Pacific Lighting Service Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 18, 1970

181 N.L.R.B. 726 (N.L.R.B. 1970)

726 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Pacific Lighting Service Company and Utility
Workers Union of America , AFL-CIO, Local 132,
Petitioner
Pacific Lighting Service Company,
Employer-Petitioner , and International Chemical
Workers Union , Intervenor ' and Utility Workers
of America, AFL-CIO. Cases 31-RC-1072 and
31-RM-164
March 18, 1970
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF
ELECTIONS
BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS
BROWN AND FANNING
Upon petitions duly filed under Section 9(c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
consolidated hearing was held before Hearing
Officer Norman L. McCracken on August 18 and
19, 1969. Following the hearing, pursuant to Section
102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules
and Regulations and Statements of Procedure,
Series 8, as amended, these cases were transferred to
the National Labor Relations Board for decision.
Thereafter, briefs were filed by the Employer,
Utility Workers, and Chemical Workers.
Supplemental documents were filed by the Utility
Workers and Chemical Workers.
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 these cases 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. The rulings are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in these cases, including
the briefs, 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. A question affecting commerce exists
concerning the representation 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 Utility Workers seeks a systemwide unit of
all operations and maintenance employees of the
Transmission Department in the six transmission
divisions, including the Spence Street Station of the
Employer. The Chemical Workers intervened for a
unit of all production, maintenance and clerical
employees of the Employer who were employed
prior to April 1, 1969, by the Texas Pipeline
Division of the Southern Counties Gas Company
and are now employed in the Employer's South
As amended at the hearing
Inland Transmission Division. However, the
Chemical Workers is also desirous of participating
in an election in any larger unit found appropriate.
The Employer, in agreement with the Utility
Workers, contends that the unit should be
systemwide.I
The Employer is a public utility supplying gas to
four major distribution centers in southern
California and is a subsidiary of Pacific Lighting
Corporation. Prior to April I, 1969, the
transmission of gas to certain areas in southern
California, now handled solely by the Employer,
was performed by two additional gas companies
which are also subsidiaries of Pacific Lighting
Corporation - Southern California Gas Company
and Southern Counties Gas Company of California.
On April 1, 1969, the Employer consolidated the
transmission functions of the Southern California
and Southern Counties companies with its own
transmission operations. In doing so, it obtained
these companies' facilities, equipment, and personnel
involved in transmission. It is this consolidation
which gave rise to the issues in the instant
proceeding.
The Employer's transmission system is
interconnected, consisting of 3,000 miles of
pipelines, 18 compressor stations, 4 underground
storage reservoirs, and repair facilities. The
headquarters for this system is at the Spence Street
Station,3 which controls all gas operations within the
system. Telemetry circuits radiating out of Spence
Street transmit to headquarters data on pressure
and volume in various parts of the system. In
addition, Spence Street has direct voice contact with
field stations. If there is any malfunction along the
pipeline, the coordinator at Spence Street has
authority to close down part of the system
Besides controlling the physical operations of the
transmission system, the headquarters contains a
personnel department which exercises final authority
on matters of hiring, firing, promotions, and
handling of employee grievances. Employees can
now transfer throughout the system and there is
systemwide bidding, promotions, bumping, and
seniority. However, local and division supervisors
decide whether or not to hire an applicant, make
initial recommendations on promotions and
discharges, initiate requests for additional
manpower, and transfer employees between bases in
the same working units. Job descriptions are
uniform, as are the operating standards and
procedures. The Employer also has systemwide
safety regulation S.4
'All parties would exclude professional, confidential , and supervisory
personnel and guards
'The headquarter employees formerly worked for Southern California
'Prior to April 1, 1969, each of the three companies involved operated
their transmission facilities separately The employees were on separate
payrolls, enjoyed different working conditions and, with one minor
exception , there was no interchange of personnel In fact, there was some
duplication of functions, since both Southern California and Pacific
Lighting Service operated compressor stations in Needles, division
181 NLRB No. 114
PACIFIC LIGHTING SERVICE CO. 727
Upon consolidation, the Employer set up six
geographical divisions, with the South Basin
Division containing the Spence Street headquarters.
Five of the six divisions are made up of employees
from two or three of the formerly separate gas
companies. Thus, Northern Inland Division is made
up of 41 nonsupervisory employees formerly
working for Southern California and 8 employees
who worked for the Employer. The Valley Division
consists of two pipeline bases at Taft - one
formerly in the Southern California Company (17
employees) and one that has always belonged to the
Employer (17 employees also). The Coastal Division
has compressor stations (including one at Ventura),
pipeline crew and a storage reservoir (54 employees)
that were under the Employer before April 1, as
well as a compressor station at Ventura (13
employees) formerly run by Southern Counties. In
the North Basin Division, one pipeline base and the
division headquarter base at Newhall, manned by 26
employees, were formerly under Southern
California's control, while two compressor stations,
one pipeline base, a division headquarters base at
Newhall, and two storage reservoirs, manned by' 68
employees, had been operated by the Employer
prior to April 1. The South Basin division includes
two employees who had worked for the Employer
before April 1; 98 employees working at six
compressor stations, two pipeline bases, and several
"uniplants"5 formerly under control of Southern
California; and 29 employees at two compressor
stations, two pipeline bases and one uniplant
formerly run by Southern Counties. Only the South
Inland Division is composed solely of employees
from one company - the employees of the Texas
Pipeline Division of Southern Counties. However,
some of the former Texas Pipeline employees are
now in the South Basin Division. Where facilities
have overlapped, the Employer has attempted
consolidation In each division employees regardless
of their former company, now work together.
Supervisory personnel including first and second line
supervisors as well as many in higher positions from
Southern California and Southern Counties have
transferred to the Employer
The evidence shows that the function of
employees working in the South Inland Division (the
Division sought by the Chemical Workers) has not
changed since the consolidation. The only change is
that 188 miles of pipeline formerly in Texas Pipeline
Division of Southern Counties was put into the
South Basin Division. Although the employees at
the Blythe pipeline base have worked in one instance
with certain employees from the North Inland
Division, welding a pipe, such working together
occurs only in an extreme emergency Of the 47
headquarter bases in Newhall, and pipeline bases at Taft, and both Pacific
Lighting Service and Southern Counties operated compressor stations at
Ventura Further , each company had its own operating standards
'A uniplant is a facility providing heating , cooling and lighting power to
one large customer
employees at Blythe and Desert Center, 31 have
purchased homes there While 11 South Inland
employees have put in bids to be transferred to the
Coastal Division, only 1' has been transferred. Three
South Inland employees bid for jobs in other
divisions but did not transfer On the other hand, of
16 employees within the South Inland Division who
desired either transfer or promotion within the
South Inland Division, 9 employees were so moved.
One employee has transferred into South Inland
from another division.
The employees who formerly worked for Southern
California (about 200 employees) had been
represented by the Utility Workers in an overall unit
at that company for over 20 years. Of the 104
former employees of Southern Counties now
working for the Employer, 13 were represented by
the Pacific Gas Workers' in the Ventura Division in
a unit of 100 employees. The other 91 employees
have been represented for about 20 years by the
Chemical Workers in Local 66, one of the eight
locals that represents employees in transmission and
distribution at Southern Counties.' Local 66
represented employees in two of Southern Counties'
divisions - about 526 persons. The employees who
had worked for the Employer prior to April 1 have
been unrepresented. In April, after the
consolidation, the unions signed new
collective-bargaining agreements with their
respective companies excluding the transmission
employees here involved and now working for the
Employer.
As noted, the Employer and Utility Workers seek
an overall unit. By contrast, the Chemical Workers
claims that those transmission employees who were
formerly employed by Southern Counties in the
Texas Pipeline Division where they were represented
by the Chemical Workers and who are now in the
South Inland Division comprise an appropriate unit.
It supports the appropriateness of the unit sought by
reference to the bargaining history, the geographical
separateness of the South Inland Division, and the
testimony at the hearing that despite the
centralization of administrative and personnel
functions brought about by the consolidation, the
day-to-day functions of the rank-and-file
transmission employee have not been changed.
The Board has held that, because of the inherent
integration and interdependence of operations in
public utilities, a systemwide unit is the optimum
'This union did not intervene to claim the employees
'The Chemical Workers locals together represent about 2,000 employees
of Southern Counties Within Local 66, employees in the Texas Pipeline
Division (most of whom are in South Inland Division, but some of whom
are in South Basin ) enjoyed for negotiations a separate bargaining delegate
recognized by Southern Counties and had the right separately to decide
whether to ratify contracts for their group However, other Local 66
employees in Southern Counties now working for the Employer - those
formerly in the Huntington Beach - San Diego Pipeline District now
employed in the South Basin Division and those in the Huntington Beach
uniplant now in the South Basin Division - had no separate representative
in Local 66 for bargaining
728 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
unit for purposes of collective bargaining.' However,
the Board has also recognized that units of lesser
scope may be appropriate in certain situations.'
As described above, the employees in the South
Inland Division work in a geographical area
relatively isolated from those in other divisions.
They are separated from the North Inland Division
by the desert. Many have bought their own homes,
showing an intent to remain where they work.
Transfers out of the division are rare (only one since
April 1) and transfers into the division are equally
rare (again only one since April 1). Temporary
interchange with employees in other divisions occurs
only in an extreme emergency. And, the work of the
employees in the South Inland Division has not been
changed by the consolidation. Job duties are'the
same. First and second line supervision is the same.
In addition, the division head has a degree of
autonomy, since he initiates hiring, discharge,
transfer, and requisition. There is no record evidence
of overlap of the functions of employees in this
division with the functions of employees in other
divisions.
We are not unmindful of the fact that the
bargaining history for the employees in the South
Inland Division has been as a segment of a larger
unit and, as such, is not controlling. But, as the
factors above reflect that the employees working in
the South Inland Division continued to share a
community of interest separate and apart from
employees working in other divisions of the
Employer's pipeline system and as the union seeking
to represent them in a separate unit was their
statutory representative for the past 20 years, we
conclude that they may constitute an appropriate
unit. However, we shall make no final unit
determination at this time but shall direct that an
election, be conducted with both unions appearing on
the ballot in each of the following voting groups of
the Employer's employees:
(a) All production, maintenance and clerical
employees now employed in the Employer's South
.Inland Transmission Division excluding all other
employees, professional employees, confidential
employees, watchmen, guards and all supervisors
as defined in the Act.
(b) All production, maintenance and clerical
employees employed in the gas transmission
divisions of the Employer, including the Spence
Street Headquarters, but excluding the employees
in voting group (a) and all professional
employees, confidential employees, watchmen,
guards and supervisors as defined in the Act.
If the majority of the employees in voting group
(a) or (b) selects either the Chemical Workers or the
Utility Workers, that labor organization shall be
certified as the representative of employees in that
group, which under the circumstances the Board
finds to be an appropriate unit for purposes of
collective bargaining. However, if a majority of the
employees in each voting group selects the same
union , the Regional Director conducting the
elections is hereby instructed to issue a certification
of representatives to that union for the single
systemwide unit , which the Board under the
circumstances finds to be appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining.
[Direction of Elections'° omitted from
publication.]
MEMBER FANNING concurring in part and dissenting
in part:
I agree with the majority decision finding a
systemwide unit of employees in this case the
optimum unit. I also agree, for reasons stated in the
majority opinion, that the employees in the South
Inland Division may separately, constitute an
appropriate unit. I disagree, however, with the
majority election procedure to determine whether
one or two units will be established in this case. I
would permit the employees in the South Inland
Division to indicate their desire to be represented
separately by permitting them to select the Chemical
Workers as their bargaining representative. In the
event they failed to do so, I would find the
systemwide unit appropriate, and I would pool the
ballots of employees in voting group (a) with the
ballots of employees in voting group (b) to
determine whether or not the employees in the
systemwide unit desire to be represented by the
Utility Workers whose petition seeks such a unit."
'Idaho Power Company, 126 NLRB 547, The Hartford Electric Light
Company, 122 NLRB 1421
'Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Company, 173 NLRB No 226,
Michigan Wisconsin Pipe Line Company, 164 NLRB 359, Louisiana Gas
Service Co. 126 NLRB 147
"In order to assure that all eligible voters may have the opportunity to
be informed of the issues in the exercise of their statutory right to vote, all
parties to the elections should have access to a list of voters and their
addresses which may be used to communicate with them Excelsior
Underwear Inc. 156 NLRB 1236, N L R B v Wyman-Gordon Company.
394 U S 759 (1969) Accordingly , it is hereby directed that election
eligibility lists containing the names and addresses of all the eligible voters,
must be filed by the Employer with the Regional Director for Region 31
within 7 days of the date of this Decision and Direction of Elections The
Regional Director shall make these lists available to all parties to the
election No extension of time to file these lists shall be granted by the
Regional Director except in extraordinary circumstances Failure to
comply with this requirement shall be grounds for setting aside the
elections whenever proper objections are filed.
"Waikiki Bdtmore, Inc, dlbla The Waikiki Biltmore Hotel ( Member
Fanning dissenting ), 127 NLRB 82, Felix Hal f& Brother, Inc, 132 NLRB
1523