Southern California Gas Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 8, 1941

35 N.L.R.B. 263 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAS COMPANY and PACIFIO
GAS WORKERS UNION, INDEPENDENT
In the Matted; of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAS COMPANY and UTILITY
WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE , LOCAL 152, C. I. O.
Cases Nos. R-791 and R-2792.-Decided September 8, 1941
Jurisdiction : gas utility.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: stip-
ulated ; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees of the Company in
its Southern Division, including probationary employees and excluding tem-
porary employees , gang foremen , and other supervisory employees.
Mr. LeRoy M. Edwards and Mr. T. J. Reynolds, of Los Angeles,
Calif., by Mr. T. J. Reynolds, for the Company.
Mr. H. R. McKee, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the Gas Workers.
Gallagher and Wirin, by Mr. Leo Gallagher, of Los Angeles, Calif.,
for the U. W. O. C.
Mr. Ben Law, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On May 12, 1941, and June 16, 1941, iespectively, Pacific Gas Work-
ers Union, Independent, herein called the Gas Workers, and Utility
Workers Organizing Committee, Local 152, C. I. 0., herein called the
U. W. O. C., each filed a petition with the Regional Director for the
Twenty-first Region (Los Angeles, California) alleging that a ques-
tion affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of
employees of Southern California Gas Company, Los Angeles, Cali-
fornia, herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation and
certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On
June 25, 1941, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the
Board, acting pursuant to Article III, Section 10 (c) (2) of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
35 N. L. R. B., No. 54.
263
264 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
consolidated the cases and, pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and
Article III, Section 3 of said Rules and Regulations, ordered an inves-
tigation in each case and authorized the Regional Director to conduct
it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On July 10, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the Gas Workers,
and the U. W. O. C. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on July
22, 1941, at Los Angeles, California, before James A. Cobey, the Trial
Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Com-
pany, the Gas Workers, and the U. W. O. C. were represented by coun-
sel and participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to
examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bear-
ing on the issues was afforded all parties. At the close of the hearing
the Company moved to dismiss the proceeding, claiming, in substance,
that the Board is without jurisdiction and that neither of the units
sought by the petitioners is appropriate. The Trial Examiner re-
served ruling thereon for the Board. For reasons hereinafter appear-
ing, the motion is denied. During the hearing the Trial Examiner
made rulings on other motions and on objections to the admission of
evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner
and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings,are
hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
At the hearing in the instant proceeding the records in two earlier
cases involving the Company 1 were, by agreement, introduced, in evi-
dence in so far as they bear upon the questions of the Board's jurisdic-
tion and the appropriate unit or units. No other evidence concerning
the operations of the Company in so far as they bear on the Board's
jurisdiction was introduced. In the earlier cases the Board found and
it here finds that :
The Company is engaged principally in the business of purchasing,
transporting, selling, and distributing natural gas for light, heat, and
power purposes in the central and southern portions of California. It
is also engaged to a minor extent in manufacturing, transporting, sell-
ing, and distributing manufactured gas. It purchases and sells butane
for the purposes of light, heat, and power. As an incident to its prin-
cipal business, the Company sells gas appliances at retail.
1 Matter of Southern California Gas Company and Utility Workers Organizing Committee,
Local No. 132, 10 N. L. R. B. 1123; and Matter of Southern Californta Gas Company and
Utility Workers Organizing Committee , Local 114 , C. I. 0., 31 N . L. R. B. 461.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAS COMPANY 265
The chief raw material purchased by the Company is natural gas,
all of which is purchased in the State of California. In addition, its
purchases of raw materials include pipes, meters, regulators, pumps,
compressors, valves, bolts, nuts, repair parts, tools, and similar mate-
rials. Of these raw materials, during 1937, amounts in the value of
$1,214,822.63 were purchased outside the State of California. This was
somewhat less than 10 per cent of the total purchases of raw materials,
including natural gas; and, omitting the value of the natural gas pur-
chased during that year, constituted approximately one-third of the
total of all other raw materials purchased by the Company. All of the
materials sold by the Company were sold within the State of
California.
The Board found, in substance, in the earlier cases, and it here
finds, that the Company supplies gas to major industrial firms in
southern California and to a number of instrumentalities of interstate
commerce, and that a stoppage of the operations of the Company
would have a close, intimate, and substantial effect upon interstate
and foreign commerce.2
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Pacific Gas Workers Union, Independent, is an unaffiliated labor
organization, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
Utility Workers Organizing Committee, Local 152, is a labor or-
ganization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
It admits to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
At the hearing the, parties stipulated that a question concerning
the representation of employees of the Company in its Southern
Division exists in that the Company is confronted with conflicting
claims by the Gas Workers and the U. W. O. C. for exclusive recog-
nition within the unit that each contends is appropriate and that
the Company is unwilling to grant such recognition until the Board
has determined the appropriate unit and certified the representative
thereof. -
There was introduced in evidence a report prepared by the Re-
gional Director showing that the Gas Workers and the U. W. O. C.
2 Cf. Consolidated Edison Co . v. National Labor Relations Board, 305 U. S. 197, affirm-
ing as modified Consolidated Edison Company v National Labor Relations Board, 95 F.
(2d) 390, entorcing Matter o f Consolidated Edison Company , et al , 4 N. L R. B 71 ;
National Labor Relations Board v. Pacific Gas and Electric Co, 118 F. (2d) 780, enforcing
as modified Matter of Pacific Gas and Electric Company and United Electrical & Radio
Workers of America, 13 N. L IT. B. 268 , rehearing denied May 13, 1941; Southern Colo-
rado Power Co. v. National Labor Relations Board, 111 F. (2d) 539, enforcing Matter of
Southern Colorado Power Co., a Corporation, and H. H. Stewart and I. L. Watkins,
Individuals , 13 N L. R. B 699.
266 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
each represents a substantial number of the employees within the
unit which each contends is appropriate.8
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
,described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the,several States and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Company divides its operations into eight geographical divi-
sions. These are known as the Central, Northern, Southern, Eastern,
San Joaquin Valley, Avenal, Newhall, and Kern divisions.
The U. W. 0. C. contends that all employees in the Southern Divi-
sion , excluding temporary, probationary, and supervisory employees,
constitute an appropriate unit. The Gas Workers claims that all
salaried production workers employed in the street department of
the Southern Division located at Compton, California, excluding
those engaged in a supervisory capacity with the right to hire or
discharge, constitute an appropriate unit. The Company urges that
all its divisions operate as a single integrated system and contends that
all its employees, exclusive of supervisory employees, constitute a
single appropriate unit.
In earlier cases involving the Company we' have found that em-
ployees in the Central Division and employees in the Van Nuys dis-
trict of the Northern Division constitute separate appropriate units.4
Self-organization among the employees of the Company has, in
general, not crossed division lines. Under all the circumstances, we
are of the opinion that a unit composed of employees within the
Southern Division is appropriate.
As appears from their respective claims, the U. W. 0. C. seeks a
division-wide unit, while the Gas Workers urges a unit confined to
the street department at Compton in the Southern Division. The
8 The Regional Director's report shows that 50 employees whose names appear on
the Company's pay roll of April 30, 1941, and who are within the unit the Gas Workers
contends is appropriate , have signed application cards for membership in the Gas Workers
It also shows that 82 employees whose names appear on the pay roll of April 30, 1941,
and who are within the unit the U . W. O. C. contends is appropriate , have signed applica-
tion cards for membership in U. W. O. C. As of June 30 , 1941, there were 105 employees
in the unit sought by the Gas Workers and 253 in the unit sought by the U. W. O. C.
' See cases cited in footnote 1, supra.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAS COMPANY 267
Company classifies its employees in the Southern Division into com-
mercial, sales, and operating groups. The commercial group engages
in accounting, billing, meter reading, and incidental operation of
the commercial offices. The sales group is engaged in selling equip-
ment and appliances. The operating group is subdivided into the
street department, which is engaged in the maintenance and con-
struction of pipe lines, the customer service department, which turns
gas on and off and adjusts appliances, and the miscellaneous depart-
ment, which is engaged in storeroom and building management and
gas measurement. As of June 30, 1941, there were 46 regular, non-
supervisory employees in the commercial group and 19 in the sales
group. Of the 188 regular employees, exclusive of supervisors other
than gang foremen, in the operating group on June 30, 1941, 110
were in the street department, 54 were in the customer service
department, and 24 were in the miscellaneous department.
The Gas Workers contends that employees in the street department
at Compton 6 constitute an appropriate unit because , their work
differs from that in all other departments. In the previous cases
involving the Company we have found wider units to be appropriate.6
In the first of those cases the Gas Workers urged that a system-wide
unit covering all classifications of the Company's non-supervisory
employees was appropriate. Under the circumstances, we are of the
opinion that the process of collective bargaining would be impeded
rather than aided by establishment of the unit here sought by the
Gas Workers.
The claims of the parties raise several questions concerning the
inclusion in the appropriate unit of certain specific classifications of
employees. These questions are considered below.
Probationary and temporary employees.=The Company employs
three general classifications of employees, namely, regular, proba-
tionary, and temporary. Regular employees are both clerical and
"physical" workers. They are paid on a monthly salary basis. Pro-
bationary employees are prospective regular employees serving a pro-
bationary term of 6 months Temporary employees are those hired
for some particular job, usually construction, for which extra help
is needed. The Company, when hiring a temporary employee, does
not intend to keep him in its employment beyond the period required
for completion of the particular job. The Gas Workers and the
U. W. O. C. wish to exclude probationary and temporary employees
6 Almost all the employees in the street department work in Compton or are assigned
to Compton and work out of Compton. There is, however , a gang of 5 employees working
at Redondo , about 15 miles from Compton The Gas workers requests that the Redondo
gang be excluded from a unit composed of other employees in the street department because
the Redondo gang members would find it inconvenient to attend union meetings at Compton.
6 See cases cited in footnote 1, supra
268 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
from the appropriate unit. The Company expressed no choice with
respect to the proposed exclusions. The problems of temporary em-
ployees are fundamentally different from those of regular employees.
We shall therefore exclude them., Probationary employees, however,
become permanent employees upon the successful conclusion of their
trial period. Since their interests are closely allied to those of regu-
lar employees, we shall include them in the unit.'
Gang Foreman-The Company and the U. W. O. C. request that
gang foreman be excluded from the appropriate unit on the ground
that they are supervisory employees. The Gas Workers asserts that
the gang foremen are not supervisory employees with the power to hire
and discharge and that they should be included in the unit. As of
June 30, 1941, 22 gang foreman were employed in the street depart-
ment of the Southern Division. Each gang foreman "heads up" a
crew composed of a fitter-welder and from two to four helpers. In
the ordinary course of operations, the general foreman of the street
department assigns a gang foreman and his crew to a particular job.
The gang foreman is responsible for the performance of the work.
He engages in physical work with his gang. His salary is somewhat
higher than that of the workmen under him. All hiring and dis-
,charging in the street department is subject to the approval of the
personnel department. The personnel department, however, regu-
larly receives and often acts upon the recommendations of the gang
foremen with respect to discharges of regular employees." In the
- case of hirings, the recommendations of the gang foremen are re-
ceived and sometimes acted upon. However, their recommendations
are not given more 'weight than those of various outside hiring
agencies . Generally, gang foremen do not select the employees
under them. The Gas Workers admits and the U. W. O. C. does not
admit gang foremen to membership. In the earlier cases involving
the Company we have excluded gang foremen." On the basis of all
the evidence we believe that the interests of the gang foremen are
more closely related to those of other supervisory employees than
to those of the men with whom they work. Accordingly, we shall
exclude gang foremen from the appropriate unit.
T In Matter of Southern California Gas Company, cited in footnote 1, supra, the Board
excluded probationary employees from the appropriate unit. We have considered the ques-
tion anew and have reached a contrary view
9 The gang foreman makes his recommendations and the reasons for discharges to the
general foreman, who either approves or disapproves . If he approves of the discharge
the gang foreman so notifies the employee concerned . The employee may appeal within
5 days. Apparently the appeal is reviewed by the personnel department, though this is
not entirely clear from the record . About 50 per cent of the men recommended for dis-
charge during the past 2 years by gang foremen, and who appealed , have been upheld in
their appeal.
9 See cases cited in footnote 1, supra.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAS COMPANY 269
. We find that all employees of the Company in its Southern Divi-
sion, including probationary employees and excluding temporary
,employees, gang foremen, and other supervisory employees, constitute
.a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. We
further find that said unit will insure to employees of the Company
-the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to collective
bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen can best be resolved by an election by secret ballot. Follow-
ing our usual practice, we shall direct that all employees in the
appropriate unit whose names appear on the Company's pay roll
for the period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of
Election, subject to such limitations and additions as are hereinafter
set forth in the Direction, shall be eligible to vote.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Southern California Gas Company, Los
Angeles, California, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section
2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All employees of the Company in its Southern Division, in-
cluding probationary employees, and excluding temporary employees,
gang foremen, and other supervisory employees, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the
meaning of Section 9(b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
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, 49 Stat. 449, 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 authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing with Southern California Gas Company, Los Angeles, Cali-
fornia, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as pos-
sible, but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direc-
tion of Election, under the direction and supervision of the Regional
Director for the Twenty-first Region,'acting in this matter as agent
270 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
for the National Labor Relatipns Board, and subject to Article III,
Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among all employees of the
Company in its Southern Division who were employed, during. the
pay-roll period next preceding the date of this Direction of Election,
including probationary employees and employees who did not work
during said 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 temporary employees, gang fore-
men and other supervisory employees, and employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether they desire
to be represented by Pacific Gas Workers Union, Independent, or by
Utility Workers Organizing Committee, Local 152, C. I. 0., for the
purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.