Pacific Gas & Electric Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 3, 1950

91 N.L.R.B. 615 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC COMPANY , EMPLOYER
and UTILITY WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA , C10, PETITIONER
Case No. 20-RC-1037.-Decided October 3, 1950
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Harry Bamford, hearing
-officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. -
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the. Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the following
xeasons:
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all telephone operators at the Em-
ployer's general executive offices at 245 Market Street, San Francisco,
California, including the information clerk and the clerk-telephone
operator, but excluding supervisors. The International Brotherhood
,of Electrical Workers, AFL, herein called the Intervenor,' contends
that the proposed unit is inappropriate inasmuch as telephone opera-
tors are included in office and clerical units established in other de-
partments and divisions in the Employer's utility system. The
Employer also urges that the requested unit is inappropriate, but does
not take any affirmative position as to what the unit should be.
The telephone operators are part of the communications department,
which is one of eight subdepartments in the department of electric
I The Intervenor was permitted to intervene although it does not claim representation
among the employees sought, in order to protest the Petitioner's unit request.
91 NLRB No. 101.
615
616 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
operations 2 The department of electric operations is one of two
main departments under the vice president in charge of operations,'
and is part of the Employer's general executive offices.
The telephone operations have been placed under the general super-
intendent of communications only as a matter of convenience. Thus,
until about 2 or 3 years ago, the telephone group bras under the juris-
diction of the commercial department, which is also a branch of the
Employer's general executive, offices. The record shows that if con-
ditions should change, these employees might be transferred to some
other department and operate as efficiently, because they are
not dependent upon the engineering staff which makes up the
communications department.
There are 23 telephone operators who work under the supervision
of the chief operator and the supervising telephone operator 4 They
handle, through the Employer's own private telephone system, all
calls for the Employer's general executive offices at 245 Market Street,.
and for the Employer's San Francisco division, one of the Employer's
13 main operating divisions.5 There is little or no contact or inter-
change between these employees and other employees in the same
building or in the San Francisco division. They work in their own
separate area, to which access is generally denied to other employees.
Because the switchboard operates on a 24-hour basis, the operators
have their own shift schedule. The day shifts are rotated, but the
Sunday, evening, and night shifts are regularly handled by the same
operators." The operators participate in the same employee benefits
available to other employees throughout the system, such as sick
leave, holidays with pay, vacations, pension plan, and group insurance.
There is no history of collective bargaining for the telephone opera-
tors or any of the office or clerical employees in the general executive
. 2 The other departments are the transmission and distribution department , the sub-
station department , the hydro -generation department , the steam generation department,
the water systems department , the system control department , and the department of
protection.
3 The communications department is headed by a general superintendent of communi-
cations. In addition to the telephone group this department is composed of four assist-
ant engineers , two electricians , an office assistant , a clerk, and a clerk-typist.
4 Both the information clerk and the clerk -telephone operator work directly under the
supervision of the chief operator in the same room as the other operators , and have duties
directly related to the full -time operators . The information clerk, who wears a bead set,
provides telephone listings and other general information on incoming calls. The clerk-
telephone operator does some clerical work occasioned by the operation of the switchboard,
as well as working as an operator.
For operating purposes , the Employer ' s entire system is subdivided into 13 geographical
divisions . The functions of the divisions are to administer the policies made by the
Employer ' s general executive offices ; they have no executive authority . There are approxi-
mately 1,200 employees working at the general executive offices, and about 1,700 in the
San Francisco division , including physical employees.
8'1'he permanent assignments were made at the request of the employees who work on
these shifts,
PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC COMPANY 617
offices at 245 Market Street.? In prior representation proceedings,
the Board has found division or department-wide units of office and
clerical employees appropriate for collective bargaining." These
bargaining units were established on the basis of the bargaining pat-.
tern for employees in the Employer's system.9 Telephone operators
..re covered under the collective bargaining agreements for these. a
units."
The unit proposed by the Petitioner does not correspond with any
employee unit grouping found to constitute an appropriate unit in
other parts of the Employer's system. No special factors appear in
the instant case which would warrant establishing the telephone op-
erators in a separate unit." The only basis for establishment of the
proposed unit, that we can perceive, is the extent of the Petitioner's
organization among these employees. The Act, however, precludes a
finding on this basis alone. 12 Under these circumstances, and the en-
tire record in the case, we find that the unit of telephone operators,
sought by the Petitioner is not appropriate for bargaining purposes,.
and we shall dismiss the petition.
ORDER
Upon the entire record in this case, the National Labor Relations
Board hereby orders that the petition herein be, and it hereby is,,
dismissed.
7 The office and clerical employees of the San Francisco division are covered by a collec-
tive bargaining contract with the Petitioner. There is no contact or interchange between
the employees in the general executive offices and those in the San Francisco division.
There are, however , some clerks located in the San Francisco division , doing the type
of work usually done by division employees , who report to department heads in the general
executive offices. These employees are covered by the contract for the San Francisco
office and clerical employees . There are no clerks at 245 Market Street who do work
which normally is performed by employees in the divisions.
6 Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 67 NLRB. 761 ; 61 NLRB 468 ; 57 NLRB 1129 ;.
55 NLRB 427; 52 NLRB 1204; 51 NLRB 301; 49 NLRB 810.
9In November 1949 , the Board found appropriate a system-wide unit of the Employer's,
physical employees , notwithstanding a history of bargaining on a divisional basis, on the-
ground that it was the optimum unit for representation of the Employer 's physical employ-
ees. Pacific Gas and Electric Company , 87 NLRB 257.
10 The telephone work in most of the divisions, as in the case of the general executive
ofnces, is an incidental service operation.
'n Cf. Mergenthaler Linotype Company, 89 NLRB 686.
1 1 The Halle Bros. Company, 91 NLRB 100.