Sinclair Refining Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 30, 1947

73 N.L.R.B. 724 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of SINCLAIR REFINING COMPANY, EMPLOYER and OIL
WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, LOCAL 210, PETITIONER
Case No. 13-R-4.15°2.Decided April 30, 1947
Messrs. Sturtevant Hinman and D. K. McIntosh, of Chicago, Ill., for
the Employer.
Messrs. Russell Brandon and Roy N. Freeman, of Chicago, Ill., for
the Petitioner.
Mr. Stanley R. Strauss, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed,' hearing in this case was held at Chicago,
Illinois, on February 4, 1947, before Robert T. Drake, hearing officer.
The Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that it
was prematurely filed in view of the contemplated expansion of the
Employer's operations. The hearing officer referred this motion to
the Board. For the reasons stated in Section V, infra, the motion is
denied. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OP FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Sinclair Refining Company, a Maine corporation and a subsidiary of
Sinclair Oil Corporation, is engaged throughout the United States in
refining, transporting, and marketing petroleum and petroleum prod-
ucts. It operates refineries located in seven States. Involved in the
instant proceeding are the Employer's plant at East Chicago, Indiana,
and laboratories under construction at Harvey, Illinois. During 1946,
1 The petition filed with the Regional Director recites as appropriate a unit of em-
ployees at the Employer's East Chicago, Illinois, plant. With the consent of the Employer,
the petition was amended at the hearing by adding to the unit employees at the Employee's
Harvey, Illinois, laboratories.
73 N. L. R. B., No. 138.
724
SINCLAIR REFINING COMPANY 725
the Employer brought crude oil, valued in excess of $100,000, to its
East Chicago plant from points outside Indiana. During the same
year, the Employer shipped outside Indiana a substantial portion of
the products refined at the East Chicago plant.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. TIIE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
III. TIIE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
We find, in accordance with the agreement of the parties, that all
hourly rated employees of the research and development department
at the Employer's East Chicago, Indiana, and Harvey, Illinois, labora-
tories, excluding salaried employees 2 and all supervisory employees
with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, .or otherwise
effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend
such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Employer contends that an election should not be directed at
the present. time because the number of employees in the unit found
appropriate, smpra, will be increased substantially in the near future,
and because employees now on the pay roll do not represent a fair
cross-section of the anticipated full complement of employees. ,
The Employer is in the process of moving its research and develop-
ment department from East Chicago, Indiana, to Harvey, Illinois,
where a group of new laboratories is being erected. The move is part
of a program of expansion of facilities and personnel. The Harvey
project, which is about 10 miles from the East Chicago plant, is
2 Salaried employees, with few exceptions, are technological workers with college
degrees.
726 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
approximately 25 percent completed, and 2 of the buildings have
already been finished. As the buildings under construction become
ready for use, laboratory operations and East Chicago personnel are
gradually being shifted to Harvey, and additional employees are
being hired for work in the Harvey laboratories. The Employer con-
templates that its expansion program will have been completed by
the end of 1947, or shortly thereafter, depending upon the speed with
which the Harvey project is completed.
At the time of the hearing herein there were 152 hourly rated em-
ployees in the Employer's research'and development department at
East Chicago. At least 100, and perhaps all, of these employees will
be transferred from East Chicago to Harvey. The laboratory em-
ployees not transferred will be discharged or utilized in the Employer's
East Chicago refinery. The Employer estimates that by September.
1947, there will be approximately 100 hourly rated employees in East
Chicago, and an additional 100 in Harvey. When the movement to
Harvey has been completed, the Employer expects to have a comple-
ment of about 350 hourly rated employees in the Harvey laboratories.
Ultimately, the li ast Chicago laboratories will be shut down.
The present complement of hourly rated employees in the research
and development department consists of employees with the follow-
ing job classifications: development helper; junior development oper-
ator; stationary watchman; pipe fitter; janitress; and storekeeper.
Junior development operators are laboratory technicians, with high
school diplomas in physics or chemistry, who perform experiments,
make calculations, record data, and make mechanical changes in equip-
ment. The Harvey complement of hourly rated employees will in-
clude the additional job categories of mechanician, technician, and
warehousemen. The mechanicians will be helpers, skilled in a num-
ber of crafts, who will construct apparatus for use in the laboratories.
The technicians will operate highly specialized types of laboratory
equipment.
Since the establishment of the department in Harvey will not effect
a change in the character of the operations of the research and de-
velopment department, since all existing job classifications will be
continued, and since the job classifications to be added appear to in-
volve techniques, interests, and functions closely resembling those in-
herent in the present classifications, we are of the opinion that the
present complement of hourly rated employees in the research and de-
velopment department is representative of the anticipated future com-
plement of such employees. Accordingly, because the present comple-
ment of employees constitutes more than 40 percent of the anticipated
full complement, we shall adhere to our usual policy in such circum-
stances of directing an immediate election. We shall, however, enter-
SINCLAIR REFINING COMPANY 727
taro a new petition for an investigation and certification of representa-
tives affecting the employees involved herein within a period less than
1 year, but not before the expiration of 6 months from the date of any
certification we may issue in the instant proceeding, upon proof (1)
that the number of employees in the appropriate unit is more than
double the number eligible to vote in the election hereinafter directed;
and (2) that the Petitioner represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the expanded appropriate unit.3
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot, subject to the
limitations and additions set forth in the Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with Sinclair Refining Company, East
Chicago, Indiana, and Harvey, Illinois, 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 super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region, acting in
this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and
subject to Sections 203.55 and 203.56, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 4, among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed dur-
ing the pay -roll period immediately preceding the date of this Di-
rection, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll
period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off,
and including employees in the armed forces of the United States
who present themselves in person at the polls , 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, to de-
termine whether or not they desire to be represented by Oil Workers
International Union, Local 210, for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining.
°Matter of Inteinatzonal Shoe Company, 72 N. L R. B 1029, Matter of The Fire-
stone Tire & Rubber Company, 69 N. L. R. B. 634; Matter of Aluminum Company of
America, 52 N L. R B 1040.