Schlumberger Well Surveying Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 25, 1948

79 N.L.R.B. 59 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of SCHLUMBERGER WELL SURVEYING CORPORATION", EM-
PLOYER and OIL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, LOCAL 227, CIO,
PETITIONER
Case No. 16-RC-110.-Decided August 25,1948
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 a consulting engineering firm engaged in
rendering certain specialized services to the drilling departments of
various oil producing companies. Use of the services while drilling
a well enables the Employer's clients to obtain data about the sub-
surface formations or the drill hole. The services are rendered as a
well is being drilled, and, by means of electric cables inserted into the
well from an elaborately equipped truck owned by the Employer, such
information as the depth of the well at a given stage of the drilling, the
thickness, content and radioactivity of a specific formation, the angle
and direction of the dip of the formation, and the deviation of the well
from the vertical, is obtained.
The Employer has 13 or more divisions, operating in all oil-produc-
ing areas of the United States and Canada. The work of each division
is carried on, except in cases of emergency, entirely in the area. assigned
to that division. The Employer has its principal office in Houston,
Texas, and branch offices in its various divisions. This case is con-
•Chairman Flerzog and Members Murdock and Gray.
79 N. L. R. B., No. 11.
,59
60 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
cerned with the Gulf Coast Texas Division, which comprises only
territory within the State of Texas.
The Employer's gross income for its fiscal year ending in August
1947, was about $12,000,000. Of this sum, approximately $1,300,000
was earned by the Gulf Coast Texas Division. This -Division pur-
chased, about $400,000 worth of materials during the past year. of
which 1 or 2 percent was purchased directly from sources outside the
State of Texas.
Among the, clients of the Employer are Texas Company, Shell Oil
Company, Superior Oil Company, Humble Oil Company, Sun Oil
Company, and Salt Dome Oil Company.''-
We find, contrary to the contention of the Employer, that it is en-
gaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act?
2. The labor organization named below claims 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) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. In accordance with an agreement of the parties, we find that the
following employees constitute a unit appropriate for purposes.of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.:
All production and maintenance employees in the Employer's Gulf
Coast Texas Division, including employees at Wharton, Beaumont,
and Houston, Texas, but excluding all engineers and engineering per-
sonnel (which includes field engineers, junior engineers, specialists,
and trainee engineers), other professional employees, office and clerical
employees, guards, watchmen, division supervisor, division mechanic,
division electrician, and all other supervisors, as defined in the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses 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 supervision
of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was heard,
and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, 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
1 On these facts we also find the Company ' s contention that assumption of jurisdiction
by the,Board will not effectuate the policies of the Act to be without merit.
SCHLUMBERGER WELL SURVEYING CORPORATION 61
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 reinstated
prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike
who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they
desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Oil
Workers International Union, Local 227, CIO.
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