Phillips Chemical Co.

In the, Matter of PHILLIPS CHEMICAL • COMPANY, EMrrwYER 'and';0aL WORKEItS INTERNATIONAL ^ UNION, CIO, PETITIONER } 'CGrld LOCAL UNION No. , 716, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERH1OOD-110F :ELECTRICAL WORKERS, INTERVENOR ' • ,Case No. 39-RC-61,Decided May. 13, 1949, DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing in this case was held before Clifford W. Potter, hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error.and are,hereby affirmed. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member -panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Gray]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The labor organizations named below claim to represent employ- ees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa- tion of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The Petitioner seeks a plant-wide unit of all production and maintenance employees employed by the Employer at kits Pasadena, Texas, ammonium sulfate plant, the only plant involved in this pro- ceeding, excluding all employees engaged in administrative, super- visory, executive, clerical, and plant protection activities. The Em- ployer is in general agreement as to the appropriate unit, but would exclude therefrom the testers in the laboratory and the storekeepers in the warehouse. Local Union No. 716, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, herein called the Intervenor, seeks a separate unit of all maintenance electricians classified as leadermen, electri- cians first-class, electricians second-class, and electricians' helpers. 83 N. L. R. B., No. 92. 612 PHILLIPS CHEMICAL COMPANY 613 The Employer manufactures ammonium sulfate at the Pasadena plant. The plant is composed' of the operating or production depart- ment, the mechanical and maintenance, department, laboratory, ware- house, and office. The operating department is, in continuous opera- tion 24,hours a day-the other departments are not. The plant was placed in operation in 1948. There is no past bargaining history at the plant. As noted above, the, Employer and,the Petitioner disagree upon the inclusion in the unit of the testers and the warehouse storekeepers. Testers. There are two testers employed in the laboratory. They make chemical analyses ,to determine the composition of materials used in plant production. They obtain some samples themselves, but other samples are delivered to them in the laboratory. These employees are not graduate chemists. Most of the testing is,routine, although the testers sometimes run special tests under supervision. However, they were experienced testers when they transferred to the present plant. The testers work under the supervision of the plant chief chemist and plant chief process engineer, and are subject to no control or super- vision by any other department. They do no shift work. They are on the same pay schedule as the clerical employees and guards. The Employer classifies them as technical employees. The record does not disclose the physical location of the laboratory with respect to that of the other plant operations. In view of the technical nature of their work, the lack of interchange between the testers and the employees engaged in production, and the fact that they are primarily under separate supervision, we shall exclude the testers from the production and maintenance unit., Warehouse storekeepers. The warehouse supplies the maintenance and production departments, the office, and the laboratory with sup- plies, materials, and tools. The Employer's finished product does not pass through the warehouse. There are three employees in the ware- house. The Employer classifies them as warehouse storekeepers. These employees maintain records of the receipts and disbursement of materials to and from the warehouse, and keep a record of the location, movement, and handling of materials. Their duties entail both manual and clerical work. One of the three employees also issues tools, maintains a record of their location, and receipts for their return. These employees are supervised by a foreman who reports directly to the plant superintendent. They are on the same pay schedule as the office employees and guards. Their progression is to either a higher 1 Matter of U. S. Gypsum Company, 79 N. L. R B '869 ; 79 N. L. R B. 536; 72 N. L. R. B 863; Matter of The Ohio Power Company, 73 N L. R. B. 384. See Matter of Great Lakes Pipe Line Company, 73 N. L. R. B. 454. 844340-50-vol. 83-40 614 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD clerical job or to that of warehouse foreman. The Employer would exclude these employees on the ground that they are clerical employees. We find that the warehouse employees, in performing both manual and clerical duties relating to the handling of materials, tools, and equipment used in and necessary to the Employer's production opera- tions, are in the nature of plant clericals. It is the Board's policy to include such plant clericals in a unit with production employees where, as in this, case, their duties and interests are related.2 Accordingly, we'shall include the warehouse` storekeepers in the unit. As noted above, the Intervenor seeks a separate unit of maintenance electricians. The Employer and the Petitioner would include the maintenance electricians in the unit with the production and mainte- nance employees. The Employer contends that the electricians are an integral part of its mechanical and maintenance department and do not, separately, constitute a sufficiently identifiable group to justify a unit separate from that of the other maintenance employees. The Employer employs three electricians first-class and one elec- tricians' helper. It employs no electrician leadermen nor electricians second-class. The electricians are in the mechanical and maintenance department under the supervision of a maintenance and mechanical supervisor. The latter is under the maintenance and mechanical super- intendent who, in turn, is under the plant superintendent. Other em- ployees under the same supervision in the maintenance and mechanical department include mechanics, carpenters, pipe fitters, instrument men, painters, truck drivers, and helpers. The electricians are presently housed in a separate building from the other maintenance employees. They do no shift work; they perform no work other than electrical work; and there is no interchange between the electricians and other departments. The record does not disclose the duties of the electricians in detail but, in general, they maintain the electrical controls and the various electrical equipment necessary to the operation of the plant. At least one, and probably two, of the electricians are journeymen electricians. The electricians are subject to the same rules, regula- tions, and other working conditions as are the remaining maintenance employees. The maintenance electricians employed by the Employer possess skills and perform duties similar to those of maintenance electricians whom we have frequently found to constitute a distinct and homo- geneous group, capable of forming a separate craft unit for collective 2 Matter of Rocky Mountain Pipe Line Company, 79 N. L. R B. 1119 . See Matter of The Clark Thread Company, 79 N. L. R. B. 542, and cases therein cited. PHILLIPS CHEMICAL COMPANY 615 bargaining purposes 3 Accordingly, we find that the employees in the electrical department may constitute a separate unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. On the other hand, they may also be included in the plant-wide unit. However, we shall make no final unit determination at this time, but shall first ascertain the desires of the employees themselves as expressed in the elections hereinafter directed. We shall direct separate elections by secret ballot among the follow- ing voting groups of employees of the-Employer at its Pasadena, Texas, plant: (a) All production and maintenance employees, including ware- house storekeepers, but excluding testers, electricians, clerical employ- ees, guards, and all supervisors within the meaning of the Act. (b) All electricians and electricians' helpers, excluding all super- visors as defined in the Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur- poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, elections by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super- vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Re- lations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the employees described in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were em- ployed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Elections, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, 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, and also excluding employees On strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine : 1. Whether or not the employees in voting group (a) desire to be represented, for the purposes of collective bargaining, by Oil Workers International Union, CIO. 2. Whether the employees in voting group (b) desire to be repre- sented, for the purposes of collective bargaining, by Oil Workers International Union, CIO, or by Local Union No. 716, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, or by neither. 3 Matter of General Tire and Rubber Company, 79 N. L. R. B. 580; Matter of Hughes Tool Company, 77 N L R. B 1193; Matter of Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, 77 N. L. R B 507; Matter of Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft Corporation, 75 N. L. R. B. 1276; Matter of B. F. Goodrich Chemical Company, 75 N. L. R. B. 1142.