Gulf Refining Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 20, 1945

62 N.L.R.B. 1385 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of GULF REFINING COMPANY (HOUSTON PIPE LINE DIVI-
SION ) and OIL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, C. I. O.
Case No. 16-R-1221.-Decided July 20, 1945
Messrs. Rufus J. Lackland, D. N. Hendricks, and N. H. Perry, of Hous-
ton, Tex., for the Company.
Mr. F. H. Mitchell, of Port Arthur, Tex., for the Union.
Mr. Isadore Engle, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon an amended petition duly filed by Oil Workers International
Union, C. I. 0., herein called the Union, alleging that a question 'affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Gulf
Refining Company (Houston Pipe Line Division), Houston, Texas, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for
an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Lewis,Moore, Trial Exam-
iner. Said hearing was held at Houston, Texas, on May 5, 1945. The Com-
pany and the Union appeared and participated. All parties were afforded
full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and
to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. At the hearing the Company
moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that the unit is inappropriate.'
Ruling on this motion was reserved for the Board. For reasons hereinafter
stated, the motion is denied. 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
The Company is a Delaware corporation engaged in the gathering of
crude oil from various oil and gas leases located in the States of Arkansas,
I In its original petition the Union requested a unit comprised of "all field telegraph operators of
the Company 's Houston Pipe Line Division located near Overton, Texas "; this petition was amended
by the Union before the hearing, to read "All telegraph operators of the Company 's Houston Pipe
Line Division located near Overton , Texas."
62 N. L. R. B., No. 188.
1385
1386 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Louisiana , and Texas. In connection with these operations, the Company
is engaged in gathering by various pipe-line facilities, crude oil from leases
located in the State of Texas, into the Company's pipe-line gathering sys-
tem in Smith , Rusk, Gregg, Upshire, Camp, Wood, and Franklin Counties,
Texas. This pipe-line system is known as the East Texas Division, is made
up of the East Texas, Winnsboro, Pittsburg, and New Hope pipe lines,
and gathers crude oil to the Company' s main pipe line located at Hender-
son, Big Sandy, and Santillo, Texas. The East Texas Division is the only
operation of the Company involved in this proceeding. To the main pipe
line is gathered from the afore-mentioned places in Texas in excess of
1,500,000 barrels of crude oil each month.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning
of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Oil Workers International Union, affiliated with the Congress of Indus-
trial Organizations, 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 certain of its employees until the Union
has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Feld Examiner, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents-all of the employees in the alleged
appropriate unit:
We find that a question affecting commerce has 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 UNIT; THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Union seeks to represent all telegraph operators at the Overton,
Texas, office of the Company's Houston Pipe Line Division.' In a prior
representation case involving the same parties, the Union sought to establish
a production and maintenance unit including, among others, telegraph
operators. The Board, however, found telegraph operators to be clerical
employees and excluded them from the production and maintenance unit
therein found appropriate.` After careful consideration of the record in
"The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted a membership card for each of the three
employees in the alleged appropriate unit , that all three employees were listed on the Company's
pay roll, and that one of the cards was dated August 1944, and two were dated September 1944
' The Union seeks a separate unit of these employees , while the Company contends that telegraph
operators are clerical employees and that such a unit would be inappropriate.
* See Matter of Gulf Refining Company, Houston Pipe Line Division, 59 N L R B. 1483. Upon
the basis of the record before it in the cited case, the Board stated in part'
There are four telegraph opei ators employed by the Company in the office of the superintendent
GULF REFINING COMPANY - 1387
the instant case, which is more comprehensive than the prior record with
respect to the duties and functions of telegraph operators, we conclude that
these employees, despite our previous finding,' are not clerical employees
but operational employees, and, as such, may be bargained for. as part
of the production and maintenance unit.
The Company, as heretofore indicated, now employs three telegraph
operators in the Houston Pipe Line Division near Overton, Texas. One
of the three telegraph operators spends practically all, of his time in the
operation of telegraphic equipment ; another spends virtually all of his
time at this work except for the occasional performance of clerical tasks
unrelated to telegraphy, such as addressing envelopes and checking reports.
The third telegraph operator devotes approximately 50 percent of his time
to operation of the telegraphic equipment and the balance to clerical work,
which is unrelated to telegraphy. The Company contends, in effect, that
since the duties of the telegraph operators consist in part of the posting
of contract receipts and tenders, taking care of the transmittal of tenders,
handling daily reports for their foreman, calculating and posting pro-ration
schedules, these employees fall within the category of clerical employees.
We are unable to agree. In a recent Board decision, we were concerned
with telegraph operators in a similar operation and having substantially
the same duties. In concluding that such employees are operational 'em-
ployees and should be included in a production maintenance unit,' we
pointed out that:
... the keeping of stock records and the tallying of hourly readings
and gaugings of the various stations on their lines do not place oper-
ators within the category of clerical employees, for such work is obvi-
ously as much as part of their telegraphic duties as is the writing or
typing of a -message by a commercial telegraph operator. Nor, regard-
less of the amount of time devoted thereto, do we consider of any
significance the fact that many of the operators perform other, typically
clerical duties. Their primary function is that of operating telegraphic
equipment...
Applying the criteria of that case to the telegraph operators in this case,
we find that they are likewise operational employees and that they may
properly be included in the existing production and maintenance unit. We
shall, therefore, direct an election among the telegraph operators to de-
termine whether or not they desire to be represented by the Union. In
of the division . The C. I 0. would include them in the unit on the theory that they are not
"clerical " These operators work with the three clerks in the office, spend 40 percent of their
time checking and running tickets and allowable sheets by means of telegraph , and spend 60
percent of their time in more typical clerical functions . We are of the opinion that these tele-
graph operators perform primarily clerical duties , and we will exclude them from the unit.
5 See Matter of Gulf Refining Company, Houston Pipe Line Division, supra.
6 See Matter of Magnolia Pipe Line Company, 61 N L R B 723
1388 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the event that the majority of these employees select the Union as their
bargaining representative, they will thereby have indicatd their desire to
be part of the appropriate unit presently represented by the Union, and
will be part of such unit.
We shall, accordingly, direct that the question concerning representa-
tion which has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among all
telegraph operators at the Overton office of the Company's Houston Pipe
Line Division,' excluding all supervisory employees with authority to hire,
promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status
of employees, or effectively recommend such action. We shall further
direct that those eligible to vote in the election shall be those employees
in the voting group who were employed during the pay-roll period im-
mediately 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 Gulf Refining Company
(Houston Pipe Line Division), Houston, Texas, 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 Sixteenth Region, acting in this matter
as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article
III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among the em-
ployees in the voting group described 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 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 Oil Workers International Union, C. I. 0., for the
purposes of collective bargaining.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above Deci-
sion and Direction of Election. -
7 It is understood that the three telegraph operators involved are those presently under the super-
vision of the District Foreman within the Company 's East Texas gathering system