FTS INTERNATIONAL PROPPANTS, LLC

National Labor Relations Board - Unpublished Board Decisions

Apr 3, 2012

30-RC-006783 (N.L.R.B. Apr. 3, 2012)

NOT TO BE INCLUDED IN PFB
BOUND VOLUMES Tomah, WI
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BEFORE THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
PROPPANT SPECIALISTS, LLC
Employer
and Case 30-RC-006783
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING
ENGINEERS, LOCAL 139, AFL-CIO
Petitioner
DECISION AND DIRECTION
The National Labor Relations Board, by a three-member panel, has considered
determinative challenged ballots and objections to an election held June 9, 2011, and the hearing
officer’s report recommending disposition of them. The election was conducted pursuant to a
Stipulated Election Agreement. The tally of ballots shows 8 votes for the Petitioner, 7 against,
and 4 challenged ballots, a number sufficient to affect the election’s results.
Having reviewed the record in light of the exceptions and briefs, the Board adopts the
hearing officer’s findings and recommendations.1

1 There were no exceptions to the hearing officer’s recommendation to overrule the challenge to
Todd Rainey’s ballot.
In adopting the hearing officer’s finding that Barrett Oliver is not a statutory supervisor,
we rely only on his finding that the Employer failed to establish that Oliver exercises
independent judgment in assigning or responsibly directing employees. We also find that the
Employer failed to show that Oliver is closely associated with management. BP Custom
Building Products, 251 NLRB 1337 (1980), upon which the Employer principally relies in this
regard, is distinguishable. There, the Board found that employee Hoss was an agent of the
employer and, on that basis, that his service as the employer’s election observer was
2
DIRECTION
IT IS DIRECTED that the Regional Director for Region 30 shall, within 14 days from the
date of this Decision and Direction, open and count the ballots of Barrett Oliver and Todd
Rainey, and prepare and serve on the parties a revised tally of ballots. If, at that point, the still-
unresolved challenge to the ballot of Burdette Billings is nondeterminative, the Regional
Director shall issue the appropriate certification. Otherwise, the Regional Director shall take
further appropriate action.
Dated, Washington, D.C., April 3, 2012.
___________________________________
Mark Gaston Pearce, Chairman
___________________________________
Terence F. Flynn, Member
___________________________________
Sharon Block, Member
(SEAL) NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD

objectionable. Other than to claim that Oliver is a statutory supervisor, a claim that we have
rejected, the Employer does not contend that Oliver is its agent. To the extent that it implies
such a contention by claiming that Oliver, like Hoss, was placed in a position in which he would
be viewed as speaking on management’s behalf, we reject that claim as well. Hoss attended
management meetings, spoke on behalf of management at employee meetings, and promised
employees benefits on behalf of the employer. There is no evidence that Oliver does likewise.
Having found that Oliver is not closely associated with management, we find it unnecessary to
address the Employer’s legal argument that persons closely associated with management may not
serve as election observers for a union.
In adopting the hearing officer’s finding that Ralea Rainey is an office clerical employee
excluded from the unit under the terms of the parties’ stipulation, we do not rely on any post-
election evidence cited by the hearing officer.