Cit-Con Oil Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 10, 1950

88 N.L.R.B. 623 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of CIT-CON OIL CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and LODGE 1317
OF DISTRICT LODGE 31, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS,
PETITIONER
In the Matter if CIT-CON OIL CORPORATION , EMPLOYER and LAKE
CHARLES METAL TRADES COUNCIL , AFL, PETITIONER
Cases Nos. 15-RC-316 and i,5-RC-317.-Decided February 10, 1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon separate petitions duly filed, a consolidated hearing was held
before Richard C. Keenan, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings
made at the hearing 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
these cases to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Reynolds].
Upon the entire record in these cases, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The Petitioner in Case No. 15-RC-316, herein called the Machin-
ists, the Petitioner in Case No. 15-RC-317, herein called the Council,
and Oil Workers International Union, C. 1. 0., herein called the Inter-
venor, are labor organizations claiming to represent certain employees
of the Employer.
3. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the representation
of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Machinists seeks to represent a narrow unit of inside and
outside machinists, machinist helpers and apprentices, including ga-
rage mechanics and helpers, at the Employer's Lake Charles, Lousiana,
plant. The Council, the Intervenor, and the Employer are in general
agreement on a broad unit, as appeared at the hearing, except for cer-
tain classifications discussed'below.
88 NLRB No. 123.
623
624 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The mechanical department performs the maintenance work for all
operations, and maintenace workers are generally classified along craft
lines. In this department is a machinists' group consisting of 17
machinists and 14 machinist helpers. Although they have no distinct
payroll subclassifications, in referring to them the Emloyer uses
the terms "inside" and "outside" machinists. Over them are 1 ma-
chinist foreman and 3 subforemen. Two of the subforemen supervise
the outside work, and one is an inside machinist subforeman who also
exercises supervision over the garage mechanics and helpers sought by
the Petitioner. The machine shop is separate from the other installa-
tions of the Employer and is located in one wing of a building; it
contains all the usual tools of the machinist trade required of a well-
equipped shop.
The installation and manufacture, repair and dismantling of ma-
chinery and parts used in the plant's operation are carried on by the
machinists. Dismantling, installation, and on-the-spot repairs are
performed by the outside men; and the repair and manufacture re-
quiring tooling within the shop are performed by the inside machinists.
The inside men are qualified to work outside the shop and actually do
so, and to a lesser extent the outside men perform work in the shop, if
required. The operations of the Employer being new, experienced
machinists were hired to carry out these functions, the work requiring
a high degree of skill and the use of precision instruments. Ma-
chinists on the shift details who are not required to work elsewhere
in the plant remain in the shop and work there. The garage mechanics
and helpers supervised by the inside machinist subforeman maintain
the Employer's mobile equipment, working on Diesel and gasoline-
powered vehicles. They do all types of repair and maintenance work
and, if necessary, utilize the services of the machine shop. Both in-
side and outside machinists are considered as one unit for the purpose
of seniority, but no definite policy as to the garage mechanics and
helpers has as yet been formulated.
It appears that the unit proposed by the Machinists is a homogene-
ous and well-defined group comprising all the employees who have
similar skills and perform similar duties. In accordance with pre-
vious determinations that such a group is a craft which may constitute
a separate bargaining unit,' we find that the unit here petitioned for
by the Machinists may be appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
There remain for consideration the following two classifications of
employees; whose. inclusion in' 'the brbad.unit, is. in issue:
' For example, Cities Service Refining Corporation, 83 NLRB 890.
CIT-CON OIL CORPORATION 625
The Intervenor would include, and the Employer and Council would
exclude, laboratory dispatchers. The dispatchers make control tests,
which are run on a 24-hour basis divided into four shifts, each shift
consisting of a shift supervisor, dispatcher, sampler, and six testers.
The dispatcher's general duties consist of assigning work to testers
and expediting the processing of the sample. The Employer states
that a dispatcher has authority effectively to recommend firing, and the
record discloses that, in the absence of the supervisor, the dispatcher
assumes his duties. As dispatchers may effectively recommend the
discharge of employees, and in addition assume supervisory duties
in the absence of the shift supervisor, we shall exclude them from
Voting Group 2 designated below.
The Employer and Council would exclude fire and safety inspectors
and guards; the Intervenor takes no position with regard to them.
These employees operate under the personnel department. They per-
form the usual duties of regulating admission to the plant and pre-
venting trespassing and danger to the property. The guards will be
uniformed in the near future, and are deputized but not armed. In
view of the highly inflammable character of the Employer's opera-
tion, we find that these fire and safety inspectors, as well as the guards,
are of a type which the Board has frequently excluded from produc-
tion and maintenance units, and we shall exclude them .2
We find that the employees sought by the Council and the Inter-
venor, with or without the Machinists' group, may constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. However, we shall make no
final unit determinations at this time, but shall be guided in part by
the result of the elections hereinafter directed. If a majority of the
Machinists' group votes for the Machinists, they will be taken to have
indicated their desire to constitute a separate bargaining unit. Ac-
cordingly, we shall direct that elections be held in the following vot-
ing groups of employees at the Employer's plant at Lake Charles,
Louisiana :
1. All inside and outside machinists, machinist helpers and appren-
tices, and also garage mechanics and their helpers, excluding all other
employees and supervisors as defined in the Act.
2. All employees in the mechanical and operations departments,
also including warehousemen and laboratory employees in the classi-
fications of sampler, tester No. 1 and tester No. 2, but excluding all
employees in Group No. 1, above, and also excluding, all other.-labora-
2 See General Motors Corporation, Allison Division , 80 NLRB 317.
626 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tory employees, professional employees, office and clerical employees,
fire and safety inspectors, guards, and all supervisors as defined in
the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, elections 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 these cases
were heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees
described in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during
the payroll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction
of Elections, 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 dis-
charged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the
date of the elections, and also excluding employees on strike who
are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine (a) whether the em-
ployees in Voting Group 1 desire to be represented for purposes of
collective bargaining by Lodge 1317 of District Lodge 31, Interna-
tional Association of Machinists, or by Lake Charles Metal Trades
Council, AFL, or by Oil Workers International Union, C. I. 0., or by
none ; and (b) whether the employees in Voting Group 2 desire to
be represented for purposes of collective bargaining by Lake Charles
Metal Trades Council, AFL, or by Oil Workers International Union,
C. 1. 0., or by neither.