Glacier Production Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 23, 1944

55 N.L.R.B. 714 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of GLACIER PRODUCTION COMPANY and OIL WORKERS
INTERNATIONAL UNION, C. I. O.
Case No. 19-R-1216.Decided March 23, 191.1.
Mr. John D. Stephenson, of Great Falls, Mont., and Mr. Richard D.
Smith, of Butte, Mont., for the Company.
Mr. B. J. Rickey, of Casper, Wyo., for the C. I. O.
Mr. Dudley E. Taylor and Mr. Eugene Boyle, of Cut Bank, Mont.,
for the Association.
Mr. William Strong„ of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Oil Workers International Union,
C. I. 0., herein called the C. I. 0., alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Glacier Production Company, Cut Bank, Montana, herein called the
Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an ap-
propriate hearing upon due notice before Ogden W. Fields, Trial
Examiner. Said hearing was held at Cut Bank, Montana, on Feb-
ruary 16, 1944. The Company, the C. I. 0., and Glacier Employees'
Association, herein called the Association, 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 Company, a New Jersey corporation, maintains its main admin-
istrative office in Butte, Montana, and is engaged at Cut Bank, Mon-
tana, in the drilling and production of oil and gas, and the refining of
55 N. L. R. B., No. 127.
714
GLACIER PRODUCTION COMPANY 715
petroleum products. The value of the Company's refined products
during the first 9 mouths of 1943, exceeded $1,000,000, about 50 percent
of which was shipped to points outside the State of Montana.'
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Oil Workers International Union, affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations , and Glacier Employees' Association are
labor organizations admitting to membership employees of the Com-
pany.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the C. I. O. as
the exclusive bargaining representative of certain of the Company's
employees until the C. I. O. has been certified by the Board in an ap-
propriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the C. I. O. represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
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 C. I. O. seeks a unit composed of all operating and maintenance
employees of the Company in its refining department, gasoline plant,
and machine shop, including the laboratory tester, at Cut Bank, but
excluding office, clerical, field and supervisory employees and the
drilling department. The Company assumes no position as to an ap-
propriate unit, but would exclude machine shop employees and the
laboratory tester from the unit sought by the C. I. O. The Associa-
tion asserts that an appropriate unit should include all field employees
and all office and clerical employees both in the Cut Bank and Butte
offices of the Company, excluding the refining department, the gaso-
line plant, the machine shop, and all supervisory employees. The
Association, however, would include the machine shop in its proposed
' The Company has entered into a contract providing for the sale of its properties to
the Union Oil Company . The sale is awaiting approval of the Securities and Exchange
Commission and other agencies
'The Field Examiner reported that the C . I 0 submitted 30 authorization cai ds and
that there are`38 employees in the alleged appropriate unit. Additional cards were sub-
mitted by the C. I. 0. at the hearing.
The Association claims to represent 56 employees in the unit it claims to be appropriate,
but apparently , does apt claim to represent any employees in the unit sought by the C. I. 0.
716 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
unit in the event the Board excludes it from the unit sought by the
C. I. O.
The unit contentions of the C. I. O. and the Association appear to
be mutually exclusive. There is no petition before us seeking a unit
composed wholly or in part of the operations which the Association
claims constitute an appropriate unit. We therefore are not called
upon at present to make any determination in that respect, and shall
not do so.
An issue arose as to the desired inclusion of the machine shop in the
unit proposed by the C. I. O. The Company's operations are divided
into two operational units consisting of a plant department and a field
department, each under the supervision of its own superintendent.
The shop employees are under the supervision of the field depart-
ment. However, the shop is located in close physical proximity to
the other plant department operations, and is "part of the general
camp." The field starts at the plant properties and extends for 15 to
20 miles. The function of the machine shop is the maintenance and
manufacture of field and plant equipment. About three-fourths of
the time spent on operations in the shop is on field work, and the bal-
ance is on plant work. The time spent by the shop personnel in the
field as compared to that spent by them in the shop varies, some almost
never leaving the shop and others spending most of their time in the
field. The greater bulk of the shop work, however, is performed in the
shop. Most employees in both the plant and in the field departments
are paid on a monthly basis, with certain categories in each being paid
on an hourly basis. Overtime pay rates and vacation privileges ap-
pear to be uniform for all employees.
It appears from the foregoing that the machine shop can logically
constitute a part of a unit principally composed of the plant depart-
ment operations or the field department operations. For that reason,
and in view of the fact that the C. I. O. has organized the employees in
the machine shop 3 as well as in the plant department, we shall include
the machine shop employees in the unit.
The C. I. O. and the Company are in disagreement as to the labora-
tory tester. The laboratory tester makes routine tests of various prod-
ucts. He has no technical background or education although both
would be of assistance in the performance of the work. There ap-
pears to be no valid reason for excluding the tester from the unit.
We shall include him.
We find that all operating and maintenance employees of the Com-
pany in its refining department, gasoline plant, and machine shop,
including the laboratory tester at Cut Bank, but excluding office,
'The C. 1 0 claims to represent all of the machine-shop employees.
GLACIER PRODUCTION COMPANY 717
clerical, and field employees, the drilling department, and all super-
visory 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.
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
Direction.4
° 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 Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Glacier Produc-
tion Company, Cut Bank, Montana, 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 Nineteenth Region, acting in this
matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject
to Article III, Sections 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 said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vaca-
tion 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 dis-
charged 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 repre-
sented by Oil Workers International Union, C. I. 0., affiliated with the
Congress of Industrial Organizations, for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
4 Since the Association does not seek to represent any employees in the unit herein tound
to be appropiiate, we shall not include it on the ballot
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