Alamo Refining Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 13, 1949

82 N.L.R.B. 1227 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of ALAMO REFINING COMPANY, EMPLOYER and PIPE-
FITTERS LOCAL UNION No. 195, A. F. L., PETITIONER
Case No. 39-RC-16.-Decided April 13,194.9
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing officer's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection
with this case to a three-man panel.*
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The Petitioner, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor,
and International Association of Machinists, herein called the Inter-
venor, are labor organizations claiming to represent employees of
the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Employer owns and operates a refinery near Sweeny, Texas.
The refinery is composed of 3 departments, namely, operating, labora-
tory, and maintenance. The maintenance department is comprised
of 6 divisions; labor, mechanical, instrument-electrical, pipefitting-
boilermaker-welding-material handling, miscellaneous crafts, and
warehouse. The Petitioner seeks to represent in a single unit the
pipe fitters and welders and their respective helpers, all of whom are
in the pipe fitter-boilermaker-welding-material handling division, and
the salvagemen of the mechanical division. The Intervenor claims
that 3 separate units should be established for the pipe fitters, the
welders, and the salvagemen. The Employer, on the other hand,
asserts that only an over-all unit, embracing the 331 employees of
* Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Gray.
82 N. L. B.. B., No . 141. 1227
1228 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
all 3 departments, is appropriate. There is no history of collective
bargaining as to these employees.
Pipe fitters: There are 10 pipe fitters under a pipe fitter foreman.
The record shows that the Employer has an established apprentice-
ship program and that it recognizes the craft status of this job classi-
fication. We are satisfied that the pipe fitters in question are crafts-
men performing the duties of their craft.
Salvagem,en: The three salvagemen disassemble and repair damaged
valves.
Welders: There are approximately 13 welders and welder helpers
who work exclusively at welding under a welder foreman. They
work for all trades, throughout the plant, although the greater part
of their time is spent on pipe welding.
The Employer contends that the work of employees in other job
classifications is integrated with, and in some respects similar if not
identical to, the work of the employees in question; in this connection
the Employer referred specifically, among others, to instrument men
of the instrument-electrical division and to boilermakers of the
same division as the welders and pipe fitters. It appears that instru-
ment men do some pipefitting work in connection with their principal
duties of installing and maintaining various gauge-type instruments.
The record also shows that there is some overlapping of functions and
duties between pipe fitters and boilermakers.
From the foregoing, and upon the entire record, it appears, as the
Employer asserts, that the proposed unit is a heterogeneous one; it
is not based solely on traditional craft considerations nor is it sup-
ported by any bargaining history.
The pipe fitters, however, constitute a recognized craft group de-
finable and homogeneous, in an industry in which separate pipe-fitting
units have been established.'
The welders and their helpers are at all times engaged exclusively
in welding duties under separate supervision. In the absence of any
bargaining history on a broader basis, we believe and find that they
comprise a sufficiently homogeneous and identifiable group with a
strong community of interest such as to constitute a separate appro-
priate Unit .2
Pipe fitter helpers: There are approximately 20 regularly assigned
pipe fitter helpers who, though at all times free to transfer, on a
seniority basis, into another line of work if and when a vacancy
occurs, spend most, if not all, of their time helping the pipe fitters
3 Matter of Mid-Continent Petroleum Corporation , 65 N. L . R. B. 109.
2 Matter of Philip B. Wallace , Jr., George A . Wallace, Emily A. McPhee, d/b/a U. S. Pipe
and Manufacturing Company, 78 N. L. R. B. 15.
ALAMO REFINING COMPANY 1229
to which classification they usually progress. We shall include them
in the pipe fitters unit .3
We find that the following groups employed at the Employer's
Sweeny, Texas, refinery, constitute separate appropriate units for
the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the Act :
1. All pipe fitters, both first and second class, including the helpers
of both classes, but excluding the pipe fitter foreman and all other
supervisors as defined in the Act.
2. All welders, both first and second class, including welders' helpers
of both classes, but excluding the foreman and all other supervisors
as defined in the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, separate elec-
tions by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not
later than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction
and supervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this
case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended,
among the employees in the respective units found appropriate in
paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Elec-
tions, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll
period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off,
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 elections, and also excluding employees on strike who are not en-
titled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they desire to be
represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Pipefitters Local
Union No. 195, A. F. L.4
• See Matter of Mid-Continent Petroleum Corporation, supra.
4 The Intervenor will not be placed on the ballot because it submitted no showing of
reI resentative interest in the units found appropriate.