The Texas Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 20, 1937

4 N.L.R.B. 182 (N.L.R.B. 1937)

In the Matter of THE TEXAS COMPANY, WEST TULSA WORKS, and OIL
WORKERS' INTERNATIONAL UNION5 LOCAL No. 217
Case No. R-281.-Decided November 20, 1937
Oil Refining Industry--Investigation of Representatives : controversy concern-
ing representation of employees : rival organizations ; substantial doubt as to
majority status-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : plant-wide ; func-
tional coherence ; history of collective bargaining with employer ; desire of
employees ; agreement of one organization not to admit employees over whom
another organization had been granted jurisdiction by a parent body not con-
trolling when parent body no longer controls both organizations; temporary
employees excluded from-Election Ordered-Certificate of, Representatives.
Mr. Elmer P. Davis, for the Board.
Mr. 0. J. Dorwin, of New York City, and Mr. J. H. Hill, of Tulsa,
Okla., for the Company.
Mr. J. L. Coulter, of Washington, D. C., and Mr. C. F. Jarrett and
Mr. Maurice Daly, of Tulsa, Okla., for the Oil Workers.
Mr. L. G. Fenn, of Tulsa, Okla., for the I. A. M.
Mr. Paul Phillips, of Tulsa, Okla., for the Employees' Federation.
Mr. Warren L. Sharfman, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On May 27, 1937, International Association of Oil Field, Gas Well
and Refinery Workers of America, Local No. 217, herein called the
Oil Workers, filed with the Regional Director for the Sixteenth
Region (Fort Worth, Texas) a petition alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees in the West Tulsa Works of The Texas Company, Tulsa,
Oklahoma, 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 July 23, 1937, the National Labor Relations Board, herein
called the Board, acting pursuant to Article III, Section 3, of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended,
ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to
182
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 183
conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On September 7, 1937, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing to be held in this matter on September 16, 1937, at Tulsa,
Oklahoma, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the
Oil Workers, and upon International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers, International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, International
Association of Machinists, all of which had objected to a consent
election, and The Texas Company Plant Council, a labor organiza-
tion named in the petition as claiming to represent employees in the
bargaining unit alleged in the petition to be appropriate. Pursuant
to the notice, a hearing was held at Tulsa, Oklahoma, on September
16, and continued on September 17, 1937, before James C. Paradise,
the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. '
At the hearing, International Association of Machinists, herein
called the I. A. M. and Employees' Federation of The Texas Com-
pany, herein called the Employees' Federation, filed motions to inter-
vene, which were granted by the Trial Examiner. Amendments to
the pleadings, changing the designation of the Company to "The
Texas Company, West Tulsa Works", and the name of the Oil Work-
ers to "Oil Workers' International Union, Local No. 217", were also
allowed. The' Board and the Company, represented by counsel, and
the Oil Workers, the I. A. M., and the Employees' Federation, each
represented by its officers, participated in the hearing. All were
afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine
witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. 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 Examiner and finds that
no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Company and the Union stipulated, and we hereby find, as fol-
lows : The Texas Company is a Delaware corporation having its
principal office in New York City, and is engaged in the production,
refining, and distribution of oil and oil products in various states.
It owns and operates a number of refineries in several states, among
them being the refinery known as the West Tulsa Works located at
Tulsa, Oklahoma. The West Tulsa Works has a daily production
capacity of about 15,000 barrels of crude oil, from which gasoline,
kerosene; diesel oil, tractor oil, and fuel oil are produced, and during
the year 1937, up to the middle of September, it produced at its ap-
67573-38-vol. iv-13
184 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
proximate capacity. During the year ending August 31, 1937, at
least 60 per cent of the products of the West Tulsa Works were sold
and transported in states other than Oklahoma by means of common
carriers, namely, railroad tank cars, and the Great Lakes Pipeline
Company, in which the Company is a stockholder. During the same
period, at least 34 per cent of the purchases for the West Tulsa
Works, including crude oil, chemicals, and machinery, were made
outside Oklahoma.
The Company normally employs between 350 and 375 men at the
West Tulsa Works. The various departments within the plant are
largely interdependent, and the employees are frequently transferred
from one department to another.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Oil Workers' International Union is a labor organization, affiliated
with the Committee for Industrial Organization, admitting to mem-
bership "persons working in the production, transportation, refining
and marketing of natural gas and petroleum products". Local No.
217 is composed of members of the Oil Workers employed at the West
Tulsa Works of the Company.
The International Association of Machinists is a labor organization
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, which admits to
membership the machinists employed at the West Tulsa Works of the
Company.
The Employees' Federation of The Texas Company is an unaffiliated
labor organization, admitting to membership employees of the Com-
pany in the West Tulsa Works who are neither supervisory nor office
employees.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
During the month of April 1937, the Oil Workers and the Em-
ployees' Federation each requested the Company to recognize it as the
sole bargaining agent at the West Tulsa Works, as each claimed to
represent substantial groups of employees. The Company refused to
recognize either organization as the sole bargaining agent until an
election had been held, on the ground that it did not know whether
either organization represented a majority of the men. Thereafter,
the Union filed the present petition.
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of
employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION ON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation *hich has
arisen, in connection with the operations of the Company described in
Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial relation to trade,
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 185
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 Company , the Oil Workers , and the Employees' Federation
are all of the opinion that collective bargaining in the West Tulsa
Works should be conducted on a plant-wide basis. It is the con-
tention of the I . A. M. that collective bargaining should proceed on
a craft basis . The nature of the work to be done at the West Tulsa
Works and the practices of the Company in accomplishing it, have
broken down , in a large measure, strict craft distinctions . Except
for the machinists , all the crafts employed are customarily trans-
ferred to the work of other crafts as the occasion demands. Even
machinists sometimes do the work of other crafts rather than remain
idle for a time . The employees of the Company , including some
machinists , by affiliating in large numbers with the Oil Workers and
the Employees ' Federation , have expressed a preference for collective
bargaining on a plant-wide scale. No employee at the West Tulsa
Works is a member of the I. A. M., and the I. A. M. has ne?-er
claimed to represent or bargained for, any of the employees. The
Company has always bargained on a plant-wide basis at its West
Tulsa Works. In three of four other similar plants of the Company
as to which evidence was introduced , collective bargaining is on a
plant-wide basis. In the fourth plant it is being conducted on a
craft basis because the employees are highly organized into craft
unions. That factor is not present here. The contention of the
I. A. M., that the appropriate unit for collective bargaining is the
craft unit , is based upon an agreement between the Oil Workers and
the I . A. M., in which the Oil Workers agreed not to accept or retain
in their membership , men employed in the petroleum industry, over
whom the I. A. M. had been granted jurisdiction by the American
Federation of Labor. The agreement was entered into on October
26, 1935, when the Oil Workers were still affiliated with the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor. The question of whether this agreement
is still in effect , since the two parties to it no longer recognize the
jurisdiction of the same parent body , does not concern us here. At
least in the absence of a parent body to which the parties might
look for the enforcement of such an agreement , it cannot be given
controlling weight.
In order to insure to the Company 's employees the full benefit of
their right to self-organization and collective bargaining , and other-
wise to effectuate the policies of the Act, we find that the hourly rate
employees , and the gatemen , janitors, , barnmen, and countermen, em-
ployed at the West Tulsa Works, excluding office and supervisory
186 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employ-
ment, and other conditions of employment.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question which has arisen, concerning the repre-
sentation of the employees of the Company working at its West
Tulsa Works, can best be resolved by the holding of an election by
secret ballot to determine which of the unions, if either, the em-
ployees in question desire to represent them. .
The Oil Workers contended that the employees eligible to vote at
an election ordered by the Board should be those in the employ of
the Company on May 27, 1937 (the date the petition was filed), who
had been employed for a period of four months or more. This rule
of eligibility was advocated because the Company employed a group
of "school-boys" and a group of temporary employees during the
summer to carry out its vacation plan for permanent employees, and
because permanent papers are not made out for an employee, and
seniority does not accrue to him, until he has'been employed for a
-period of four months. From the testimony adduced at the hearing,
-we find that it is not the policy of the Company to consider em-
ployees as temporary employees during the first four months of their
.employment, and thereafter permanent employees, but rather to use
The date four months after their employment as the date when
seniority rights will start to accrue to the employees and permanent
papers will be made up for them. Testimony disclosed that at the
time of the hearing 23 of the 25 "school-boys" employed during the
summer of 1937 were no longer in the employ of the company, that
the,other two might be retained permanently, and that the workers
employed temporarily to replace permanent employees on vacation
would no longer be employed for that purpose. after October 15,
1937.
We find, therefore, that the employees of the Company who were
-employed in the appropriate unit at the West Tulsa Works during
the pay-roll period next preceding the date of this Direction of
Election , shall be eligible to vote.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
On the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following conclusions of law :
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of The Texas Company, West Tulsa Works,
Tulsa, Oklahoma, within the meaning of Section 9 _(c) and Section 2
(6)) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 187
2. The hourly rate employees, and the gatemen, janitors, barnmen,
and countermen, employed by the Company at its West Tulsa Works,
Tulsa, Oklahoma, excluding office and supervisory employees, consti-
tute a unit appropriate, for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations
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 Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, it
is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with The Texas Company, West Tulsa Works, Tulsa, Oklahoma, an
election by secret ballot shall be conducted within ten (10) days from
the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of
the Regional Director for the Sixteenth Region, acting in this matter
as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to
Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among the
hourly rate employees, and the gatemen, janitors, barnmen; and coun-
termen, excluding office and supervisory employees, who were em-
ployed by The Texas Company at its West Tulsa Works, Tulsa,
Oklahoma, during the pay-roll period next preceding the date of this
Direction, to determine whether they desire to be represented by Oil
Workers' International Union; Local No. 217, or Employees' Federa-
tion of The Texas Company for the purposes of collective bargaining,
or by neither.
[SAME TITLE]
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
December ^?O, 193i
On May 27, 1937, Oil Workers' International Union, Local No. 217,
herein called the Oil Workers, filed with the Regional Director for the
Sixteenth Region (Fort Worth, Texas) a petition alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees in the West Tulsa Works of The Texas Company, Tulsa,
Oklahoma, herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation
and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449.
Pursuant to notice duly served upon the Company, the Oil Workers,
and upon International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Inter-
188 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
national Brotherhood of Boilermakers, and International Associa-
tion of Machinists, all of which had objected to a consent election, and
upon The Texas Company Plant Council, ,% labor organization named
in the petition as claiming to represent employees in the bargaining
unit alleged in the petition to be appropriate, a hearing was held at
Tulsa, Oklahoma, on September 16 and 17, 1937, before James C. Para-
dise, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the National Labor
Relations Board, herein called the Board. At the hearing the Em-
ployees' Federation of The Texas Company filed a motion to inter-
vene, which was granted by the Trial Examiner. On November 20,
1937, the Board issued a Decision and Direction of Election. The
Direction of Election provided that an election by secret ballot be
held within ten days from the date of the Direction among the hourly
rate employees, and the gatemen, janitors, barnmen, and countermen,
excluding office and supervisory employees, who were employed by
The Texas Company at its West Tulsa Works, Tulsa, Oklahoma,
during the pay roll period next preceding the date of the Direction,
to determine whether they desired to be represented by Oil Workers'
International Union, Local No. 217, or Employees' Federation of The
Texas Company, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by
neither.
Pursuant to the Direction, balloting was conducted on December 2,
1937. Full opportunity was accorded to all of the parties to this in-
vestigation to participate in the conduct of the secret ballot and to
make challenges.
The Regional Director, acting pursuant to Article III, Section 9,
of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1,
as amended, issued and duly served upon the parties to the proceeding
his Intermediate Report on the ballot. No exceptions to the Inter-
mediate Report have been filed by any of the parties.
As to the balloting and its results the Regional Director reported
as follows :
Total number of eligibles------------------------------------ 286
Total number of ballots counted----------------------------- 261
Total number of votes for Oil Workers' International Union,
Local No. 217-------------------------------------------- 207
Total number of votes for Employees ' Federation of The Texas
Company------------------------------------------------- 53
Total number of blank ballots ------------------------------ 1
Total number of void ballots-------------------------------- 0
Total number of challenged votes---------------------------- 0
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 8, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended,
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 189
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Oil Workers' International Union, Local
No. 217, has been designated and selected by a majority of the hourly
rate employees, and the gatemen, janitors, barnmen, and countermen
excluding office and supervisory employees, who were employed by
The Texas Company at its West Tulsa Works, Tulsa, Oklahoma,
during the pay-roll period next preceding the date of the Direction
of Election, as their representative for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining, and that, pursuant to Section 9 (a) of the National Labor
Relations Act, Oil Workers' International Union, Local No. 217, is the
exclusive representative of all such employees for the purposes of
collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employ-
ment, and other conditions of employment.