Stanolind Oil & Gas Research Section

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 1, 1949

81 N.L.R.B. 1089 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of STANOLIND OIL & GAS RESEARCH SECTION , EMPLOYER
and INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS , LOCAL No.
948, A. F. L., PETITIONER
Case No. 16-RC-108.-Decided March 1, 1949
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 organization named below claims to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen-
tation 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 to represent a unit composed of all opera-
tors, helpers, and maintenance men in the Process Research Division
of the Employer's Research Section at Tulsa, Oklahoma, excluding
office, clerical, technical, and safety department employees, guards,
and supervisors as defined in the Act.' The Employer contends prin-
cipally that the unit should not be limited to the Process Research
Division, but should include all similar categories of employees
throughout its entire Research Section at Tulsa.
*Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Gray.
I This unit description is that finally adopted by the Petitioner after a series of amend-
ments made at the hearing.
81 N. L. R. B., No. 165.
1089
1090 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The function of the Employer's Research Section is to conduct
research in problems pertaining to the exploration for, and the de-
velopment and production of, oil and gas. The Section is organiza-
tionally divided into five functional divisions named the Process Re-
search Division; the Exploration Research Division; the Production
Research Division; the Patent Division; and the Research Clerical,
Office and Storehouse Division. As indicated by their titles, research
is performed in the first three divisions, while the other two serve
clerical and administrative functions.
Problems are assigned to one or more of the research divisions in
accord with their complexity and operational application. All activ-
ities of the Employer are centralized and integrated in order to achieve
economy and efficiency in the performance of research. All per-
sonnel is divided into 25 job classifications. New employees are
placed in the basic category of trainee and are advanced to higher
categories after obtaining general knowledge applicable to all classi-
fications. having obtained the requisite training, employees are
assigned to, and interchanged among, the various research projects
in the different functional divisions in accord with the needs of the
Employer. Thus, a trainee may be advanced to pilot plant opera-
tor, maintenance man, or technician. In this manner, personnel may
be utilized in the division in which it is required, regardless of classi-
fication or organizational assignment. The employer's labor policy
is also centralized and administered on a plant-wide basis, as a result
of which vacation and benefit plans, seniority provisions, wage rates,
and job classifications are uniform throughout the plant.
The record discloses that employees in job classifications sought
by the Petitioner are to be found in other organizational divisions
of the Employer, where they perform comparable duties.' As the
employees in the requested unit form an integral part of a larger
group of employees having a common basis of training and com-
parable skills, and in view of the functional coherence and interde-
pendence which exist among the Employer's research operations, we
believe that the unit sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate .3 We
shall, therefore dismiss the petition.
2 The specific classifications of maintenance man, mechanic , welder, wireman, trainee,
and helper, that the petitioner appears to seek as part of the unit above described , are. also
found in the Exploration Research Division or the Production Research Division At the
time of the hearing the category of "operator ," which appeared on the Employer's organi-
zational charts as "pilot plant operator ," was found only in the Process Research Division,
in which the functions of Research were being carried on by the operation of several experi-
mental pilot plants The Employer stated that it intended after about 3 months to discon-
tinue one of its pilot plants, at which time the operators would be transferred to other
positions in which their skill might be utilized , either in the Process Research Division or
elsewhere throughout the Section
3 Cf. Matter of International Harvester Company , McCormick Works, 77 N. L. It. B. 52D.
STANOLIND OIL & GAS RESEARCH SECTION
ORDER
1091
Upon the basis of the entire record in this case, the National Labor
Relations board hereby orders that the petition filed herein be, and
it hereby is, dismissed.
829595-50-vol. 81-70