Lone Star Natural Gas Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 26, 1945

61 N.L.R.B. 766 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of LONE STAR GAS COMPANY and OIL WORKERS INTER-
NATIONAL UNION, C. I. O.
Case No. 16-B-1188.-Decided April 06, 1945
Mr. Warren J. Collins, of Dallas, Tex., for the Company.
Mr. Lindsay P. Walden, of Fort Worth, Tex., for the Union.
Mr. Jack Mantel, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a first amended petition duly filed by Oil Workers Inter-
national Union, C. I. 0., herein called the Union, alleging that a ques-
tion affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of
employees of Lone Star Gas Company, Dallas, Texas, herein called the
Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an ap-
propriate hearing upon due notice before Lewis Moore, Trial Ex-
aminer. Said hearing was held at Dallas, Texas, on March 10, 1945.
The Company and the Union appeared and participated. All parties
were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-ex-
amine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The
Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from pre-,
judicial 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
Lone Star Gas Company, a Texas corporation, having its principal
office and place of business at Dallas, Texas, is engaged in the purchas-
ing, transmission, sale, and distribution of natural gas. Since on or
about January 1, 1943, the Company purchased not less than 5 billion
cubic feet of natural gas, all of which was transported to or through
points within the State of Texas, and all of which was sold within the
61 N. L. R. B., No. 122.
766
LONE STAR GAS COMPANY 767
States of Texas and Oklahoma. Since on or about January 1, 1943,
the Company sold natural gas within the State of Oklahoma, valued
in excess of $250,000, a substantial amount of which was purchased and
transported from points within the State of Texas, to points within
the State of Oklahoma; and during the same period of time the Com-
pany, purchased, transported, sold, and delivered to customers within
the State of Texas, natural gas valued in excess of $1,000,000, of which
approximately 10 percent was purchased and transported from points
within the State of Oklahoma to points within the State of Texas.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Oil Workers International Union, affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to mem-
bership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as
the exclusive bargaining representative • 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. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union contends that all building maintenance and service em-
ployees, including elevator mechanics, maintenance operators, engine
room operators, elevator operators, watchmen, porter-janitors, and
maids; employed at the Company's building at 301 South Harwood
Street and its building at 1915 Wood Street, Dallas, Texas, but ex-
cluding clerical and supervisory employees, constitute an appropriate
unit. The Company claims that all non-supervisory employees; at the
two buildings, including its Oak Cliff branch, would constitute an
appropriate unit. In addition to those employees sought by the
Union, the Company thus would include clerks, auditors, accountants,
tellers, collectors, meter readers, typists, stenographers, secretaries,
1 The Board agent reported that the Union submitted 33 membership cards , and that the
names of 32 persons appearing on the cards were listed on the Company 's current pay roll
which contained the names of 55 employees in the appropriate unit.
768 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
business machine operators, comptometer operators, home economists,
publicists, telephone operators, dispatchers, blueprinters, draftsmen,
geological assistants, and other general office employees.
The buildings on South Harwood and Wood Streets house the
Company's general home office and the Dallas division of distribution
offices. These buildings are adjacent and adjoining, being intercon-
nected by passageways at different points. The Oak Cliff building is
a branch office of the Company operated independently of the other
two buildings.
In June, 1944, the Company and the Union entered into a consent
election agreement providing for a single unit, including both the
building maintenance and the general office employees. However, the
election was never held, due to the protests of the office employees to the
inclusion of the building maintenance employees in the same unit.
The Company's position is that the above agreement should be con-
trolling in this proceeding as to the appropriate unit. Since the con-
sent election agreement did not result in either a certification or in any
collective bargaining history, such prior agreement cannot be deemed
determinative of the appropriate bargaining unit.2
The building maintenance and service employees work in either
building, their assignments being interchangeable. They work under
the supervision of the building engineer, who has no authority over
any of the other employees. Since these employees constitute a well-
defined and identifiable group having common supervision, we are of
the opinion that they constitute an appropriate unit.
We find that all building maintenance and service employees, in-
cluding elevator mechanics, maintenance operators, engine room
operators, elevator operators, watchmen, porter-janitors, and maids,
employed at the Company's building at 301 South Harwood Street
and 1915 Wood Street, Dallas, Texas, but excluding all other em-
ployees and 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 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
Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in
the Direction.
2 See Matter of Kentucky Fluorspar Company, 52 N. L. R. B. 227.
LONE STAR GAS COMPANY
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
769
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 Lone Star Gas
Company, Dallas, 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, Sec-
tions 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations , among the employees
in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were em-
ployed 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 discharged for cause and
have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of t he election,
to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Oil Work-
ers International Union , C. I. 0., for , the purposes of collective bar-
gaining.
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