The Western Colorado Power Co.

564 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD The Western Colorado Power Company , Employer- In this consolidated proceeding, the Employer-Peti- Petitioner and International Brotherhood of Electri- tioners seek clarification of their bargaining units by the cal Workers, Local No. 57 specific exclusion of approximately 133 employees oc- cupying a number of job classifications now included in Utah Power and Light Company , Employer-Petitioner the units. The Employers contend that these individu- and International Brotherhood of Electrical Work- als are supervisors.' ers, Local No. 57. Cases 27-UC-19 and 27-UC-20 At the hearing the parties stipulated that the em- ployees occupying the position of traveling construction May 28, 1971 foreman are supervisors and should be excluded from the unit. The record supports this stipulation, and it is DECISION AND ORDER hereby accepted. BY CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS BROWN AND JENKINS Crew Supervisors an- The category of "crew supervisor" encompasses ap- Upon petitions of The Western Colorado Power Company and Utah Power and Light Company for proximately 82 employees in 3 subclassifications: gang fore- clarification of unit duly filed on July 16, 1970, under foreman, cable-splicer foreman, and substation fore- man. Employees in this category are assigned particu- Section 9(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as lar job projects, satisfactory completion of which they amended, a hearing was held on July 30, 1970, before are responsible for, and each directs one or more crews Hearing Officer Allison E. Nutt. On September 25, in the performance of the work, assigning individual 1970, the Regional Director for Region 27 issued an crew members to specific tasks required by the project. order transferring the case to the Board. Thereafter, They are paid from $40 to $80 a month more than briefs were filed by the Petitioner and the Union. On journeymen crew members, and most cases are respon- December 1, 1970, the Board remanded this con- sible for keeping time records on the crew members' solidated proceeding to the Regional Director for the attendance. purpose of conducting a further hearing. In accordance The greatest number of crew supervisors are gang with the Board's remand, a further hearing before foremen who work at the building, maintenance, and Hearing Officer Nutt was held on December 28 and 29, repair of power lines. A gang foreman takes a crew 1970. ranging from 3 to 10 employees out to a project site, the Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the number being determined by higher management, but National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na- the gang foremen may recommend that more men be tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its powers assigned because of the needs anticipated on a particu- in connection with this case to a three-member panel. lar job. The gang foreman works out the details of the The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's rulings performance of the project within the Company's spe- made at the hearing and finds that they are free from cifications. He spends some time doing the same work prejudicial error. The rulings are hereby affirmed. as is performed by crew members, but upwards of 50 Upon the entire record in this case the Board finds: percent of his time is spent in planning, directing, and 1. The Employers are engaged in commerce within other noncrew work. He can generally excuse a man the meaning of the Act, and it will effectuate the pur- from work for part of a day for personal reasons if, in poses of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein. his judgment, the man is not needed, and he can send 2. The Union involved herein is a labor organization a man home who appears to be drunk. Gang foremen within the meaning of the Act and claims to represent have limited authority to assign overtime and have certain employees of the Employers. effectively recommended that crew members be trans- 3. The Employers are public utilities engaged in the ferred. production and distribution of electrical energy in There is one cable-splicer foreman. He is in charge Utah, Colorado, Idaho, and Wyoming. The Employers of three crews, each of which consists of a working have recognized the Union as the bargaining represent- foreman, a journeyman splicer, and a cable-splicer at- ative of all their production and maintenance em- tendant. He divides his time among the crews, giving ployees for more than 30 years. The parties stipulated instructions to each of the working foremen who exer- that the bargaining unit for each Company be described as follows: ' We reject the Union's contention that these petitions for unit clanfica- All production and maintenance employees in- tion should not be entertained because the units as presently constituted are cluding accounting, clerical, sales and engineering covered by unexpired collective-bargaining agreements and there is no evi- dence employees but excluding professional employees, that the units have ever been certified by the Board These circum- e , stances do not make such petitions inappropriate See, e g, Seaway Food supervisors and guards as defined in the Act. Town, Inc, 171 NLRB No 107 190 NLRB No. 111 WESTERN COLORADO POWER CO cise immediate direction over the work. The cable- splicer foreman has limited authority to assign over- time. There are about 11 substation foremen, whose duties and authority are similar to those of the gang foremen. The crews working under them construct power sub- stations and install, test, and maintain substation equipment. Some of the substation foremen spend about 75 percent of their time in charge of a crew of five employees and the remaining 25 percent in charge of augmented crews which may include a gang foreman. Their regular crews include a working foreman. Other substation foremen spend only about 30 percent of their time with a crew and the balance of their time working alone. We find that the crew supervisors have authority to assign and responsibly to direct employees in a manner requiring the use of independent judgment, and thus are supervisors within the meaning of the Act. Accord- ingly, we shall exclude them from the units.' Senior Electronic Technicians Two senior electronic technicians, under a general communications supervisor, maintain the communica- tions system for Petitioner Utah Power and Light Com- pany. Each is in charge of five electronic technicians at different locations who report to him by radio. He can give a technician time off for personal reasons. He checks the timesheets submitted by the technicians and is responsible for their accuracy. He can assign a tech- nician from one location to another to cover a tempo- rary need. Thus, it appears that these employees have authority resembling that of the crew supervisors and we shall exclude them from the unit. Traveling Maintenance Foremen There are two traveling maintenance foremen who split between them a pool of eight journeymen. The foremen normally take their crews out of the home station on Monday and return on Friday, arranging for the crews' room and board and keeping their time records. They can let men off work for an afternoon, assign overtime within certain general guidelines, and have effectively recommended laying off temporary em- ployees hired for specific maintenance jobs over which the traveling maintenance foremen were in charge. They assign employees to do specific portions of the work on a job, direct them in their work, and enforce safety rules. We shall exclude them as supervisors. ' Crew supervisors are employed by both Employer-Petitioners The .,her classifications discussed in this Decision relate only to Petitioner Utah Power and Light Company Shift Foremen 565 Approximately 20 shift foremen in various power plants involved in this proceeding are each in charge of between 3 and 7 employees, principally control room operators and auxilliary operators. The shift foremen are paid about $100 a month more than the control room operators. The power plants are in operation 24 hours a day and, except during the day shift, the shift foremen are the senior persons in charge. The operators normally perform their regular jobs without a great deal of supervision, but the shift foremen will assign them work "if something out of the ordinary comes up." Shift foremen assign overtime in emergencies, ar- range for replacements for employees who call in sick, and can send a man home if he is drunk. They are sometimes asked to make recommendations regarding promotion. All these circumstances persuade us that the shift foremen are supervisors and we shall exclude them. Mechanical and Electrical Maintenance Foremen There are about eight employees in two classifica- tions of maintenance foreman: electrical and mechani- cal.-They are responsible, respectively, for the electrical and nonelectrical maintenance at power plants and substations. Electrical maintenance foremen are in charge of crews ranging from two to seven employees; they do not work a regular shift, have general authority to assign overtime, and make recommendations with respect to promotions and transfers of employees, and as to whether they can be spared for vacations, which recommendations are generally followed. They check employees' timesheets and maintain a performance rat- ing for new employees. The mechanical maintenance foremen work with a crew of 10 employees: 4 mechan- ics, 4 apprentices, a painter, and a skilled helper. They check employees' timesheets and have limited au- thority to assign overtime. Maintenance foremen in both of these classifications appear to be engaged in the responsible direction of employees and the assignment of employees in a manner requiring the use of inde- pendent judgment. In addition, the electrical mainte- nance foremen appear to have authority effectively to recommend promotions and transfers. We find both of these classifications to be supervisory, and they are excluded from the unit. Senior Dispatchers This group of about five employees works in round- the-clock shifts in a dispatcher's office which houses a chief dispatcher and, during each shift, a senior dis- patcher, a dispatcher, and a junior dispatcher. This office controls the power flow for the entire system. The chief dispatcher is present only during the day shift and 566 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD the senior dispatcher is in charge during the other shifts. However, the senior dispatcher exercises no supervisory functions over the dispatcher or the junior dispatcher, who apparently perform their respective jobs independently, and can effect the assignment of other employees only remotely by calling for a line crew at an outlying station in emergency situations. In short, the senior dispatchers have no authority with regard to other employees not enjoyed by persons with similar job titles whom the Board has previously found not to be supervisors.' We find that they are properly included in the bargaining unit. Chief Operators: Hydroplants and Terminal Substation they make regular evaluations of newer employees. A chief operator who testified on behalf of the Union had fewer of these functions, and the level of his authority appeared to be generally of a lower grade, but he had occupied this position for only 2 months prior to the hearing and it may be that the limitations on his au- thority are attributable to his inexperience in the job. The chief operator at the Terminal substation has a crew of two maintenance men and an operator, and is in charge of the substation about 5 hours a day in the absence of the superintendent who also has jurisdiction over several smaller substations. Part of the chief operator's job is to see that safety rules are enforced. We find that the chief operators also perform super- visory duties, and we shall exclude them from the unit. There is a chief operator in each of eight hydroplants and at the "Terminal" substation, the largest substa- tion of Petitioner Utah Power and Light Company. Chief operators at the hydroplants report directly to the plant superintendents and direct up to 18 em- ployees in 3 shifts. They are responsible for the opera- tion of the plant 2 days a week and a month every year, in the absence of their superintendents. They have spe- cial company phones at home so that they can receive emergency calls 24 hours a day and order the necessary maintenance and repairs. They have authority to assign overtime, grant time off, and enforce safety rules, and ' See The Connecticut Light and Power Company, 121 NLRB 768, 770, and cases cited therein ORDER It is hereby ordered that the collective-bargaining units of production and maintenance, accounting, cleri- cal, sales, and engineering employees of The Western Colorado Power Company and Utah Power and Light Company, represented by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local No. 57, be, and they hereby are, clarified by excluding from The Western Colorado Power Company unit, the crew supervisors, and by excluding from the Utah Power and Light Com- pany unit, the crew supervisors, senior electronic tech- nicians, traveling maintenance foremen, shift foremen, mechanical and electrical maintenance foremen, hy- droplant and Terminal substation chief operators, and traveling construction foremen.