Salt Lake Refining Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 21, 1949

86 N.L.R.B. 68 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of SALT LAKE REFINING COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
INDEPENDENT UNION OF PETROLEUM WORKERS, PETITIONER
Case No. 00-RC-563.-Decided September 01, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Robert V.
Magor, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hear-
ing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Members Reynolds, Murdock, and
Gray].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees 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 appropriate unit :
The parties are in substantial agreement that all employees on the
classified pay roll of the Employer, excluding office, clerical, and pro-
fessional employees, and supervisors, constitute an appropriate Unit .2
However, the parties do not agree as to the possible supervisory status
of certain employees whose names appear on the classified pay roll.
There are three relief shift foremen. One of these, Warren, works
1 day each week as a shift foreman; he also serves in that capacity for
the entire 12-week vacation period. The record indicates that he is
I The Intervenor is Oil Workers International Union , Local 286, CIO.
2 The parties stipulated , and we find , that the chemist is a professional employee and
that the following are supervisors within the meaning of the Act : the superintendent of
the refinery , the refinery, maintenance , and laboratory foremen , the foreman mechanic, the
four shift-foremen , the accounting supervisor , and the purchasing agent . These persons
are on the unclassified pay roll , and are paid monthly. The classified pay-roll employees
receive a daily rate.
86 N. L. R. B., No. 15.
68
SALT LAKE REFINING COMPANY 69
a shift foreman 35 percent of the time, and that he is an ordinary
production worker the rest of the time. When Warren is a shift
foreman he has all the authority appurtenant to the job, including the
power to recommend the hire and discharge of employees. The Inter-
venor would exclude Warren from the unit; the Petitioner and the
Employer took no affirmative position in the matter. In view of his
regular service as a relief foreman 1 day each week, we find that
Warren is a supervisor within the meaning of the Act, and we shall
exclude him from the voting group.3
The other two relief shift foremen, Wickam and Jackson, do not
serve as shift foremen regularly during the year, but only for one shift
a week during the 12-week vacation period. In fact, up to the time
of the hearing, Jackson had only worked as a shift foreman on one
occasion. In accordance with the contention of the Petitioner and
the Employer, and contrary to the contention of the Intervenor, in
view of the fact that they do not serve as relief foremen either regularly
or for any substantial period in the aggregate in the course of a year,
we find that Wickam and Jackson are not supervisors, and we shall
include them in the unit -
The Petitioner and the Employer would include in the unit the
head tank-car loader and the labor leadman; the Intervenor took no
position as to the former but would exclude the latter. The head
tank-car loader devotes all his time to the supervision of four em-
ployees in the loading of finished products at the tank-car platform.
He has authority effectively to recommend changes in the status of
these employees. The labor leadman supervises the work of a group
of laborers. He, too, has authority to recommend changes in the
status of the employees whose work he supervises. We find that the
head tank-car loader and the labor leadman are supervisors within
the meaning of the Act, and we shall exclude them from the unit.
We find that all production, maintenance, and laboratory employees
on the classified pay roll of the Employer's Salt Lake City, Utah, plant,
excluding office, clerical, and professional employees, and supervisors
as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
8 Matter of The Texas Company Salem Gasoline Plant , 85 N. L. R. B. 1211.
4 Some question was raised at the hearing about maintenance employees who occasionally
relieve the foreman mechanic . In addition to the fact that such employees do not, on these
occasions , have all the authority of the foreman mechanic , the record clearly demonstrates
that they are not supervisors within the meaning of the Act. We shall include them in the
unit.
867351-50-vol. 86-6
70 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
DIRECTION' OF ELECTION,'
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was
heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work
during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or
temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement to determine whether
they desire to be represented, for purposs of collective bargaining, by
Independent Union of Petroleum Workers, or by Oil Workers Inter-
national Union, Local 286, CIO, or by neither.
5 Either participant in the election directed herein may , upon its prompt request to
and approval thereof by the Regional Director , have its name removed from the ballot.