The Standard Oil Co. of Ohio

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 20, 1945

63 N.L.R.B. 990 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of THE STANDARD OIL COMPANY OF OLIO and ASSOCIA-
TION OF PETROLEUM WORKERS OF CINCINNATI DIVISION
Case No. 9-R-1694.-Decided September 00, 1945
Mr. James A. Shaw, for the Board.
Mr. A. B. Caldwell, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Mr. James R. Tritschler
and Dr. 0. H. Ohman, of Cleveland, Ohio, for the Company.
Mr. Julius Holzberg, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for the Independent.
Mr. Donald H. Frank, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Association of Petroleum Workers of
Cincinnati Division, herein called the Independent, alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of The Standard Oil Company of Ohio, Cincinnati, Ohio,
herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board pro-
vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Joseph E.
Gubbins, Trial Examiner. The Notice of Hearing, dated March 14,
1945, provided that, in addition to an investigation of the question of
representation, evidence was to be received on the issue of whether or
not the Independent is a successor to or continuation of the Associa-
tion of Petroleum Workers of Standard Oil Company, heretofore dis-
established by the Board, and herein called the Association. The
hearing was held at Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 18, 1945. The Board,
the Company, and the Independent 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 aflirmed.` All parties were
afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
63 N. L. R. B., No. 156
990
THE STANDARD OIL COMPANY OF OHIO 991
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF TILE COMPANY
The Standard Oil Company of Ohio is an Ohio corporation with
its principal offices in Cleveland, Ohio. It is engaged in the production
and transportation of crude oil via pipe line and river barge to 'its
various refineries, and in the refining and marketing of petroleum and
petroleum products through its wholly owned subsidiary corporations.
The Cincinnati Division of the Company is the only operation of the
Company involved in this proceeding. In the year 1944, the Cincinnati
Division purchased for resale and for its own use merchandise, valued
at approximately $4,200,000, from outside the State of Ohio. During
the same year, the Cincinnati Division sold products valued at approx-
imately $420,000 directly into interstate commerce.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Association of Petroleum Workers of Cincinnati Division is an un-
affiliated labor organization admitting to membership employees of
the Company.
III. THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The company has refused to grant recognition to the Independent
as the exclusive bargaining representative of certain of the Company's
employees until the Independent has been certified by the Board in
an appropriate unit. °
As stated above, the Board, in the Notice of Hearing in this pro-
ceeding, provided that, in addition to the usual investigation of the
question of representation, evidence would be received at the hearing
on the issue of whether the petitioning Independent is a successor to
or continuation of the Association which the Company has heretofore
been ordered by the Board to disestablish as a company -dominated
union.'
The Board's Order, disestablishing the Association, was issued on
February 15, 1943. The Board adopted the findings of the Trial Ex-
aminer including the finding that all the chapters of the Association
constituted one union. The Cincinnati chapter was Chapter 3 of the
Association. In the spring of that year, Finneran, chairman of Chap-
1 Matter of Standard Oil Company , an Ohio Corporation, Sohio Pipe Line Corporation,
Latonia Refining Corporation , 47 N. L. R. B. 517.
992 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ter 3, at a regular meeting announced that the Association had been
"thrown out," and that new officers would have to be elected. There-
upon the officers resigned, new ones were elected.2 and new copies of
the old membership cards were signed by the members. Dues collec-
tion, membership, and interest in Chapter 3 declined thereafter, but
the regular monthly meetings were continued. In September 1943, due
to a newspaper item concerning the Board's petition to the Circuit
Court for enforcement of its Order, one Greulich, a member of Chap-
ter 3 who had not held office therein, became interested in the status
of the Association and began research on his own behalf. In February
1944, after several attempts to interest the chapter's membership in
the problem, Greulich read to them a report he had prepared, to show
them what steps he considered necessary to create a union which would
meet the Board's criteria of an undominated organization. For
that purpose,, he included in his report a quotation from footnote 10
of the Trial Examiner's Intermediate Report, as follows:
It . . . appears that the . . . employees of the Cuyahoga County
unit of the Plan, while represented in the earlier meetings of the
Association, eventually "seceded" from the Association and set
up its own organization which was called The Association of
Petroleum Workers, Inc. Since this organization thereafter
functioned. as a separate entity and no allegation involving it
appears in the complaint, the undersigned makes no findings con-
cerning The Association of Petroleum Workers, Inc.
It is clear that the only determination in that quotation is that
because the incorporated Cuyahoga County group was not made a
party to the proceeding, the Decision and Order would not apply to
it; nevertheless, it is equally clear that Greulich thought that this
quotation indicated'the steps to be taken by his chapter, i. e., dis-
affiliation plus incorporation. In March 1944, the Circuit Court
handed down its decision, upholding the Board's Decision.3 Greulich
attended the hearing and the reading of the Court's decision, and
i eported them to the chapter. At the April and May meetings in
1944, the chapter voted to withdraw from the 'Association, and a letter
to that effect was sent to the Association. At the same time, the Cin-
cinnati organization's name was changed to "Association of Petroleum
Workers of Standard Oil Company of Cincinnati, Ohio.' ,'4 Greulich
proposed that they incorporate, and a committee 6 was appointed to
2 Stautsberg , McAvoy, Boeschlm , and Crowe.
3 142 F. ( 2d) 676 (C C. A 6).
4 There is considerable confusion on the record as to the correct name of the organization
at this time , as it was also referred to as "Independent Association of Petroleum Workers
of Cincinnati , Ohio" and as "Association of Petroleum Workers , Cincinnati Divison of
Standard Oil Company of Ohio."
5 McAvoy, Finneran , Bollhauer , and Greulich.
THE STANDARD OIL COMPANY OF OHIO 993
locate a lawyer, in order to determine the proper procedure. There-
after Greulich retained for the organization a lawyer who also repre-
sented unions affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organiza-
tions, and who had had no previous connection with the-Cincinnati
organization. He advised them not to incorporate. After consulta-
tion with the lawyer, Greulich drew up a new proposed Code of Regu-
lations and Bylaws, which he submitted for study to the June meeting.
In July, new officers were elected.6 The minutes state that these
officers were elected "for the coming year," but Greulich testified that
they were elected as temporary officers, to serve during the transition
period between the old organization and a new one. Subsequently,
Greulich designed and had printed new membership cards, and sent
out a "dodger" to all employees, which read as follows :
It is the desire of the Association of Petroleum Workers, Cin-
cinnati Division ,7 to organize and unite the employees of The
Standard Oil Co., in an effort to increase our power pertaining to
wages, hours and working conditions. This union is not affiliated
with the CIO or AFL. It is free from the hazards often created
by labor organizers because it is comprised solely of the employees
of the Company.
A number of your fellow workers are already members of
our union," and they cordially invite you to attend a meeting
which will be held at Quebec Gardens, September 12, 1944 at
8: 30 O'clock.
You will have an opportunity to join a labor organization
established by and for the benefit of the employees it represents.
GET ON THE BAND WAGON WITH YOUR FELLOW
WORKERS AND HELP US ESTABLISH A GOOD HONEST
UNION IN THE CINCINNATI DIVISION
As a result, the September meeting adopted, with some modification,
the Code of Regulations and Bylaws previously discussed. The peti-
tioning union adopted its present name, "Association of Petroleum
Workers of Cincinnati Division." Election of officers was held:
Greulich was again chairman; Bollhauer was elected vice chairman;
Crowe and Boeschlin were reelected to their former positions as treas-
urer and secretary, respectively. New membership cards were dis-
tributed and signed. New membership fees were collected. Greulich
wrote to the Company, requesting the withdrawal of a contract pro-
posed by the old organization in May 1944. The money in the bank
6 Greahch, Duncan, Crowe, and Boeschlin . The latter two Mere thus reelected to the
offices they had held since the spring of 1943; Duncan had been chairman at sometime
before-that
7 The only union in existence at that time was the Association of Petroleum Workers of
Standard Oil Company of Cincinnati, Ohio.
8 See footnote 7, sup) a.
994 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
account of the chapter was retained by the Independent. Thereafter,
new moneys received were deposited in the same account. In Decem-
ber 1944, the present petition was filed. In January 1945, the Supreme
Court denied the Company's petition for certiorari; 9 in February, the
Company posted the required notice. to its employees. In March, the
membership of the Independent voted to turn over to a past chairman
of the chapter the money belonging to the chapter, directing him to pay
a sum to each of the officers who served during his term as remunera-
tion for his services and to turn over the remainder to the Red Cross.
The foregoing facts clearly demonstrate that the Independent is
merely a continuation of Chapter 3 of the Association and that it must
have appeared so to the employees. There was no actual break or
breathing spell between the old organization and the Independent.
The series of steps taken at the uninterrupted regular monthly meet-
ings must have led the employees to conclude that Chapter 3 was, in
effect, to be reorganized by a change in name, constitution and bylaws,
and officers. Officers of the old organization were elected to office in the
Independent. At the regular monthly meeting, in September, the
new cards were distributed, and the steps taken to change the old organ-
ization into the new one. The Independent's action in requesting the
Company to return the proposed contract in effect carried forward the
activities of the prior organization. The funds of the old organiza-
tion were not only assumed by the Independent, but final disposition
of them was made by the Independent's membership. The Company,
meanwhile, had taken no steps to disestablish the Association or to
inform its employees that it was in no way supporting or sponsoring
the formation of the Independent or that it was wholly indifferent
whether or not its employees joined the Independent. We are satis-
fied, and find, that the Independent is a continuation of and successor
to the Association.- Under the circumstances, we cannot certify the
Independent as the representative of the Company?s employees' for the
purposes of collective bargaining, as requested in the petition for
investigation and certification herein. Accordingly, we shall dismiss
the Independent's petition.
We find that no question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
of the Act.
9 323 U. S. 791.
i° Matter of Baltimore Transit Company, The Baltimore Coach Co., 59 N. L. R. B 159;
Matter of Western Electric Company, Incorporated, 57 N. L. R. B 1177; Matter of Johnson
Bronze Company, 57 N. L. R. B. 814; Matter of J. Gtreenebaum Tanning , Company, Plant
## 3, 49 N. L. R. B. 787.
THE STANDARD OIL COMPANY OF OHIO
ORDER
995
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and the entire record
in the case, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that
the petition for investigation and certification of representatives of
employees of The Standard Oil Company of Ohio, Cincinnati, Ohio,
filed by Association of Petroleum Workers of Cincinnati Division, in
Case No. 9-R-1694, be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Order.
662514-46-vol. 63-64