Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

In the Matter Of PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY and INTERNA- TIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECYrllICAL WORKERS In the Matter Of- PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY and INTERNA- TIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS Cases Nos . R-5566 and 8,5567.-Decided July 13, 1943 Miss Anne McDonald and Mr. J. Paul St. Sure , of San Francisco, Calif., for the Company. Mr. George A. Mulkey, of San Francisco, Calif., for the I. B. E. W. 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 Electrical Workers, herein called the I. B. E. W. each alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em- ployees of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Francisco, Cali- fornia, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate consolidated hearing upon due notice before John Paul Jennings, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at San Francisco, California, on June 18, 1943. The Com- pany and the I. B. E. W. appeared and participated.' All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross- ,examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues 2 i Utility Workers Organizing Committee, also served with notice, did not appear at the hearing. During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner read into the record a written statement of Utility Workers Organizing Committee that it did not wish to par- ticipate in these proceedings. - 2 During the course of the hearing , the Company and the I. B E. W . stipulated that the entire records in Case No . R-5027 and in Cases Nos . R-5202, 5203, and 5204, former representation proceedings involving employees of the Company , should be incorporated into, and deemed and considered part of, the record in the instant consolidated proceedings. In accordance with the stipulation of the parties , the entire record in Case No R-5027 and the entire record in Cases Nos . R-5202, 5203 and 5204, including the pleadings, the evidence taken, the testimony heard, and the exhibits submitted therein and the several orders entered thereon, are hereby made part of the record in the instant consolidated proceedings. Matter of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 48 N. L. R B. 1176; and Matter of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 49 N L R. B. 810. 51 N. L. R. B., No. 62. 301 302 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELAI IONIS BOARD The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Pacific Gas and Electric Company is engaged in the business of generating, buying, transmitting, selling, and distributing electric energy, of buying, transporting, selling, and distributing natural gas, and of manufacturing, transporting, selling, and distributing manu- factured gas. All such gas and electricity is used for light, heat, and power purposes in central and, northern California. As an incident to its gas and electric business, the Company sells gas and electric appliances at retail. It distributes and sells water in certain small cities and towns in rural areas for domestic irrigation purposes. It produces and sells steam in Oakland and San Francisco, California, and it operates a streetcar and bus system in Sacramento, California. The Company owns and operates 50 hydroelectric generating plants and 13 steam electric generating plants, all of which are situated in the State. The Company owns and operates in the State a transmis- sion pipe-line system, including a large gas compressor station, for the transportation of natural gas in central and northern California. It owns and operates 14 gas manufacturing plants, all of which are situated within the State. A large number of manufacturing industries, including war indus- tries, situated in the area served by the Company and engaged in shipping and receiving commodities in interstate or foreign commerce, are wholly dependent on the Company for gas and electric power essential to the operation of their plants, The United States Govern- ment purchases large quantities of electricity and gas from the Com- pany for the purpose, among others, of operating its numerous post offices and military installations in California. The Company supplies power to newspapers, to the Associated Press, to the San Francisco and Oakland airports, to the Dow-Jones & Company ticker service, to oil refineries, to shipbuilding and repair concerns, to steamship lines, to navigation aides, and to interstate railways, telegraph and telephone companies, and to broadcasting stations. H. THE ORGANIZATION 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. PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY 303 III. THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The I. B. E. W. asked the Company to recognize the I. B. E. W. as exclusive bargaining representative of office and clerical employees in the Company's Sacramento and Coast Valleys Divisions, respec- tively. The Company refused such recognition, on the ground that the only unit of its employees appropriate for collective bargaining was a system-wide unit, coextensive with the Company's utility operations. A statement prepared by the Regional Director and introduced into evidence at the hearing indicates that the I. B. E. W. represents a substantial number of employees in each of the units herein found appropriate.' 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. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNITS The I. B. E. W. contends that office and clerical employees of the Company in the Sacramento and Coast Valleys Divisions, respec- tively, excluding officials, executive officers, supervisory employees with the right to hire, or discharge, and all employees in the outside forces,' constitute separate appropriate bargaining units. As noted in Section III, above, the Company takes the position that a system- wide unit, coextensive with its public utility service, is the only appropriate bargaining unit. In separate prior representation proceedings concerning employees of the Company the Board found that employees in the outside forces of the Sacramento Division 5 and of the Coast Valleys Division,6 respectively, constituted separate bargaining units, and certified the I. B. E. W. as bargaining representative for employees therein. In ' In support of its claim to represent office and clerical employees of the Company in the Sacramento Division, the I. B. E. W. submitted a certified copy of its official membership roster as of May 25, 1943 , containing the names of 76 members in good standing ; of these names, 67 are the names of employees on the Company's pay roll of April 30, 1943. There are approximately 208 employees in the unit herein found appropriate for office and clerical employees in the Sacramento Division In support of its claim to represent office and clerical employees in the Coast Valleys Division , the I B E . W. submitted a certified copy of its official membership roster as of June 3, 1943 , containing the names of 49 members in good standing. Of these names, 32 are the names of employees on the Company's pay roll of April 30, 1943. There are approximately 60 employees in the unit herein found appropriate for office and clerical employees in the Coast Valleys Division. 4 The unit proposed for office and clerical employees in the Sacramento Division excludes employees who work in connection with the Company 's street railway and motor coach service at Sacramento , California, and outside divisional employees , presently included in other bargaining units. 5 Matter of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 44 N. L It. B. 665. 4 Matter e, Paci}lc Cas and, Electric Comnan '. 45 N. L. It. B. 536. 304 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD another prior representation proceeding concerning employees of the Company the Board found that shopmen and track maintenance em- ployees in the Company's street railway and motor coach service at Sacramento, California, constituted a separate appropriate bargain- ing unit, and certified the I. B. E. W. as their bargaining repre- sentative.' Streetcar operators and motor coach drivers employed in this service have bargained for some years with the Company through Amalgamated Association of Street Electric Railway and Motor Coach Employees of America, Division No. 256, their bargain- ing representative.8 The proposed units of office and clerical em- ployees constitute residual groups of employees in the Sacramento and Coast Valleys Divisions, respectively. Employees within the proposed units perform work of a -clerical nature in the Company's offices. They are permanently assigned to their divisions, and to offices within the division. Office employees may be transferred from one division office to another, but such transfers are not common. There is some little transfer of office employees within the division. The work interests of these office employees are clearly distinguish- able from the work interests of the Company's other divisional em- ployees, among whom are plant clerks, shop clerks, and the so-called "physical" employees. Q The Board has found that the several geographical divisions of the Company's operations constitute administrative units with suffi- cient cohesion and autonomy to justify the Board in setting up bar- gaining units confined to employees in the outside forces of such divisions. Since the Board has already set apart such employees in the Sacramento Division and in the Coast Valleys Division as sepa- rate bargaining units, since "physical" employees in the Company's Sacramento street railway and motor coach service bargain with the Company in separate units, and since employees within the proposed clerical units constitute homogeneous residual groups of employees within each of these geographical divisions, respectively, we find that office and clerical employees in the Sacramento and Coast Valleys Divisions, respectively, constitute separate appropriate bargaining units, apart from other office and clerical employees of the Com- pany. The parties agree, and we find, that officials and executive officers should be excluded from the bargaining units. 7 Matter of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 47 N I. R B 264 8 Or February 35, 1933, the Board found that employees of the Company engaged in the operation of the street railway and motorbus system at Sacramento, excluding clerical and supervisory employees, constituted an appropriate bargaining unit, and certified Amalga. mated Association of Street Electric Railway and Motor Coach Employees of America, Local Division No. 256, as their bargaining representative . Matter of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 5 N. L. R. B. 310. On February 6, 1943, for reasons fully set forth in the decision , the Board found that shop and track maintenance employees, heretofore a part of this unit , constituted a separate bargaining unit, and on February 26, 1943, certified the I B E. W. as their bargaining representative . See footnote 7, above. PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY 305 The I. B. E. W. would include within the bargaining unit for office and clerical employees in the Sacramento Division three service adjust- ers. These employees make adjustments in connection with matters involving liability and damage. Adjusters have no routine work. They work on special assignments, acting as the Company's representa- tives and administering the Company's policies, and spend a consider- able portion of their time outside the Company's offices. They deal with the public or customers or fellow employees of the Company. They may attend meetings of outside groups and explain the Com- pany's policies in connection with gas and electric facilities and exten- sions. The senior adjuster is assigned to more important problems than the other two adjusters. He has more discretion in rendering independent decisions. The other two adjusters report to him. The record does not disclose the extent of the senior adjuster's powers of recommendation concerning their work, but it seems reasonable to, consider that he passes to some extent upon its quality. Because of the independent judgment and discretion which he exercises, the senior adjuster is classified by the Company as an administrative employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Company concedes that the• other two service adjusters are entitled to the benefit of collective bargaining in an appropriate bargaining unit, but contends that the senior adjuster is not. Although all three service adjusters do con- siderable clerical work incidental, to their duties, they are not clerical or office employees in the same sense as clerks, stenographers, typists,, telephone operators, and machine operators who constitute the clerical group. For this reason, we shall exclude the service adjusters from the unit found appropriate for office and clerical employees in the Sacramento Division. Chief clerks in the several offices of the Company in the Sacramento and Coast Valleys Divisions correspond to foremen or working fore- men in the outside forces of the Company, depending upon the size of the office and the number of subordinates under them. All chief clerks assign work and discipline employees under them or make recommendations for such discipline. They may even directly dis- charge for flagrant cause. Employees working under them are hired subject to their approval. The Company employs nine chief clerks in the Sacramento Division and two in the Coast Valleys Division. The parties agree that six chief clerks in the larger offices are of the rank of foreman and as such would be excluded from the bargaining units. They agree that chief clerks in the small offices are working foremen. They disagree with respect to the chief clerk in the Custom- ers' Records department in the Sacramento Division. Although the several chief clerks are graded by the Company according to the actual amount of routine work which they personally perform, it clearly 306 D'E'CISIONS O-' NATIONAL `LABOR RELATIONS BOARD appears that all chief clerks in the Company's offices are supervisory employees who directly effect changes in the status of employees under them or effectively recommend such action. For this reason, we shall exclude all chief clerks from the office and clerical units herein found appropriate. With officials, executive officers, and chief clerks, we shall expressly exclude all supervisory employees who have authority to change the work status of employees under them or effectively recommend such changes. We find that all office and clerical employees of the Company in the Sacramento Division, excluding service adjusters, officials, executive officers, chief clerks, all supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees under them or effectively recommend such action, all employees in the outside forces, and all employees in the streetcar and motor coach service at Sacramento, California, included in other bar- gaining units, constitute a, unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning' of Section 9 (b) of the Act. We further find that all office and clerical employees of the Com- pany in the Coast Valleys Division, excluding officials, executive offi- cers, chief clerks, all supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees under them or effectively recommend such action, and all employees in the outside forces, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATI`IES We shall direct that the questions concerning representation which have arisen be resolved by separate elections by secret ballot among employees of the Company in the units found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immedi- ately preceding the date of the Direction of Elections herein, subject to limitations and additions set forth in the Direction. 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 Rela- tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulation-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa- tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Francisco, California, separate elections by PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY 307 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 Article III, Section 10, of said Rules,, and Regulations, among the employees of the Company within the respective units 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 in- cluding employees in the armed forces of the United States who pre- sent themselves in person at the polls, but excluding employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, for the purposes of collective bargaining. 540012-44-vol 51-21