Southern California Gas Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 24, 1969

178 N.L.R.B. 607 (N.L.R.B. 1969)

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAS COMPANY
Southern California Gas Company and Gas Utility
Workers Council , Affiliated With Utility Workers
Union of America , AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case
21-RC-1 1143
September 24, 1969
DECISION AND ORDER
By MEMBERS FANNING, BROWN, AND ZAGORIA
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held before Hearing Officer I W. Em.
Following the hearing and pursuant to Section
102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules
and Regulations and Statements of Procedure,
Series 8, as amended, and by direction of the
Regional Director for Region 21. this case was
transferred to the National Labor Relations Board
for decision. Thereafter, the Petitioner and the
Intervenor, Southern California Professional
Engineering Association, filed briefs which have
been duly considered.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
powers in connection with this case to a
three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's
rulings made at the hearing and finds that they are
free from prejudicial error. They 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, and it will effectuate the
purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to
represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. The Employer is a public utility engaged in the
sale and distribution of gas in southern California.
The Petitioner seeks a self-determination election in
a unit, as amended at the hearing, of all air
conditioning servicemen, industrial servicemen, and
service technicians employed 'by the Employer, but
excluding all other employees, guards, and
professional employees and supervisors as defined in
the Act. The employees in the aforesaid unit are
currently represented by the Intervenor as part of a
larger unit of Employer's professional, technical,
and sales employees, and the Petitioner seeks to add
them to its overall unit.
The intervenor contends that its contracts with
the Employer covering the employees in the
proposed unit constitute a bar to an election herein,
and accordingly, that the petition is untimely. We
find no merit in this contention. At the time the
petition was filed Intervenor had three separate
agreements with the Employer. Two of these
agreements, a pension agreement and a savings plan
607
agreement, are for a period of 3 years ending on
April 1. 1970. As these agreements are limited to
supplemental topics they do not constitute a bar to
an election. Appalachian Shale Products Co., 121
NLRB 1160, 1163: Pipe Foundri & Machine Co.,
106 NLRB 828: Bethlehem Steel Corp. 95 NLRB
1508. The third agreement, covering wages, hours,
and other terms and conditions of employment, was
for a 1-year period ending May 1, 1969. As the
petition was filed on February 6. 1969, it was filed
within the 30-day open period and was timely.
Leonard Wholesale Meals, Inc, 136 NLRB 1000,
Deluxe Metal Furniture Company, 121 NLRB 995.
Accordingly. we shall consider the petition on its
merits.
4. In 1939, Petitioner was certified as the
collective-bargaining representative for a unit of
Employer's employees. Subsequently Petitioner has
been certified as the collective-bargaining
representative for other units of Employer's
employees. In each case, the newly organized
employees have been included in the contract which
was subsequently negotiated by Petitioner and
Employer. Petitioner currently represents
approximately 3,000 of the Employer's
approximately 5,000 employees.
In 1946, the Intervenor was certified as the
collective-bargaining representative for certain of
Employer's technical and professional employees In
1951, intervenor petitioned for a systemwide unit of
sales, technical, and professional employees, which
included the service technicians, industrial
servicemen, and air conditioning servicemen at issue
in the present proceeding. The Petitioner herein
intervened in that case. Pursuant to a stipulation of
the parties, the Board found that the proposed unit
was appropriate and directed an election.'
Subsequently, alter a Board conducted election, the
Intervenor was certified as the collective-bargaining
representative for these employees. Since that time
these employees have been covered by successive
collective-bargaining agreements negotiated by the
Intervenor and the Employer. At present there are
approximately 400 employees in this unit.
Petitioner now seeks a self-determination election
in order to sever the approximately 60 servicemen
from the unit as presently represented by the
Intervenor and to include these employees in the
large overall unit represented by Petitioner. It
contends that the disputed employees are not
properly included in the larger unit represented by
the Intervenor, but, rather have a clear relationship
to the servicemen already represented by the
Petitioner,' relying primarily on the degree of
interchange between the employees in the proposed
unit and these employees. In addition, Petitioner
contends that there have been changes in the duties
of the classifications in the proposed unit since 1951.
'96 NLRB 1070
'Petitioner currently represents the following four classifications of
servicemen , parts truck serviceman ( specializes in the installation of parts
178 NLRB No 97
608 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
After a careful consideration of all the relevant
facts in this case we conclude that the proposed unit
is not appropriate and, accordingly . we shall dismiss
the petition.
Contrary to Petitioner ' s contention , the record
shows that the duties of each of the classifications in
the proposed unit are substantially the same as they
were in 1951. The Service Technician is principally
concerned with the installation of gas air
conditioning , and the difficult servicing of units,
balancing of air flow and related matters . He works
frequently with sales employees ' and works daily
with the air conditioning servicemen . A substantial
proportion of the service technician ' s time is spent
calling on air conditioning dealers in order to advise
them on how gas air conditioning should be installed
and consulting with customers , either with respect to
new installation or with respect to problems which
have developed after installation . When making
these calls he wears a businessman ' s suit and tie.
The Service Technician also has the responsibility
for determining whether or not the Employer should
warrant certain equipment . Anywhere from
one-third to two-thirds of the time of the service
technician is spent working as an air conditioning
serviceman on a "downhill " ' basis. The
classification of service technician was created in
1951. At the time of the 1951 representation hearing
there was one employee in this classification .' At the
present time there are 18 service technicians. The
Industrial Serviceman performs adjustment and
equipment service on industrial gas fired equipment.
At the time of the 1951 representation hearing there
were six employees in this classification .' At present
only one employee - holds this classification and,
when this employee leaves, the Employer expects to
discontinue the classification . The Air Conditioning
Serviceman does routine servicing of gas air
on various appliances and doing the more difficult call back jobs that a
serviceman I cannot handle ), commercial serviceman (specializes in
servicing restaurant and hotel equipment and commercial cooking
equipment), serviceman I (does mechanical work and routine service on
domestic appliances in the home ), and serviceman 2 (lower classification
also working on residential appliances , principally in the area of turning
gas on and off)
'The sales employees are included in the unit as presently represented by
the Intervenor
An employee is working "downhill" when he is performing work in a
lower classification, but without any reduction in pay.
'In 1951 the parties stipulated that this classification was a professional
classification.
'in 1951 the parties stipulated that this classification was a professional
conditioners and air conditioning equipment. Only
employees trained as serviceman l are considered
for promotion to this classification.' Prior to
performing any duties in this classification an
employee must receive 4 weeks of specialized
training consisting of 16 days of classroom training,
and 4 days of field training. Thereafter he received
followup on the job training. At the time of the
1951 representation hearing there were five
employees in this classification. At present there are
41.
In our opinion the employees in the proposed unit
do not have a separate identity of interest from
those in the Intervenor's unit which would justify a
change in their unit placement. While there is a
certain amount of interchange between the
employees in the proposed unit and those in the unit
currently represented by the Petitioner, we do not
regard this as a significant factor in determining
whether to direct an election permitting the
requested self-determination election for possible
severance from the unit represented by the
Intervenor. The employees involved are skilled in
the installation and servicing of air conditioning
equipment, doing much the same work as they have
since their 1951 inclusion in the sales, technical and
professional unit. The service technicians, and the
air conditioning servicemen to a lesser extent, have
frequent contact with the sales employees. There are
now many more gas air conditioning units in use
and the service technicians have reached the stage
where a substantial percentage of their time is spent
consulting with dealers and customers rather than
doing the manual labor ordinarily associated with
the work of a serviceman. On this record it does not
appear that the air conditioning service technicians,
the industrial technicians, and the air conditioning
servicemen share a community of interest so
separate and distinct from that of their fellow unit
employees in sales, technical, and professional
classifications as to warrant the election sought.
Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petition.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition be, and it
hereby is, dismissed.
classification
'This includes all servicemen represented by Petitioner except the
servicemen 2