Sunray Oil Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 31, 1945

61 N.L.R.B. 1648 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of SUNRAY Om CORPORATION and OIL WORKERS
INTERNATIONAL UNION, C. I. O.
Case No. 16-R-1226.-Decided May 31,1945
Mr: Edward Howell, of Tulsa, Okla., for the Company.
Mr, H. L, Campbell, of Tulsa, Okla., and Mr. Leon Jones, of Allen,
Okla., for the Union. -
Mr. Isadore Engle, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Oil Workers International Union,
C. I. 0., herein called the Union , alleging that a question affecting
commerce - had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Sunray Oil Corporation , Tulsa , Oklahoma , herein called the Company,
the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate
hearing upon due notice before Elmer Davis , Trial Examiner. Said
hearing was held at Tulsa , Oklahoma, on April 13 , 1945. ^ _ The Com-
pany and the Union appeared and participated . All parties were
afforded full opportunity to be heard , to examine and cross -examine
witnesses , and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues . The Trial
Examiner 's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial
error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an opportu-
nity to file briefs with the Board.
upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Sunray Oil Corporation is a Delaware corporation, with busi-
ness offices located at Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is engaged in the produc-
tion, sale and distribution of crude oil and natural gas, and in the
refining and marketing of crude oil and its byproducts. In connec-
tion with its business, the Company operates a refinery and other
facilities at Allen, Oklahoma, with which we are solely concerned.
61 N. L. R. B, No. 258.
1648
SUNRAY O[L CORPORATION 1649
Duting the last 6 months of 1944, the Company manufactured and
sold through its refinery at Allen, Oklahoma, products valued at
$2,126,478.91, of which approximately $1,750,092.14, or 82.3 percent
was sold and delivered to States other than the State of Oklahoma.
The Company admits, and we find, that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Oil Workers International Union, affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to mem-
bership employees of the Company.
M. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative in an alleged appropriate unit of
the Company's hourly paid employees at the Allen Refinery until the
Union has been certified by the Board in the appropriate unit.
A statement of a Field Examiner, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the Union' represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit of all hourly paid employees employed at
the Company's refinery at Allen, Oklahoma, the pipe-line gathering
system and the refinery filling station excluding, among others, the
chemist, the office manager in the refinery division, and the head
gauger in the pipe-line division. The Company is in substantial agree-
ment with the Union,2 except that it would also include in the unit
all hourly paid employees of the production division.
The Company's operations in and about Allen, Oklahoma , consist
of the production, pipe-line, and refinery divisions, as well as a filling
1 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 66 application -for-membership
cards which bore the names of 61 persons listed on the Company's pay roll containing the
names of 85 employees in the alleged appropriate unit; and that, of these 66 cards, 2
were dated in November and December 1944, 2 in January 1945, 11 in February 1945,
41 in March 1945, 5 in April 1945, and 5 were undated . The record indicates that at the
time of the hearing there had been a revision upwards in the Company 's personnel ; the
figures, as then submitted , showed 105 employees in the refinery, from 8 to 10 in the
pipe-line division, and 2 in the refinery filling station.
2 Although the Company was, at first , in disagreement with the Union with respect to
the disposition to be made of the chemist , the office manager , and the head gauger, it
appears that it ultimately agreed with the Union to the exclusion of all these salaried
employees.
1650 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
station. The production division-employees are engaged in duties
related to the obtaining of crude oil from land leased by the Company
and located within a radius of approximately 35 miles of the refinery.
Their responsibility ends with the field operation. The pipe-line
division employees function in gauging and pumping the oil in the
process of transmitting the oil through pipe lines to the refinery from
the tanks on the leases. The refinery division employees function in
the processing of crude oil. The refinery filling station is a public
filling station adjacent to the refinery.
The production division, which has its headquarters office approx-
imately 4 or 5 miles from the refinery, is under different supervision
from that of the refinery and pipe-line divisions, which two divisions
have common supervision. The rates of pay in the production divi-
sion are lower than those in the refinery division. The record shows
that transfers of employees within the three divisions have been rather
infrequent 3 and that experience in production work does not, as a
rule, qualify, an employee for employment in other divisions. The
operations of the refinery and pipe-line divisions, are, however, rather
closely coordinated. Thus, the pipe-line employees initiate the re-
finery operations by gauging the oil 'tt the tanks on the leases, turning
it into the line, and pumping it into the refinery, where the refinery
employees process the crude oil. The filling station, as already in-
dicated, is adjacent to the refinery; its close relationship to the re-
finery is evidenced by the fact that the filling station employees are
listed on the refinery pay roll, and are under the supervision of the
refinery superintendent. Under all the circumstances, we are of the
opinion that the operations of the refinery, pipe line, and refinery
filling station are closely integrated and that the employees therein
have interests sufficiently different from those of the production em-
ployees to warrant their establishment as a separate unit appropriate
for collective bargaining purposes.4
There remains for consideration the propriety of including in the
unit the two office clerks and the one yield clerk, who do stenographic
work and general clerical work in the refinery office. Although the
Union and the Company would include these employees in the unit,
we find no cogent reason for departing from our customary policy in
operations of this type of excluding clerical employees from units of
production and maintenance employees. Accordingly, we shall ex-
clude the office clerks and yield clerk.5
S The assistant to the vice president of the Company testified that over,a period of 6
months there were about 3 or 4 transfers 'among the 3 divisions ; he indicated, however,
that it Mould be possible for transfers to occur in the field without the knowledge of the
office.
6 See Matter of Kendall Refining Co., 59 N. L. R B. 1334.
See Matter of Richfield Oil Corporation, 59 N. L. It. B. 1554; Matter of Standard Oil
Company of California, 58 N. L. It. B. 560.
SUNRAY OIL CORPORATION 1651
We find that all hourly paid employees employed at the Company's
refinery at Allen, Oklahoma, including the pipe-line gathering system
and the refinery filling station, but excluding the production division
employees, office clerks, the yield clerk, the chemist, the office manager
in the refinery division, the head gauger in the pipe-line division, 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
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec.
tion herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction .6
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Sunray Oil Cor-
poration, Tulsa, Oklahoma, an election by secret ballot shall be con-
ducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from
the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the
Regional Director for the Sixteenth Region, acting in this matter as
agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article
III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among the
employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
date of this Direction, 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
any who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not
been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to deter-
mine whether or not they desire to be represented by Oil Workers
International Union, C. 1. 0., for the purposes of collective bargaining.
6 The Union requested that it be designated on the ballot in the manner set forth in
the Direction of Election , infra. The request is hereby granted.