Phillips Petroleum Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 8, 1947

73 N.L.R.B. 236 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter Of PHILLIPS PETROLEUM COMPANY, E31PLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS , LOCAL 351, A. F. OF
L., PETITIONER
Case No. 16-R-2093.-Decided April 8, 19 7
Mr. Ed Waite Clark, of Bartlesville , Okla., for the Employer.
Mr. Joe W. Riqdon, of Borger, Tex., for the Petitioner.
Mr. Edrnnmd J. Flinn, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Fort
Worth, Texas, on January S, 1947, before Elmer Davis, hearing officer.
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prej-
udicial error and are hereby affirmed. The Employer's request for
oral argument is hereby denied inasmuch as the record, in our
opinion, adequately presents the Issues and the positions of the parties.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
`FINDINGS or FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Phillips Petroleum Company, a Delaware corporation, has its prin-
cipal offices at Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and maintains branch offices
and plants in various States, where it is engaged in the production, re-
fining, sale , and distribution of petroleum products. The Employer's
main production and refining center is in the Borger, Texas, area
which is made up of 13 separate operating departments. Communi-
cations among these departments or between any of them and the
Employer's offices at Bartlesville, Oklahoma, or its other offices
throughout the mid-western States are handled through the communi-
cations department located at Phillips, Texas, in the heart of the
Borger area . This proceeding solely concerns the telephone and tele-
type operators at Phillips, Texas, whose work is an essential part of
the Employer's interstate production and distribution system.
Hatter of Phillips Petroleum Company , 61 N L R B 806 , Matter of Phillips Pe-
t) oleum Company, 65 N L It B 1027
73 N L. R. B., No 43.
236
PHILLIPS PETROLEUM COMPANY 237
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
IT. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
111. TIIE QUESTION CONCERNING 111 PRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
lv. '11111 APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Petitioner seeks a unit consisting of all telephone and teletype
operators at the Employer's offices at Pill Rips, Texas, excluding super-
visory personnel. The Employer contends that the unit sought by
the Petitioner is inappropriate on the grounds that the telephone and
teletype operators are confidential employees and should not therefore
be represented by the same union which represents the majority of its
production and ]maintenance and clerical employees in the area sur-
rounding Phillips, Texas. The record discloses that the teletype
operators, of whom there are 2, copy all incoming and outgoing mes-
sages; and that the telephone operators, of whom there are 12, are
required to monitor switchboard lures to determine whether certain
calls,-some of which relate to labor relations matters, have been coln-
pleted. - Inasmuch as it is clear that these employees do not assist or
act in a confidential capacity to persons who exercise managerial func-
tions in the field of labor relations, they are not confidential employ-
ees^2 ,and consequently may be represented by the same union which
,represents rank and file employees of the Employer.' In view of the
fact that the teletype and telephone operators comprise a separate
department and that the organizational set-up and the collective bar-
gaining history of the Employer is on a departmental basis, we believe
a unit of telephone and teletype operators is appropriate.'
2 See Matter of The Electric Contioller cC Manufacturing Company, Si) N L R B 1242,
1246-47.
3 See Matter of Phillips Petroleum Company , 61 N L R B 806, 811. Matter of 1Voices-
ter Gas Light Company . 63 N L R B 740 , 742 Matter of Central New Yoih Poa.ei
Corporation, 64 N L R B 461 , 465 and Matter of The Colson Corporation , 70 N L R B
1235
"Through sepeiate collective bai gaining agreements , the Petitioner represents the oper-
ating employees in 3, and the clerical employees in 3, of the Employer 's 13 departments in
this area
238 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We find that all telephone and teletype operators of the Employer's
Phillips, Texas, offices, including regular part-time telephone opera-
tors,5 but excluding all 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.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with Phillips Petroleum Company,
Phillips, 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 Na-
tional Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections 203.55 and
203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
Series 4, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Sec-
tion IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period im-
mediately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees
who did not work during 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 the election, to determine whether or not they desire to
be represented by International Union of Operating Engineers, Local
351, A. F. of L., for the purposes of collective bargaining.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.
5 Neither party took a definite stand on the status of the part-time telephone operators.
Their regular employment indicates that they are part of the unit and eligible to partici-
pate in a choice of bargaining representative.