Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

In the Matter of PACIFIc GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY, EMPLOYER aired INTERNATIONAL BRO'CIIERIIOOD OF ELECTRICAL \VORKERS, LOCAL 1245, AFL, PETITIONER Cases Nos. 930-R-171,0 and td0-R-1715. Decided April 10, 1947 Messrs. Robert H. Gerdes, J. Paul St. Sure, and Miss Anne McDon- ald Christensen, of San Francisco, Calif., for the Employer. Mr. Alfred M. Hansen, of San Francisco, Calif., for the Petitioner. Gladstein, Anderson, Resner, Sawyer, & Edises, by Mr. Bertram Edises, of Oakland, Calif., for the Intervenor. Mr. Melvin J. Welles, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at San Fran- cisco, Cali fornia, on November 14 and 19, 1946, before Thomas J. Davis, Jr., hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations Board makes the following: FINDINGS OF FACT 1. T1IE BUSINESS OF TIIE EMPLOYER Pacific Gas and Electric Company is a public utility corporation organized under the laws of California, and has its principal office and place of business in San Francisco, California. It is engaged prin- cipally in the business of (a) generating, buying, transmiting, selling, and distributing electric energy; (b) buying, transporting, selling, and distributing natural gas; and (c) manufacturing, transporting, selling, and distributing manufactured gas, all for light, heat, and power purposes in the central and northern portion of California. The Employer owns and operates 55 hydro-electric generating plants, 13 steam electric generating plants, and 3 Diesel electric gen- crating plants, all of which are situated in California. In 1945 its total electric load, consisting of all electric energy generated, pur- chased, and received on consignment, was 9,508,773,847 kilowatt hours. In addition, the Employer owns, operates, and maintains in central and northern California a gas gathering and transmission pipe-line 73 N. L R. B., No. 61. 328 PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY 329 system, including a large gas compressor station. This system is utilized for the transportation of natural gas from numerous oil and gas fields to its gas distribution systems in the cities and towns which it serves. The Employer also operates 13 gas manufacturing plants, of which 10 are standby plants reserved against the interruption or shortage of natural gas supply. All of these plants are located in California, and are operated by fuel oil or butane produced or pur- chased within the State of California. The Employer's total sales of gas in 1945 were 135,821,546,300 cubic feet. The entire gas load of the Employer is sold and delivered in California. At the end of 1945, the Employer had 1,072,324 electric customers, 783,989 gas customers, 13,817 water customers, and 743 steam cus- tomers. During the year 1945, the gross revenue of the Employer amounted to $160,269,447, of which $112,676,586 represented revenue from its electric business and $46,662,136 revenue front its gas business. The remainder represented the revenues from its water and steam business. A large^nuniber of manufacturing industries situated in the area served by the Employer are engaged in shipping and receiving com- modities in interstate or foreign commerce, and purchase gas and electric power from the Employer. In addition, the United States Government purchases large quantities of electricity and gas from'the Employer for use in its post offices and military-installations situated in the area served by the Employer. The Employer also supplies power to newspapers located in the area which it serves, to the Associ- ated Press, to the San Francisco and Oakland airports, to the Dow- Jones and Company ticker services, to oil refineries, to shipbuilding and repair concerns, steamship lines, navigation aids, railroads, tele- phone and telegraph companies, and radio broadcasting stations. The Employer does not deny, and we find, that its operations affect commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. IT. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVE!) The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer. Utility Workers Union of America, herein called the Intervenor, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the Employer. ICI. THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit or units. 330 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD ,We find that questions affecting commerce have arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.' IV. TILE APPROPRIATE UNITS The Petitioner and the Intervenor, conceding that a system-wide unit is ultimately appropriate for bargaining, agree that under the present circumstances physical employees in the San Francisco and North Bay divisions constitute separate appropriate units. The Em- ployer, on the other hand, contends that the only appropriate bar- gaining unit for its employees is a system-wide unit. In the earliest representation proceeding instituted on their behalf, the Board found that all the employer's physical employees consti- tuted a single appropriate bargaining unit and directed an election among them in a system-wide unit.2 But when it appeared that there was no immediate prospect that a labor organization could effectively organize the physical employees on a system-wide basis, the Board modified its finding and concluded that a unit limited to physical employees of the Employer's East Bay Division was appropriate.' Thereafter, the Board successively found appropriate units of the Employer's physical employees limited to each one of the Employer's 13 geographical divisions, including the San Francisco and North Bay divisions.' The Employer contends that, inasmuch as self-organization among physical employees now exists on a system-wide basis, the Board should revert to its original finding that a system-wide unit is appro- priate. We do not agree. Although we have indicated that, ultimately, a system-wide unit will be appropriate, we found that the physical employees in each of the Employer's 13 divisions constituted a separate appropriate unit because no labor organization has organized effectively on a system- wide basis. There are at present 2 distinct geographical blocks of representation for these workers, 1 in the San Francisco urban area, and 1 in the rural area surrounding San Francisco, the former repre- sented by the Intervenor and the latter by the Petitioner. Apparently, neither of these labor organizations has achieved sufficient representa- tion among all the Employer's physical employees to warrant the establishment at this time of a system-wide unit. Accordingly, we "The Intervenor and the Employer executed a contract covering, miter ah,o, both of the divisions sought by the Petitioner herein, in August 1944, which was renewed pursuant to its terms on January 1, 1946, for 1 year, and which provided for automatic renewal there- after for yearly periods unless notice of termination was given by either party at least 60 dais's prior to any annavers.u v date This contract is not asserted as a bar, nor could it be as the Petitionei filed its petitiou before the last automatic renewal date of the contract 2 3 N L R B 835 3 40 N L R B 591 , 41 N L R B 1182 1 44 N L R B 665 45 N L 11 B 536 , and 49 N L R B 810 PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY 331 are not persuaded that we should now depart from our previous unit determinations, the consequence of which would be to disrupt the existing pattern of collective bargaining for no useful purpose. We find that all employees in the outside forces of the Employer in its San Francisco and North Bay divisions, respectively, including outside field employees and field clerks, workers employed in the generating stations, substations, gas plants, steam plants, and other shops and plants, clerks in generating stations, meter readers, combi- nation meter readers and collectors, collectors, salesmen, estimators, mappers, inspectors, watchmen, building service employees, and sub- foremen 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, con- stitute two separate units appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS 5 As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives 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 Relations Board, and subject to Sections 203.55 and 203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 4, among the em- ployees in each 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 said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been dis- charged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by International Brotherhood of Electrical Work- ers, Local 1245, AFL, or by Utility Workers Union of America, C. I. O., for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither. CHAntwrAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Elections. "Any participant in the election heicin may, upon its prompt request to , and approval thereof by , the Regional Director, have its name removed from the ballot