Gulf Oil Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 8, 1944

56 N.L.R.B. 1306 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of GULF Orr. CoItPoRATIoN and OIL WORKERS INTERNA-
TIONAL UNION, CIO
Case No: 16-1-898.Decided June 8,19.44
Messrs. Russell G. Lowe and R. S. Harrison, of Tulsa, Okla., for the
Company.
Mr. L. H. Kunkel, of Seminole, Okla., for the Union.
Mrs.•Margaret L. Fassig, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND-
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT, OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by the Oil Worker`s International Union,'
CIO, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting com-
merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Gulf
Oil Corporation, at 'its Gypsy Division, Seminole District No: 5, Sem,
inole, Oklahoma, herein called the Company,, the National Labor' Re-
lations Board provided for an appropriate hearing' upon due'notice
before Robert F. Proctor, Trial Examiner. 'Said hearing was held at
Tulsa, Oklahoma, on May 4, 1944. The , Company and, the Union ap-
peared and participated. All parties were 'afforded full opportunity
to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce
evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made 'at,
the hearing are free from prejudicial, error and are hereby affirmed.
All parties were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
'FINDINGS OF FACT
T. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY,
Gulf Oil Corporation is a Pennsylvania corporation, engaged in the
production, sale, and distribution of petroleum and petroleum prod-
ucts.l The present proceeding involves only, that part of the.Com-
I
1 See Matter of Gulf Oil Corporation , 4 N. L. R. B. 133; Matter of Gulf Oil Corporation,
19 N L. R. B. 334; Matter o f Gulf Oil Corporation, Marine Department, 36 'N.-L. R. B. 1003.
56 N. L. R. B., No. 231.
1306
GULF OIL CORPORATION 1307
pany's system designated as the Gypsy Division, Seminole District No.
5, which is engaged in the producing phase of the Company's opera-
tions. The Company's average daily production of petroleum prod-
ucts within the State of Oklahoma is about 21,487,barrels, of which
District No. 5 produces about 8,471 barrels. At least 70 ' percent of
the production within the State of Oklahoma, including that of the
Seminole District No. 5, is transported by the Gulf Refining Company,
a subsidiary company, by means of pipe lines to the following points:
Fort Worth, Texas, Toledo and Cincinnati, Ohio,-and Pittsburgh and
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I ;
The Company admits it is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Oil Workers International Union, affiliated with the 'Congress of
Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to mem-
bership employees of the Company.
M. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive" bargaining representative of its employees in its Gypsy Di-
vision, Seminole District No. 5, near Seminole, Oklahoma, until the
Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing,-indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate 2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the
representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union alleges that all production and gasoline department em-
ployees, exclusive of supervisory, clerical, and laboratory employees,
PBX operators, and technicians'at the Company's Seminole District
No. 5 near Seminole, Oklahoma, constitute an appropriate unit for the
purposes of ' collective bargaining. The Company agrees with the
Union as to the categories of employees to be excluded from Ithe unit.
There are' approximately 158 employees in the alleged appropriat4
,unit. '
The Company has five hourly paid employees in its Seminole Dis-
trict No. 5 classified-as head repairmen. The head repairman is a
2 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 76 authorization cards ; that
the Company ' s pay roll contained the names of 158 employees in the appropriate unit;
and that the cards were dated : 1 in 1942, 61 in 1943, and 14 in 1944
I
1308 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
working foreman who is in charge of a small, gang of employees range
ing from two to six. He, works along with the other men and per-
f orms manual labor. He is responsible to the assistant field foreman
or to the field foreman, and has the right to recommend hiring'and dis-
charging of employees,-and such recommendations are given consider-
able weight by the Company. The' Union requested the exclusion of
the head repairmen' from the bargaining unit, and the Company took
no position in the matter. " We are of the opinion, and find, that the
head repairmen are supervisory employees within the meaning of our
usual definition, and accordingly, we shall exclude them from the unit.
We find that all production and gasoline department employees at
the Company's Seminole District No. 5 near Seminole, Oklahoma,,but
excluding clerical and laboratory employees, PBX operators, techni-
cians, head repairmen and all or any- other supervisory employees with'
authority to hire, promote,- discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect
changes iii the status of employees, or effectively recommend such ac-
tion, constitute a unit appropriate, for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b),of the Act.
,V. THE-DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 ' (c) of the National Labox Re-
lations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, it is hereby,
- DIRECTED thatas part of the investigation to ascertain repre-
sentatives for, the purposes of collective bargaining with Gulf Oil
Corporation an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as
possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this
Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Di-
rector for the Sixteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the
National Labor Relations Board, and -subject to Article III, Sections
10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among employees in the unit
found appropriate in Section IV,' who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of.this Direction, includ-
GULF OIL CORPORATION 1309
ing employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because
they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including em-
ployees in the armed forces of the United States who present them-
selves in person at the polls , but excluding any who have since quit
or been , discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated
.prior to the date of the election, to determine whether or not they
desire to be represented by Oil Workers International Union, CIO,
for the purposes of collective bargaining.
587784-45--vol. 56-84