Phillips Chemical Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 28, 1950

91 N.L.R.B. 568 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of PHILLIPS CHEMICAL COMPANY, EMPLOYER and OIL
WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 39-RC-200.-Decided September 28, 1950
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Clifford W. Potter, hearing
officer. 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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Members Reynolds, Murdock, and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain
employees 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 initially sought a union of all clerical employees
at the Employer's Port Adams, Texas, plant, excluding the private
secretaries to the superintendent and personnel director, and all super-
visors. At the hearing the petitioner moved to amend its petition
so as to include all clerical employees of the Phillips Terminal Com-
pany located at Port Adams. The hearing officer referred this motion
to- the Board. Thereafter, in the course of the hearing the Petitioner
agreed to the exclusion of C. L. Hooker, assistant personnel director.
The Employer, on the other hand, contends that a unit of all clerical
employees of the Employer at its Port Adams plant, more particularly
identified as its ammonium sulphate plant, is appropriate, excluding
however, in addition to the exclusions requested by the Petitioner, the
chief payroll clerk, the stenographer to the assistant personnel di-
rector, the stenographers to the chief payroll clerk, the PBX and
TWX operators, all other employees and supervisors, and the em-
ployees of the Phillips Terminal Company. There is no history of
collective bargaining for the employees herein sought although the
91 NLRB No. 90.
568
PHILLIPS CHEMICAL COMPANY 569
Employer has engaged in collective bargaining on behalf of units
of production and maintenance employees and electricians and helpers
at its Port Adams plant.
As indicated above, the Employer is engaged in the manufacture
of ammonium sulphate. The Phillips Terminal Company is a wholly
owned subsidiary of the Employer,' and was organized for the purpose
of handling and warehousing material and loading and unloading
material from ships, both on behalf of the Employer and the public
in general. There are only two clerical employees of the Phillips
Terminal Company involved in this proceeding. They work under
the direction and separate supervision of R. C. Pitts, who is assistant
traffic director of the Phillips Terminal Company. It appears that
the Employer and the Terminal Company maintain separate tables
of organization and independent lines of supervision. The exact
nature of the duties performed by the Terminal Company's clerical
employees is not clearly indicated in the record. However, such duties
as are now performed were, prior to the Terminal Company's organiza,
tion, performed in part by employees of the Employer and in. part by
the traffic department personnel of Phillips Petroleum Company 2 at
its Houston office.
Apart-from some evidence of` interchange of employees on infre-
quent occasions, there is little in the record upon which we may base
the determination as to the appropriateness of including the Terminal
Company's employees in a unit of the Employer's employees. There
is nothing in the record, other than the fact of stock ownership, to
indicate that the Employer directs and controls the operations of the
Terminal Company or that it determines the labor policy of its sub-
sidiary. In the absence of evidence of control, we are disposed to
exclude the clerical employees of the Terminal Company from the unit
sought by the Petitioner .3 Moreover, the Terminal Company is not
a party to this : roceeding.4 The Petitioner's motion to amend its
petition so as to include the Phillips Terminal Company's employees
in the unit sought is therefore denied. Similarly, for the reason that
the Terminal Company is not before us in this proceeding, the Peti-
tioner's alternative request for a separate unit of the Terminal
Company's clerical employees must be denied.
' The record contains testimony to the effect that Phillips Terminal Company is a sub-
sidiary of Phillips Petroleum Company. However, the Employer conceded in its brief that
the testimony in this regard was in error and that in fact Phillips Terminal Company is a
wholly owned subsidiary of the Employer.
s The Employer is a wholly owned subsidiary of Phillips Petroleum Company.
See Ozark Central Telephone Company, 83 NLRB 258 ; Mt. Clemons Pottery Company,
et al., 46 NLRB 714, 780; see also Reeves Sound Laboratories , Inc., 60 NLRB 463.
4 The Vanta Company, 66 NLRB 912, 913.
570 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Supervisory Clerk
K. G. Leamon: Mr. Leamon is chief payroll clerk and as such his
principal responsibilities and duties relate to the computation and
preparation of the periodic payrolls. In the execution of these re-
sponsibilities he directs the work of two other employees in the pay-
roll department. As part of the function of his office, he also writes
agents' drafts and has on occasion furnished the Employer's negotiat-
ing committee in the process of labor negotiations with certain wage
information. The record establishes that he has the authority effec-
tively to recommend the hiring, firing, and disciplining of the two
employees in the payroll department. In view of his authority, we
find that the chief payroll clerk is a supervisor within the meaning of
the Act. Accordingly, we shall exclude him.5
The Confidential Employees
Miss M. L. Shattles: Miss Shattles is classified as a typist, junior.
She is assigned to the superintendent as a second stenographer 6 in
his office. As such, her principal function is to operate the TWX
machine located in the office shared by both stenographers. However,
the record shows that as part of her duties she takes dictation from
the superintendent and handles correspondence which relates to mat-
ters affecting the Employer's general labor policies. In addition, she
also has substituted for the superintendent's principal secretary in her
absence. She has unrestricted access to all files located in the superin-
tendent's office. In view of the fact that in the course of the per-
formance of her duties she serves in a confidential capacity to one
charged with the responsibility of formulating and effectuating the
Employer's general labor policy, we find her to be a confidential em-
ployee.7 Accordingly, we shall exclude her from the unit.
Miss G. F. Marsh: Miss Marsh is classified as a typist, junior, and
acts as stenographer to C. L. Hooker, assistant personnel director, who
as indicated above, the parties agreed should be excluded. She also
serves as secretary to the personnel director in the absence of the
latter's regular secretary. In addition to performing her general
stenographic and filing duties which require her to handle personnel
files, the record shows that Miss Marsh assists in the preparation of
minutes of conferences dealing with collective bargaining negotiations,
which minutes are of a confidential nature. Under these circum-
5 Phillips Chemical Company , 90 NLRB No. 76.
6 Miss E. W. Threatt is secretary to the superintendent . The Petitioner expressly
excludes her from the unit sought and the Employer agrees to such exclusion.
7 Phillips Chemical Company, supra; The Texas Company, 90 NLRB No. 121.
PHILLIPS CHEMICAL COMPANY 571
stances, we find that Miss Marsh is a confidential employee." Accord-
ingly, we shall exclude her from the unit.
Miss M. R. Thompson and Miss R. J,. Thompson: These employees
are classified as typists, junior. They are assigned as stenographers to
the chief payroll clerk but their principal duties appear to be the com-
puting of the Employer's payroll at the Port Adams plant including
the office payroll. The Employer seeks their exclusion on the. ground
of the alleged confidential character of certain wage and other infor-
mation available to them. However, the record does not indicate
that they act in a confidential capacity to any company official en-
gaged in formulating or effectuating the Employer's general labor
policy. We find that their prescribed duties are not sufficient to con-
stitute them confidential employees.9 Accordingly, we shall include
them in the unit.
Miss M. J. Smith: This employee is the PBX operator. 1° Her ex-
clusion from the unit is sought by the Employer on the ground that
as PBX operator she handles many essential calls through the PBX
switchboard concerning matters affecting collective bargaining nego-
tiations and other matters of labor policy. She is not required to
monitor such calls. It is well established that her duties as PBX
operator do not make her a confidential employee 11 Accordingly, she
will be included in the unit herein found appropriate.
. We find that all clerical employees of the Employer at its ammonium
sulphate plant at Port Adams, Texas, including the stenographers to
the chief payroll clerk'12 and the PBX operator, but excluding the
clerical employees of Phillips Terminal Company, the stenographer
to the superintendent,13 the stenographer to the assistant personnel
director'14 the private secretary to the superintendent, the private sec-
retary to the personnel director, the assistant personnel director,19 all
other employees and all supervisors 16 as defined in the Act, constitute
a unit appropriate-for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
8 Phillips Chemical Company, supra.
9 Credit Bureau of Greater Boston, Inc., 73 NLRB 410.
10 As indicated above, the TWX operator is Miss M. L. Shattles , second stenographer to
the superintendent . Although the Employer seeks her exclusion as a confidential em-
ployee because of her duties as TWX operator , we have excluded her as a confidential
employee on other grounds.
11 Phillips Chemical Company, supra. See also Phillips Petroleum Company, 73 NLRB
236; Great Lakes Pipe Line Company, 88 NLRB 1370.
12 Miss M. R. Thompson and Miss R . J. Thompson.
IQ Miss M. L . Shattles.
14 Miss G . F. Marsh.
16. C. L. Hooker.
16 Included in this category is K. G. Leamon, chief payroll clerk.