Phillips Petroleum Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 17, 1945

64 N.L.R.B. 1415 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of PIIrLLIPS PETROLEUM COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL
UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS, AFL
Case No. 16-I3-1436.Decided December 17,1945
Mr. Ed. Waite Clark, of Bartlesville, Okla., and M1:. H. F. Chapman,
of Oklahoma City, Okla., for the Company.
Mr. H. L. Cranford, of Ardmore, Okla., and Mr. E. L. Wilson, of
Oklahoma City, Okla., for the Engineers.
Mr. J. W. Haesell, Jr., of Dallas, Tex., and Messrs. W. A. Bailey and
H. J. Strance, of Oklahoma City, Okla., for the Independent.
Mr. Bernard Goldberg, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
' AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by International Union of Operating-
Engineers, AFL, herein called the Engineers, alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Phillips Petroleum Company, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,.
herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board pro-
vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Glenn L.
Moller, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma,,on August 16, 1945. The Company, the Engineers, and
Associated Oil Field Workers Union, herein called the Independent,
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. 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, a Delaware corporation having its
principal operating office in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, is engaged in
64 N. L. R. B., No. 234.
1415
1416 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
producing, refining, and distributing petroleum products. The in-
stant proceeding is concerned only with the Oklahoma City Area of the
Company's gasoline division. During 1944, the Company sold prod-
ucts from the Oklahoma City Area plants valued at more than $6,000,-
000, of which almost 50 percent represented shipments outside the
State of Oklahoma. During the same year, the Company purchased
supplies and materials for use in its operations in the Oklahoma City
Area valued at more than $1.000,000, of which approximately 50 per-
cent represented Shipments into the State from sources outside the
State.
The Company admits that it is engaged in conlinerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations .1ct.
11. TILE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
International Union of Operating Engineers, alliliated with the
American Federation of Labor, and Associated Oil Field Workers
Union, unaffiliated, are labor organizations admitting to membership
employees of the Company.
Iii. TI-LE QUESTION CONCERNING REIRLSENTA'1'ION
On July 16, 1945, the Engineers requested the Company to recog-
nize it as the collective bargaining representative of the Company's
employees. The Company did not, reply to the request. At the hear-
mg, the Company took the position that it would not recognize the
'Engineers unless the latter was certified by the Board.
On July 1, 1944, following the certification by the Board of the
Independent as collective bargaining representative, the Company
entered into a collective bargaining contract with the Independent
for the term of 1 year "and thereafter until terminated by either party
on thirty (30) days written notice by the party electing to terminate."
Although no notice of termination has been served by either party, the
parties concede that the contract is not a bar.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Engineers represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate:
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen_concerniug
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 ((i) and (7) of the Act.
I The Field Examiner reported that the Engineei s submitted 70 author ization cards ; and
that the names of 67 persons appearing on the cards were listed on the Company's pay roll
of July 15, 1945. which contained the names of 211 employees in the appropriate unit.
The Independent relies on its contract to establish its interest
PHILLIPS PETROLEUM COMPANY 1417
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The parties agree that the following unit is appropriate: all oper-
ating and maintenance employees in the gasoline division of the Com-
pany in the Oklahoma City Area, including employees in the Ed-
mond plant, watchmen, metermen, plant, testers, and assistant plant
testers, but excluding clerical and technically trained employees,
guards, gang pushers, and all other supervisory elnployees.2 The
sole disagreement among the parties concerns the inclusion in, or ex-
clusion from, the unit of employee Long, a plant tester. In addi-
tion to his regular duties as a tester, Long devotes about 2 hours each
day to clerical work, assisting the billing clerk in figuring the amount
to be billed to customers for delivery of butane and propane gases.
The Engineers desires to exclude Long, the Independent wishes to
include him, and the Company apparently in neutral. Inasmuch as
the greater part of Long's work is that of a regular plant tester, a
category included in the unit by agreement, we are of the opinion
that his interests lie predominantly with other plant testers rather
than with clerical employees. Accordingly, we shall include Long
in the unit.
We find that all operating and maintenance employees in the gaso-
line division of the Company in the Oklahoma City Area, including
employees in the Edmond plant, watchmen, metermen, plant testers,3
and assistant plant testers, but excluding clerical and technically
trained employees, guards, gang pushers, and all other supervisory
employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively rec-
ommend 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 among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
This is substantially the same unit previously found appropiiate by the Board in Matter
of Phillips Petroleum Company, 55 N L R. B. 192 . While the territory Involved has
remained unaltered the descriptive term used to designate that territory has been changed
from District to Area.
8 This includes C. F Long.
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1418 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Phillips Petro-
leum Company, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than sixty
(60) 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 Regula-
tions, 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 employees who did
not work during the 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 employees who have since quit or been dis-
charged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the
date of the election, to determine whether they desire to be repre-
sented by International Union of Operating Engineers, AFL, or by
Associated Oil Field Workers Union, for the purposes of collective.
bargaining, or by neither.