Bell Oil And Gas Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 1, 1937

2 N.L.R.B. 886 (N.L.R.B. 1937)

III the Matter of BELL OIL AND GAS COMPANY, C. J. BOHNER OIL COR-
PORATION, and C. J. BOI-INER, INDIVIDUALLY AND WITH HIS ASSOCIATES,
and INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF OIL FIELD, GAS WELL & RE-
FINERY WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL No. 258, and CLIFFORD D.
JACKSON, B. F. JACKSON, and F. C. Cox
Case No. C-144-Decided June 1, 1937
Oil Producing Industry-Strike-Discrimination: charges of not sustained,
complaint dismissed.
Mr. Karl Mueller .for the Board.
Brannan and TTipps, of Wichita Falls, Tex., for respondents.
Mary Lemon Schleifer, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
STATEMEICT OF CASE
On April 23, 1936, International Association of Oil Field, Gas
Well & Refinery Workers of America, Local No. 258, hereinafter
referred to as Local No. 258, Clifford D. Jackson, B. F. Jackson, and
F. C. Cox filed a charge with the Regional Director for the Sixteenth
Region (Fort Worth, Texas), alleging that Bell Oil and Gas Com-
pany, Tulsa, Oklahoma, C. J. Bohner Oil Corporation, Wichita Falls,
Texas, and C. J. Bohner, Wichita Falls, Texas, individually and
with his associates, hereinafter referred to collectively as the respond-
ents, had engaged in and were engaging in unfair labor practices,
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat.
449, hereinafter referred to as the Act.' On May 7, 1936, the Regional
Director for the Sixteenth Region duly issued and served upon the
parties a complaint which alleged that the respondents had engaged
in unfair labor practices affecting commerce within the meaning of
Section 8, subdivisions (1) and (3) and Section 2, subdivisions (6)
and (7) of the Act, by discharging and refusing to reinstate Clifford
1 This charge followed the decision of the Board In the Matter of Bell Oil and
Gas Company and Local Union 358 of The International Association of Oil Field, Gas
Well and Refinery Workers of America and George E. Bebermeyer , E. H. Haynie, Frank
T Grocier, F . C. Cox, Clifford D . Jackson, B F. Jackson and Roy W Bowman,
I N. L R. B 562 , decided April 17, 1936. See also In the Matter of Bell Oil and Gas
Company, Burk-Divide Oil Company, Consolidated, and Reno Oil Company and Inter-
national Associaiton of Oil Field, Gas Well & Refinery Workers of America, Local No 258,
and George E. Bebermeyer, Case No . C-143, decided March 4, 1937 ( supra, p 577)
886
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 887
D. Jackson, B. F. Jackson, and F. C. Cox on or about September 26,
1935.
On May 15, 1936, 31 employees of the C. J. Bohner Oil Corpora-
tion and of C. J. Bohner, individually, filed a petition for interven-
tion alleging that the signers constituted a majority of the employees
of the C. J. Boluler Oil Corporation and of C. J. Bonner, individ-
ually, that they do not desire Local No. 258 to represent them for
collective bargaining and that they do not wish to work with the
three men named in the complaint. On May 16, 1936, the Regional
Director for the Sixteenth Region, acting pursuant to Article II,
Section 19 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regula-
tions-Series 1, as amended, denied the petition on the ground that
"said petitioners . . . do not allege or set forth facts which show or
tend to show that they or any of them have rights in the subject
matter of the complaint . . . which they or any of them are entitled
to assert in their own right ..."
On May 15, 1936, an answer to the complaint was filed by the C. J.
Bohner Oil Corporation and C. J. Bonner, individually. The an-
swer alleged that the complaint should be dismissed because the Act
is unconstitutional in several respects, because the Act is inappli-
cable to the business of the C. J. Bohner Oil Corporation and C. J.
Bohner, individually, and because the respondents did not discharge
the three men named in the complaint. On the same day Bell Oil
and Gas Company also filed an answer, which in addition to the
reasons set forth in the other answer, also denied it was the em-
ployer of the three men named in the complaint and further alleged
that the Board, in In the Matter of Bell Oil and Gas Company and
Local Union 058 of the International Association of Oil Field, Gas
Well and Refinery Workers of America and George E. Bebermeyer,
E. H. Haynie, Frank T. Grozier, F. C. Cox, Clifford D. Jackson,
B. F. Jackson and Roy W. Bowman,2 had determined that Bell Oil
and Gas Company was not their employer.
Pursuant to an amended notice of hearing duly issued and served
upon the parties, a hearing was begun on July 16 and continued on
July 17, 18, and 21, 1936, at Wichita Falls, Texas, before Robert
Lee Guthrie, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the National
Labor Relations Board, hereinafter referred to as the Board. The
respondents were represented by counsel and participated in the
hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-exam-
ine witnesses and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was
afforded all parties. At the beginning of the hearing Bell Oil and
Gas Company offered a plea in abatement on the grounds, set forth
in the answer, that it had been found not to be the employer in a
21 N. L. B. B . 562, decided April 17, 1936.
888 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
prior decision of the Board. The Trial Examiner denied the plea.
The petition for intervention was renewed. The Trial Examiner
ruled that the petition had been disposed of by the Regional Director
prior to the hearing and that under the Board's Rules and Regula-
tions he had no authority to review the ruling. We affirm this rul-
ing. Counsel for the respondents also moved that the complaint be
dismissed because of the constitutional objections raised in the an-
swers. Ruling was reserved by the Trial Examiner. This motion
is hereby denied. Many objections to the introduction of evidence
were made by counsel for the respondent and by counsel for the
Board. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner
on motions and objections and finds that no prejudicial errors were
committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
On September 21, 1936, a stipulation concerning the operations of
the respondents was added to the record.
On November 16, 1936, the Trial Examiner filed his Intermediate
Report in which he found that the three men had not been discharged
because of their union activities, and recommended that the com-
plaint be dismissed because the activities of the respondents and the
work done by the three men did not occur in or affect interstate
commerce. On December 9, 1936, Local No. 258 and the three men
filed exceptions to the Intermediate Report.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board now makes the
following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF BELL OIL AND GAS COMPANY
Bell Oil and Gas Company, hereinafter referred to as Bell, a
Delaware corporation having its principal place of business in
Tulsa, Oklahoma, operates many oil wells, which it owns in whole
or in part, in the Red River area, which lies partially within the
State of Texas and partially within the State of Oklahoma. For
the purpose of carrying off and disposing of the oil which it pro-
duces, as well as oil which it buys in large quantities from other
operators producing oil in the same and adjoining areas, Bell also
owns and operates a pipe line system, a pump station, and a re-
finery. Oil produced by Bell is pumped from the wells to stock
tanks adjacent to the wells. From these stock tanks, whether in
Oklahoma or in Texas, the oil is turned into the gathering pipe line
system where it is conveyed to a pump station in Wichita County,
Texas, south of the Red River. The pump station consists of four
1,600 barrel tanks, and a centrifugal pump, which is used to force
the oil from the storage tanks at the pump station through a main
pipe line crossing! the boundary line of Texas and Oklahoma to a
refinery owned by Bell in Tillman County, Oklahoma, just north
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 889
of the Red River. At the refinery gasoline, kerosene, and fuel oil
are produced. More than 65 per cent of a barrel of oil is recovered
in gasoline, about six- per cent in kerosene, and the balance in crude
oil. Of the products of the refinery, approximately 50 per cent of
the gasoline and somewhat less than 20 per cent of the kerosene is
sold to vendees located outside the State of Oklahoma. Most of the
fuel oil produced at the refinery is sold to local power companies
and to railroads, including the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad.
For the purpose of stimulating production of oil in the Red River
area, Bell owns an interest jointly with Burk-Divide Oil Company,
Consolidated, and Reno Oil Company in a repressure plant located
in Wichita County, Texas. The operations of the repressure plant
and the repressure system are set forth in detail in a prior decision
of the Board.3
In addition to using the oil which it produces, at the refinery,
Bell purchases approximately 2,500 to 2,600 barrels of oil per day
from various producers in Texas, and approximately 500 barrels
per day from producers in Oklahoma. The C. J. Bohner Oil Cor-
poration and C. J. Bohner, individually, are among these vendors.
The manner in which Bell conveys the oil purchased from the C. J.
Boluier Oil Corporation, as described hereafter, is the same as is
used for all other vendors of Bell.
Bell also owns and operates oil and gas producing property in the
so-called Pampa or Panhandle Fields of Texas, approximately 300
miles distant from the property which it owns in the Red River area.
We find that the respondent, Bell Oil and Gas Company, in the
operations set forth above, is engaged in trade, traffic, transportation,
and commerce between the several States.
II. THE BUSINESS OF C. J. BOHNER OIL CORPORATION
The C. J. Bohner Oil Corporation, sometimes hereinafter referred
to as the Corporation, a Texas corporation having its principal office
and place of business in the Burkburnett area in Wichita County,
Texas, owns and operates about 100 oil wells in the so-called North-
west field, which lies entirely in Wichita County, Texas. It is ap-
proximately two miles from the last well on the Northwest field to
the first well in the Red River area. Many other producers besides
the Corporation and C. J. Bohner, individually, own and operate
producing wells in the Northwest field.
alit the Matter of Bell Oil and Gas Company, Bvrk-Divide Oil Company, Consolidated,
and Reno Oil Company and International Association of Oil Field, Gas Well & Refinery
Workers of America, Local No. 258, and George Bebermeyer, Case No. C-143, decided
March 4, 1937 (supra, p 577).
890 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
All of the oil produced by the Corporation in the Northwest field
is sold to Bell. Oil produced by the Corporation is carried through
a pipe line to a stock tank, adjacent to the well, both the pipe line
and tank being owned by the Corporation. When this tank is filled,
a gauger employed by Bell inspects the oil, and if acceptable, issues
a run ticket, which is in effect a bill of purchase. The oil is then
turned into the gathering pipe lines of Bell and conveyed as the
property of Bell from the stock tank to the pump station in Texas
and from there to the refinery in Tillman County, Oklahoma.
The C. J. Bohner Oil Corporation also owns and operates other
wells in Texas which do not lie in the Northwest field.
We find that the operations of respondent, C. J. Bohner Oil Corpo-
ration, as set forth above, have a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States.
III. THE BUSINESS OF C. J. BOHNER, INDIVIDUALLY
C. J. Bohner, individually, owns in whole or in part wells located
in both Oklahoma and Texas. The wells in the Red River area in
which he has an interest are wells in which Bell also has an undi-
vided interest. He also owns, either wholly or with associates, ap-
proximately 150 wells in the Northwest field. All of the oil pro-
duced in the Northwest field from wells in which Bohner has an
interest is sold to Bell, in the same manner that the Corporation sells
its oil to Bell.
C. J. Bohner personally supervises the operation of all wells owned
by him in the Northwest field, and as president and general man-
ager of the Corporation also supervises the operation of all wells
owned by the Corporation. In his capacity of superintendent of
Bell, he supervises the operation of all wells owned in whole or in
part by Bell in the Red River area and is directly in charge of the
operation of the repressure plant located in Wichita County, Texas,
which is owned jointly by Bell, Burk-Divide Oil Company, Consol-
idated, and Reno Oil Company.
We find that the operations of the respondent, C. J. Bohner, as set
forth above, have a close, intimate, and substantial relation to trade,
traffic, and commerce among the several States.
IV. EFFECT OF STRIKES IN RESPONDENTS' BUSINESS
Prior to September 1, 1935, Local No. 258 began negotiations to
secure a new contract with the respondents, and Burk-Divide Oil
Company, Consolidated, Reno Oil Company, and Tucker Oil Com-
pany to replace a contract which had expired on August 1, 1935.
Having been unsuccessful in securing such a contract, Local No. 258
called a strike on September 17, 1935, among the employees engaged
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 891
in the operations of the wells and in the pipe line and repressure
departments of Bell and among the employees engaged in the produc-
tion of oil for the other operators named above. The strike caused
immediate cessation of all oil field operations of the respondents.
It also caused the pipe line and repressure operations of Bell to be
suspended, which in turn prevented Bell from operating its pump
station in Texas and its refinery in Oklahoma. The inability of
Bell to operate its pipe lino system prevented it from purchasing
oil from other operators in this area, since it was unable to carry off
the oil through its pipe line system. Due to this, every operator
within the area who sells oil to Bell had to suspend operations within
a few days after the strike began and as soon as their stock tanks
were filled. These operators included Kimball Bostic, Henry Porter
Oil Company, Texas Oil Company, and Skelly Oil Company, as well
as the operators whose activities were suspended primarily because
their employees were on strike.
V. THE UNION
International Association of Oil Field, Gas Well & Refinery
Workers of America is a national labor organization. The mem-
bership of Local No. 258 includes employees of other producers in
the district as well as some of the employees of the respondents.
VI. THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE THREE MEN
As previously stated, C. J. Bonner was in active supervision of
the operations in the Northwest field of the C. J. Bohner Oil Corpo-
ration and of the wells in which he had an interest which were not
the property of the Corporation. In addition, he was in active
supervision of the operations of Bell in the Red River area as super-
intendent. In the operation of the Northwest field Bohner employed
a crew of approximately 33 or 34 men who acted as pumpers and as
maintenance men. These men worked a portion of their time for
the Corporation and another portion of their time for Bohner, no
distinction being made between their duties whether working for
the one or the other. However, they kept separate time sheets for
each and received checks from one or the other in accordance with
the time they turned in as having been spent on the wells of each.
Bohner, in the main, employed a separate and distinct crew of men
to operate the Bell properties. However, both for the purpose of
giving regular employment to the wen he employed in the Northwest
field and because Bell did not have a sufficient number of wells which
required cleaning to justify the employment of a crew for this
purpose, Bohner customarily used some of his employees from the
Northwest field on Bell operations whenever the latter needed wells
892 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
cleaned or some emergency arose. When such employees were used
on Bell operations, they turned in time sheets showing the exact
amount of time spent on Bell property and received payment from
Bell for such time. The evidence also shows that these employees,
when working for Bell, were covered by Bell's compensation insur-
ance and that Bohner, individually, and the C. J. Bohner Oil Cor-
poration did not carry such insurance in the State of Oklahoma.
Clifford D. Jackson, B. F. Jackson, and F. C. Cox were mainte-
nance men, hired in the first instance by Bonner to work upon his
own and the C. J. Bohner Oil Corporation properties in the North-
west field. These men testified that they frequently worked also on
the wells of Bell. The record shows that in the period from January
1 to September 17, 1935, Clifford D. Jackson worked 751 hours, B. F.
Jackson worked 1401/,, hours, F. C. Cox worked 181 hours, respec-
tively, for Bell, and that each was paid by Bell for this time. The
record also shows that for about two months prior to September 17,
1935, B. F. Jackson had been employed constantly as a pumper in
the Northwest field on the property of Bohner and the Corporation,
and that as a pumper he was not sent to do maintenance work on
the property of Bell. The pumper whom B. F. Jackson had replaced
had been injured and it seems apparent on the entire record that
B. F. Jackson had not been permanently removed from the main-
tenance crew.
We find that at the time of the strike on September 17, 1935, the
three men were employees of the C. J. Bohner Corporation and
C. J. Bohner, individually, and that by virtue of such employment,
they were also part time employees of Bell.
VII. THE DISCHARGES
Clifford D. Jackson had been employed by Bohner for about fifteen
years, working the last nine years as a gang pusher and clean out
man. He was a member of Local No. 258 and had at three different
times acted as a substitute on the contract committee of Local No.
258 in meeting with the respondents and other operators for the
purpose of negotiating contracts with Local No. 258.
B. F. Jackson had been employed by Bohner for approximately ten
years on the clean out crew, sometimes as gang pusher in charge of
the crew. For about two months prior to September 17, 1935, he
had been employed as a pumper temporarily replacing a pumper
who had been injured. He was recording secretary of Local No.
258 and had also served on the contract committee.
F. C. Cox had been employed by Bohner for approximately seven
years in general maintenance work. He was a member of Local No.
258.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 893
'The-three ' men joined in the strike called by Local No. 258 on
September 17, 1935. The strike , called because of the unsuccessful
attempt of Local No. 258 to secure a new contract with the respond-
ents and the other operators involved , was a controversy concerning
terms, tenure , and conditions of employment . The three men, there-
fore, ceased work as a consequence of and in connection with a
current labor dispute.
Production of oil by all operators in the Northwest field consists
of two distinct operations . In addition to the operation called pump-
ing by means of which the oil is lifted from the well , all of the oper-
ators in this field maintain a steady and continuous vacuum on the
wells for the purpose of pulling oil through the porous sand to the
opening of the wells . The normal flow of oil to the wells in this area
is considered insufficient to justify operation. The vacuum system
is the means employed to artificially stimulate production to a
point where it is considered profitable.
The effect of the strike was to compel all operators whose em-
ployees joined in the strike to cease all pumping operations. In the
case of the Tucker Oil Company , it also had the effect of cutting off
the vacuum system on their wells since the pumping and vacuum
systems were connected . It was not a necessary effect of the strike
that the vacuum system operating on the wells of C. J. Bohner,
individually , and of the C. J. Bohner Corporation should cease to
operate, even though oil could not be pumped out of the wells, since
the vacuum system on these wells was operated by the Texas Oil
Company and Skelly Oil Company whose employees were not in-
volved in the strike . Although, as previously stated, all other op-
erators in the Northwest field were compelled to stop pumping oil
within a few days after the strike commenced , the record shows
that with the exception of the Tucker Oil Company, they continued
to operate their vacuum systems during the time of the strike.
During the course of the strike the vacuum on many of the wells
belonging to C. J. Bohner and to the C. J. Bohner Oil Corporation
was turned off either at the well or at a meter close to the well and
remained off for approximately eight days before Bohner could
restore it.
On September 27, 1935, Dr. Edwin A . Elliott, Regional Director
of the National Labor Relations Board for the Sixteenth Region,
in an effort to end the strike, asked the operators , including the
respondents , to agree to reinstate all of their striking employees.
Bohner agreed to reinstate all of his men except the three named in
the complaint, stating that he believed they had been the persons
who had shut off the vacuum on the wells during the strike, and that
he believed permanent injury had been done to the wells by cutting
off the vacuum while vacuum had been maintained by other operators
894 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
in the field. Since the employment of the men by all of the respond-
ents depended upon Bohner's personal employment of them, the
refusal to reinstate was effective as to all of the respondents.
The record shows that the Northwest field has been under constant
vacuum for about ten years, that in the endeavor of each operator
to secure for himself the greatest possible amount of oil every
effort is made to maintain a continuous and as great a "pull" of
vacuum as is possible; and that when it is necessary to shut off the
vacuum on a well to clean it out, or the vacuum is cut off because
of some stoppage caused by such things as freezing of pipes, it has
been the duty of Bohner's employees to make every effort to restore
the vacuum as quickly as possible. The three men testified that the
members of Local No. 258 felt it was unfair to the Tucker Oil
Company, whose vacuum was necessarily cut off because of the
,strike, for Bohner to continue to pull vacuum and for this reason
they decided they would cut off the vacuum on Bohner's wells and
the wells of the C. J. Bohner Oil Corporation. Clifford D. Jackson
and B. F. Jackson admit that they were selected by the members of
Local No. 258 to cut off the vacuum and that they did so. Cox
denied that he personnally had cut off the vacuum on any wells, but
Bohner testified to facts from which Bohner might reasonably have
believed that Cox also had turned off the vacuum on some of the
wells.
We are not convinced that Cox did turn off the vacuum on any
of the wells. Whether or not any permanent injury was caused by
the shutting off of the vacuum is a highly technical question. How-
ever, under the circumstances of this case we do not consider it neces-
sary to decide this question since we are convinced that Bohner's
refusal to reninstate these men was based entirely upon his belief
they had cut off the vacuum and caused permanent injury to the
wells and was not for the purpose of discouraging membership
in a labor organization. We are in part impelled to this conclusion
because the record shows that Bohner has employed many members
of Local No. 258 since 1933, that he had operated from August 1,
1934, to August 1, 1935, under a contract with Local No. 258, that
a check-off has been made by Bohner in the salaries of union em-
ployees whose names were given to Bohner, and that all other em-
ployees of Bohner who were members of Local No. 258 were rein-
stated after the strike.
We find that the respondents in refusing to reinstate Clifford D.
Jackson, B. F. Jackson, and F. C. Cox did not discriminate in re-
gard to. hire and tenure of employment to encourage or discourage
membership in a labor organization.
We find that the respondents in refusing to reinstate Clifford D.
Jackson, B. F. Jackson, and F. C. Cox have not interfered with,
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 895.
restrained, or coerced their employees in the exercise of the rights
of self-organization, to form, join or assist labor organizations, to
bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing,
and to engage in concerted activities, for the purposes of collective
bargaining and other mutual aid and protection.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and upon the
entire record in the proceeding, the Board makes the following
conclusions of law :
1. The operations of the respondents occur in commerce, within
the meaning of Section 2, subdivision (6) of the Act.
2. International Association of Oil Field, Gas Well & Refinery
Workers of America, Local No. 258, is a labor organization, within
the meaning of Section 2, subdivision (5) of the Act.
3. The strike was a labor dispute, within the meaning of Section
2, subdivision (9) of the Act.
4. Clifford D. Jackson, B. F. Jackson, and F. C. Cox at the time
of their discharge were employees of the respondents, within the
meaning of Section 2, subdivision (3) of the Act.
5. The respondents, by discharging Clifford D. Jackson, B. F.
Jackson, and F. C. Cox, have not discriminated in regard to hire.
and tenure of employment and thereby discouraged membership in
a labor organization, within the meaning of Section 8, subdivision:
(3) of the Act.
6. The respondents by discharging Clifford D. Jackson, B. F.
Jackson, and F. C. Cox have not interfered with, restrained or
coerced their employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in
Section 7 of the Act, within the meaning of Section 8, subdivision
(1) of the Act.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the above 'findings of fact and conclusions of-
law, and pursuant to Section 10, subdivision (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, the National Labor Relations Board orders
that the complaint against Bell Oil and Gas Company, C. J. Bohner
Oil Corporation, and C. J. Bohner, individually and with his Asso-
ciates, be and hereby is dismissed.