CENTERPOINT ENERGY HOUSTON ELECTRIC, LLC

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 29, 2019

16-RC-229214 (N.L.R.B. Apr. 29, 2019)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BEFORE THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
CENTERPOINT ENERGY HOUSTON
ELECTRIC, LLC
Employer
and Case 16-RC-229214
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF
ELECTRICAL WORKERS LOCAL UNION 66
Petitioner
ORDER
The Employer’s Request for Review of the Regional Director’s Decision
and Direction of Election is granted in part as it raises a substantial issue regarding
whether the petitioned-for Employer’s Service Area Assistants (SAAs) share a sufficient
community of interest with the current bargaining unit to warrant inclusion of SAAs in
that unit. The Request for Review is denied in all other respects.
JOHN F. RING, CHAIRMAN
MARVIN E. KAPLAN, MEMBER
Dated, Washington, D.C., April 29, 2019.
MEMBER McFERRAN, dissenting.
I would deny the Employer’s Request for Review in its entirety. With respect to
the Regional Director’s decision to hold a self-determination election among the
petitioned-for Service Area Assistants (SAAs) so they may decide for themselves
whether to join the current unit of production employees, it appears that the Regional
Director’s determination that the SAAs are more akin to “plant clericals” than “office
clericals” is well founded. That being the case, longstanding Board precedent holds that
plant clericals are afforded self-determination elections with respect to existing
production units. See Fisher Controls Co., 192 NLRB 514, 515 (1971); see also
Robbins & Myers, Inc., 144 NLRB 295, 299 (1963). As a result, I would find that the
Employer’s Request does not raise any substantial issue warranting review.
LAUREN McFERRAN, MEMBER