The Texas Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 4, 1943

53 N.L.R.B. 1130 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of THE TEXAS COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL UNION OF
OPERATING ENGINEERS , LOCAL. 552, A. F. of L.
Case No. 16-R-7&O.Decided December 4 , 1943 - '
Mr. John C. Jackson, of Houston , Tex., and Mr . H. A. Fouts, of
El Paso, Tex., for the Company.
Messrs . George F. Webber, J. E. Gillilard , and B . E. Tiller, of El
Paso, Tex., for the A. F. of L.
Mr. Louis Cok 'in, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by International Union of Operating
Engineers, Local 552, A. F. of L., herein called the A. F. of L., alleg-
ing that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the
representation of employees of The Texas Company, El Paso, Texas,
herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board pro-
vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before L. N. D.
Wells, Jr., Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at El Paso, Texas,
on November 4, 1943. The Company and the A. F. of L. appeared,
participated, and 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 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 Texas Company is a Delaware corporation with its principal
office at New York City. We are here concerned with its oil refinery
I Although Employees ' Representation Plan, herein called the Plan, intervened at the
hearing it withdrew its intervention . It stated that it did not wish to participate in any
election.
53 N. L. R. B., No. 208.
1130
THE TEXAS COMPANY 1131
at El Paso, Texas. The Company is engaged in the business .of pro-
ducing, refining, and marketing crude oil and products thereof. Dur-
ing 1942, the Company processed over 100,000 barrels of petroleum at
its El Paso refinery, over 10 percent of which was shipped to it from
points outside the State of Texas. During the same period the Com-
pany shipped over 40 percent of the products from the El Paso refinery
to points outside the State of Texas.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 552, is a labor
organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, ad-
mitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
During August 1943 the A. F. of L. requested the Company to
recognize it as the exclusive collective bargaining representative of the
employees at the El Paso refinery. The Company refused this re-
quest until such time as the A. F. of L. is certified by the Board. .
On November 9, 1942, the Company and the Plan entered into an
exclusive collective bargaining contract. The contract provides
that it shall be in force until November 9, 1943, and thereafter until
such time as the Company posts new rules or notice of termination.
Neither the Company nor the Plan urges the contract as a bar. In-
asmuch as the contract is terminable upon notice of the Company at
any time, we find that it does not constitute a bar to a determination
of representatives at this time.
A statement of a Field Examiner of the Board, introduced into evi-
dence at the hearing, indicates that the A. F. of L. represents a sub-
stantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found to be
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 National Labor
Relations Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union urges that all production and maintenance employees
at the El Paso refinery of the Company, including stillmen and the
head machinist, but excluding administrative, technical, supervisory,
plant-protection, and clerical employees, constitute an appropriate
unit. The only controversy with respect to the unit concerns stillmen.
2 The Field Examiner reported that the A. F of L presented 33 authorization cards
bearing apparently genuine signatures of persons whose names appear on the Company's
pay roll of September 15, 1943. There are approximately 57 employees in the appropriate
unit.
1132 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Company employs three stillmen, each of whom has from six
to eight employees under him. The Union would include them in
the unit whereas the Company would exclude them. The stillmen are
in complete charge of the plant during the entire night shift and-the
latter part of the swing shift and have the authority to recommend
the discharge of their subordinates. We find that the stillmen at
the Company's El Paso refinery are supervisors, and as such, we
shall exclude them from the unit.'
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the
El Paso refinery of the Company, including the head machinist,4 but
excluding administrative, technical, and plant-protection employees,
stillmen, and 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 means of 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 Rela-
tions 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 The Texas Com-
pany, El Paso, 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 unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
' By this ruling we are in no way passing upon the status of stillmen employed at other
refineries.
* The record indicates that the head machinist is merely the most skilled machinist in
the plant and that he does not exercise supervisory functions which would warrant his ex-
clusion from the unit.
THE TEXAS COMPANY 1133
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 deter-
mine whether or not they desire to be represented by International
Union of Operating Engineers, Local 552, A. F. of L., for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining.
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