Standard Oil Co. of California

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 15, 1949

82 N.L.R.B. 108 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter Of STANDARD OIL COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA, EMPLOYER
and SHEET METAL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION, LOCAL
216, A. F. L., PETITIONER
In the Matter of STANDARD OIL COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA, EMPLOYER
and INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, PETITIONER
In the Matter of STANDARD OIL COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA, EMPLOYER
and UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS AND JOINERS, PETITIONER
Cases Nos. 20-RC-9, 20-RC-37, and 20-RC-41, respectively
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
AND
ORDER
March 15, 1949
Pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Elections issued by the
Board on October 20, 1948, the Regional Director conducted elections
on November 17 and 18, 1948, by secret ballot among the five groups
of employees at the Employer's Richmond Refinery described in the
Decision.
The Tallies of Ballots indicate that all valid ballots in Group 1 were
for the Sheet Metal Workers, the petitioning craft union; that a
majority of valid ballots in Group 2 were for the Carpenters, the peti-
tioning craft union; that a majority of valid ballots in Group 3 were
for the Bricklayers, the petitioning craft union; but that in Group
4, a craft unit requested by the Plumbers, the results were inconclusive
because the Plumbers received 109 of 222 valid and challenged votes,
9 being challenged, while the remaining 104 ballots were divided as
follows : the Oil Workers, 56, the Independent, 45, and against par-
ticipating labor organizations, 3. In Group 5, the residual unit, a
majority of valid ballots were for the Independent.
In his Report on Challenges the Regional Director states that the
Oil Workers has filed unfair labor practice charges on behalf of the
nine voters whose ballots were challenged, alleging that these indi-
viduals were discriminatorily discharged by the Employer in violation
82 N. L. R. B., No. 10.
108
STANDARD OIL COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA 109
of Section 8 (a) (3) of the Act, and that extensive litigation of the
unfair Abor practice proceeding will indefinitely delay a resolution
of the question of the eligibility of these nine voters. He therefore
recommends an immediate run-off election in Group 4. The Em-
ployer has filed a statement in support of this recommendation.
The Oil Workers has excepted to the Report on Challenges, in effect
demanding that the Board await the final disposition of the challenges
and then, because it assumes that all 9 challenged ballots were votes
for the Oil Workers making a total of 113 votes cast against the craft
union in Group 4, hold a run-off election in a unit composed of Groups
4 and the residual Group 5.1 The Oil Workers has recently filed a new
charge alleging that the Employer has discriminatorily demoted 45
employees, members of the Oil Workers, since the election.
The Board has considered the Regional Director's Report on Chal-
lenges, the Statement of the Employer in Support thereof, the Oil
Workers' Exceptions thereto, and the facts now available to it with
respect to the additional unfair labor practice charges filed by the
Oil Workers; and has determined (1) that a run-off election in Group
4 is not appropriate until such time as the eligibility of the challenged
voters has been determined, and the recent charge disposed of; and
(2) that no valid reason appears to prevent the immediate certifica-
tion in the remaining groups.2
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Regional Director for the Twentieth
Region continue to impound the ballots of the nine employees chal-
lenged in Group 4.
In the Decision and Direction of Elections previously referred to
the Board made no final determination of the appropriate unit or
units pending the outcome of the elections. Upon the basis of the
entire record in the case the Board makes the following :
SUPPLEMENTAL FINDINGS OF FACT
We find that each of the following groups of employees of Standard
Oil Company of California, at its Richmond, California, Refinery
1 The amended Tally of Ballots in Group 5 was as follows :
Approximate number of eligible voters--------------------- --------------- 2, 350
Votes for the Oil workers---------------------------------------------- 752
Votes for Independent ------------------------------------------------- 1,011
Votes for IAM-------------------------------------------------------- 89
Votes against participating labor organizations---------------------------- 33
Valid votes counted ---------------------------------------------------- 1,885
Challenged ballots
----------------------------------------------------- 50
Total valid votes counted and challenged--------------------------------- 1,935
2 Matter of J. I. Case Co ., 81 N. L R. B. 969. Member Murdock would, in accordance
with the tenor of his dissent in the Case decision , not certify in the residual group until a
conclusive determination in Group 4 . However, he considers himself bound by the
majority opinion in Matter of J. I. Case.
110 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
constitutes a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act :
1. All persons employed as sheet metal workers (tinners) and
apprentices, including head mechanics and lead mechanics, ex-
cluding all supervisors and all other employees;
2. All persons employed as carpenters and apprentices, includ-
ing head mechanics and lead mechanics, the canvasman and the
saw filer, excluding all supervisors and all other employees;
3. All persons employed as bricklayers and apprentices, includ-
ing head mechanics and lead mechanics, excluding all supervisors
and all other employees;
4. All remaining production and maintenance employees on the
classified pay roll at the Richmond Refinery, excluding all persons
employed as plumbers and pipefitters and apprentices, head and
lead mechanic pipefitters regularly assigned pipefitter helpers and
leadburners,' and also excluding employees covered by contracts
with the I. A. M., the Boilermakers, the I. B. E. W., the Teamsters,
and also excluding employees covered by separate contracts with
the Independent, as well as all supervisors, guards, roundmen,
and gate men.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that the Sheet Metal Workers International
Association, Local 216, has been designated and selected by all of the
employees of the above-named Employer in the first unit hereinabove
found by the Board to be appropriate ; that the United Brotherhood
of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Local 642, has been designated
and selected by a majority of the employees of the above-named Em-
ployer in the second unit hereinabove found by the Board to be appro-
priate; that the Bricklayers, Masons and Plasterers International
Union of America, Bricklayers Union No. 8 California, has been desig-
nated and selected by a majority of the employees of the above-named
Employer in the third unit hereinabove found by the Board to be
appropriate; and that the Independent Union of Petroleum Workers
has been designated and selected by a majority of the employees of the
above-named Employer in the fourth unit hereinabove found by the
Board to be appropriate; that the said labor organizations have been
selected as the representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
by each of the said groups aforesaid respectively, and that , pursuant
s The exclusion of the plumbers group from this residual unit is without prejudice to its
later inclusion subject to final determination of the election held in the group November
17-18, 1948.
STANDARD OIL COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA 111
to Section 9 (a) of the Act, as amended, the said organizations are the
exclusive representatives of all the employees in the respective units
for the purposes of collective bargaining with respect to rates of pay,
wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of employment.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG and MEMBER GRAY took no part in the considera-
tion of the above Certification of Representatives and Order.