Douglas Public Service Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 10, 1949

81 N.L.R.B. 588 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of DOUGLAS PUBLIC SERVICE CORPORATION, EMPLOYER
and OIL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, LOCAL 447 (CIO)
Case No. 15-RC-155.-Decided February 10, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing offi-
cer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing officer's rul-
ings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are here-
by affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations named below claim to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. On October 1, 1946, the Employer and the International Union
of Operating Engineers, Local 231, A. F. L., herein called Local 231,
entered into a contract to expire on September 30, 19481 On August
27, 1948, more than 1 month before the expiration date of this con-
tract, the Employer and Local 231 entered into a new contract, which,
like the earlier contract, covered the employees whom the Petitioner
claims to represent, and which provides for its termination on Septem-
ber 30, 1950.2 The Employer pleads as a bar to this proceeding, its
1948 contract with Local 231. The record, shows that the instant
petition was filed on September 2, 1948, or 4 weeks before the 1946
contract expired. Where, as here, an expiring contract contains no
automatic renewal clause, a new contract executed at any time prior
to the expiration of the old contract cannot itself operate to bar a
petition filed prior to the expiration date of the old contract 3
* Houston, Reynolds , and Murdock.
I This contract did not contain an automatic renewal clause.
f We do not pass upon the issue raised at the hearing with respect to the validity of this
contract because, as we find below , it cannot in any event operate to bar this proceeding.
8 Matter of Robertshaw -Fulton Controls Company, 77 N. L. R B. 316 ; Matter of Don
Juan, Inc., 71 N. L. R. B. 734.
81 N. L. R. B., No. 102.
588
DOUGLAS PUBLIC SERVICE CORPORATION 589
We find, therefore, that the instant proceeding is not barred by the
contract of August 27, 1948.
We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation 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 has requested a unit composed of all the produc-
tion and maintenance employees employed at the Employer's plants
at Marrero, Chalmette, Avondale, and Algiers, Louisiana .4 The Em-
ployer contends that the proposed unit should be restricted in scope
to the employees at the Marrero plant because there are no employees
at the present time attached to its other plants.
The Employer operates a bulk liquid terminal at Marrero, Louisiana
and three field warehouses at Chalmette, Avondale, and Algiers,
Louisiana. The record shows the operations at the Employer's three
warehouses were curtailed more than 6 months before the date of
the hearing and since that time, no employees have been regularly
assigned to the warehouses 5 except for one watchman who is cur-
rently employed at the Algiers warehouse. There is nothing in the
record to indicate that the Employer contemplates the resumption
of operations at its warehouses in the immediate future. Accord-
ingly, we find that the appropriate unit for the Employer's employees
should be limited to the employees at the Marrero plant.
We find that all the production and maintenance employees em-
ployed at the Employer's plant at Marrero, Louisiana, excluding office'
and clerical employees, guards, and all supervisors constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election 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 Fifteenth Region, and subject
to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the employees
in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
date of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not
4 This unit is the same as that covered by the contracts between the Employer and
Local 231.
5 When they were in operation , the warehouses each required the services of only a
watchman and a bonded employee.
590 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein-
stated prior to the date of the election , and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement , to determine whether
they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining,
by Oil Workers International Union, Local 447 (CIO ), or by Inter-
national Union of Operating Engineers, A. F. L., or by neither.