Colonial Oil Industries, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 18, 1976

226 N.L.R.B. 502 (N.L.R.B. 1976)

502 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Chatham Towing Company , Inc., a Wholly Owned
Subsidiary of Colonial Oil Industries , Inc. and Lo-
cal 333, United Maritime Division, ILA, AFL-CIO,
Petitioner. Case 10-RC-10648
October 18, 1976
DECISION ON REVIEW AND ORDER
By MEMBERS JENKINS, PENELLO, AND WALTHER
On May 20, 1976, the Acting Regional Director for
Region 10 issued a Decision and Direction of Elec-
tion on the above-entitled proceeding, in which he
found appropriate the unit sought by Petitioner limit-
ed to the seagoing personnel. Thereafter, in accor-
dance with National Labor Relations Board Rules
and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, the Employer
filed a timely request for review of the Acting Re-
gional Director's decision contending that Employer
and Colonial Oil Industries, Inc. (hereinafter Coloni-
al), function as a single-integrated enterprise and that
the overwhelming community of interest between the
terminal and maritime employees require the inclu-
sion of the shore-based personnel in the unit. The
Petitioner filed a brief in opposition to the request for
review.
By telegraphic order dated June 21, 1976, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board granted the request for
review and stayed the election pending decision on
review.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au-
thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
The Board has considered the entire record in this
case, with respect to the issues under review, and
makes the following findings:
Colonial operates a terminal for the storage and
sale of petroleum products, employing over 50 em-
ployees, including maintenance men, transport
truckloaders, warehousemen, welders, pipefitters,
mechanics, electricians, and operators.
The Employer, a wholly owned subsidiary of Colo-
nial, is engaged primarily in the transportation of pe-
troleum products sold by Colonial.' Three tugboats
and four barges, manned by three captains, two li-
censed tankermen, and one deckhand, are utilized to
provide this service. Of the Employer's operations 85
percent take place locally in the Savannah harbor,
the remaining 15 percent being "long haul" deliveries
with a 36-hour round trip outside the harbor.
Employer and Colonial have common officers.
Employer's operating manager is carried on
Colonial's payroll. The common president for both
companies establishes wages and benefits for all em-
ployees.
The employees of both companies share the same
insurance program, lounges, safety programs, work-
ing rules, company social functions, tools and equip-
ment, showers, profit-sharing trust, bonus formula,
raises, and cost-of-living increases. While the wage
rates and work schedules are not identical, they are
very similar. Although the seagoing personnel are
covered by maritime law while at sea, i.e., Jones Act
and not workmen's compensation, and do receive
free medical care at the U.S. Marine Hospital, the
hospitalization benefits provided by the Employer
still apply and cover the employees' families.
The record establishes a substantial degree of
functional integration between the two companies.
As stated above, the Employer transports petroleum
sold by Colonial which bills the customer for this
service and later reimburses the Employer. The latter
uses Colonial's clericals when needed and stores
large equipment in Colonial's warehouse.
There is also considerable contact among the em-
ployees of both companies. Colonial's terminal em-
ployees often assist Employer in its operations, for
which help no reimbursement to Colonial is made. In
fact, shore-based employees work with Employer's
personnel on the average of 1 full day each week.
These interactions include, inter alia, assignment of
Colonial workers as deckhands twice a week for 3- or
4-hour periods as well as full-time for a 6-week peri-
od last summer; assistance in casting off; use of
Colonial's yacht captain to skipper Employer's
boats; employees from the two companies working
together to clean the barges and load and deliver
lube oil 50-60 times a year; and Colonial employees
making repairs on the boats three or four times a
month. Further, it appears seniority obtained in
either of the two companies is portable to the other.
On the basis of the foregoing and the record as a
whole, we find, contrary to the Regional Director,
that the two operations constitute a single-integrated
enterprise and that the employees of the Employer
do not have a community of interest sufficiently sep-
arate from that of Colonial's employees to warrant
finding the one deckhand and the two tankermen to
be an appropriate unit. Accordingly, we shall dismiss
the petition.
ORDER
' The total amount of revenue received for services unrelated to Colonial
is $9,000.
It is hereby ordered that the petition filed herein
be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
226 NLRB No. 80