Continental Oil Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 16, 1953

105 N.L.R.B. 595 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

CONTINENTAL OIL COMPANY 595
In view of the foregoing factors, including the similar and
integrated functions of the three plants, the centralized control
of labor relations and personnel policies , the common conditions
of employment , and the bargaining history on amultiplant basis,
we find that separate production and maintenance units at the
Salem and Danvers plants are inappropriate for collective -bar-
gaining purposes . I Consequently , we shall dismiss the petitions.
[The Board dismissed the petitions.]
7 Aircraft Engine Service, Inc., 102 NLRB 1326; Birdsboro Armorcast, 101 NLRB 22
Contrary to the IUE's contention, the fact that separate units were agreed to in previous
proceedings is not controlling in the present proceeding. Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical
Corporation, 100 NLRB 107.
CONTINENTAL OIL COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL ASSO-
CIATION OF MACHINISTS , AFL, Petitioner . Case No. 16-
RC-1293. June 16, 1953.
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before John F. Funke,
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 Act, the
Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to
a three-member panel [Members Houston , Styles, and Peter-
son].
Upon the entire record in this case , the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning
of the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the rep-
resentation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and ( 7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks to sever a unit of machinists and their
apprentices and helpers from the unit currently represented by
the Intervenor , Independent Oil Workers Union of Oklahoma, at
the Employer's Ponca City , Oklahoma, oil refinery . Thelnter-
venor opposes the proposed severance , while the Employer is
neutral . In 1941, after consent elections , the Intervenor was
certified as the bargaining representative of the Employer's
production and maintenance employees , including the employees
sought herein , while other labor organizations were certified as
the bargaining representatives of five craft units : Boilermakers
and welders , electricians , carpenters , painters, and brick-
105 NLRB No. 80.
596 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
masons. The Intervenor ' s current contract with the Employer,
which has been opened for renegotiation , is not alleged as a bar.
The Employer' s machinists are located in the machine shop
at the oil refinery. Although there are at present no helpers in
the machine shop, the Employer maintains a progression from
helper to first-class machinist requiring a minimum of 4 yeas'
experience. The machinists and apprentices currently in the
machine shop exercise the skills of the machinist craft, are
under separate immediate supervision , and do not interchange
with other employees . Although there are laboratory technicians
and instrumentmen elsewhere in the plant who do some
machinist work, they are not predominantly machinists and are
not so classified by the Employer. We find that the machinists in
the machine shop comprise a distinct, homogeneous craft group
of the type which the Board has traditionally found entitled to
separate representation if they so desire.1
Accordingly, we shall direct a separate election among the
Employer's employees in the following voting group: All
machinists and their apprentices and helpers employed at the
Employer's oil refinery at Ponca City, Oklahoma, excluding all
other employees, all office clerical and professional employees,
guards, the machine shop foremen and leaderman , and all other
supervisors as defined in the Act.
5. If a majority in the voting group vote for the Petitioner,
they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a
separate appropriate unit, and the Regional Director conducting
the election directed herein is instructed to issue a certification
of representatives to the Petitioner for the unit described in
paragraph numbered 4, which the Board, under such circum-
stances, finds to be appropriate for purposes of collective
bargaining . In the event a majority vote for the Intervenor, the
Board finds the existing unit to be appropriate , and the Regional
Director will issue a certification of results of election to such
effect.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
Member Peterson dissenting:
The record herein affords but one basis for severing the
machinists group sought by the IAM from the established pro-
duction and maintenance unit, and that is the craft status of
these employees . Since its certification in 1941 for the plant-
wide unit , the machinists have been represented by the Inde-
pendent. There is no showing as to how the interests of these
craftsmen would be better served by separate unit representa-
tion or that the Independent has not accorded them fair and
adequate representation.
Consequently, for reasons stated in my dissenting opinion in
W. C. Hamilton and Sons, 104 NLRB 627, I would dismiss the
petition.
1 Armstrong Tire and Rubber Company, 104 NLRB892; Crossett Paper Mills, 98 NLRB 542.