Portland General Electric Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 9, 1984

268 N.L.R.B. 788 (N.L.R.B. 1984)

DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Portland General Electric Company and Internation-
al Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local
125, Petitioner. Case 36-RC-4615
9 February 1984
DECISION ON REVIEW AND ORDER
BY MEMBERS ZIMMERMAN, HUNTER, AND
DENNIS
On 18 February 1983 the Regional Director for
Region 19 of the National Labor Relations Board
issued a Decision and Direction of Election in the
above-entitled proceeding, in which he directed an
election in a voting group of the Employer's meter
readers and special meter readers to ascertain their
desires as to inclusion in the Petitioner's existing
unit of transmission and distribution employees
(hereinafter referred to as the T&D unit). Thereaf-
ter, pursuant to Section 102.67 of the Board's Rules
and Regulations the Employer filed a timely re-
quest for review of the Regional Director's deci-
sion on the bases that he made errors in his find-
ings of fact and departed from precedent. The Peti-
tioner filed an opposition.'
On 18 March 1983 by telegraphic order the
Board granted the Employer's request for review.
The election was held on 18 March 1983 and the
ballots were impounded.
The National Labor Relations Board has delegat-
ed its authority in this proceeding to a three-
member panel.
The Board has considered the entire record with
respect to the issues under review and makes the
following findings:
In accord with the Petitioner's primary request,
the Regional Director, as indicated, found that the
requested meter readers were entitled to a self-de-
termination election as to inclusion in the existing
T&D unit. In the alternative, the Petitioner had
contended that a separate unit of the meter readers
was appropriate, or that the meter readers should
be given the option of separate representation or
inclusion in the T&D unit. The Employer contend-
ed that, under the facts presented, Board precedent
supports a finding that the duties of the meter read-
ers are office clerical in nature and, therefore, the
only appropriate unit for them must encompass all
unrepresented office clerical employees. We find
merit in the Employer's contention.
The Employer is an electric utility serving the
greater metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon.
Aside from its generating facilities, the Employer
has five geographic subdivisions: the central (the
Portland area), western (the Breverton area), Wil-
lamette Valley (the Salem area), Oregon City, and
I The Petitioner subsequently submitted its posthearing brief.
268 NLRB No. 116
Gresham divisions. Each division has three func-
tional departments: engineering and construction,
customer field services, and customer accounts and
services (herein called CA&S).
In the central division, at Portland, the repre-
sented T&D employees and the unrepresented em-
ployees are in separate buildings on opposite sides
of the Willamette River. Also, in the Willamette
Valley and Gresham divisions, the represented and
unrepresented employees work in separate build-
ings several miles apart. 2 In the western and
Oregon City divisions, all employees work in the
same building,3 but the represented employees
work in areas separate from the CA&S employees.
CA&S is responsible for meter reading, process-
ing customer inquiries, opening new accounts,
making credit checks, processing customer billing,
and notifying the customers of service connections,
disconnections, and reconnections. The department
has three sections: credit, customer accounts, and
meter reader, each with an immediate supervisor
who reports to the CA&S manager. 4 Employed in
CA&S, within the credit section, are 72-hour repre-
sentatives, and credit representatives, in classifica-
tions 1 through 4; in the customer accounts section,
customer accounts representatives, I through 4,
field representatives, and weatherization representa-
tives; and, in the meter reader section, the regular
and special meter readers. Service inspectors, who
are in the T&D unit, are also in CA&S. Customer
field services, although a separate department, does
work for CA&S.
There are approximately 89 meter readers dis-
tributed among the divisions. They are assigned
regular routes. They report for work at their of-
fices in the division to which they are assigned and
pick up their routes, going over special things they
should do that day. They may also respond to
questions concerning their readings of the previous
day. Based on their readings, they fill out comput-
er-marked data service cards which, upon comple-
tion of their routes, they turn in to data services. In
addition to making readings, meter readers observe
and record other conditions related to the Employ-
er's service to the customer. Special meter readers,
two in the central division and two in the western
division, are not scheduled to read a regular route.
They do difficult readings, involving some com-
mercial customers, and special readings, e.g., cus-
tomers who are moving in or out, and vertification
I The Willamette Valley division has three district offices at separate
locations; the Gresham division has a district or branch.
I The Oregon City division also has a branch location, and the western
division has three districts and one branch.
4In one division, there is one supervisor for both the meter readers
and the field inspectors.
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PORTLAND GENERAL ELECTRIC CO.
of previous day reading which require greater pre-
cision. They are also in training to become assistant
meter reader supervisors and to learn more about
CA&S operations. Some regular meter readers are
assigned to do special readings.
On the average, meter readers assigned regular
routes spend about 15 minutes in the office and 5
or 6 hours doing readings. When they complete
their routes they may, if they desire, return to the
office and devote time to learning more about the
accounting and other customer service operations
of CA&S. However, there is considerable diversity
in the practices among the divisions with regard to
the amount of time meter readers spend in the
office. In the central division, meter readers are
trained during the first 6 months of their employ-
ment in the various functions of CA&S. In some
divisions, on some days they may stay in the office
cross-training in CA&S office operations-this
occurs frequently. Special meter readers regularly
spend much more time in the office than do meter
readers on regular routes. In the western division
special meter readers spend half the year training in
CA&S.
Within CA&S, meter reader is an entry level po-
sition. There was testimony that 70 percent of the
meter readers advance to unrepresented positions.
However, a number of the T&D unit employees
were previously meter readers.
As above stated, service inspectors are in the
T&D unit and are part of CA&S. Service inspec-
tors work with tools. Some perform a credit func-
tion, disconnecting and reconnecting meters in
cases of nonpayment and in the collection of de-
posits. Others reconnect meters for a change of
customers and approve reconnections after house
remodelings. Service inspectors work out of loca-
tions separate from other CA&S employees except
in the western and Oregon City divisions where all
CA&S employees are located in the same building.
However, even in those two divisions, service in-
spectors work out of a separate area and have very
little contact with other CA&S employees, includ-
ing meter readers.5
In most cases where the unit placement of meter
readers was an issue, especially cases involving gas
and electric utilities, the Board has found that the
duties and interests of the meter readers were
closely identified with those of typical office cleri-
cal employees and it has treated them as such. 6
Contrary to the Regional Director, we conclude,
on the basis of the record facts summarized above,
that the Employer's meter readers and special
meter readers share such a close community of in-
terest with office clerical employees in CA&S, es-
pecially those in the customer accounts section, as
to preclude their inclusion in the T&D unit. We do
not believe that the presence of service inspectors
in CA&S or the evidence of common supervision
of both service inspectors and meter readers in the
western division compels a contrary conclusion.
Accordingly, as we find that the only appropri-
ate unit for the meter readers herein must encom-
pass all office clerical employees, a unit much
larger than that sought by the Petitioner, we shall
dismiss the instant petition.
ORDER
The petition is dismissed.
i Although there was testimony by David Mozuch that he supervises
both the meter readers and the service inspectors in the western division,
he stated only that he prepares the budget for both groups and gave no
details as to whether they otherwise share a community of interest.
6 See, e.g., El Paso Electric Co., 168 NLRB 983 (1967); Atlanta Gas
Light Co., 158 NLRB 240 (1966); Battle Creek Gas Co., 132 NLRB 1528
(1961); Houston Corp., 124 NLRB 810 (1959); Danbury & Bethel Gas &
Electric Light Co., 94 NLRB 642 (1951); Appalachian Electric Power Co.,
91 NLRB 1376 (1950). Cf. Southern Union Gas Co., 175 NLRB 870
(1969), in which the Board found appropriate a unit of meter readers
where, inter alia, it was not shown that they were an integral part of the
accounting department. Also, the cases of Massachusetts Electric Co., 248
NLRB 155 (1980), and Boston Gas Co., 221 NLRB 628 (1975), relied on
by the Petitioner, are inapposite. Those cases involved consolidations of
operations and, because meter readers had been included historically in
transmission and distribution units which had been voluntarily estab-
lished, the Board directed self-determination elections for meter readers,
providing them an option of continuing their representation together with
transmission and distribution employees.
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