Yale Petroleum Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 19, 1945

60 N.L.R.B. 754 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter Of YALE PETROLEUM COMPANY and OIL WORKERS
INTERNATIONAL UNION, C. I. O.
Case No. 17-R-1029.-Decided February 19, 19.45
Mr. Y. A. Land, of Tulsa, Okla., for the Company.
Mr. B. J. Rickey, of Casper, Wyo., for the Union.
Mr. Jack Mantel, 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
Yale Petroleum Company, Denver, Colorado, herein called the Com-
pany, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an. appro-
priate hearing upon due notice before Elmer L. Hunt, Trial Ex-
aminer. Said hearing was held at Lovell, Wyoming, on January 16,
1945. The Company 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 opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Yale Petroleum Company is a Wyoming corporation with its prin-
cipal place of business at Denver , Colorado . It is engaged in the
production of crude oil at two fields ; the Garland Field, located near
Lovell, Wyoming, and the Oregon Basin Field, located approxi-
mately 20 miles from Cody, Wyoming. During the 10-month period
60 N L. I: B ., No. 128.
754
YALE PETROLEUM COMPANY 755
ending October 31, 1944, the Company produced crude oil worth
in excess of $250,000. During the salve period, the production of
crude oil at'Garland Field was at the rate of over 370 barrels a day
valued in excess of $78,000. All the crude oil produced at Garland
is sold to the Carter Oil Company, a subsidiary of the Standard Oil
Company of New Jersey. During the same period, the production
of crude oil at Oregon Basin Field was at the rate of approximately
2,800 barrels ,a day; about 2,000 barrels being sold to the Carter Oil
Company, and 800,barrels to The Texas Company. The, oil pur-
chased by the Carter Oil Company is refined at Lovell, Wyoming,
into finished products consisting of gasoline, fuel oil, and distillates
thereof; 25 percent of such production is sold and delivered to points
outside the State of Wyoming. The oil purchased by The Texas
Company is refined at Cody, Wyoming, into finished products, of
which approximately 75 percent is sold and delivered to points out-
side the State of Wyoming. Yale Petroleum Company is a sub-
sidiary of The Texas Company, a Delaware corporation.
We find that the Company 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.
HI. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as
the exclusive bargaining representative of its employees until the
Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, 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 meafiing
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit comprised of all production and mainte-
nance employees at the Company's Garland Field operation, exclud-
' The Board agent reported that the Union submitted four authorization cards, and that
the Company's pay roll of November 15. 1944, contained the names of six employees in the
unit hereinafter found appropriate
756 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ing all clerical workers and supervisory employees. The Company
does not oppose the specific composition of the proposed unit, but
contends that the appropriate unit should comprise employees at
both the Garland Field and the Oregon Basin Field. -
The entire operations of the Company are confined to the Garland
and Oregon Basin Fields, both located in the State of Wyoming.
Garland is 10 miles west of the town of Lovell; Oregon Basin is
approximately 35 miles west of Garland; making a distance of about
45 miles between Oregon Basin and Lovell. Most of the employees
at Garland reside at Lovell, whereas the majority of the employees
at Oregon Basin live about 20 miles away at Cody, Wyoming, some
employees living at the respective fields where they are employed.
The operations of Garland and Oregon Basin are directed from
the Company's home office in Denver, Colorado. Each field is under
the supervision of a superintendent, who has authority to hire and
discharge employees under his respective supervision; pay checks are
made out separately for the employees at each field and mailed
directly to each superintendent for delivery to the employees; the
pay rolls of each field are maintained separately. While the work
performed by the men in both fields is similar, during the past 6
months, there has been a temporary interchange of but five or six
employees between both fields. 'While the employees at both fields
have approximately the same hours, pay, and working conditions,
Oregon Basin_ operates on a three-shift basis, Garland having but
one-shift.
In addition to the separateness of the operations outlined above, it
appears that the Union's organizational campaign has been confined to
'Garland, whose employees are eligible for membership in Local 503
at Lovell. Local 373 of the Union at Cody, Wyoming, has jurisdiction
over the employees at the Oregon Basin operation. As yet, no attempt
to organize the employees at Oregon Basin has been made by Local
373. In view of the foregoing, and since the employees at Garland
Field constitute a fairly stable and well-defined group, we are of the
opinion that they can function effectively as a separate unit for the
purposes of collective bargaining.2 -
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the Gar-
] and Field operation near Lovell, Wyoming, of the Company, excluding
clerical workers and the superintendent, and all other supervisory
employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recom-
mend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
3 See Matter of The Prosperity Company, Inc., 55 N L. R B 350
YALE PETROLEUM COMPANY
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
757
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ploye6s'in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
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 Relations 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 Yale Petroleum
Company, Denver, Colorado, 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 Seventeenth 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
the said pay-roll period because 'they were ill or on vacation or tem-
porarily 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 determine whether or not they desire to be represented by
Oil Workers International Union, C. I. 0., for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above
- Decision and Direction of Election.