Gulf Oil Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 8, 1948

79 N.L.R.B. 1274 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of GULF OIL CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and INTER-
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, PETITIONER
Case No. 16-R-2238
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND
ORDER
October 8, 1948
On April 23, 1948, the National Labor Relations Board issued its
Decision and Order in this case.' On May 11, 1948, the Petitioner filed
a motion to vacate the Board's Decision and Order on the ground that
all facts germane to the case were not available to and utilized by the
Board in reaching its decision. On May 25, 1948, the Board, having
duly considered the Petitioner's motion and the entire record in this
case, issued an Order granting the motion, reopening the record, and
remanding the case to the Regional Director for further hearing.
Thereafter, on June 11, 1948, a second hearing in this proceeding was
held at Port Arthur, Texas, before a hearing officer of the National
Labor Relations Board. The hearing officer's rulings made at the
further hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following
supplemental findings of fact :
The Petitioner seeks to represent in an alleged appropriate unit all
garage mechanics employed at the Employer's Port Arthur, Texas,
refinery, including certain operating employees, but excluding all
supervisory personnel.2 As the main ground for this unit request, the
Petitioner asserts that the garage mechanics are craft employees, and
that they may, as such, be severed from the existing operating and
maintenance unit established as a result of many years of collective
177 N. L. It. B. 308.
2 This is the unit the Petitioner requested at the first hearing. At the second hearing,
the Petitioner in effect amended this unit request to include laboratory maintenance
mechanics . This amendment was a matter of convenience and was made only in view of
our original Decision , which erroneously held that these maintenance mechanics performed
work comparable to that performed by garage mechanics.
79 N. L. R. B., No. 173.
1274
GULF OIL CORPORATION 1275
bargaining between the Employer and the Oil Workers International
Union, Locals 23 and 254, the Intervenor herein.
In its first Decision and Order in this matter, the Board, without
deciding whether or not garage mechanics were craft employees, dis-
missed'the petition on the ground that the unit sought by the Petitioner
was inappropriate, as it comprised only a segment of an employee
classification at the Employer's refinery, all employees in which possess
similar skills and perform comparable work. However, additional
evidence adduced at the second hearing in this matter belies the ac-
curacy of the ground relied upon in the original dismissal of the pe-
tition. It now appears from all the evidence that the garage mechan-
ics, whom the Petitioner seeks to represent, spend from 90 to 95
percent of their working time in the garage and that they alone work
on automotive equipment. Accordingly, the garage mechanics are
not, contrary to our prior opinion, plant-wide maintenance mechanics;
rather they are a separate group of mechanics whose work in the
garage is not paralleled by that of employees in various other me-
chanic classifications in the refinery.
In view of the foregoing circumstances, whether these garage me-
chanics may be severed from the existing comprehensive unit and con-
stitute a separate appropriate unit depends in large measure on their
alleged craft status. In the present instance, as in similar cases, the
Board must balance the stability established by past collective bar-
gaining against the right of employees to self-organization and their
desires for separate group representation. Ordinarily, to swing the
balance in favor of separate representation, the Board requires that
such groups be comprised of recognized craftsmen.3 We have in re-
cent decisions indicated that alleged craft groups must possess a
high degree of skill acquired through a required apprenticeship in a
particular field, before being entitled to separate representation in
the face of an inclusive bargaining history.4 The possession of me-
chanical skills and qualifications by true craft groups distinguishes
them from other groups of workers, and indicates the desirability and
need for separate representation better to protect their special interests.
Only under these circumstances do we normally find that justification
exists for disturbing established bargaining relationships; otherwise
ever-present minority groups of dissident employees would be con-
8 Rowever , the Board has traditionally permitted the severance of powerhouse employees,
apart from any craft qualifications See Matter of The American Sugar Refining Company,
78 N L. R. B. 26; Matter of The John Deere Dubuque Tractor Works, 77 N. L. R. B 1424;
and Matter of Sun Chemical Corporation , 77 N. L. R. B. 1096.
A See Matter of The Smiths Bluff Refinery of The Pure Oil Company, 79 N. L R. B. 51
(laboratory testers not craft employees ) ; and Matter of Monsanto Chemical Company, 78
N. L. R. B. 1249 ( particular pipe fitters may not be pure craftsmen).
1276 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tinually tempted to upset established bargaining patterns, thereby
impeding rather than promoting collective bargaining.
Evidence in the record of the present case does not establish that
garage mechanics are true craft employees.5 The garage mechanics
are not required to pass through an apprenticeship program. Al-
though some of them have had prior automotive mechanic experience,
the line of promotion within the Employer's garage is from driver to
mechanic. The record further discloses that if there is no driver
available for an existing mechanic vacancy, the job is ordinarily
filled by posting the job for bidding by any refinery employee. These
loose requisites for qualification as a garage mechanic refute the Pe-
titioner's contention that the garage mechanics are highly skilled and
that the proposed unit is a true craft group. Furthermore, the Pe-
titioner's own request that six employees whose primary function is
the operation of bulldozers, launches, and cranes be included in the
unit, indicates that the petition for the garage mechanic units is not
based on craft considerations.
Upon the basis of the foregoing, we find that the garage mechanics
are not true craftsmen and therefore may not be severed from the
existing operating and maintenance unit on that basis. Nor do we
believe that garage mechanics have the special characteristics of such
a group as the Board has severed from an established bargaining unit
on other than a craft basis.6 Accordingly, we find that no question
affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of employees
of the Employer in a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining.' We shall therefore dismiss the petition herein.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings, the National Labor Re-
lations Board hereby orders that the petition for investigation and cer-
tification of representatives of employees of Gulf Oil Corporation,
Port Arthur, Texas, filed by International Association of Machinists,'
be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
Nor do past decisions of the Board establish that garage mechanics are true craft
employees . See Matter of St. Louis Public Service Company, 71 N. L. R. B. 160, 165 ; and
75 N. L. R. B. 693. Cf Matter of Iowa Packing Company, 74 N. L. R. B. 434, 436 ; Matter
of Kaiser Company , Inc., 73 N. L. R. B. 931 ; and Matter of Radio Corporation of America,
66 N. L. R. B. 1014.
e See footnote 3, supra
5 Matter of Southern Pacific Transport Company, Case No. 16-RC-86, a panel decision,
is hereby overruled.
In the absence of any bargaining history, or in cases where bargaining history is incon-
clusive, the Board has found units of garage mechanics appropriate. The decision in this
severance case is not to be construed as a departure from that policy. See, for example,
Matter of Iliini Coach Company, 72 N. L. R. B. 408.
GULF OIL CORPORATION 1277
MEMBERS HoUSToN and GRAY, dissenting :
Although we agree with the majority that the garage mechanics
involved here are not highly skilled craft employees, we are of the
opinion that they constitute a well-defined homogeneous group whose
common interests clearly distinguish them from other employees in
the plant-wide unit. Consequently, for the reasons we announced in
Matter of Southern Pacific Transport Company, " we would grant a
"Globe" election in this case.
Case No. 16-RC-86, decided July 19, 1948 , unpublished.