Shell Chemical Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 15, 1948

79 N.L.R.B. 697 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In' the Matter of SHELL CHEMICAL CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, PETITIONER and OIL
WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, CIO, INTERVENOR
Case No. 2_7-RC-199.-Decided September 15, 1948
DECISION
AND
ORDER
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 involved claim to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. No question of representation 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, for the following
reasons:
The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all machinists and ma-
chinists' helpers at the Employer's Dominguez, California, plant.
The Intervenor contends that its present bargaining unit, including all
employees at the Employer's Dominguez and Martinez, California,
plants, constitutes the only appropriate unit. The Employer takes
a neutral position in the matter.
At its Dominguez and Martinez plants, the Employer is engaged
in the manufacture of alcohol and related products from petroleum.
In each plant there is a plant maintenance department, the primary
* Houston, Reynolds , and Gray.
79 N. L. R. B., No 90.
697
698 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
function of which is to insure that its plant operates continuously 24
hours a day. Each maintenance department is composed of pipe
fitters, welders, machinists, electricians, painters, and other craftsmen.
The Intervenor has represented all hourly paid employees at both
plants since 1937, annually executing a single contract with the Em-
ployer covering the employees in both plants.' We have frequently
held that where there has been a long continued bargaining history
among employees at like plants on the basis of a multi-plant unit, a
unit limited to employees of one of such plants,2 or, as here, to a seg-
ment of employees of one of such plants,3 is not appropriate for pur-
poses of collective bargaining. We find that the unit limited to the
machinists in the Dominguez plant, to the exclusion of the machinists
in the Martinez plant, is inappropriate, and we shall, therefore, dismiss
the petition.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the entire record in this case, the National Labor
Relations Board hereby orders that the petition filed in the instant
matter be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
i In 1937, the Board certified the present Intervenor as the sole bargaining agent for all
hourly paid production and operation employees at the Employer' s Dominguez , Martinez,
and Shell Point plants . Matter of Shell Chemical Corporation , 4 N L R. B. 259, 269.
Electricians and machinists at the Shell Point plant were excluded from the unit. There
were, at that time, no such craftsmen at the Dominguez and Martinez plants . The instant
record is silent respecting the Shell Point plant , nor does it indicate when the Dominguez
and Martinez plants employed craftsmen
2 Matter of Standard Bi ands, Incorporated , 75 N. L R B 394.
3 Matter of Robert (lair Company, Inc, 77 N. L. It, B, 649.