General Petroleum Corp. of CaliforniaDownload PDFNational Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsMar 26, 194239 N.L.R.B. 1180 (N.L.R.B. 1942) Copy Citation In the Matter of GENERAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIA' and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WARE HOUSEMEN & HELPERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 208, AFL Case No. R-3517.-Decided March W, 1942 Jurisdiction : oil producing industry. Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re- fusal of the Company to award recognition to petitioner until certified by the Board ; election necessary. ` Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : determination of whether truck drivers and their helpers in the transportation department shall constitute a unit separate from other employees in the Company's two plants, held depend- ent upon desires of employees ; statements of plant policy and rules and regu- lations resulting from conferences between representatives of Company and of employees held not to preclude craft unit if employees so desire. Mr. D. W. Woods, of Los Angeles; Calif., for the Company. Mr. Dewey Copelan and Mr. George O.'Prescott, of Los Angeles. Calif., for the Teamsters. Mr. Rufus Bailey, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the Employees Union. Mrs. Augusta Spaulding, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE On November 24, 1941, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers of America, Local 208, AFL, herein called the Teamsters, filed with the Regional Director for the Twenty-first Region (Los Angeles, California) a petition, and on November 27, 1941, an amended petition, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em- ployees of General Petroleum Corporation of California, Los Angeles, California, herein called the Company, and requesting an investiga- tion and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On January 6, 1942, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article 39 N. L. It. B., No. 218 1180 GENERAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIA 1181 III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regu- lations-Series 2, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. On January 21, 1942, the Regional Director issued a ,notice of hear- ing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and the Teamsters, and upon Employees Union of the General Petroleum Corporation of California, herein called the Employees Union, a labor organization claiming to represent employees directly affected by the investigation. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on February 4, 1942, at Los Angeles, California, before Charles M.-Ryan, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Com- pany and the Employees Union were represented by counsel, and the Teamsters by two' representatives. All parties participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing On the issues was afforded all parties. During the course of the hearing, the. Trial Examiner made several rulings on motions and on objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial,Exam- iner and finds that no prejudicial errors .were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed. On February 26, 1942, the Employees Union filed a brief, which the Board has considered. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY General Petroleum Corporation of California is engaged in pro- ducing, refining, and marketing oil and oil products. The company's principal office is at Los Angeles, California., The only plants in- volved in this proceeding are located at Vernon ,and Taft, California.) During the period from January 1, 1941, to September.-30, 1941, the Company purchased raw materials value at $12,096,000, of which $68,000 represents materials purchased outside California. - During the' same period the Company's sales, amounted to $39,392,000; of which $17,066,000, represents sales of products for delivery outside California. . II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED International Brotherhood, of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehouse- men & Helpers of America, Local 208, is a labor organization affiliated ' These plants are also known in the record as the Los Angeles and Bakersfield plants on account of their respective proximity to these larger cities in California. 1182 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD with the American Federation of Labor, admitting to membership employees of the Company. Employees Union of the General Petroleum Corporation of Cali- fornia is an unaffiliated labor organization, admitting to membership employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION On or about November 24, 1941, the Teamsters asked the Company to bargain for the truck drivers in the transportation department. The Company' refused to bargain,until the Board should certify the Teamsters as their bargaining agent. The Teamsters thereupon filed a petition initiating this proceeding. A statement of the Regional Director introduced into evidence indicates that the Teamsters and the Employees Union each represents a substantial number of employees in the appropriate unit.2 We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of the Company's employees. IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON COMMERCE We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce and the free flow of commerce. V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Teamsters contends that truck drivers and their helpers 3 in the transportation department of the Company's plants at Vernon and Taft, California, constitute an appropriate bargaining unit. The Em- ployees Union contends that'all production employees of the Company at the two plants constitute a single appropriate unit. The Company takes no position with respect to the unit. The Company's plants at Vernon and Taft, California, are 130 miles apart and operate as a unit. The transportation department is under the supervision of a department manager. Equipment in the trans- portation department includes freight trucks of various weights, tank trucks, and dirt-moving equipment, which includes tractors, cranes, 2 The Teamsters submitted 22 membership cards, of which 12 are dated in 1934 and the remainder undated , 18 of which bear names of employees on the pay roll of ,December 8, 1941 Employees Union submitted 33 membership cards, 18 dated in 1941 and 15 undated, 16 of which bear names of employees on the pay roll of December 8, 1941, in the unit claimed appropriate by the Teamsters . There are about 40 employees in'the appropriate unit. 3 Such helpers are also known in the record as swampers. GENERAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIA 1183 and bulldozers. The department includes 141 employees, of whom 40 drive trucks exclusively and 10 spend a portion of their time in truck driving and the remainder of their time in operating dirt-moving equipment. The Teamsters does not admit to membership employees who operate dirt-moving equipment.4 All property moved by the Company's trucks is the property of the Company, and its drivers are hourly paid. The Company transfers both its employees and its equipment from one department to another. In the sales department there are about 110, employees who drive freight trucks and tank trucks exclusively, and in other departments there are in all 413 employees who include truck driving as part of their work. Truck drivers in the transportation department, how- ever, differ from drivers in other departments in that their hours of work are irregular and in that they are sometimes sent on long hauls that require their absence from home 2 or 3 days at a time. During such time the Company pays their expenses. Although drivers of trucks in the departments of, the plants other than the transportation department are, as such, eligible to membership in the Teamsters, the record discloses that the Teamsters has not organized such employees at this time. The work of truck drivers in the transportation depart- ment, however, appears to be sufficiently different from the work of other truck drivers employed by the Company that they can function as a separate bargaining unit. Since 1934, with respect to matters concerning general conditions of employment, the Company has conferred with the Employees Union, and a similar organization which preceded it, through repre- sentatives of its employees elected in the "several departments of its plants. From time to time the Company has published statements of labor policies and rules and regulations governing its employees, which were the products of such conferences.' Although the record thus discloses that, through these conferences, negotiations between the Company and its employees assumed plant-wide proportions, it is clear that such negotiations have not established collective'bargain- ing relations between employer and employees of a character which would preclude the formation of a smaller bargaining unit which might otherwise be entirely appropriate at this time.e The record thus discloses that truck drivers and, their helpers in the transporation department could function as a separate bargaining unit. On the other hand, such employees could be included either with 4 A representative of the Company testified at the hearing that the Operating Engineers had requested the Company to bargain on behalf of such employees. e Neither the Company nor the Employees Union contends that these present statements of policy , or such rules and regulations , constitute a contract between the Company and its employees , which would operate as a bar to this proceeding Cf. Matter of A E. Staley Manufacturing Company and United Grain Processors Union,, Local 41290, affiliated with the A . F. of L., et al., 31 N. L R. B. 946. 448105-42-vol. 39-76 1184 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, other truck drivers in a larger unit of drivers or, as the, Employees Union contends, with, production, employees • in a general industrial unit. Under these circumstances, we hold that the desire of the'em- ployees should, in part, • determine the bargaining unit. Since the Teamsters has not organized the Company's truck drivers other than those in the transportation department and does not seek a larger unit of drivers at this time, and furthermore, since in this proceeding no, organization seeks certification as the exclusive bargaining representa- tive of employees in a general industrial unit,? we shall, at this time, hold an election only among truck drivers and their helpers in the trans- portation department to determine whether they desire to be repre- sented by the Teamsters, by the Employees Union, or by neither. Until after the election we shall make no determination of the appropriate unit. We•shall'rely upon the results of this election to determine in part.the scope of the bargaining unit. If a majority of.truck drivers and their helpers in the transportation department cast their votes for the'Teamsters, we shall find that all such employees constitute a sepa- rate.bargaining unit, and we shall certify the Teamsters as their exclusive bargaining representative. If, however,` a majority of such employees cast their votes for the Employees Union or for neither, we shall conclude that truck drivers and= their helpers in the transportation department do not constitute a' bargaining unit separate from other employees in the plants, and we shall dismiss the petition filed by the Teamsters herein." ' VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES Asnoted in Section V' above, we find that the question concerning representation can best be resolved' by an election, and we shall direct an election by secret ballot. 't ' Those eligible to vote in the election shall be truck drivers and their helpers in- the transportation department who were employed 'during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of our Direction of Election,' subject to the limitations and additions set forth therein. Upon the basis' of the above findings of fact and upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : CONCLUSION OF LAW ' A question affecting, commerce has- arisen concerning the representa- tion of employees of General Petroleum Corporation of California, Los The Employees Union has not filed a petition for investigat i on and certification of representatives of employees in' the industrial unit which it contends is an appropriate bargaining unit, nor did it appear at the hearing that the Employees Union desired an election among such employees at this time. & Matter of •L.'B Lockwood Cona'pany ;and International Brotherhood of Firemen and 'Oilers Local Union 4t52 (d. F. 0 f L .), 16 N. L R. B. on. GENERAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIA 1185 Angeles, California, at its Vernon and Taft plants within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 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, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby DniECTED that, as part of the investigation ordered by the Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with General Petroleum Corporation of California, Los Angeles,, Cali- fornia, 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 of Election, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Twenty-first Region, acting in this matter as agent for thb National Labor Relations Board and subject to Article-III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among all truck drivers and their help- ers in the transportation department of the Company's Vernon and Taft plants, who were employed during the pay-roll period immedi- ately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including em- ployees 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 drivers of dirt-moving equipment and employees who have since quit or been discharged fQr cause, to determine whether they desire to be repre- sented by International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Ware- housemen & Helpers of America, Local 208, AFL, or by Employees Union of the General Petroleum Corporation of California, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither. MR. WM. M. LEISERSON took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election. Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation