Southern California Edison Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 27, 1954

107 N.L.R.B. 951 (N.L.R.B. 1954)

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON COMPANY 951
4. The following employees of the Employer constitute a
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within
the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
All employees at the Employer's Des Moines, Iowa, store,
including full-time and regular part-time employees, but ex-
cluding seasonal extra employees, part-time student employees
and part-time employees who work less than twenty-one (21)
hours a week, professional employees, confidential employees,
manager trainees, manager, assistant manager, guards, and
supervisors as defined in the Act. 1
Because, as the tally of ballots shows, a majority of the
ballots were cast for the Petitioner, we shall certify it as the
exclusive bargaining representative of all the employees in the
appropriate unit.
[The Board certified Local No. 30, Retail Clerks Inter-
national Association, AFL as the designated c o l l e c t i v e -
b a r g a i n i n g representative of the employees of S. & L. Co.
of Des Moines, Des Moines, Iowa, in the unit found appropriate
above.]
'The unit description conforms substantially to the unit description in the stipulation for
certification upon consent election.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON COMPANY and LOCAL 246,
UTILITY WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA, CIO, Petitioner.
Cases Nos. 21-RC-3282 and 21-RC-276. January 27, 1954
DECISION, ORDER, AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Norman H!
Greer, 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 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 cer-
tain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the rep-
resentation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Employer, a public utility corporation, is engaged in
the generation of electric power at steamplants in Long Beach,
Redondo, and Etiawanda, California. The Petitioner has already
been certified for a bargaining unit which includes the Long
Beach and Redondo plants. Petitioner here seeks to add to this
unit employees at the Employer's recently constructed
107 NLRB No. 184.
952 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Etiawanda steam plant . Both Petitioner and Employer request
that the Board direct an election to determine whether the
Etiawanda plant employees wish to be represented by the Pe-
titioner as part of the existing unit . The parties agree as to the
composition of the voting group in the election to be directed in
the Etiawanda plant except for the technical assistants; the
Employer contends that technical assistants are professional
employees and should be excluded from the voting group while
the Petitioner would include them. Both parties request that,
in the event the technical assistants are excluded from the
Etiawanda voting group , the Petitioner ' s current certification
for the Long Beach - Redondo unit ' be amended to exclude
technical assistants.
In view of the wishes of the parties -- that employees in the
Etiawanda plant be included in the existing unit --and because
no reason appears to the contrary , we find that employees at
the Etiawanda , Long Beach , and Redondo steam plants may
constitute an appropriate unit . In accordance with Board
policy, we shall include employees at the Etiawanda plant in
the existing unit if they indicate their desire to become a part
of it in the election directed herein . As no question of rep-
resentation exists at the present in the Long Beach - Redondo
unit , no election will be directed in that unit.
Technical assistants are salaried -- approximately $4,000 to
$5,000 a year--and their normal line of promotion is to engi-
neering and plant administrative positions. Their work is
complex , intellectual, and varied in character , requiring the
exercise of judgment and discretion . Their principal duty is
to conduct tests on main and auxiliary plant equipment and to
prepare detailed reports and analyses of the results , on'the
basis of which they make recommendations for the modifica-
tion of equipment or procedures to obtain maximum operating
efficiency. They also prepare plans and cost estimates for the
repair and construction of plant equipment . Because this work
requires a knowledge of higher mathematics , metallurgy,
thermodynamics, and other physical sciences , a degree in
engineering is required to qualify for the position . It is clear
from the foregoing , and we find , that the technical assistants
are professional employees within the meaning of Section 2
(12) of the Act.
Accordingly , we shall exclude these employees from the
voting group established at the Etiawanda plant . In accordance
with the request of the parties, we shall also amend the
Petitioner ' s certification for the Long Beach- Redondo unit
to exclude technical assistants.
Our decision is, of course , without prejudice to the right
of the Petitioner to petition for the representation of technical
assistants either separately or as part of an overall nonprofes-
sional unit , which may be established as a result of the
election herein.
'Case No 21-RC-276.
GROWER-SHIPPER VEGETABLE ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL CALIFORNIA 953
We shall direct an election among all employees employed
in the Employer' s steam plant in Etiawanda, California, ex-
cluding technical assistants , guards, statisticihns, store-
keepers, and supervisors as defined in the Act.2 If a majority
of the employees in the voting group cast their ballots for
the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated their
desire to be included in the Long Beach-Redondo unit cur-
rently represented by Petitioner, and the Regional Director
shall issue a certificate of results of election to that effect.
[The Board amended the certification of representatives
issued in Case No. 21-RC-276 on July 26, 1948, to exclude the
classification of technical assistant . This amendment is not
to be construed as a new certification. ]
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
2 The parties stipulated to the appropriateness of these exclusions , except for the technical
assistants.
GROWER-SHIPPER VEGETABLE ASSOCIATION OF CEN-
TRAL CALIFORNIA; BUD ANTLE CO.; ARENA CO.; ARROW
LETTUCE CO.; JACK T. BAILLIE CO.; F. V. BIRBECK
CO.; CHRISTENSEN BROS.; BRUCE CHURCH, INC.; J. J.
CROSETTI CO.; CROWN PACKING CO.; D'ARRIGO BROS.
CO. OF CALIFORNIA; DU-BAL PACKING CO.; O. O.
EATON, INC.; R. T. ENGLUND CO.; FARLEY FRUIT CO.;
FREMONT PRODUCE DISPATCH CO.; THE GARIN COM-
PANY; GRO-PAK FARMS, GROWERS PRODUCE DISPATCH;
HARDEN FARMS, INC.; D. W. HENNING; HITCHCOCK
PACKING CO.; HOLME & SEIFERT; INDEPENDENT
GROWERS CO.; JEROME KANTRO CO.; KIRBY AND LITTLE
PACKING CO.; MAJOR DISTRIBUTING CO.; H. W. MANN;
J. G. MARINOVICH, INC.; MARTIN PRODUCE, INC.; AL
MASSERA, INC.; MERIT PACKING CO.; MERRILL PACK-
ING CO.; K. R. NUTTING CO.; RUSSELL PACKING CO.;
SALINAS CELERY DISTRIBUTORS; SALINAS LETTUCE
FARMERS COOP.; SALINAS MARKETING COOP.; SALINAS
PACKING CO.; SCHOENBURG BROS. PRODUCE CO.; SCHU-
MAN FARMS; SEARS BROS. & CO.; SHIP SHAPE PACKING
CO.; JERE SMITH CO.; PETER A. STOLICH CO. INC.;
CONRAD F. STORM PACKING CO.; VERTIN-EDMONDS
CO.; W. & S. PACKING CO.; WATSONVILLE EXCHANGE
INC.; ZARLING PRE-PAK CO. and GENERAL TEAMSTERS,
WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS UNION, LOCAL 890,
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS,
CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF
107 NLRB No. 191.