El Paso Natural Gas Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 25, 1945

61 N.L.R.B. 714 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of EL PASO NATURAL GAS COMPANY and OIL WORKERS
INTERNATIONAL UNION, C. I. O.
Case No. 16-R-1186.-Decided April 25, 1945
Mr. C. C. Cragin, of El Paso, Tex., for the Company.
Mr. D. Raeburn, of Odessa, Tex., and Mr. E. B. McCallum, of Hobbs,
N. Mex., for the Union.
Mr. Louis Cokin, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Oil Workers International Union,
C.I.O., herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
El Paso Natural Gas Company, El Paso, Texas, herein called the Com-
pany, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appro-
priate hearing upon due notice before Lewis Moore, Trial Examiner.
Said hearing was held at Hobbs, New Mexico, on April 4, 1945. The
Company and the Union 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 Ex-
aminer'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
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
El Paso Natural Gas Company is engaged in the production and
distribution of natural gas in the States of New Mexico, Texas, and
Arizona. It has its principal offices in El Paso, Texas. During 1944
the Company sold 46,090,384,000, cubic feet of gas. The Company
obtains its natural gas in Lea County, New Mexico, and in the State
61 N. L.R.B,No.114.
714
EL PASO NATURAL GAS COMPANY 715
of Texas. During 1944 the Company received $9,380,000, for its
'products, over 80 percent of which was derived from shipments made
from points within the State of New Mexico to points outside that
State.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
11. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Oil Workers International Union is a labor organization affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to member-
ship employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
During February 1945, the Union requested recognition as the exclu-
sive collective bargaining representative of certain employees of the
Company. The Company declined to recognize the Union.
A statement of a Field Examiner of the Board, introduced into evi-
dence at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial
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 Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
We find, in substantial agreement with a stipulation of the parties,
that all regular employees of the Company in Lea County, New Mex-
ico, excluding professional and clerical employees, guards, superin-
tendent, chief operator, all foremen, and any 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 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.
The Company requested at the hearing that provision be made for
the voting of its employees in military service. With respect to the
' The statement discloses that the Union submitted application cards bearing the names
of 46 persons who appeared on the Company's February 15, 1945, pay roll . The said pay
roll listed approximately 117 employees in the appropriate unit.
716 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
employees in the armed forces, it has been our customary practice to
declare eligible only those who present themselves in person at the
polls.2
In the Mine Safety Appliance Co. case,3 we reconsidered fully our
policy in that respect, and reaffirmed our previous finding that it is not
administratively practicable to poll employees on military leave by
mail. No further reason appears in the instant case to depart from
our established policy. Our inability to poll all the employees on
military leave, however, will not necessarily operate to give permanent
status to a bargaining representative chosen in their absence. When it
is demonstrated that servicemen have returned to their employment
in sufficient number so that they comprise a substantial percentage of
the employees in an appropriate unit in which we have certified a col-
lective bargaining representative, a new petition for the investigation
and certification of a bargaining agent may be filed with the Board.
In this manner employees in the armed forces who were unable to cast
a vote will be afforded an opportunity to affirm or change the bargain-
ing agent selected in their absence.
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 Rela-
tions 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 El Paso Natural
Gas Company, 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 mat-
ter 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 preceding
the date of this Direction, including employees who did not work dur-
ing said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or tem-
porarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the
United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but ex-
cluding 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 de-
termine whether or not they desire to be represented by Oil Workers
International Union, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organ-
izations, for the purposes of collective bargaining.
2 See Matter of Wzlaon & Co , Inc., 37 N. L. R. B. 944.
3 55 N. L. It. B. 1190.