Phillips Petroleum Co.

In the Matter of PHILLIPS PETROLEUM 'COMPANY and OIL WoR$ERs INTERNATIONAL UNION (CIO) In- the' Matter of PHILLIPS PETROLEUM' COMPANY and OIL WokKms INTERNATIONAL UNION (CIO) Cases Nos. 16-R-790 and-16-R-806 respectively .Decided February 29, 1944, Messrs. ,M. W..Eddleman,and.Rex McRoy,, of Bartlesville, Okla., for the Company. f• Mr..Lindsay P. Walden, , of Fort Worth, Tex., and Mr. B. T. Kirby, of Oklahoma City, Okla. , for the C. 1. 0. Messrs. Jack Johannes and Jeff Hassel,Jr., of Dallas, Tex., for the i Independent. Miss Melvern R. Krelow, of counsel,,to the Board. DECISION ` . AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS STATEMENT OF THE CASE . Upon petitions duly filed • by Oil Workers International Union (CIO), herein called, the C. I. 0., alleging that questions affecting , commerce, had, arisen concerning the representation of employees of Phillips Petroleum Company, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, herein called the -Company, the National Labor Relations Board consolidated' the cases and provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Gustaf, B. Erickson, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was,•held at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on, January 14, 1944. The, Company, the C. I. O., and Associated Oil Field Workers' Union, herein- ca;lled the Independent, appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-exarriine'witxiesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. 'During the hearing, the C. 1. 0. moved that it be permitted to introduce evidence to support its allegation that the Independent is a successor to Federated Inde- pendent Oil Workers of Oklahoma City District, Inc., which the Board ordered disestablished as company-dominated,' and for that reason Matter of Phillips Petroleum Company, Cases Nos. C-2697 and R-4921, issued August 18, 1943. 55 N.-L. R. B., No. 32. ' 192 PHILLIPS PETROLEUM COMPANY '193 the Independent's intervention should be denied. The Trial Examiner denied the motion. The ruling is hereby' affirmed 2 The Trial Ex- aminer's rulings'made at the hearing- are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an'opportunity to file briefs with the Board. Upon the entire record in the case, `the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF,T1IE ,COMPANY Phillips Petroleum Company, a Delaware corporation having its principal operating office in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, is engaged in the production,, refinement, sale, and distribution of petroleum ,products. In the Company's operation within an area which is described. as the Oklahoma 'City District of the Gasoline Division, located in,and around Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the Company is engaged in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of natural gasoline, liquefied petroleum gas products, gas, and other related products. During 19,421 the Company in its operations in the Oklahoma City District, which is here involved, produced in' excess of $2,500,000 worth of petroleum products, of which more; than 50 percent ,was shipped to points outside the State of Oklahoma. There has been no substantial change in the nature of the Company's operations in the Oklahoma City District during 1943. The Company admits that it is, engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National, Labor Relations, Act. II. THE , ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED Oil Workers International Union, affiliated with the Congress'of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization, admitting to mem- bership employees of the Company. Associated Oil Field Workers' Union, is an unaffiliated organization admitting to membership employees of the Company. , HI. THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION On December 3, 1943, the C. I: O. requested the Company to' bar- gain with it as the exclusive representative of the Company's em- ployees. On December 13, 1943, the Company replied that it would not recognize either the 'C. I., O. or the Independent in the absence , Subsequent to the hearing, the C. I. O. filed a motion to reopen the record in order to introduce evidence regarding the successorship of the Independent similar to that which it sought to adduce at the hearing. On February 9, 1944, the Independent filed an answer in opposition to the C' I. O's motion. On February 21, 1944, the C I. O. requested per- mission to withdraw the motion. The request is'hereby granted. 578129-44-vol. 55-14 I 194 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD of proper proof of authority to represent a majority of the Company's employees in an appropriate bargaining unit. A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hearing, indicates that the C. I. O. represents a substantial number of employees in the units hereinafter found appropriate.3 We find that questions affecting commerce have arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNITS The C. I. O. contends that all operating and maintenance employees in the gasoline division of the Company in the.Oklahoma City Dis- trict, including employees in the Edmond .plant, and watchmen, but excluding office, supervisory, clerical, meter department, and techni- cally trained (including laboratory testers) employees, and guards constitute an appropriate unit. The Independent is in general agree- ment with the C. I. 0., but maintains that clerical employees (other than executive department clerks and stenographers, and chief clerks), meter department employees, and laboratory testers, should. be included within the unit. The Company took no position with respect to the unit, except to state that the unit found appropriate in Case No. R-49214 is equally appropriate in this proceedings The clerical employees engage in duties normally associated with employees in that category. Inasmuch as we have customarily ex- cluded clerical employees from production and maintenance units, and since no compelling argument has been advanced as to why we should depart from that practice, we shall exclude clerical employees from the Unit .6 3 The Field Examiner reported that in Case No. 16-R--790 the C. I. 0. submitted 86 authorization cards, 69 of which bore apparently genuine signatures ; that the names of 69 persons appearing on the cards were listed on the Company 's pay roll of January 1, 1944, which contained the names of 198 employees in he appropriate unit ; and that 57 cards were dated between March and December 1 943, 12 were undated. The Field Examiner further reported that the Independent submitted 116 authorization cards ; that the names of 106 persons bearing apparently genuine signatures and appearing on the cards were listed on the Company' s pay roll of January 1, 1944, and that the cards were dated in August, September, November and December 1943. The Field Examiner also reported that in Case No. 16-R-806 the C. I. 0. submitted five authorization cards bearing apparently genuine signatures , and dated in November and December 1943 , all of which bear the names of persons whose names appear on the Com- pany 's pay roll of January 1, 1944. Said pay roll contains the names of eight employees in the appropriate unit. The Independent did not submit any evidence of representation among these employees and at the hearing admitted that It had no representation among them. We shall, therefore, not accord the Independent a place on the ballot in the election hereinafter directed among such employees. 4 Matter of Phillips Petroleum Company, 48 N. L. It. B. 248. S The unit previously found appropriate by the Board is substantially the same unit as is contended for herein by the C. I. 0., except that the laboratory or plant testers were not excluded. ° See Matter of Ballentine Packing Company, 42 N. L. It. B. 15 ; Matter of The Collis Company, 46 N. L. It. B. 680; Matter of Pan-American Petroleum Corporation, 46 N. L. It. B. 916. PHILLIPS PETROLEUM COMPANY 195 The Company employs five metermen in the meter department.' Two of the employees spend all of their time in repairing meters; the-three remaining metermen also test gas in conjunction with the gas tester. We are of the opinion that these employees are mainte- nance employees, and as such have interests in common with the other maintenance employees included within the unit. We shall, there- fore, also include the metermen s With respect to the laboratory testers, classified as plant testers and assistant plant testers, it appears that they perform routine tests on gas, gasoline, oil, and water. While some of these employees have a high school education with some academic training in chemistry, such educational background is not a requirement. Since they are an integral part of the production process, and perform no duties requiring technical training, we shall include them within the unit .s We find that all operating and .maintenance employees in the gasoline division of the Company in the Oklahoma City District, including employees in the Edmond plant, watchmen, metermen, plant testers, and assistant plant testers, but excluding clerical, and techni- cally trained employees, guards, and all supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a ,unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act io The C. I. O. contends that all guards in the gasoline division _of the Company in the Oklahoma City District, including the Edmond plant, constitute a . separate appropriate unit. The Company and the Independent took no position with respect to the unit. The guards, who are militarized, engage in duties normally associated with employees in that category.ll We find that all guards in the gasoline division of the Company in the Oklahoma City District, including the Edmond plant, but exclud- ing all supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, dis charge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employ- ees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate 1 As far as the record indicates , these five metermen apparently comprise the meter department. 8 See Matter of Commercial Solvents Corporation , 45 N. L. R. B. 141. O See Matter of Gardner-Denver Company, 44 N. L. R. B. 1192 ; Matter of The Funtkote Company, 42 N. L. R. B. 929; Matter of Commercial Soluente Corporation, 45 N. L. R. B. 141; Matter of The Barrett Division, Allied Chemical d Dye Corporation, 46 N. L. R. B. 45. 10 The parties agreed, and we find, that the following classifications of employees should be excluded from the unit as falling generally within one or more of the excluded cate- gories : District superintendent , maintenance superintendent, chief gas engineer, gas testers, instrument and control man, special agent, material clerk, chief clerk , plant fore- man, rack foreman, gang pushers , paint foreman, senior engineers , associate engineers, junior engineers, plant superintendent, chief operators , and chief engineers. 11 Guards were excluded from the production and maintenance unit found appropriate in the prior decision involving the Company's employees . See footnote 4, supra. 196 - DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. V. THE DETERMINATION OF. REPRESENTATIVES 'We shall direct that the questions concerning `"representation which have arisen be resolved by elections by'secret ballot among the employ- ees in the,appropriate units who were employed during the pay-r'oll period 'immediately preceding the date 'of the Direction of Elections lierein, subject to, the limitations ' and additions set forth in the DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor RelationsBoard by Section 9 (c) of the National' Labor Relations Act, and pursuant' to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Bard 'Rules' and Regulations-Series 3, it is-hereby DIRECTED 'that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa- tives for the purposes ' of collective 'bargaining ' with Phillips Petro- leum Company, Bartlesville,! Oklahoma,' elections by secret ballot'shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) 'days from the date of this Direction, under the direction-and supervision'of `-the Regional' Director for the Sixteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and' subject to Arti- cle' III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the units found 'appropriate'in Section IV, above', who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of' this'Direction, including employees who' did not'work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or 'on vacation 'or tempo- rarily laid off, and including employees in the' armed forces,of`,the United States who present themselves in person 'at • the polls;' but excluding those employees who, Have' since quit or been discharged for cause' and have not been rehired or reinstated !prior to the date of, the elections; to' determine, in- Case No., 16=R-790; whether they desire to be represented by Oil Workers' International= Union (CIO),, or, by Associated Oil Field Workers' Union, for the purposes of- collective bargaining, or by neither, 'and in Case No. 16=R-806, whether or not they, desire to be represented' by Oil Workers International Union (CIO), for the,purposes of collective bargaining.' ,