Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 2, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 107 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter Of PACIFIC TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY?
EMPLOYER and ACCOUNTING EMPLOYEES ORGANIZATION, PETITIONER
Case No. 00-RC-186.-Decided November 2, 1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION O'F ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The Petitioner, an unaffiliated labor organization, and the fol-
lowing additional labor organizations claim to represent employees
of the Employer :
United Brotherhood of Telephone Workers, hereinafter called the
Telephone Workers, and Communications Workers of America, Pa-
cific Division 61, hereinafter called the Communications Workers.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit :
The Petitioner urges as appropriate a unit composed of the non-
supervisory employees in all the offices of the accounting department
in the Employer's Northern California and Nevada area, excluding
the employees in the San Francisco Division Revenue Accounting
office. The Telephone Workers urges as appropriate a unit composed
of the non-supervisory employees in the San Francisco Division
*Houston , Reynolds, and Murdock.
80 N. L. R. B., No. 22.
107
108 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Revenue Accounting office or alternatively, and only in the event these
employees are merged with other employees, a department-wide unit
of accounting employees. The Employer and the Communications
Workers contend that the unit should be department-wide in scope
and include the employees in all the offices of the accounting depart-
ment.
A. The Employer's operations
The Employer and its wholly owned subsidiary, the Bell Telephone
Company of Nevada, are engaged in the business of receiving and
transmitting telephone and telegraph communications, the Employer
serving the States of California, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington,
and its subsidiary, the State of Nevada. For administrative pur-
poses, the operating territory of the Employer is divided into four
geographical areas, one of which is known as the Northern California
and Nevada area and covers the part of California north of the
Tehachipi Mountains and the State of Nevada. In this area, the
Employer conducts its operations through the following four depart-
ments: traffic, plant, commercial, and accounting. This proceeding
is concerned only with the employees in the accounting department
in the Northern California and Nevada area.
The accounting department herein involved keeps the Employer's
books and records for its Northern California and Nevada area opera-
tions. Its functions are carried on in seven separately located divi-
sions or offices in California. Five of these divisions or offices maintain
customers' accounts and handle all the records dealing with the receipt
of money while the other two divisions or offices handle the records
relating to the disbursement of money. Of the five offices which are
responsible for the customers' accounts and revenue records, two are
in San Francisco and are known as the San Francisco Division
Revenue Accounting, and the Coast Division Revenue Accounting,
respectively; 2 one is in Oakland and is known as the East Bay Division
Revenue Accounting; 3 one is in Sacramento and is known as the
Sacramento Inland Division Revenue Accounting; 4 and one is in
Fresno and is known as the Fresno Inland Division Revenue Account-
ing.' Each of these five offices maintains customers' accounts for a
different geographical sector. The two divisions which are responsible
for the disbursement records are located in San Francisco and Sacra-
!The Employer serves the portion of the area which is in California while its afore-
mentioned subsidiary serves the portion which is in Nevada.
2 These two offices are hereinafter referred to as San Francisco Division and Coast Divi-
sion respectively
8 This office is hereinafter referred to as Bay Division.
4 This office is hereinafter referred to as Sacramento Inland Division.
s This office is hereinafter referred to as Fresno Inland Division
PACIFIC TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY 109
mento respectively, and both are known as Disbursement Accounting.
The unit proposed by the Petitioner embraces all the employees in the
accounting department except those in the San Francisco Division
office, a group sought by the Telephone Workers.
Until 1941, the two revenue accounting offices in San Francisco
functioned as a single operating unit under the name of the Coast
Division. This unit was then housed in an office building on Mont-
gomery Street. Also located at this address was the San Francisco
Disbursement office. In 1941, as a result of business expansion and
the need for larger quarters, the Employer divided the Coast Division
into two office units and moved one unit to 1 Powell Street and the
other unit to an office building on 85 Second Street. The unit at the
Powell Street address was thereafter known as the San Francisco
Division office. About a year and a half ago the Employer pur-
chased the office building at 85 Second Street and although various
floors were at that time occupied by outside concerns, at least five
of these floors were untenanted at the time of the hearing. A repre-
sentative of the Employer testified that these vacant floors are cur-
rently being readied for the use of the San Francisco Division office
and the San Francisco Disbursement office and that arrangements
have already been made for moving these two offices to the 85 Second
Street building. He also testified that despite its move to the same
building as the Coast Division, the San Francisco Division will
remain a separate operating unit. In fact, the Employer contem-
plates transferring the Coast Division office out of San Francisco
sometime in 1949.
There is a total of approximately 1,600 employees in the 7 offices of
the Employer's accounting department. Because of similarity in their
functions, the offices employ substantially the same classifications of
employees, all of whom fall within the usual job classifications found
in such offices. Employees in like classifications in all offices perform
similar duties and receive identical pay. While interchange of person-
nel among the 7 offices is infrequent, the Employer maintains a policy
of allowing transfers from one office to another upon proper applica-
tion by any employee. All 7 offices are under the general charge and
control of an auditor although each has a separate head. Assisting
the auditor is an auditor of receipts who supervises the work of the
5 revenue accounting offices and an auditor of disbursements who
supervises the work of the 2 disbursement accounting offices. The per-
sonnel policies in effect at each office are formulated and supervised
by the auditor. He determines all matters relating to employment
standards, wages, hours, and working conditions and has full author-
ity to negotiate contracts with labor organizations.
110 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
B. The bargaining history
In 1934, employee committees were formed in each of the following
three accounting offices : East Bay Division, San Francisco Disburse-
ment, and Coast Division. These three committees served as bargain-
ing representatives of the employees in the afore-mentioned offices un-
til 1937 when they were succeeded by three other organizations known
as accounting organizations. About the same time, a fourth account-
ing organization was formed to act as the bargaining agent of the
employees in the two accounting offices in Sacramento. The Employer
recognized these four accounting organizations soon after their forma-
tion and thereafter dealt with them on a contractual basis for several
years. When the accounting organizations began to function as bar-
gaining agents only five of the present seven offices of the accounting
department were in existence, the San Francisco Division and the
Fresno Inland Division having been set up in 1941 and 1948, respec-
tively. Thus by 1937, all the offices in the accounting department
were represented by four bargaining agents.
No change occurred with respect to the representation of the em-
ployees in the accounting department until 1941 when the San Fran-
cisco Division was created out of the Coast Division. Shortly after
their transfer the employees who were assigned to the San Francisco
Division decided against representation and thereupon withdrew
their membership from the accounting organization that had repre-
sented them while they were attached to the Coast Division. After
their defection, the employees in the San Francisco Division were
without a bargaining agent until 1943, when the Telephone Workers
succeeded in organizing them. From that time until the present, these
employees have been represented by the Telephone Workers through
collective bargaining agreements . The contract currently in effect
dated January 14, 1948, is terminable upon 30 days' notice. The con-
tract unit is the unit for which the Telephone Workers is contending.
After the withdrawal of the employees in the San Francisco Divi-
sion from the ranks of one accounting organization, the four account-
ing organizations continued, without incident, to serve as bargaining
agent of the accounting employees until 1945. In that year, they were
consolidated into a single union and adopted the name of the Peti-
tioner. In May 1945, the Employer recognized the Petitioner as the
representative of all its accounting employees in the Northern Califor-
nia and Nevada area except those in the San Francisco Division and a
contractual relationship was thereafter established. Their last con-
tract entered into on September 26, 1947, provided for its expiration
on May 8, 1948.
PACIFIC TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY 111
On March 8, 1948, less than 2 months before the expiration date of
the Petitioner's contract with the Employer, the Board issued a Deci-
sion and Order in an unfair labor practice proceeding against the Em-
ployer." The Board's order directed the Employer, inter alia, to with-
draw recognition from the Petitioner and to cease giving effect to its
contract with that organization until such time as it has been certified
as bargaining representative by the Board. This order was based on
findings that the Petitioner's predecessors were Employer-supported
and that the Petitioner "as the successor and offspring of these organ-
izations, obtained some measure of unlawful advantage from this un-
remedied earlier assistance and support." The Board, therefore, con-
cluded that the Employer had extended illegal support to the Peti-
tioner. In its decision in that case, the Board stated :
... we believe that the employees here should be permitted to
indicate their choice of a bargaining representative in a secret
election conducted by the Board after the effects of the Respond-
ent's unlawful conduct have been dissipated. Although an elec-
tion cannot be directed in our Decision and Order herein, we wish
to make it clear that we will entertain an immediate petition for
an election, such election to be held upon compliance by the Re-
spondent with our Order herein.
Since the issuance of the afore-mentioned Decision and Order, the
Employer has had no dealings with the Petitioner. The present peti-
tion was filed on May 4, 1948. Like the Telephone Workers, the Peti-
tioner urges that the unit remain the same as that for which it has
bargained.
The only disagreement between the parties is whether the employees
in the accounting department should be established in a single unit or
be divided into two units in accordance with the bargaining history of
the accounting department.
Although the accounting department has a history of bargaining on
2-unit basis, the interests of all the employees in its 7 offices are vir-
tually the same. Each office employs the same classifications and the
duties of employees in like classifications throughout the department
are identical. There is, moreover, considerable uniformity through-
out the department by reason of the fact that all major policies, includ-
ing those relating to wages, hours, work standards, and employment
conditions emanate from the same source. In view of these circum-
stances, and the fact that the Employer's operations are highly inte-
grated and of an interdependent character, we do not regard as sig-
nificant the history of the accounting department. This history did
'76 N. L. R. B. 889.
112 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
not develop as a result of a determination by the Board. In any event,
we would not predicate a unit finding on the Petitioner's experience in
collective bargaining because we have found that the Employer ex-
tended illegal support to the organization.? In view of the foregoing
and the entire record in the case, we are of the opinion that the em-
ployees in the accounting department will best be served for collective
bargaining purposes by a single bargaining representative.8 Since
the record shows that there is a labor organization in a position to
represent these employees on a department-wide basis, we shall direct
an election among them.
Accordingly, we find that all the non-supervisory employees in the
Employer's accounting department in the Northern California and
Nevada area, excluding all supervisors, constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 9
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Pacific Telephone and Tele-
graph 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, and
subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of -National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series .i, as amended, among the em-
ployees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above,
who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding
the date of this Direction, including employees who did not work dur-
ing said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or tem-
porarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit
or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated
prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees on
strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
they desire to be represented by Accounting Employees Organiza-
tion, or by United Brotherhood of Telephone Workers, or by Com-
munications Workers of America, Pacific Division 61, for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining, or by none.
?Matter of Wilson Company , 64 N. L. R. B 1124; Matter of Southern Bell Telephone
and Telegraph Company, 55 N. L R B. 58.
8 Matter of Ohio Telephone Service Company, 72 N L R. B. 488
6 Any participant in the election herein may, upon its prompt request to, and approval
thereof by, the Regional Director, have its name removed from the ballot.