Natural Gas Pipe Gas Line Co. of America

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 5, 1942

40 N.L.R.B. 1193 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of NATURAL GAS PIPE LINE COMPANY OF AMERICA
and' INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS, LOCAL 259,
AFFILIATED WITH THE A. F. OF L.
In the Matter of TEXOMA NATURAL GAS COMPANY and OIL WORKERS
INTERNATIONAL UNION, LOCAL 463, AFFILIATED WITH THE CONGRESS
OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS.
Cases Nos. R-3589 and R-3590, respectively.Decided May 5, 1942
Jurisdiction : gas utility and pipe-line industries.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question re-
fusal to accord petitioners recognition ; elections necessary.
Units Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : although a system-wide unit com-
prising employees of two companies having a common ownership and interlock-
ing and centralized management could properly constitute an appropriate unit
as the Companies contend, separate local units for each of the respective com-
panies conforming to the organization of the unions involved are found appro-
priate in order to render collective bargaining an immediate possibility
Mr. David Karasick and Mr. Bliss Daffan, for the Board.
Mr. J. J. Hedrick and Mr. Ned P. Gilbert, of Chicago, Ill., and
Mr. B. M. Britan, of Amarillo, Tex., for the companies.
Mr. Leo P. Beasley, of Burlington, Iowa, and Mr. John H. LaRowe,
of St. Charles, Mo., for Local 259.
Mr. Roy M. Freeman, of Hammond, Ind., Mr. Ben J. Schaffer, of
Port Arthur, Tex., and Mr. Ray T. Aylor, of Borger, Tex., for Local
463.
Mr. Reynolds C, Seitz, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petitions duly filed by Oil Workers International Union,
Local 463, affiliated with the C. I. 0., herein called Local 463, alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Texoma Natural Gas ' Company, Fritch,
Texas, herein called Texonla, and by International Union of Operating
40 N. L R. B., No 204 -
1193
1194 - DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Engineers, Local 259, affiliated with the A. F. of L., herein called
Local 259, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of Natural Gas Pipe Line
Company of America, Chicago, Illinois, herein called the Pipe Line
Company, the National Labor Relations Board ordered that the cases
be consolidated and provided for an appropriate hearing on due
notice before Charles E. Persons, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was
held at Chicago, Illinois, on February 24 and 25, 1942, and at
Amarillo, Texas, on ' March 2, 1942. Texoma and the Pipe Line
Company herein called the Companies, Local 463, and Local 259
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 errors and are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANIES
Texoma Natural Gas Company is a Delaware corporation, engaged
in the business of owning and operating natural gas leases and pro-
ducing natural gas in the Panhandle Gas Field of Texas. Texoma
owns 264 gas leases in the afore-mentioned area, covering 144,498
acres on which are located 202 natural gas wells owned by Texoma.
These 202 wells have a total open flow or capacity to produce of
approximately 2,769,000,000 cubic feet, and from them Texoma pro-
duces an average of approximately 167,000,000 cubic feet of natural
gas per day.
Natural Gas Pipe Line Company of America, herein called the
Pipe Line Company, is a corporation originally organized on April
25, 1930, pursuant to the laws of the State of Delaware, under the
name of Continental Construction Corporation. On December 10,
1931, the name of Continental Construction Corporation was, by
appropriate action of its Board of Directors, changed to Natural Gas
Pipe Line Company of America. The Pipe Line Company is engaged
in the business of buying natural gas, transporting gas by means of
a pipe-line, system which it owns and operates, and selling gas at
wholesale to public utilities and industrial customers.
The principal office of both Texoma and the Pipe Line Company
is located at 20 North Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois. '
The following companies, with the addition of Standard Oil Com-
pany (New Jersey), which is a stockholder of the Pipe Line Company
but does not own any stock in Texoma, own all of the presently
NATURAL GAS PIPE LINE COMPANY OF AMERICA 1195
issued and outstanding stock of both Texoma and the Pipe Line
Company: Cities Service Company; The Texas Company; South-
western Development Company; Columbian Carbon Company; and
the Peoples Gas Light and Coke Company.
Save for minor variations, the officers and directors of the two
Companies are identical.,
The Pipe Line Company secures 25 percent of its natural gas from
Colorado Interstate Gas Company, a non-affiliated company, and 75
percent from Texoma, at cost under the terms of a. non-profit contract.
The leases owned and operated by Texoma are located in the Coun-
ties of Moore, Hutchinson, Carson, and Gray, Texas. The natural
gas produced is gathered by means of pipe lines connecting the gas
wells into a pipe-line gathering system through which the gas is
transported under its own pressure, with one exception where Texoma
operates and'maintains a booster station, to a point at Fritch, Texas,
where Texoma maintains a compressor station. The pressure to
which the gas is subjected by the Fritch compressor station forces
it along a main pipe line in a northeasterly direction to a point near
Gray, Oklahoma, where the pipe line of Texoma joins the pipe line
of the Pipe Line Company. The over-all length of the main pipe line
of Texoma is approximately 80 miles, and it runs from the State of
Texas into the State of Oklahoma. Texoma also owns, maintains
and operates, at Fritch, Texas, a gasoline plant wherein the gasoline
content of the natural gas is extracted, and a dehydration plant
wherein the moisture content is extracted. All gasoline so extracted
is sold by' Texoma at Fritch, Texas, to the Phillips Petroleum
Company.
The pipe line of the Pipe Line Company extends, from the point
of connection with the pipe line of Texoma at Gray, Oklahoma, in
a northeasterly direction across the States of Oklahoma, Kansas,
Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois to a point near Joliet, Illinois. The Pipe
Line Company owns, operates and maintains pipe lines, compressor.
stations, river crossings, warehouses, and meter and regulator stations
necessary to the transportation of gas through its pipe-line system.
Texoma's sales of natural gas are made in the State of Oklahoma
to Pipe Line Company, with the exception of minor sales made
locally in the field in Texas. During the calendar year 1941, Tex-
oma's monthly sales amounted to approximately $200,794.
All of the Pipe Line Company's sales of natural gas are made
to customers located in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois. In
each month during the calendar year 1941, the Pipe Line Company
1 Two vice presidents of the Pipe Line Company hold no office in Texoma ; each board
of directors includes one member who does not serve on the other.
1196 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
delivered approximately (1,374,818 cubic feet of natural gas, and its
monthly sales amounted to approximately $1,299,238.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Oil Workers International Union, Local 463, affiliated with the
Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admit-
ting to membership employees of Texoma.
International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 259, affiliated
with the American Federation of Labor, is a labor organization
'admitting to membership employees of the Pipe Line Company.
III. THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
It is stipulated by and among the Companies, Local 463, and
Local 259 that a question concerning the representation of employees
of the Pipe Line Company in the State of Illinois has arisen because
the Pipe Line Company has refused to recognize that Local 259
represents a majority of the employees within an appropriate unit.
It is further stipulated by and between Texoma and Local 463
that a question concerning the representation of employees of Texoma
at Fritch, Texas, has arisen because Texoma has refused to recognize
that Local 463 represents a majority of the employees within an ap-
propriate unit.
A statement of the Field Examiner introduced in evidence at the
hearing indicates that Local 463 represents a substantial number of
Texoma employees in the unit hereinafter found to be appropriate 2
and a statement of the Regional Director which was also introduced in
evidence at the hearing indicates that Local 259 represents a sub-
stantial number of Pipe Line Company ,employees in the unit herein-
after found to be appropriate.'
We find that questions affecting commerce have arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Companies, within the meaning
2 Local 463 claims without contradiction that the Texoma unit hereinafter found to be
appropriate is made up of 76 employees . The statement of the Field Examiner as
respects the claims of authorization submitted by Local 463 is as follows . Local 463
submitted 62 authorization cards dated between July 15 , 1941 , and October 23, 1941.
All of the signatures on the cards appeal to be genuine Forty-three of the 62 signatures
which appear to be genuine, ate the names of persons whose names are on the Texoma
pay roll of December 15, 1941
3 Local 259 claims that the Pipe Line Company unit hereinafter found to be appropriate
is made up of 60 employees The statement of the Regional Director as respects the
claims of authorization submitted by Local 259 is as follows : Local 259 submitted 29
designation cards . Seventeen were dated August S to 23, 1940, 4 were dated September
18, 1941 , one was dated September 19, 11041 , 1 was dated October 7, 1941, 3 were undated
but showed dues paid October 1, 1941, and 3 were undated All of the signatures on the
cards appealed to be genuine Twenty -four of the 29 signatures are names of persons
whose names are on the Pipe Line Company ' s pay roll of December 1. 1941, which
contained the names of 79 persons
NATURAL GAS PIPE LINE COMPANY OF AMERICA 1197
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 '(6) and (7) of the National Labor
Relations, Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNITS
Locals 463 claims that all production and maintenance, employees
in Texoma's gasoline and, compressor station plants at Fritch, Texas,
excluding supervisory, clerical, and laboratory employees, and em-
ployees in Texoma's pipe-line and communications departments, con-
stitute, an appropriate unit.4 Local 259 claims that all employees
of the Pipe Line Company in Illinois engaged in compressor station
and pipe-line operation and maintenance, excluding supervisory em-
ployees, the Chicago clerical employees,5 and the i one, woman clerk
employed in the field, constitute an appropriate unit.6 The Com-
panies contend that, because of the centralization of management and
the organization of their business on an integrated basis, a. single
system-wide unit made up of the employees in all departments of
both,companies is appropriate. The Companies also contend that, if
the Board does not find a single system-wide unit to be appropriate,
the Chicago clerical help, the female field clerk, the construction
engineer working out of the Chicago office, and a right-of-way man
who spends some of his time' in Illinois should be included in the-
unit requested by Local 259. Local 259 opposes these contentions of
the Companies.
It is- evident from the Companies' common ownership, their inter-
locking and centralized management, and the integration of their
operations, that a single system-wide unit might be appropriate.
Organization of Texoma's employees by Local 463 has, however, been
confined. thus far to the plants at Fritch, Texas, and organization of
the Pipe Line Company's employees by Local 259 has thus far been
confined to those engaged in, compressor station and pipe-line work
in the State of Illinois. - Substantial numbers of these employees
have indicated a desire to be represented by Local 463 and Local 259.
and to engage, through these organizations, in collective bargaining
with the Companies. There is no showing that any other labor or-
ganization is attempting to organize or desires to^ represent employees
4 It is stipulated that the, following types of employees would be included in the unit :
at the compressor plant, yardmen, shift repairmen , oilers, Worthington repairmen, auxil-
iary engineers , main engineers, repair engineers, machinists , electricians and welders ; at
the gasoline plant, yardmen, 'repairmen on Clark engines; boiler firemen, assistant stillm'en
operators, stillmen . gasoline testers, oilers , and refrigeration, plant men.
5 The male field clerks are claimed ' to be within the unit.
All the parties stipulate that, if the Board finds the unit requested by Local 259
to be appropriate, the, following types of employees should be included in the unit :
district linemen , construction inspectors, construction ' clerks, truck drivers, maintenance
men, apprentice welders who are maintenance men, field clerks , chart changers who
spend 50 percent or more of the work week engaged in the duties of a chart changer,
laborers , meter inspectors , chemists , meter station, operators, repair main engineers, main
engineers , auxiliary engineers , painters, repairmen , and oilers.
1198 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of the Companies, whether in the same units or in any larger unit
or units. To find now that a system-wide unit of the Companies'
employees is appropriate would mean denying the benefits of the Act
to the Pipe Line Company's employees in Illinois and to Texoma's
employees at Fritch, Texas, until all the Companies' employees are
organized. Under" the circumstances, and in order to "render col-
lective bargaining . . . an immediate possibility," 7 we find • that the
smaller units requested by Local 463 and Local 259 are appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining."' We do not thereby pre-
clude a reconsideration of the appropriateness of these units, when
organization of the Companies' employees has been extended to other
parts of the system or has become system-wide."
- Since there is no showing of any difference between the work of
the female field clerk and the work of the male field clerks whom
Local 259 wants included.in the unit, we shall include the former in
the appropriate unit of Pipe Line Company employees. However,
we shall exclude the Chicago clerical employees. the construction engi-
neer working out of the Chicago office, and the right-of-way man.
The nature of the work performed by the Chicago clerical employees
and the character of their duties distinguish them from the employees
engaged in compressor , station and pipe-line operation and mainte-
nance.'" The construction engineer occupies a supervisory position
in relation to the road men and stake men who are his helpers and
to whom he gives orders. While the record is not clear as to the
duties of the-right-of-way man, it is apparent that he performs a'
substantial part of his duties outside the State of Illuiois.11
We find that all production and maintenance employees of Texoma
Natural Gas Company in 'its gasoline and compressor station plants
at Fritch, Texas, excluding supervisory, clerical, and • laboratory
employees, and employees in the pipe-line and communications'de-
partments, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of 'the Act.'
We also find that all employees of Natural Gas Pipe Line Company
of America in the State of Illinois engaged in. compressor station'
and pipe-line operation and maintenance, including all field clerks,
I See Matter of Gulf Ott . Corporation and International Brotherhood of Boilermakers,
Iron , Shipbuilders , Welders & Helpers of America, 4 N. L. R . B. 133, 137.
8Matter of R. Cl: A. Communications, Inc and American Radio Telegraphists" Associa-
tion, 2 N. L. R. B 1109; Matter of Texas Empire Pipe Line Co . and Oil Workers Inter-
national Union, Local 222, 19X L. R.•B. 631, and cases therein cited. ,
0 Matter of Western Union Telegraph, Company and American Federation • of Labor,
36 N. 'L . R. B. 881.
10 Cf. Matter of Texas Empire Pipe Line Co. and Oil Workers International Union,
Local 222 , affiliated with the Congress of-Industrial Organizations , 19 N. L^ R. B. 631.
11 Similarly , he will • be excluded from the unit set up in Texas. • Although it appears that
some of his work is done '"in 'Texas , he is not an employee 'in Texoma 's 'gasoline and
compressor station plants at Fritch . Local , 463. requests that he be excluded from the
unit sought by it. 1*1 . • ' . , '
%
I i
NATURAL GAS PIPE LINE COMPANY OF AMERICA 1199
but excluding supervisory employees, the Chicago clerical employees,
the construction engineer working out of the Chicago office, and the
right-of-way man, 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 find that the questions concerning representation which have
arisen can best be resolved by elections by secret ballot. We shall
direct that the employees in the appropriate units who were em-
ployed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of the Direction of Elections herein, subject to the limitations and
additions set forth in the Direction, shall be eligible to vote.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
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 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it
is hereby '
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Texoma Natural Gas Company, Fritch, Texas, and Natural Gas
Pipe Line Company of America, Chicago, Illinois, elections by secret
ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
thirty (30) days after the date of this Direction of Elections, under
the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Thir-
teenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor
Relations Board and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules
and Regulations, among :
(1) All employees of Taxoma Natural Gas Company, Fritcl_h,
Texas, in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Elections, including employees who did not work
during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or
in the active military service or training of the United States, or
temporarily laid off, but excluding employees who have since quit or
been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire
to be represented by Oil Workers International Union, Local 463,
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, for the
purposes of collective bargaining; and
(2) All employees of Natural Gas Pipe Line Company of America,
Chicago, Illinois, in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above,
who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding
0
1200 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the date of this Direction of Elections, including employees who did
not work during such pay-roll, period because they were ill or on
vacation or in the active military service or training of the United
States, or temporarily laid off, but excluding employees who have
since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not
they desire to be represented by International Union of Operating
Engineers, Local 259, affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor, for the purposes of collective bargaining.
O