Texas-New Mexico Pipe Line Co.

III the Matter of TEXAS-NEW MEXICO PIPE LINE COMPANY, EMPLOYER and OIL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, C. 1. 0., PETITIONER Case No. 16-R-1873.-Decided January 30, 1947 Messrs. D. D. Howard, Stuart C. Ker°shner, and J. F. Chandler, of Houston, Tex., and Mr. Ralph Troseth, of Midland, Tex., for the Employer. Messrs. 0. R. Landon and C. A. Partin, of Dallas, Tex., for the Petitioner. Mr. David C. Buchalter, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Midland, Texas, on October 22, 1946, before V. Lee McMahon, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prej- udicial error and are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. TIIE BUSINESS OF TILE EMPLOYER Texas-New Mexico Pipe Line Company, a Delaware corporation, is engaged in the business of operating pipe lines as a common carrier of petroleum and petroleum products. Its lines operate between the States of Texas and New Mexico. During the calendar year 1945, the Employer's revenue derived from transporting petroleum and petroleum products exceeded $5,000,000, of which 58 percent repre- sented payment for the movement of petroleum and petroleum products between the two States. The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the Employer. 72 N. L.R.B,No 67 356 TEXAS-NEW MEXICO PIPE LINE COMPANY 357 III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Employer, refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the Pe- titioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit. We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Petitioner seeks a unit of all operating and maintenance em- ployees of the Employer, including master mechanics, telegraphers, the telephone operator, and employees in the job classifications listed in Appendix A, attached hereto, but excluding the employees in the job classifications listed in Appendix B, attached hereto., The Employer agrees generally with the proposed unit except that it would also exclude from the unit master mechanics as supervisory employ- ees, and telegraphers and the telephone operator as clerical employees. Master mechanics: There are 4 employees in this classification. They oversee gangs of from 2 to 10 workmen and work along with these employees, handling the more technical phases of the work when necessary. They are responsible for making day-to-day assignments, issuing instructions, and making on the spot decisions as to how the work should be performed. They also have the authority effectively to recommend the hire, discharge, promotion or reassignment of employees, and attend regular meetings of foremen held by the Employer, from which the employees under them are excluded. Under these circumstances and on the entire record in the case, we conclude that these master mechanics are supervisory employees and we shall exclude them from the unit hereinafter found appropriate? Telegraphers: The four employees in this classification use hand sets and employ Morse code in the handling of messages and orders from the Employer's main office in Houston, Texas, for transmission throughout the pipe-line system, and in the Flaying to that office of information received hourly by telephone from station locations on the pipe lines, relative to receipts and pumpings of crude petroleum. All messages received are transcribed on the typewriter by the teleg- raphers and the readings and gaugings are entered by them on stock sheets. The messages, readings, and gaugings thus relayed serve to assure a proper flow of oil and the maintenance of adequate pressure along the lines. The Employer, in support of its argument that these telegraphers are clerical employees and should therefore be excluded from the unit, ' The requested unit appears above as amended at the hearing. 'Matter of Texas Pipe Line Company, 53 N. L. R. B 431; 55 N L R B 239, 436; 67 N. L. R. B. 196; and 68 N. L. R B. 105 358 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD points to the fact that they make entries on a stock sheet and use a typewriter in preparing messages. We have held in cases involving telegraph operators with substantially the same duties in similar operations that the keeping of stock records and the tallying of hourly readings and gaugings of the various stations on their lines as well as the performance of other typically clerical duties do not place telegraphers within the category of clerical employees, inasmuch as their primary function is that of operating telegraphic equipment.3 Applying t4ie criteria of those decisions, we find these telegraphers to be operational employees and shall include them in the unit hereinafter found appropriate. Telephone operator: This employee operates the usual type of switchboard and types messages received. Of these messages, about 30 a day originate in the field and show the amount of stock of petro- leum on hand at a particular time and place, and the movement of oil along the lines. The telephone operator thus acts as a conduit of information essential to the operation of pipe lines. In view of the foregoing and inasmuch as we have heretofore included employees with similar duties under similar circumstances in a unit of operating and maintenance employees,' we shall include the telephone operator in the unit hereinafter found appropriate. Accordingly, we find that all operating and n>vaintenance employees of the Employer including telegraphers, the telephone operator, and employees in the job classifications listed in Appendix A, attached hereto, but excluding master mechanics, employees in the job classifi- cations listed in Appendix B, attached hereto, and all or any other 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. V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We shall direct that the question concerning representation which has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction. 3 Matter of Magnolia Pipe Line Company, 61 N L R B. 723 ; Matter of Gulf Refining ,Company (Houston Line Division ), 62 N L . R B 1385 The telegraphers involved in the last cited case were the same ones considered by the Board in Matter of Gulf Refining Company (Houston Pipe Line Dtiuasion), 59 N L R. B 1483. cited by the Employer as authority for the exclusion of telegraphers from the requested unit. While the Board did, as urged by the Employer , exclude telegraphers from an operating and maintenance unit in the earlier case, it should be noted that in the later case the Board reexamined the status of these telegraphers and upon the basis of a more complete record held that they could be bargained for as part of the production and maintenance unit. 4 See Matter of Magnolia Pape Line Company, footnote 3, supra. TEXAS NEW MEXICO PIPE LINE COMPANY 359 At the hearing both parties requested that balloting be conducted by mail for the reason that the employees in the unit are widely scattered throughout the States of Texas and New Mexico. Inasmuch as the Regional Director is authorized to conduct elections in such manner as he deems advisable and expedient under the circumstances pre- septed, we shall leave the determination of the method to be employed in the conduct of the instant election to the Regional Director's discretion. % DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Texas-New Mexico Pipe Line Company, Houston, Texas, an election by secret ballot shall be con- ducted 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 Sections 203.55 and 203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 4, 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 thisoDirection, including employees who did nQt 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 those em- ployees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated before the date of the election, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Oil Work- ers International Union, C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective bargaining. CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election. APPENDIX A Truck Driver Delivery Gauger Stock Gauger Local Engineer Tour Engineer Linewalker, Main Line Oiler District Gauger Assistant District Gauger Assistant Master Mechanic Mechanic, First Class Mechanic, Second Class Welder Pipe Liner Pipe Liner Oiler Carpenter Laborer 360 Draftsmen Chief Tour Engineer Chief Station Engineer Chief Main Line Engineer Mechanical Engineer Civil Engineer Welding Foreman Tank Foreman Gang Foreman Assistant Gang Foreman Assistant District Foreman Clerk Assistant to District Ivan Delivery Gauger DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD APPENDIX B Superintendent Assistant Superintendent Administrative Supervisor Supervisor of Industrial Relations District Clerk Field Clerk Clerk Clerk, Junior Stenographer Stenographer-Phone Operator Scout Fore- Janitor Troublemen