Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 10, 1947

73 N.L.R.B. 328 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

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