Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 30, 1942

44 N.L.R.B. 665 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter Of PACIFIC GAS AND ELEunac COMPANY and INTER-
NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS
In the Matter' Of PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC Co. and UTILITY WORKERS
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE (C. I. 0.)
In the Matter of PACIFIC GAS' AND ELECTRIC COMPANY and INTER-
NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS
In the Matter of PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY and INTER-
NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS
In the Matter of PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY and INTER-
NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS
In the, Matter of PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC, COMPANY and INTER-
NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS
Cases Nos. R-4087 to R-4092 incisive, respectively.Decided
September 30, 1942
Jurisdiction : gas and electric utility industry.
Investigation . and Certification of Representatives: existence of question : dis-
agreement between petitioning unions and Company with respect to scope of
appropriate union; elections necessary.
Units Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: separate units comprising, re-
spectively , all employees in each of four geographic divisions , in the General
Construction Department, in the Bureau of Tests and Inspection , and in the
Central Supply Department.
Mr. Richard A. Perkins and Mr. William B. Esterman, for the
Board.
Mr. Thomas J. Straub, Mr. J. Paul St. Sure, and Miss Anne Mc-
Donald, of San Francisco, Calif., for the Company.
Mr. Charles J. Janiqian, of San Francisco, Calif., for the I. B. E. W.
Mr. Lynn Hames, Mr. Edward B. White, and Gladstein, Grossman,'
Margolis do Sawyer, by Mr. Harold Sawyer, of San Francisco, Calif.,
for the U. W. O. C.,
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 Elec-
trical Workers; herein called the I. B. E. W., and' by Utility `'Yorkers
44 N. L. R. B., No. 121.
665
666 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Organizing Committee (C. I. 0.), herein called the U. W. O. C., each
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 Natiofial'Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate consolidated hearing
upon due notice before Charles E. Persons, Trial Examiner. Said
hearing was held at San Francisco, California, on July 27, 28, 29, and
30, 1942. The Board, the Company, the I. B. E. W., and the U. W.
O. C. 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 are hereby' affirmed.
On August 26 and 28, 1942, respectively, the U. W. O. C. and the Com-
pany filed briefs which the Board has considered.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF 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 39 hydro-electric generating plants and 8 steam electric gen-
erating plants in the State. As an incident to its gas and electric
',,busmes's '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 San Francisco and Oakland, California, 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 powerindispensable to their respective operations. In 1936
the Company purchased raw materials, consisting principally of steel,
pipe, transformers, cables, switches, wire, gas and electric appliances,'
Employees of the Sacramento streetcar and bus system have bargained with the Comt
pany collectively as a unit slice 1938 See footnote 8 below
PACIFIC GAS AND, ELECTRIC COMPANY' `667
poles; insulators, fittings, and other similar materials, valued at nearly
$2,000,000, all of which were manufactured or originated outside
California.',' Since that time 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 merging into its already exten-
sive utility system.2
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS .INVOLVED
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is a labor organi-
ration'afMiated with the American Federation of Labor, admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
Utility Workers Organizii g Committee is a labor organization
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial. Organizations, admitting to
membership employees of the ,Company.
III. THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
With respect to the several claims of the I. B. E. W. and the
U. W. O. C. to represent a majority of the Company's employees in
the several operating divisions and departments named in their re-
spective petitions, more fully described below, the Company takes the
position that only a unit coextensive with the Company's system-wide
'utility operations is an appropriate bargaining unit. In June 1942
the Company, upon request, refused to bargain with the I. B. E. W.
for employees in any smaller unit.
A statement prepared by a Field Examiner and other evidence
introduced at the hearing indicate that the I. B. E. W. represents a
substantial number of employees in its several proposed units and
that the U. W. O. C. represents a substantial number of employees in
its proposed unit.3
2 At the hearing the parties stipulated that the entire recoi d in Case No R-274 a
former representation proceeding involving employees of the Company, should be' made
part of the record in the instant consolidated proceedings and that the Board should resort
to any part of the record for its findings with respect to the issues herein The parties also
stipulated that the Board's findings in Case No R-274 with respect to the business of the
Company substantially describe the Company's present operations The entire record in
Case'No R-274, including the pleadings, the evidence taken, the testimony heard, the
exhibits submitted, and the several orders entered thereon, aie hereby made part of the
record in the instant consolidated proceedings' See, Mattei of Pacific Gas and Electric Com-
pany and United Electrical & Radio Workers of America , 3 N L: It . B. 835; 4 N L R B.
180; Matter of Pacific G'is and Electric Company and United Electrical and Radio Workers
of America, Matter of Pacific Gas and Electric Company and United Electrical, Radio and
Machine Woi7 ers of America, 13 N L. R B. 268 , Matter of Pacific Gas and Electric Com-
pany and Utility Workers Organizing Committee, C I. O , 40 N. L. R. B. 591 ; 41 N. L. It. B.
1182. '
In support of their petitions, the I B E W submitted to the Regional Director a certi-
fied copy of its membership roster as of June 1, 1942, and the U. W.- 0 C. submitted'appli-,
cation cards, dated between January 1 and Aprsl 30, 1942. Accoiding to a Field E'xaminer's
668 DECISIONS "OF- NATIONAL- LABOR RELATIONS i BOARD
We find that, questions affecting•^comnierce 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 UNIT
The,Company contends that the only appropriate bargaining unit
fol its employees is a system-wide unit coextensive with its utility
operations. The I. B., E. W. and the U. W. 0. C., conceding that a
system-wide unit is ultimately appropriate for bargaining, agree
that under the present circumstances employees in the 'Sacramento
Division, the' Shasta Division, the Humboldt Division, the Drum Divi-
tion, the General Construction Department, and the "Central Ware-
house Department" 4 constitute, respectively, separate appropriate
bargaining -units. In order that collective bargaining may be • ac-
complished upon as wide a scale as possible, each labor organization
intends to group in one bargaining contract all employees in the
several units for which it may be certified as bargaining agent.
A. The divisional units
The Company is chiefly engaged'in the business of generating, buy-
ing, transmitting, selling, and distributing electric energy and
buying, manufacturing, transporting, selling, and distributing' git,s.
The territory served by the Company is the northern and 'central part
of California, an area of more than 100,000 square miles. The Com-
pany is one of the largest utility corporations of the United' States
and, as of June 1942, employed over 12,000 employees. The Company's
statement, the evidence indicates that the distribution of union representation among the
Company's employees in the proposed units as of April 15, 1942, is as follows :
Sectional unit Employeesinvolved
I B E W.
showing
U. W. 0. C.
showing
Sacramento --------------------------------------------- 657 232 --------------
General Construction Department ____ 1, 233 306 --------------
Shasta Division ______________________'_____________ 261 r 66 --------------
Humboldt Division _____________________________'_______ 90 35 --------------
Drum Division ----------------------------------------- 222 68
Central Warehouse Department ________________________ 177
The U. W. O. C. submitted no evidence with respect to the extent of its membership among
employees in the Sacramento , Shasta , Humboldt, and- Drum Divisions , and in the General
Construction Department . The I. B. E W. concedes that the U. W. O. C. has a sufficient
interest among the employees concerned to entitle it to participate in elections among such
employees. At the hearing the representative, of the I B . E. W. testified that he held 300
additional membershipca`rds signed since June 3, 1942 These cards were not segregated
to indicate in what sections of the Company ' s operations the signers were employed, and
they were not checked against the Company's pay rolls Another representative of the
I. B. E: W. testified that the present general membership of the I. B E . W. among the
Company's , employees , was 2,180 , as-against about^600 in November 1941
4 Under this designation the labor organizations intend to ' include the Central " Supply
Department and the Bureau of Tests and Inspection.
1
PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY 669
general office is at San Francisco, where its general business and labor
policies -are determined and the executive control of its operations is,
centered., The Company divides its territory into 13 geographical
administrative and operating sections, called divisions, and maintains
certain over-all operating departments which give special service to
all parts of its system. The geographical divisions are known as the
East Bay, Sacramento, Shasta, Humboldt, Drum, Stockton, DeSabla,
Colgate,,Coast Valleys, San Francisco, North Bay, San Jose, and San
Joaquin Power Divisions.5
The administrative head of each geographical division is the divi-
sion manager. 'Although the over-all control of supply and distribu-
tion of gas and electric energy is centered in the general office, the
division manager has administrative supervision of work performed
by local division employees and is directly concerned with the Com-
pany's local service in-his division. Division managers interview
applicants for employment and make recommendations for hiring to
the personnel department, which is located in the general office. In
emergencies they hire necessary labor for their divisions on their own
initiative. Transfers of employees from one division to another are
effected by division managers through the personnel department. Di-
vision managers have authority to discipline, suspend, and discharge
employees in their divisions. Employees aggrieved by decisions of
division managers may appeal them, and discharges of employees with
5 or more years' seniority must be reviewed by the personnel depart-
ment. Each division keeps employment 'records and customers' ac=
counts for the information of the Company's general office, where the
central accounting is made. The r duties, responsibilities, and, func-
tions of employees within each division are primarily confined to that
division. Employees in the same work categories in the several divi-
sions perform the same type of work.
The petitions in this consolidated proceeding concern employees
in the Sacramento, Shasta, Humboldt, and Drum Divisions, which lie
north and east of the East Bay Division. Administration within each
of these divisions follows similar lines. The Shasta and Drum Divi-
sions are sparsely settled and serve relatively few local customers.
Both divisions contribute far more electric energy to the common
supply than their local customers (consume. All four divisions are
generating divisions. The Drum Division has eight hydro-electric
generating plants within its borders.
The principal issues involved in this consolidated proceeding are
whether each of the named geographical divisions of the Company's
utility system has sufficient cohesion and autonomy to function success-
5 As of June 1942, the pay rolls of the geographical divisions, in the order named above,
listed 1 ,765, 1,070, 299, 117, 319, 845, 367, 283, 249, 1,,470, 575, 597, and 1,840 employees,
respectively.
670 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ' BOARD
fully as an independent bargaining unit for employees working
therein. In the former representation proceeding the Board found
that' employees in the Company's East Bay Division constituted an
appropriate separate bargaining unit apart from other employees in
the Company's system.6 The Company concedes that, though there
are some minor differences in the, administration of the several geo-
graphic divisions, the Sacramento; Shasta, Humboldt, and Drum
Divisions bear the salve relation, respectively, to the Company's entire
operating system as does the East Bay Division.'
It clearly appears, and the two labor organizations concede, that a-
system-wide unit is ultimately appropriate-for bargaining among the
Company's employees whose work interests are related both by the
similarity of the classes of work done and by their common association
in a closely integrated enterprise. On October 16, 1937, when the
Board issued its original Decision and Direction of Elections in the
prior representation proceeding, it contemplated a system-wide bar-
gaining unit for the Company's employees. On April 16, 1942, under
all the circumstances which lire fully set forth in a Supplemental De-
iasion, the Board decided that bargaining on a divisional basis was
feasible and set apart employees in the East Bay Division as a sepa-
rate bargainln(y unit.,, We find no'reason to depart from that .de-,I
While both the U. W. O. C. and the I. B.' E. W. are engaged'in
°The Company objects to certain findings of the Board in the pnoi iepiesentatian pro-
ceeding and contends that the Board s final conclusions based thereon were without ade-
quate'support in the record The Board has considered the Company's objections and finds
that they do not raise substantial and mateiiai issues with respect to the validity of the
Board's conclusion that employees in the East Bay Division constitute a separate appro-
priate bargaining unit The Company's objections are hereby overiuled
7 The Humboldt Division, like the San Toaquin Power Div_sion is a recently aegnn ed
property, and the Company has not yet diawn all activities of the division into its system-
wide central control
8In finding the East Bay unit appropriate the Board took the position that to meet
the circumstances obtaining at the time when a fair election could be held, it would modify
a system-wide'unit previously found appropiiate for bargaining In its original Dec,sion,
however, the Board had made no conclusive findings with respect to the appropriate unit,
but had decided to predicate such finding ,, upon the results of two separate elections to be
held among employees in the Company's Sacramento streetcar and bus system and among
employees in its gas and electiic system when the results of the election among em-
ployees in the first group disclosed that they had selected it birgaining agent which' had no
interest among employees in the second group, the Boaid found that employees ill the Com-
pany's Sacramento streetcar and bus system constituted a separate appropriate unit and
certified the designated agent as their bargaining representative Due to the Company's
interference with the election among employees in the second group, the Board deteimined
to give no effect to the results of the balloting therein From the date of this original
Decision in 1937 to the date on-which the U NV 0 C filed an amended petition in August
1911, it was not necessary to make, and the Board did not make, any conclusive finding with
respect to the propriety of the unit comprising employees in the second group In August
1941, the U W 0 C filed an amended petition alleging that employees in the Fist Bay
Division constituted an appropriate unit The Board thereafter found that employees in
the East Bay Division constituted an appropriate unit. This finding was the first conclu-
sive finding with respect to the scope of a' unit appropriate for employees in the second
gi oup, although cleat lv a system-v ide unit iias within the purview of the Board's original
Urcision issued in 1937 and would have been found had not unfair labor practices rendered
the election a nullrt}
PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY 671
organizing the Company's employees in the several divisions of the
Company's system, the record does not disclose that either labor
organization claims to represent at this time a majority of employees
in each, of the various subdivisions of the Company's operations or a
majority of such employees as a whole. There are pending in the
Board's Regional Office seven -new petitions for investigation and
certification of representatives, each recently filed by either one or
the other of the two labor organizations represented in this consoli-
dated proceeding.0 Neither the I. B. E. W. nor the U. W. O. C., how-
ever, claims to represent a majority of employees in each-of the divi-
sions covered by these several petitions. Neither labor' organization;
moreover, claims to represent a majority of the employees in the San
Joaquin Power Division and no petition is now pending for certifica-
tion of representatives of employees therein 10 In the prior repre-
sentation proceeding, the Board decided that the opportunity for
collective bargaining should not be denied to the Company's -em-
ployees until their union organization on a system-wide basis should
again be accomplished. Successful, bargaining may be achieved on a
less extensive scale for groups of employees within operating sectors
established by an employer for administrative efficiency and such units
are -corit0hplated by the Act.!' In setting up the;.unit appropriate..,
for the purposes of collective bargaining in each instance, the Board,
guided by the surrounding circumstances, decides the scope of the
immediate bargaining unit to insure presently to all employees con-
cerned, the'benefit of their right to self-organization under the Act.12
For reasons, herein set forth, the present record does not disclose that
collective bargaining on a-system-wide basis is immediately probable.
Neither does it disclose that bargaining on a divisional basis is not
entirely feasible. Upon the entire record in the case, including the
record in Case No. R-274, we find that separate units restricted to
employees in the Shasta, Sacramento, Drum, and Humboldt Divisions
respectively constitute separate appropriate bargaining units.
° Of these petitions , those concerning the Company 's DeSabla , Stockton , Colgate, and
Coast Valleys Divisions wei e filed by the I B E W ; tl - ose concerning the San Francisco,
North Bay, and Sin Jose Divisions were filed by the U w 0 C
10 The San Joaquin Power Division is the only geographical division of the Company's
properly with respect to which no petition has been filed Upon charges filed by the
I B E W against the Company alleging the commission of unfair labor practices by the
Company in the San Joaquin Power Division, the Board issued a complaint in Case No
C-21S6, which is now pending before the Board
"Section 9 (b) of the Act provides . "The Board shall decide in each case whether, in
order to insure to employees the full benefit of their right to self -organization and to col-
lective bargaining, and otherwise to effectuate the policies of this Act, the unit appiopriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining shall be the employer unit, craft unit , plant unit,
or subdivision theieof " 11 `
12 See Matter o f Oklahoma Gas & Electric Company and International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers o f Oklahoma City, Local B-11,J1, 42 N L R B 750 , and cases cited
therein
672 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
B. Categories of employees in divisional units
In Case No. R-274, the Board found that all employees in the
outside forces of the Company in its East Bay Division, including
outside field employees , workers employed in the generating stations,
substations, gas plants, steam plants, and other shops and plants, meter
readers, combination meter readers and collectors , - collectors , sales-
men, estimators , mappers, inspectors , watchmen , and building serv-
ice,employees , but excluding officials, executive officers, comptometer
operators , clerical and office employees , and employees in the rank
of job foremen and, above the rank of job foremen , constituted, an
appropriate unit.
The I. B. E. W. and the U. W. 0. C. agree that the employees in
the same categories should be included in each of the four proposed
divisional units. They would expressly include field clerks and clerks
in generating stations . Employees in both these categories voted in
the election for employees in the East Bay Division and were deemed
to be within the intendment of the unit description . We shall
specifically include them in the unit . In place of the exclusion of
"employees in the rank of job foremen and above the rank of job
foremen," a description which gave rise to some dispute in the prior
election, the I. B. E. W. and U. W. 0. C. would expressly include in
the unit working foremen who spend 50 percent or more of their time
with gangs which they supervise , whether or not such foremen per-
form work vith their hands during the period of supervision, find
would exclude all other foremen . The Company would exclude from
each bargaining unit any supervisory employee who has a duty to
abstain from active participation in a contest between rival labor
organizations , but does not otherwise object to the categories of
employees proposed for inclusion in the divisional units.
The differentiation suggested by the I. B. E. W .- and the U. W. 0.
C. does not clearly reveal or distinguish the control that working fore-
men whom they propose to include in the unit exercise upon the pro-
duction and maintenance employees in the working gang. With re-
spect to the Company's suggestion ,, the surrounding circumstances in
each -case dictate the extent to which supervisory employees may*par-
ticipate in labor activities . We shall therefore , as in other cases,
resort to classifying working foremen on the basis of their power to
hire or discharge employees under their supervision; We shall include
within each divisional bargaining unit all working foremen who
have no power to hire or discharge employees under their' supervision
and shall exclude therefrom all other foremen.
We find that^all employees in the outside forces of the Company in
its Shasta, Sacramento, Humboldt, and Drum Division, respectively,
including outside - field employees and field clerks , workers employed
PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY 673
in the generating stations , substations , gas plants , steam plants, and
other shops and plants, clerks in generating stations , meter readers,
combination meter readers and collectors , collectors , salesmen, estima-
tors, mappers , inspectors , watchmen, building service employees,, and,
working foremen who do not have the power to hire or to discharge
employees under their supervision , but excluding other working f ore-
men, foremen , officials , executive officers , comptometer operators, and.
clerical and office employees, constitute separate units appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining , within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the Act.
C. The departmental units
The headquarters of the General Construction Department are in
San Francisco . The Engineering Department has discretion to de-
termine the work which shall be done by the General Construction
Department . The work is done under the direct supervision of a
superintendent and his assistants. The General Construction De-
partment handles construction work of every type "from planting'
trees to building generating stations" in the Company's utility system.
It does maintenance work of all types except small routine jobs which
may be handled by regular divisional employees. It supervises con-
struction work let out on contract to other concerns . The General,
Construction Department includes about 1 ,200 employees and it op-
erates by crews which are sent to localities where the physical work
is to be done. Such crews work under departmental foremen and are
supplemented by available divisional employees . The actual'work
is done partly under divisional , partly under departmental , supervision.
Due to the extensive construction work which is its major concern,
the General Construction Department includes some categories of
employees ' not found in divisions , such as, powdermen , hole-digger
operators , etc. Men in the same categories , however, do similar work
whether they are employed in a division or in a department . Trans-
fers from the General Construction Department to geographical divi
sions are controlled by the personnel department , and such transfers
are frequent.
The Central Supply Department operates under a superintendent
and is a subdivision of the Department of Purchases and Stores at
the general office. Its headquarters are at Emeryville near the termi-
nals of transcontinental railroads and convenient for water and motor
transportation . It includes about 200 non-supervisory employees.
The function of the Central Supply Department is to store materials
for the use of the Company 's entire system , to maintain stock, to keep
a perpetual inventory , and to repair and rehabilitate damaged and
semiobsolete material. . It maintains and supervises 175 warehouses
487498-42-vol. 44-43
674 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
located in the 13 geographical divisions of the Company's system.
The warehouses physically located in each division are manned by
divisional employees, but the functional control of the stock, the
amount of stock, and the utilization of storage space are controlled
from the headquarters at Emeryville. Stock inventory in all ware-
houses is made by employees from headquarters with the physical
assistance of the local divisional employees.
As part of its stock maintenance, the Company repairs and 'rehabili-
tates damaged and worn machinery and instruments. For this pur-
pose it maintains at Emeryville a series of shops, a pipe yard, and a
junk yard. It also operates a cafeteria. The repair work is performed
at Emeryville if the materials can conveniently be brought to head-
quarters; otherwise, it is performed in the field. When the specially
skilled craftsmen work in the field, they are supplied with working
crews from divisional forces.
The Bureau of Tests and Inspection is an operating sector of the
Engineering Department of the Company's general office. The work
of the Bureau is performed under a chief, who is subject to the super-
vision of the Chief Engineer. The headquarters of the Bureau are
at Emeryville, across the street from the Central Supply Department.
The Bureau's work includes the study of standards and the adjustment
of measuring instruments, the inspection and testing of material
bought for company use, the investigation of engineering projects, elec-
trical testing, and electrolysis. The Bureau includes 24 employees.
of whom 5 are supervisory. All of them have special training and
education in science and engineering. One of the Bureau employees
spends his entire time in the eastern part of the United States inspect-
ing materials being made for the Company on special order in factories
owned by others, and 2 employees are similarly occupied on the Pacific
Coast. Other employees of the Bureau perform part of their work
at the Bureau's headquarters at Emeryville, and part of their work
in the field. There are no job classifications elsewhere in the Com-
pany's system similar to their job classifications. The Company does
not consider that generally skilled employees in its utility system can
perform the special work of these employees without additional instruc-
tion and experience. Employees of the Bureau have working gangs
of divisional employees assigned to them in any division where their
work is done. When the work is for another department, they may
have the services of departmental employees as needed.
The General Construction Department, the Central Supply De-
partment, and the Bureau of Tests and Inspection are separate operat-
ing departments or sectors thereof controlled, through the Company's
general office. Although interdependent and interrelated for the Com-
pany's utility service, they are independent administratively of each
PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY 675
other and of•the geographical operating divisions. Employees in each
department 'or sector are under immediate separate supervision and
direction . Since these three operating subdivisions of the Company's
system have the permanence , cohesion , and integrity necessary to
function administratively as efficient parts of an integrated and inter-
locking whole, we find that employees working within each such de-
fined subdivision, apart from other groups of employees with whom
the Board is here concerned, constitute respectively separate units for
bargaining purposes.
D. Categories of employees in departmental units
The I. B. E. W. and the U. W. O. C. agree that all employees in
the outside forces of the Company in its General Construction De-
partment, including outside field employees, laborers, flunkies,
groundmen , fillers, ' w atchmen , powdermen , jackhammermen, com-
pressor operators , concretemen, mixer operators , carpenters, truck
drivers, tractor operators, hole-digger operators, heavy-equipment op-
erators, towermen , painters, linemen , electricians , linemen and elec-
tricians , nia,terial men , field engineers , field clerks, junior-line foremen,
and inspectors, should be included in the bargaining unit and that
foremen, officials, executive oflieers, resident engineers, first-aid men,
field and office engineers, the chief clerk, comptometer operators, and
clerical and office employees should be excluded therefrom. With
respect to working foremen , the parties suggest the same respective
differentiations noted above for divisional units. For the reasons
noted above, Ave shall include in the bargaining unit working foremen
who have no authority, to hire or discharge employees Linder their
supervision, and exclude all other foremen.
We find that all employees in the outside forces of the Company
in its General Construction Department , including outside field em-
ployees , laborers , flunkies , groundmen , fallers, watchmen , powdermen,
jackhammermen , compressor operators, concretemen, mixer . operators,
carpenters, truck drivers, tractor operators, hole-digger operators,
heavy -equipmment operators , towermen, painters , linemen, electricians,
linemen and electricians , material men, field engineers , field clerks,
junior-line foremen, inspectors, and working foremen who have no
power to hire or to discharge employees under their supervision, but
excluding all other working foremen, foremen , officials , executive offi-
cers, resident engineers , first - aid men, field s and office engineers, the
chief clerk, comptometer operators, and clerical and office employees,
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining,
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
As noted above, the U. W. O. C. and the I. B. E. W. would include
in one bargaining unit employees in the Bureau of Tests and In-
676 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
spection and employees in the Central Supply Department, and would
exclude therefrom officials, executive officers, .foremen, comptometer
operators, and clerical and office employees. The Company contends,
inter alia, that employees in these two departments do not form a
homogeneous unit., Although employees in these two administrative
subdivisions of the Company's system, like employees in the General
Construction Department, work at times with groups of employees
in the several geographical divisions of the Company's interrelated
system, and with each other, it is clearly apparent that, employees in
these two sectors of the proposed unit share no special work interests
and differ widely in their skill and experience. For this reason, we
shall not group employees in these comparatively unrelated sub-
divisions of the Company's operations in the same bargaining unit.
We find that all employees in the Bureau of Tests and Inspection,
excluding officials, executive officers, foremen, comptometer operators,
and clerical and office employees, 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 employees-in the Central
Supply Department, excluding officials, executive officers, foremen,
comptometer operators, and clerical and office employees, constitute
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within
the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the questions concerning representation which have
arisen can best be resolved by separate elections by secret ballot.
At the hearing, the U. W. O. C. requested that that the Board defer
elections among all employees herein concerned, except employees in
the "Central Warehouse Division," until the Company should bargain
with it for employees in the East Bay Division.- On September 15,
1942, the U. W. O. C. filed a 'notion requesting that the Board defer
elections among employees concerned in the instant petitions until
formal action should be taken by the Board upon the petitions now
pending in the Regional Office. The I. B. E. W. urges that the elec-
tions be held without further delay. We see no reason to defer the
elections on the petitions presently before the Board. The motion of
the U. W. OX. is hereby denied.
is The Company has refused to bargain with the U W 0 C for employees in the East
Bay Division and desues that the U W 0 C file charges alleging the violation of Section
8 (5) of the Act in order that, through the regular procedural channels under the Act, the
propriety of the Board's finding with respect to the East Bay unit may be reviewed The
U W. 0 C has refused to file charges and has caused the issue of the Company's refusal
to bargain with respect to the East Bay employees to be certified to the National War Labor
Board The issue is now pending before the National War Labor Board.
PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY 677
Although the U. W. O. C. did not disclose the extent of its interest
among employees in the General Construction Department or in the
Sacramento, Shasta, Drum, and Humboldt Divisions, the I. B. E. W.
concedes that the U. W. O. C. has substantial membership among such
employees to entitle the U. W. O. C. to participate in the elections.
The I. B. E. W. has disclosed that it has some representation among
employees in all the units herein found appropriate. We shall, there-
fore, provide that both the I. B. E. W. and the U. W. O. C. participate
in the•several-elections which we shall direct.
Those eligible to vote in the several elections shall be all employees
in each respective bargaining unit found appropriate in Section IV,
above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of the Direction of Elections, subject to the limita-
tions and additions set forth therein.
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 8, of National Labor
Relations 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, 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 direc-
tion and, supervision of the Regional Director for the Twentieth
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Rela-
tions Board and'subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and
Regulations, among all employees of the Company within each re-
spective unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were em-
ployed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction, including employees who did not work during such
pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or in the active
military service or training of the United States, or temporarily laid
off, but excluding employees who have since quit or been discharged
for cause, to determine whether they desire to be represented by
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, or by Utility Workers Organizing
Committee, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.
Ma. War. M. LEISERSON took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Elections.