Phillips Petroleum Co.

In the Matter of PHILLIPS PETROLEUM COMPANY and UNITED AUTOMO- 13ILE WORKERS or AMERICA, Local No 447, A. F. of L. Case No. 17-R-1101.-Decided June 11, 1945 IVlr. H, H. Booth, of Kansas City, Mo., for the Company. Mr. W. M. Ashworth, of Kansas City, Mo ., for the Union. Miss Aida Casanas, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon a petition duly filed by United Automobile Workers of America' Local No 447, A IA 7. of L., herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Phillips Petroleum Company, Kansas City , Kansas, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon clue notice before John A. Weiss, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Kansas City, Missouri , on April 26, 1945. The Com- pany and the Union appeared and' participated . All parties were afforded frill opportunity to be heard , to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues . The Trial Examiner '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 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Phillips Petroleum Company is a Delaware corporation , having its prin- cipal offices in New York City and Bartlesville, Oklahoma. At the present time the Company is engaged in the business of refining , precessing, trans- porting, ' distributing, and selling petroleum products . The Company owns 62 N. L. R. B., No. 46 311 312 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD and operates refineries in several States, including one located at Kansas City, Kansas, the only operation with which this proceeding is concerned. The refinery at Kansas City, Kansas, has a capacity of approximately 23,000 barrels of crude petroleum per day, and during the calendar year of 1944 this refinery processed in excess of 7,000,000 barrels of crude petroleum, of which approximately 80 percent was shipped to points and places outside the State of Kansas. The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the mean- ing of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE, ORGANIZATION INVOLVED United Automobile Workers of America, Local No. 447, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, is a labor organization admitting to membership employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the exclu- sive bargaining representative of the Company's employees until the Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit. A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.' We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning of Sec- tion 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The parties are in agreement that an appropriate unit should consist of all employees classified as garage mechanics, metal men, lubrication men, helpers, hostlers, and maintenance men in the Company's Automotive Maintenance Division and Petroleum Transportation Division in Kansas City, exclusive of clerical and supervisory employees! The employees in question have not heretofore been represented for collective bargaining purposes, although the Company's refinery employees in Kansas City have bargained for the past 2 years through Oil Workers International Union, C. 1. 0.2 The Company plans to consolidate the Petroleum Transportation and Automotive Maintenance Divisions in the near future, and it agrees that the two divisions comprise an appropriate single unit. The only dis- agreement between the parties concerns S. J. Demster, shop foreman in the r The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 10 authorization cards all of which bore apparently genuine original signatures , that the names of the persons appearing on the cards were listed on the Company's pay roll which contained the names of 13 employees in the appropriate unit, and that the cards were dated from February 27, 1945 , to March 4 , 1945 , inclusive. 2 The parties agree to exclude C C Francis , painter, who is attached to another department 8 Oil Workers International Union has stated that it has no interest in the present proceeding PHILLIPS PETROLEUM COMPANY 313 Petroleum Transportation Division. The Union is willing to include him in the unit while the Company contends that he is a supervisory employee and should be excluded therefrom. The shop foreman is in, complete charge of a force of approximately seven mechanics His duties are to outline and assign work for these men, and buy the necessary parts and supplies needed to keep the shop in operation. Demster has a higher rate of compensation, his salary being $259 per month, while other mechanics in the Transporta- tion Department are paid only $235 per month on an hourly basis. Although he does some mechanical work, most of his time is spent inspecting work and passing on new materials or condemning unsatisfactory parts removed from trucks He has authority to discipline, to effectively recommend hiring, discharging, advancement, transfers, and pay changes of the em- ployees within the department. We find, therefore, that Demster is a super- visory employee and should, accordingly, be excluded from the unit. We find that all garage mechanics, metal men, lubricating men, helpers, hostlers, and maintenance men in the Company's Automotive Mainte- nance Division and Petroleum Transportation Division in Kansas City, but excluding clerical employees, foremen, and all supervisory employ- ees 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 bargain- ing within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We shall direct that the question concerning representation which has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period imme- diately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction. DIRECTION OF ELECTION By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Phillips Petroleum Company, Kansas City, Kansas, an election 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 Seventeenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the Na- tional Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 314 - DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including em- ployees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding any who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by United Auto- mobile Workers of America, Local No. 447, A. F. of L., for the purposes of collective bargaining. i