Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 18, 1943

46 N.L.R.B. 1191 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter • of PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY and UTILITY
WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE , C. I. O.
Case No. B-4681.-Decided January 18, 1943
Jurisdiction : electric power and gas utility industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question:
refusal' to accord either of competiLg unions recognition ; dispute as to scope
of bargaining unit ; election necessary. -
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees under the direction
and, control of the building superintendent of the general office, with specified
inclusions and exclusions.
Mr. J. T. Straub and Miss Anne McDonald, of San Francisco, Calif.,
and Mr. J. Paul St. Sure, of Oakland, Calif., for the Company.
Gladstein, Grossman, Margolis and Sawyer, by Mr. Bertram Edises,
of Oakland, Calif., for the U. W. O. C.
Mr. Charles J. Janigian, of San Francisco, Calif., for the I. B. E.W.
Mrs. Augusta Spaulding, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Utility Workers Organizing Committee,
C. 1. 0., herein called the U. W. O. C., alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Francisco, California, herein
called the-Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for
an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Richard A. Perkins,
Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at San Francisco, California,
on December 17, 1942. The Company, the U. W. O. C., and Interna-
tional Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, herein called the I. B. E. W.,
appeared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evi-
dence bearing on the issues. 'the Trial Examiner's rulings made at
the hearing are free from prejudicial error and hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
46 N. L. R. B., No. 145: -
1191
1192 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OP THE COMPANY
Pacific Gas and Electric Company is a public utility corporation,
which has its principal office and place of business at San Francisco,
California. It is engaged principally in the business of generating,
buying, transmitting, selling, and distributing electrical energy; of
buying, transporting, selling, and distributing natural 'gas; and of
manufacturing, transporting, selling, and distributing manufactured .
gas. All such gas-and electricity-is used for light, heat, and power'
purposes in central and northern California. The Company owns and
operates 49 hydroelectric generating plants and 12 steam electric
generating plants in the State. As an incident to its gas and electric
business, the Company sells gas and electric appliances at retail. In
certain small cities and towns in rural areas it distributes and sells
water for domestic and irrigation purposes. It purchases and sells
steam to customers in its San Francisco and East Bay Divisions,.and
it operates a streetcar and-bus system at Sacramento, California.
Lighthouses and aids to navigation along the coast of central and
northern California are operated by,electricity furnished by the Com-
pany. Railroads, telegraph and telephone systems, and radio broad-
casting stations in the same area are dependent upon the Company
for the electric power indispensable to their respective operations. In
1936 the Company purchased raw materials, consisting principally of
steel, pipe, transformers, cables, switches, wire, gas and electric appli-
ances, poles, insulators, -fittings, and other similar materials, valued
at nearly $2,000,000, all of which were manufactured or originated
outside California. Since 1936 the business of the Company and its
operations have increased in extent and volume. In 1939 the Company
acquired the physical properties and operations of San Joaquin
Light and Power Company, which it is now znerging into its already
extensive utility system'
1 At the hearing the parties stipulated that the entire records in Case ' No. R-274,
Cases Nos R-4087 to R-4092 , Inclusive , and Cases Nos R-4405 and R-4411, inclusive,
former representation proceedings involving employees of the Company, should be made
part of the record - in the , instant proceeding, and that the Board should resort to any
part of these records for its findings with respect to the issues herein The entire records
in Case No. R-274, Cases Nos R-4087 to R-4092, Inclusive, and Cases Nos. R-4405
to R-4411, inclusive, including the pleadings, the evidence taken, the 'testimony heard;
the exhibits , submitted, and the several orders entered thereon, are hereby made part
of the record in the instant proceeding . See Matter of Pacific Gas and Electric Company
and United Electrical d Radio 'Workers of America, 3 N. L. R B 835; 4 N. L R B 180;
Matter of Pacific Gas and Electric Company and United Electrical and Radio Workers
of America ; Matter of Pacific Gas and Electric Company and United Electrical , Radio and
Machine Workers of America, 13 N. L R B 268; Matter of Pacific Gas and Electric
Company and Utility Workers Organizing Committee, C. I. 0, 40 N . L. R B. 591 ;
41 N. L. R. B 1182; Matter of Pacific Gas and Electiic ,Company and International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, at al., 44 N L R B. 665; Matter of Pacific Gas
and Electric Company and International Brotherhood of, Electrical Workers, et, al, 45
N. L. R. B. 536.
PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY 1193
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Utility Workers Organizing Committee' is a labor organization
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting
to membership employees of the Company.
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is a labor organi-
zation affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, admitting to
membership employee's of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The U. W. O. C. and the I. B. E. W. agree that a unit restricted to
employees in the Company's general office building located at 245
Market Street, and the adjacent annex at 31 Beale Street, San Fran-
cisco, California, is an appropriate bargaining unit. With respect to
the proposed unit, the Company takes the position that the only unit
of employees appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
.is a system-wide unit coextensive with the Company's public utility
operations and that it will not recognize any bargaining representative
for employees within any other unit.
A statement prepared by a Field Examiner of the Board and in-
troduced into evidence at, the hearing indicates that the U. W. O. C.
represents a substantial number of employees in the unit herein found
appropriate.2
We find that a question affecting commerce has 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 Re-
lations Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
As noted in Section III, above, the Company takes the position that
the only unit of its employees appropriate for bargaining purposes
is a system-wide unit coextensive with its public service. Subject to
the right to urge upon the Board the appropriateness of a system-
wide unit when their organization of the Company's employees as-
sumes a proportionate scale, the U. W. O. C. and the I. B. E. W. agree
that employees under the supervision of the building superintendent
of the Company's general office constitute an appropriate separate
bargaining unit.
2 The U. W. 0 C submitted its official membership roster as of November 30, 1942,
and application cards bearing the apparently genuine signatures of 15 employees within
the appropriate unit, whose names are listed on the Company's current pay roll There
are approximately 40 employees in the unit herein found appropriate
The I B E. W submitted no specific evidence of its representation among employees
in the appropriate unit. The U. W. 0 C and the I. B E W stipulated that each
organization represented a substantial number of employees in the unit proposed by the
U. w 0. C.
1194 DECISIONS OF NATIONIAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Company maintains its headquarters or "general office" in a
17-story building at 245 Market Street, and an adjoining annex at 31
.Beale Street, San Francisco, California. These buildings house the
Company's main executive offices, • its system-wide supervisory staff,
its legal division, its accounting division, and the necessary clerical
and office employees: The physical care of the buildings, and- the
staff of janitors, upkeep employees, elevator operators, messengers,
and watchmen employed therein, are under the supervision and con-
trol of the building superintendent of the general office and are
entirely independent of the administrative control of the manager of
the geographical section of the Company's operations known as the
San Francisco Division.3 These employees are listed on the so-called
general office pay roll, as distinguished from a divisional or operating
-departmental pay roll, and their work is confined to the building
service of the Company's headquarters. Divisional, departmental,
and general office employees are not freely interchanged. Permanent
'transfers of all categories of employees from one administrative sec-
tion of the Company's operations to another are effected only through
the formal action of the personnel department, an over-all operating
department of the general office.
In the previous representation proceedings involving employees of
the Company, cited in footnote 1, above, the Board found that the
several geographical divisions and over-all operating departments of
the general office of the Company's utility system had sufficient co-
hesion and autonomy to function as separate independent bargaining
units for employees working respectively therein. Since employees
subject to the direction and supervision of the building superintendent
of the Company's general office clearly constitute a separate and in-
dependent administrative department of the Company's general office
operations, even though these employees perform their work for the
Company within the confines of the City of San Francisco as do
employees of the San Francisco Division in similar classifications, we
find that these employees constitute an appropriate separate bargain-
ing unit.
The I. B. E. W. and the U. W. 0. C. agree, and we find, that the
building superintendent and the head janitor under his supervision,
both of whom are supervisory employees, should be excluded from the
bargaining unit. The I. B. E. W. would include all non:supervisory
employees subject to the direction and supervision of the building
superintendent. The U. W. 0. C. would exclude from the unit, messen-
' In Cases Nos. R-4405 to R-4411, cited in footnote 1, above, the Board rejected the
contention of the U W. 0 C. that building service employees of the Company's general
office should be included in the same baigauiing unit with employees of the San Francisco
Division. In the consolidated cases cited, the Board made no other determination of the
unit appropriate for employees of the Company 's general office
PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC- COMPANY - 1195
gers, clerical employees, and a combination messenger and elevator
operator: Subject to its general contention that a system-wide unit is
the appropriate bargaining unit, the-Company favors the unit pro-
posed by the I. B. E. W. as a more logical administrative unit for build-
uig.service employees working at its general office buildings.
- At the time of the hearing, the employees subject to the direction
and -supervision- of the- building.. superintendent, of the general office
included ,the-following persons: 2 office clerks, 1 mail clerk, 1 delivery
boy, 2 watchmen; 13 messengers, 26 janitors, 1 garage mechanic; 5
building upkeep employees,' 1 elevator director, 8 elevator operators,
1, combination elevator operator and watchman, and 1 combination
elevator operator and messenger. We find that janitors, watchmen,
elevator operators, and building upkeep employees are primarily
concerned, with the physical care and efficient use of the general office
buildings and are properly included in the same bargaining unit.
Since the garage mechanic spends a part of his time in building main-
tenance, we shall include him in the same unit. The elevator director,
who determines the designation and movements of elevators for trans-
portation purposes, does not, so far as the record, discloses, hire or
discharge elevator operators who handle the cars. We shall, therefore,
include the elevator director with elevator operators in the same bar-
gaining unit. We shall also include the combination elevator operator
and watchman and the combination elevator operator and.messenger.
The office clerks, who perform ordinary clerical duties, and the mail
clerk, whose principal duty is to sort mail and assign it for distribution
by messengers, are clearly clerical, as distinct from physical, employ-
ees. In accordance with our usual custom, we shall exclude, them from
a unit of employees who perform primarily pliysical tasks. Under the
direction of the mail clerk, messengers distribute mail and -inter-office
communications within the general office buildings. The delivery boy
transports mail by truck between the Company's general office build-,
ings and the post office, and between the general office buildings and
the office of the San Francisco Division. Neither the messengers nor
the delivery boy are concerned with the physical care or use of the
general office buildings as such. They function primarily as channels
of inter-office and outside communication for the effective operations
of the Company's administrative supervisory personnel and constitute
part of its working staff for which the general office buildings are
reserved. We therefore shall not include messengers and the delivery
boy within a unit otherwise confined to building maintenance employ-
ees of the general office buildings. -
A The building upkeep employees include two mechanics , one fireman , one general
maintenance man, and one house foreman. The so-called house foreman is the senior
maintenance man, with no authority to hire or discharge . He generally works alone,
but is occasionally assisted by a mechanic whom he nray call to assist him
1196 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We find that all employees under the direction and control, of the
building superintendent of the Company's general office, including
janitors, watchmen, building upkeep employees, the garage mechanic,
the elevator director, elevator operators, the combination elevator oper-
ator and watchman, and the combination elevator operator and mes-
senger, but excluding the superintendent, the head janitor, the de-
livery boy, messengers, the mail clerk, and clerical employees, consti-
tute- a unit appropriate for the purpose of collective bargaining,
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. -
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen
can best be resolved by an election by secret ballot.
Although the I. B. E. W. did not disclose the extent of its interest
among employees in the unit found appropriate above, the U. W. O. C.
concedes that the I. B. E. W. has sufficient membership to entitle the
I. B. E. W. to participate in the election. We shall, therefore, provide
that both the I. B. E. W. and the U. W. O. C. participate in the election
which we shall direct.
Those eligible to vote in the election shall be all employees of the
Company in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding. the
date of the Direction of Election, subject to the limitations and addi-
tions set forth therein.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations
Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9; of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-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, an election 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 Article III, Section 10, of said Rules and Regulations, among
-all employees of the Company within the 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
PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY 1197
armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person
at the polls, but excluding employees who have since quit or been dis-
charged for cause, to determine whether they desire to be represented
by Utility Workers Organizing Committee, affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, or by International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor,
for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.
CHAIRMAN MILLis took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction-of Election.
a