The Ohio Oil Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 23, 1944

55 N.L.R.B. 705 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of THE OHIO OIL COMPANY and OIL WORKERS INTER-
NATIONAL UNION, CIO
Case .No. 114R-85,0.-Decided March 03, 1944
Messrs. William K. Tell and Joseph Diver, both of Findlay, Ohio,
for the Company.
Mr. Ona C. Alien, of Lawrenceville , Ill., for the Union.
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,
CIO, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting com-
merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of The
Ohio Oil Company, Bridgeport, Illinois, herein called the Company,
the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate
hearing upon due notice before James C. Batten, Trial Examiner.
Said hearing was held at Lawrenceville, Illinois, on February 15,
1944. The Company and the Union appeared and participated. All
parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and
cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence hearing on the
issues . The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearnig 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 snakes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Company, an Ohio corporation, is engaged in the business of
producing, refining, transporting and marketing oil and petroleum,
in 18 States . The Company 's total sales in 1943 exceeded $70,000,000.
During the same period the Company purchased supplies for its
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706 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Illinois operations, the sole operations involved in this proceeding,
valued in excess of $189,000, about 50 percent of which was transported
in interstate commerce.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Oil Workers International Union, affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to mem-
bership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of certain of the Company's
employees on the ground that the unit sought by the Union is in-
appropriate, and until the Union has been certified by the Board
in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the Union 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 Union seeks a unit composed of all production and maintenance
employees, excluding clerical and supervisory employees, in the Com-
pany's "District 9," "District, 10," "new field" and "machine shop,"
to which it collectively refers as-the "Bridgeport Production District."
The Company asserts that its production and maintenance operations
in "the new field" constitute one unit, and its production and main-
tenance operations in "the so-called old field" constitute another unit.
The Company seeks to exclude the machine shop from either of its
proposed units.
The record is ambiguous and confused as to the Company's geo-
graphical, operational and managerial subdivisions, the supervisory
hierarchy and the extent of its authority, and the Company's nomen-
clature.2 All production and maintenance employees engaged in the
operations which the Union seeks to include in one unit appeared to
1 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 186 authorization cards and
that 278 employees are in the unit alleged to be appropriate in its petition
2 Almost all of the testimony as to such matters was given by officials of the Company,
and was at times conflicting.
THE OHIO OIL COMPANY 707
be under the supervision of the same division superintendent in an
operational unit referred to as the "Bridgeport Division." 3 This
Division includes both the "new field" and part of the "old field." The
"new field" operations comprise a relatively small portion of the
Company's total operations in Illinois. The "old field" embraces
properties included under various other operational and managerial
subdivisions of the Company in that State, including certain numeri-
cal "Districts" which are included by the Company as part of other
"Districts." 4 Operations in the "new field" began in 1937, and various
oil pools have been discovered in that area since that year.
The same categories of employees are used in both the "old field"
and the "new field," 5 although at times some of the functions per-
formed by the employees differ in some respects due to various stages
of development of the oils wells. Certain classes of employees re-
ceive slightly higher wages at the "new field" as compared with those
at the "old field," primarily because of differences in living conditions
and the fact that new employees at the "new field" demanded higher
wages.' Transfers of employees between the fields are not infrequent.
About 80 percent of the employees in the "new field" are former em-
ployees of the "old field." There are about 400 employees in the "old
field" operations within the Bridgeport Division. The total number
of employees in the entire "old field" is about 600. At the "new field"
the Company has approximately 75 employees. The Union has thus
far organized only the employees in the Bridgeport Division.
Under all the circumstances here present, including the extent of the
Union's organization, we conclude that an appropriate unit should
consist of the employees in the Bridgeport Division, specifically in-
cluding "District 9," "District 10," and the "new field."
We shall also include in the unit the employees in the "machine
shop." Although the machine shop performs work for various "Dis-
tricts" it is under the control of the Superintendent of the Bridgeport
Division, and is within that Division. We see no merit to the Com-
pany's implied contention that the employees in the machine shop,
which it omits from either of the units it asserts is appropriate, should
be denied collective bargaining rights.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the Com-
pany in "District 9," "District 10," the "new field," and the "machine
8 All pay rolls for the entire Division are handled through the Divisional Superintendent's
office.
4 Referring to the "new field ," the Division Superintendent testified that another
district-that we may call another district-is the new field which is composed of various
pools widely scattered."
There are approximately 75 employees in the "new field," which has about 300 wells,
and approximately 600 employees in the "old field," which has about 6,400 wells.
6 The present wage differential , which has been in effect since September 1943, is about
10 cents. Between 1938 and that date the wage differential was much less.
708 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
shop," 7 but excluding clerical and supervisory employees with author-
ity to hire, promote, discharge, discipline. or otherwise effect changes
in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, con-
stitute 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 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 The Ohio Oil
Company, Bridgeport, 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 Ar-
ticle 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 vacation or tempo-
rarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the
United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but ex-
cluding those employees 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
Oil Workers International Union, affiliated with the Congress of In-
dustrial Organizations, for the purposes of collective bargaining.
7 "District 9," "Distinct 10," the "new field" and the machine shop ai e the only opera-
tions in Illinois under the administrative control and supers ision of Supei intendent Reglin,
constituting the Bridgeport Divison.