Gulf Oil Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 18, 1948

79 N.L.R.B. 1433 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of GULF OIL CORPORATION. EMPLOYER and OIL WORKERS
INTERNATIONAL UNION, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 16-RC-196.-Decided October 18,1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. 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
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
Upon the entire record in this 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. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) andSection 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
The Employer and the Intervenor, International Brotherhood of
Boilermakers, Iron Shipbuilders, Welders and Helpers of America,
AFL, Local No. 305, moved to dismiss the petition, on the ground that
an existing contract, to which they are parties, is a bar to this pro-
ceeding. On January 23, 1947, the Employer and the Intervenor
executed a contract effective until August 21, 1948. Provision was
made for automatic renewal from year to year thereafter, unless either
party served notice of termination at least 30 days before any anni-
versary date. On July 8, 1948, the parties amended their agreement
and extended its term to August 21, 1949. The Petitioner filed its pe-
.Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Gray.
79 N. L. R. B., No. 194.
1433
1434 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tition on June 22, 1948, before the operative date of the renewal
clause in the original contract. In these circumstances, the 1948 con-
tract is not a bar. Accordingly, the motions to dismiss the petition
are denied.'
4. The following employees of the Employer constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All employees in the boilermaking and welding department of the
Employer's refinery at Port Arthur, Texas, excluding clerical, pro-
fessional, and plant-protection employees, and supervisors as defined
in the Act 2
DIRECTION OF ELECTION s
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 Sixteenth 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
,late of this Direction of Election, 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 discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, 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, CIO, or by International Broth-
erhood of Boilermakers, Iron Shipbuilders, Welders, and Helpers
of America, AFL, Local No. 305, or by neither.
11 As a further ground for its motion to dismiss , the Employer urges that the Petitioner,
an international union, is "fronting" for its Locals 23 and 254 , who are the real parties
in interest in the case . Both of these Locals are in compliance with Section 9 (f), (g), and
(h) of the Act. As the record contains no evidence that the Petitioner , if certified, will not
serve as representative of the Employer's employees , we find no merit in this contention.
Matter of Lane Wells Company, 79 N. L. R. B. 252.
2 This is the unit which was covered by the contract between the Employer and the In-
tervenor , and which has been approved by the Board in several previous decisions. See
Matter of Gulf Oil Corporation, 4 N. L. R. B. 133; 58 N. L. R. B . 978; 65 N. L. It. B. 865.
8 Any participant in the election directed herein may , upon its prompt request to, and
approval thereof by , the Regional Director , have its name removed from the ballot.