The Texas Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 4, 1945

63 N.L.R.B. 1442 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of THE TEXAS COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL UNION
OF OPERATING ENGINEERS, A. F. L.
Case No. '14-R-1250.Decided October 4, 1945
Messrs. H. N. Pardee and Y . A. Land, of Tulsa , Okla., and Mr.
W. E. Will, of Mattoon, Ill., for the Company.
Mr. John L. Matthews , of Centralia , Ill., and Mr. John H. LaRowe,
of Washington , D. C., for petitioner.
Mr. Mozart G. Ratner, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by International Union of Operating
Engineers, A. F. L.., herein called the petitioner, alleging that a ques-
tion affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of
employees of The Texas Company, Salem, Illinois, herein called the
Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an ap-
propriate hearing upon due notice before Helen F. Humphrey, Trial
Examiner. The hearing was held at Salem, Illinois, on July 27,
1945. The Company and the petitioner appeared and participated.
All parties 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 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
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Texas Company, a Delaware corporation, operates a gasoline
plant at Salem, Illinois. At this plant, which is alone involved in
this proceeding, the Company is engaged in the production, process-
ing, and marketing of petroleum and petroleum products. During
63 N. L R. B, No. 219
1442
THE TEXAS COMPANY 1443
the year 1944, the Company purchased raw materials, consisting
chiefly of casinghead gas, valued in excess of $200,000. All of this
gas was purchased in the State of Illinois. During the same period,
the Company sold, for further processing elsewhere, products of the
Illinois plant valued in excess of $1,000,000. Approximately 25 per-
cent of such products was shipped to points outside the State of
Illinois.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
weaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Union of Operating Engineers, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, is a labor organization admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the petitioner
as the exclusive bargaining representative of the employees in the
unit until the petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appro-
priate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the petitioner represents a substantial number of
employees 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 parties are in substantial agreement that a unit composed of
production and maintenance employees at the Salem, Illinois, gaso-
line plant, excluding clerical and supervisory employees, is appro-
priate. Differences developed at the hearing with respect to whether
certain categories of employees were to be excluded as supervisors.
Furthermore, although it did not object to the inclusion of assistant
chemists in the unit at the hearing, the Company, in its brief filed
with the Board, now takes the position that the assistant chemists
should be excluded from the unit.
The petitioner seeks to include and the Company seeks to exclude
head roustabouts, operators, and the head mechanic repairman. It
appears that the employees in each of these categories are empowered
The Field Examiner reported that the petitioner submitted 47 authorization cards
which bore apparently genuine original signatures , that the names of 47 persons appearing
on the cards were listed on the Company's pay roll of June 15, 1945, which contained the
names of 72 employees in the appropriate unit; and that the cards were dated in May and
June 1945.
662514-46-vol 63-92
1444 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
to make effective recommendations regarding hiring, firing, and dis-
ciplining of the employees under them; that they perform manual
,work only in emergencies ; and that they receive substantially higher
compensation than the employees whose work they direct. We find
that these employees are supervisors within the meaning of our cus-
tomary definition and we shall, accordingly, exclude them 2
All parties agree that the chief chemist should be excluded from
the unit. The Company seeks also to exclude the assistant chemists.
These employees, who perform general routine testing under the super-
vision and direction of the chief chemist, unlike the production and
maintenance employees, are on the Company's private pay roll and
are paid on a monthly instead of an hourly rate. We shall exclude
the chief chemist and assistant chemists from the unit.
We find that all employees of the Salem, Illinois, gasoline plant,
but excluding office and clerical employees, the chief chemist and
assistant chemists, warehousemen, head mechanic repairman, head
roustabouts, operators, superintendent, foremen, assistant foremen
(yard), assistant foremen (field), and all or 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 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 Direc-
tion.
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 Relations
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 The Texas Com-
pany, Salem, Illinois, 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 Fourteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for
the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sec-
R Cf. Matter of The Texas Company, 58 N. L. R B . 209, and Matter of The Texas
Company, 58 N. L. R. B. 963, 965.
THE TEXAS COMPANY 1445
tions 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 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 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 determine whether or not
they desire to be represented by International Union of Operating
Engineers, A. F. L., for the purposes of collective bargaining.