Texas Pipe Line Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 30, 1944

55 N.L.R.B. 873 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of TEXAS PIPE LINE COMPANY and DISTRICT 6, OIL
WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, CIO
Case No. 14-R-861.-Decided March 30, 1944
Mr. John C. Jackson , of Houston , Tex., Mr. Stuart G. Kershner,
of Tulsa, Okla., and Mr. J. E. Chandler , of Houston , Tex., for the
Company.
Mr. Ono, C. Allen, of Lawrenceville , Ill., for the Union.
Mr. Isadore Greenberg , of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by District 6, Oil Workers International
Union, CIO, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affect-
ing commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees
of Texas Pipe Line Company, Mt. Vernon, Indiana, herein called the
Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an ap-
propriate hearing upon due notice before John H. Eadie, Trial Ex-
aminer. Said hearing was held at Lawrenceville, Illinois, on March
1, 1944. The Company 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. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were af-
forded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Texas Pipe Line Company is a Texas corporation , with its principal
office at Houston, Texas. It is engaged in gathering and transporting
petroleum and petroleum products in the States of Texas, Louisiana,
Oklahoma, Illinois, Indiana, and Montana. For this purpose the
55 N. L R. B., No. 154.
873
874 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Company owns and operates a total of 6,474 miles of pipe line run-
ning through these States.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
It. TIIE ORGSNIZAT1ON INVOLVED
District 6, Oil Workers Tntematlonal Union, affiliated with the
Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization ad-
mitting to membership employees of the Company.
111. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of certain of its 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 hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees 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
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. TIIE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit composed of all employees of the Company
at the Mt. Vernon, Indiana, Terminal, including plant-protection em-
ployees, but excluding clerical and supervisory employees.
The Company denies the appropriateness of a Mt. Vernon unit.
It contends that a company-wide unit, or in the alterative, a unit em-
bracing the Indiana-Illinois Division of the Company,2 is appropriate.
It also disputes the propriety of the inclusion of plant-protection em-
ployees in the unit.
The Union has not attempted to organize employees of the Com-
pany's Indiana-Illinois Division outside of the Mt. Vernon Terminal.
The plant-protection employees herein involved are unarmed watch-
men who do not belong to any military or police organization. They
are paid on an hourly basis and are directly under the supervision of the
plant superintendent,. Their duties are to watch the plant premises,
to exclude unauthorized persons from entering, and to enforce the
Company's rules and regulations in regard to such matters as fire
,
The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 11 authorization cards, all of
which bore apparently genuine original signatures ; that the names of all persons appear-
nig on the cards Reie listed on the Company's pay roll of December 31, 1943, which con-
tained the names of 11 employees in the appropriate unit; and that the cards were all
dated In December i34",
1 The Alt Vernon, Indiana, Terminal is port of the Company's Indiana-Illinois Division.
TEXAS PIPE LINE COMPANY 875
protection. Other than the enforcement of such rules, they have no
supervisory authority over the employees.
In view of the limited extent of organization among the Company's
employees in the Indiana-Illinois Division, we are of the opinion
that the unit here sought by the Union is appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining at the present time. Our finding that a unit
confined- to the Mt. Vernon Terminal is appropriate will not, however,
preclude a finding at some later date that a larger, more inclusive unit
is then appropriated We are also of the opinion that the plant-pro-
tection employees may properly be included in the unit.
We find that all the employees of the Company's Mt. Vernon, In-
diana, Terminal, including the plant-protection employees, but ex-
cludrng clerical employees and all supervisory employees with au-
thority 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 among the
employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the
pay-roll period immediately 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, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Texas Pipe Line
Company, Mt. Vernon, Indiana, 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 Fourteenth 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 employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV,
above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
' Cf Matter or Standard Overall Company ( Jobbers Pants Company ), 53 N L R B.
960 and cases therein cited.
876 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 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 District 6, Oil Workers International
Union, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, for
the purposes of collective bargaining.