Phillips Chemical Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 13, 1949

83 N.L.R.B. 612 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the, Matter of PHILLIPS CHEMICAL • COMPANY, EMrrwYER 'and';0aL
WORKEItS INTERNATIONAL ^ UNION, CIO, PETITIONER } 'CGrld LOCAL
UNION No. , 716, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERH1OOD-110F :ELECTRICAL
WORKERS, INTERVENOR '
• ,Case No. 39-RC-61,Decided May. 13, 1949,
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing in this case was held before
Clifford W. Potter, 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-member -panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Gray].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations named below claim to represent employ-
ees 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 Petitioner seeks a plant-wide unit of all production and
maintenance employees employed by the Employer at kits Pasadena,
Texas, ammonium sulfate plant, the only plant involved in this pro-
ceeding, excluding all employees engaged in administrative, super-
visory, executive, clerical, and plant protection activities. The Em-
ployer is in general agreement as to the appropriate unit, but would
exclude therefrom the testers in the laboratory and the storekeepers
in the warehouse. Local Union No. 716, International Brotherhood
of Electrical Workers, herein called the Intervenor, seeks a separate
unit of all maintenance electricians classified as leadermen, electri-
cians first-class, electricians second-class, and electricians' helpers.
83 N. L. R. B., No. 92.
612
PHILLIPS CHEMICAL COMPANY 613
The Employer manufactures ammonium sulfate at the Pasadena
plant. The plant is composed' of the operating or production depart-
ment, the mechanical and maintenance, department, laboratory, ware-
house, and office. The operating department is, in continuous opera-
tion 24,hours a day-the other departments are not. The plant was
placed in operation in 1948. There is no past bargaining history at
the plant.
As noted above, the, Employer and,the Petitioner disagree upon the
inclusion in the unit of the testers and the warehouse storekeepers.
Testers. There are two testers employed in the laboratory. They
make chemical analyses ,to determine the composition of materials used
in plant production. They obtain some samples themselves, but other
samples are delivered to them in the laboratory. These employees are
not graduate chemists. Most of the testing is,routine, although the
testers sometimes run special tests under supervision. However, they
were experienced testers when they transferred to the present plant.
The testers work under the supervision of the plant chief chemist and
plant chief process engineer, and are subject to no control or super-
vision by any other department. They do no shift work. They are
on the same pay schedule as the clerical employees and guards. The
Employer classifies them as technical employees. The record does
not disclose the physical location of the laboratory with respect to that
of the other plant operations.
In view of the technical nature of their work, the lack of interchange
between the testers and the employees engaged in production, and the
fact that they are primarily under separate supervision, we shall
exclude the testers from the production and maintenance unit.,
Warehouse storekeepers. The warehouse supplies the maintenance
and production departments, the office, and the laboratory with sup-
plies, materials, and tools. The Employer's finished product does not
pass through the warehouse. There are three employees in the ware-
house. The Employer classifies them as warehouse storekeepers.
These employees maintain records of the receipts and disbursement of
materials to and from the warehouse, and keep a record of the location,
movement, and handling of materials. Their duties entail both
manual and clerical work. One of the three employees also issues
tools, maintains a record of their location, and receipts for their return.
These employees are supervised by a foreman who reports directly to
the plant superintendent. They are on the same pay schedule as the
office employees and guards. Their progression is to either a higher
1 Matter of U. S. Gypsum Company , 79 N. L. R B '869 ; 79 N. L . R B. 536; 72 N. L.
R. B 863; Matter of The Ohio Power Company, 73 N L. R. B. 384. See Matter of Great
Lakes Pipe Line Company, 73 N. L. R. B. 454.
844340-50-vol. 83-40
614 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
clerical job or to that of warehouse foreman . The Employer would
exclude these employees on the ground that they are clerical employees.
We find that the warehouse employees, in performing both manual
and clerical duties relating to the handling of materials , tools, and
equipment used in and necessary to the Employer's production opera-
tions, are in the nature of plant clericals. It is the Board's policy to
include such plant clericals in a unit with production employees where,
as in this, case, their duties and interests are related .2 Accordingly,
we'shall include the warehouse` storekeepers in the unit.
As noted above, the Intervenor seeks a separate unit of maintenance
electricians. The Employer and the Petitioner would include the
maintenance electricians in the unit with the production and mainte-
nance employees. The Employer contends that the electricians are an
integral part of its mechanical and maintenance department and do
not, separately, constitute a sufficiently identifiable group to justify a
unit separate from that of the other maintenance employees.
The Employer employs three electricians first- class and one elec-
tricians ' helper. It employs no electrician leadermen nor electricians
second-class. The electricians are in the mechanical and maintenance
department under the supervision of a maintenance and mechanical
supervisor. The latter is under the maintenance and mechanical super-
intendent who, in turn, is under the plant superintendent. Other em-
ployees under the same supervision in the maintenance and mechanical
department include mechanics, carpenters, pipe fitters, instrument men,
painters, truck drivers, and helpers. The electricians are presently
housed in a separate building from the other maintenance employees.
They do no shift work; they perform no work other than electrical
work; and there is no interchange between the electricians and other
departments. The record does not disclose the duties of the electricians
in detail but, in general, they maintain the electrical controls and the
various electrical equipment necessary to the operation of the plant.
At least one, and probably two, of the electricians are journeymen
electricians. The electricians are subject to the same rules, regula-
tions, and other working conditions as are the remaining maintenance
employees.
The maintenance electricians employed by the Employer possess
skills and perform duties similar to those of maintenance electricians
whom we have frequently found to constitute a distinct and homo-
geneous group, capable of forming a separate craft unit for collective
2 Matter of Rocky Mountain Pipe Line Company, 79 N. L . R B. 1119 . See Matter of
The Clark Thread Company, 79 N. L . R. B. 542, and cases therein cited.
PHILLIPS CHEMICAL COMPANY 615
bargaining purposes 3 Accordingly, we find that the employees in the
electrical department may constitute a separate unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining. On the other hand, they may
also be included in the plant-wide unit. However, we shall make no
final unit determination at this time, but shall first ascertain the desires
of the employees themselves as expressed in the elections hereinafter
directed.
We shall direct separate elections by secret ballot among the follow-
ing voting groups of employees of the-Employer at its Pasadena, Texas,
plant:
(a) All production and maintenance employees, including ware-
house storekeepers, but excluding testers, electricians, clerical employ-
ees, guards, and all supervisors within the meaning of the Act.
(b) All electricians and electricians' helpers, excluding all super-
visors as defined in the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, elections 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 super-
vision 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 Re-
lations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the
employees described in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were em-
ployed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of
this Direction of Elections, 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 entitled to reinstatement, to determine :
1. Whether or not the employees in voting group (a) desire to be
represented, for the purposes of collective bargaining, by Oil Workers
International Union, CIO.
2. Whether the employees in voting group (b) desire to be repre-
sented, for the purposes of collective bargaining, by Oil Workers
International Union, CIO, or by Local Union No. 716, International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, or by neither.
3 Matter of General Tire and Rubber Company, 79 N. L. R. B. 580; Matter of Hughes
Tool Company , 77 N L R. B 1193; Matter of Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, 77 N. L.
R B 507; Matter of Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft Corporation, 75 N. L. R. B. 1276;
M atter of B. F. Goodrich Chemical Company, 75 N. L. R. B. 1142.