- hood of Electrical Workers, Local 920, AFL, in Case No. 16-RC-472. That case seeks a unit of all powerhouse employees at the Employer 's Abiline power plant. On December 19, 1949, the Petitioner filed an answer to the Employer 's motion. For the reasons here. inafter stated , the motion to dismiss is hereby granted. There are approximately 41 employees in the proposed unit, which consists of the usual public utility powerhouse classifications such as oiler, fireman, turbine operator , engineer, electrician , and repairman. 88 NLRB No. 40. 1192 WEST TEXAS UTILITIES COMPANY, INC. 193 be represented on a system-wide basis together with all of its other employees 4 The Employer is engaged in the production, sale, and distribution of electric energy, water, and ice over a large area in the western por- tion of the State of Texas. Its operations include four steam and eight Diesel plants, which generate electricity that is distributed over an extensive transmission system. This proceeding involves only one of the steam generating plants, known as the Rio Pecos Station.5 The Employer's main office is located in Abilene, Texas, in the ap- proximate center of its,system. Considerable. control over all the Employer's powerhouse operations emanates from that office. The production department controls the operations of all the power plants. It assigns periods of overhaul and negotiates fuel contracts and makes other purchases for each plant. The dispatcher in the distribution department determines the load each powerhouse shall carry. In emer- gencies, when equipment in one of the plants is shut down, the dis- patcher compensates for the loss of power by ordering an increase in the load of the other plants. While the chief engineer at each power plant has considerable authority over personnel under his supervision, the over-all personnel policy is established at the main office. Like- wise, the central pay office is in Abilene. Thus, the Employer's power plant operations appear to be operationally integrated. Recently, the Board has considered the appropriateness of single- plant units in cases involving multiplant public utilities systems such as that of the Employer.6 Although we indicated that powerhouse em- ployees might be an appropriate unit, we are of the opinion that such units at a single plant are normally inappropriate because of the extensive integration of operations usually found in this industry, and also because of the practice in the industry of bargaining on a system-wide basis. We see no reason in this case for departing from our established policy.' Accordingly, we find that the single-plant powerhouse unit here requested is inappropriate. We shall therefore dismiss the petition. ORDER Upon the basis of the entire record in this case, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the petition filed herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed. 4 The transmission , distribution , and service department employees are presently repre- sented on a system-wide basis. 5 The other steam plants are known as the Concho Station , Abilene Station , and Lake Pauline Station , located respectively 138, 227, and 402 miles from the Rio Pecos Station. 6 See Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 87 NLRB 257; Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company, 86 NLRB 437. ' Cf. Kentucky Utilities Company, 81 NLRB 1006 ; Texas Electric Service Company, 77 NLRB 1258.