Gulf Oil Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 3, 1952

100 N.L.R.B. 1007 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

GULF OIL, CORPORATION 1007-
For the reasons stated ,, I grant Respondents ' motions, and recommend that the .
,complaint , as to both Respondents , be dismissed ,in,it entirety ., I find no evidence
that the Company warned its employees against union activity, or furnished
office space to Guthrie.
CONCLUSIONS , OF LAw,
1. Automobile Salesmen Union , Local No. 1048, Retail Clerks International
-Association , AFL, is a labor organization within the meaning of Section 2 (5)
of the Act.
2, Mueller-Harkins Motor Co., a Washington corporation , at all times material
herein , was engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act.
3. The General Counsel has failed to prove that either Respondent herein has
committed any of the unfair labor practices alleged in the complaint.
[Recommendations omitted from publication in this volume.]
'GULF OIL CORPORATION and OIL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION,
CIO, and ITS LOCAL 646,1 PETITIONER . Case No. 4-RC-1447. Sep-
tember 3, 1952
Decision and Direction of Elections
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Harold X. Summers, hearing
officer. 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 Act, the Board has
'delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Murdock].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the respresen-
tation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
'9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate units :
The Petitioner seeks to represent, all the production, maintenance,
and clerical employees at the Employer's Girard Point Terminal,
Glenside Bulk Station, and Upper Darby,Central Repair and Equip-
ment Shop, all located in the greater Philadelphia area, including dis-
patchers and watchmen, but excluding professional employees and su-
2 At -the hearing , the Petitioner amended its petition to add its Local 646.
100 NLRB No. 153.
1008 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
pervisors as defined in the Act.2 The Employer contends that sepa-
rate plant units should be established; with separate units for the cleri-
cal and the operating employees at each of the plants. As an alterna-
tive position in the event the Board denies its multiplant unit request,
the Petitioner indicated at the hearing its willingness to accept any
other units we might find appropriate.
The Employer, a Pennsylvania corporation, is engaged in the pro-
duction, transportation, refining, and distribution of petroleum prod-
ucts. Its domestic-marketing department is divided geographically
into seven sales divisions, and each division is subdivided into sales
districts containing numerous installations. The three installations
involved herein are located in the Philadelphia area and form a part
of the Philadelphia sales division, whose territory covers six States
and the District of Columbia. However, they do not form an organi-
zational entity of the Employer as Upper Darby is a divisional opera-
tion, while Girard Point and Glenside come under the jurisdiction of
the Philadelphia sales district. Upper Darby is the divisional opera-
tion where advertising material, signs, and other marketing equip-
ment are repaired for the entire sales division 3 It is a service depart-
ment only, and handles no bulk or package goods. On the other hand,
Girard Point and Glenside are district installations, which sell and
distribute petroleum products within their assigned territory in the
Philadelphia sales district' They are not service departments. Be-
sides having their own immediate supervisors, they are under the
general supervision of the Philadelphia sales district manager.
Pursuant to consent elections held in various units between 1947.
and 1950, the Gulf Employees Union or its predecessor was certified
by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board as bargaining representa-
tive of all the groups of employees involved herein. Thus, on April
i0, 1947, the Union or its predecessor was certified for the delivery -
salesmen or truck drivers at Girard Point; on March 23, 1948, for
the remaining nonsupervisory employees at Girard Point; on Septem-
ber 7, 1948, and July 27, 1950, for all the nonsupervisory employees
at Glenside and Upper Darby, respectively. After each certification,
the parties executed separate contracts for the employees covered by
the certifications.,' However, the negotiations were always joint; the
2 The Petitioner is the successor to Gulf Employees Union and seeks to represent In a
single unit all the employees formerly represented by Gulf Employees Union or its
predecessor.
s The sales `division has another such installation in Pittsburgh,
Girard Point atso transports petroleuhi "products to other districts in the Philadelphia
sales division.
5 At some unspecified time, the parties began executing separate contracts for the
delivery-salesmen and the other nonsupervisory employees at Glenside , rather than a
single contract for all these employees , although they were covered by a single certifica-
tion . As a result , five separate contracts resulted from the four certifications.
GULF OIL CORPORATION 1009;
same union committee negotiated all the agreements at the same^time;
and the( substantive terms of the contracts were the same.6
The Petitioner contends, contrary to the Employer, that a single,
unit covering all the employees involved herein is appropriate. We
find no merit in this contention. Plant units are generally appropri-
ate for the purposes of collective bargaining, unless they have been
effectively merged to form a consolidated unit. The record does not
support a finding that such a consolidation has occurred here.
Although the contracts were jointly negotiated and had substantially
the same provisions, each of the five separate contracts refers to the
plant-wide certifications of the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board,,
and constitutes recognition in accordance with said certifications on a
plant basis. Further, each contract provides for plant-wide seniority
and for adjustment of grievances at the plant level. It thus appears
that the history of collective bargaining negates any inference that a
merger of the single-plant units has been effectuated, or that the
parties intended to destroy the separate identities of each.7 More-
over, the employees at Girard Point, Glenside, and Upper Darby have.
no special community of interest that sets them apart from the other
employees in the Philadelphia sales district or division. There is
very little interchange of personnel between these three installations.
Employee seniority rights depend upon the length of service in each
plant. Employees are hired or discharged by the local management
of each installation. Upper Darby is a divisional operation, while
Girard Point and Glenside are district operations. Furthermore, the
installations are geographically separate 8 In addition, bargaining
contracts covering other installations throughout the division are on
a single-plant basis. In these circumstances, we find no merit in the
Petitioner's 'contention that a single unit composed of employees at
Girard Point, Glenside, and Upper Darby is appropriate.
The Employer contends that at each of the three plants separate
units of clerical employees and of all other production and mainte-
nance employees, excluding dispatchers as supervisors, are appropri-
ate. The Petitioner argues that the clerical employees are plant or
factory clericals, who should be included with the production and
maintenance employees, and that dispatchers are not supervisors. It
appears that the clerks sought by the Petitioner are primarily office
clericals who check and price invoices, tabulate receipts and disburse-
ments, of money, keep inventory, receive and process orders, handle
terminal stock reports, give credit reports, and handle advertising
8 The last contracts expired December 31, 1951, and were orally extended to February 4,
1952 . These contracts are not urged as a bar to this proceeding.
1 See Gulf Oil Corporation, 90 NLRB 1607; Hygrade Food Products Corporation, 85
NLRB 841.
8 Upper Darby is outside the extreme western part of Philadelphia ; Girard Point is in
the extreme south of the city ; Glenside is north of the city, 20 miles away from Girard
Point.
- 1010 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
material and old records.° In the performance of their duties, they.
,operate typewriters, calculators, addressograph and graphotype
machines. They work in the same office as the dispatchers, separate
from the warehouse and plant where the operating personnel work.
'They do not perform manual work. Except for the stock clerks who
take inventory and check stock with the assistance of warehousemen,
.the clerks do not have close contact with the operating employees. At
Girard Point, where the great majority of the employees involved
herein work,10 the clerks and the production and maintenance em-
!ployees are under their own separate and different supervision. There
,is virtually no interchange between clerical and operating employees,
although some employees have seniority in both groups. In these
circumstances, we shall follow our customary practice and establish
the clerical employees in separate units 11 As there is only one clerk
at Upper Darby, we shall not establish a clerical unit at
that installation.
The Employer would exclude the dispatchers from any units found
appropriate herein, on the ground that they are supervisors who
responsibly direct other employees 12 The duties of a dispatcher are to
.arrange for the distribution of the Employer's products in an eco-
nomical manner. He divides the delivery orders, received from the
.order clerk, into previously established delivery routes or zones, and
then assigns them to the delivery-salesmen in accordance with their
knowledge of and familiarity with the routes. This follows estab-
lished company routine, as the driver-salesmen are generally kept on
the same routes. The dispatcher has no authority to change a route
except in case of an emergency. When drivers call in on deliveries or
road emergencies, the dispatcher issues instructions on routine
matters; otherwise, he contacts his supervisors for specific instructions,
which he transmits to the drivers. He performs the clerical functions
.of checking delivery-salesmen in and out, checking their money, and
keeping their time and payroll records. In case a driver's time record
is not adequate, the dispatcher is expected to investigate and try to
correct the deficiency, if possible, and report to his immediate super-
-visor if unable to do so. Although there was testimony that a dis-
patcher does order overtime, the record shows that he does so only in
routine instances. It thus appears that the dispatchers' duties do
not require the exercise of independent judgment. As the dispatchers
,do not responsibly direct other employees and as they do not possess
Other indicia of supervisory authority,13 we find that they are not
9 The switchboard telephone operator at Girard Point is also classified as clerk.
10 There are 126 employeeq,. including 14 clerks , at Girard Point ; 18, including 3 clerks,
At Glenside ; and 15, including 1 clerk , at Upper Darby.
"Gulf "Oil Corporation , supra; see Standard Oil Company (Indiana ), 80 NLRB 1275.
72 There are no dispatchers at Upper Darby.
'$ Cf. Gulf Oil Corporation, supra, where the record showed that the dispatchers had
authority effectively to recommend discipline or discharge.
GULF OIL CORPORATION -101"1
supervisors within the meaning of the Act.14 In view of the essentially
clerical nature of their duties and the agreement of the parties that
dispatchers should be included in the same units with the clerical
employees, we shall include the dispatchers in the clerical units.
There remains for consideration the secretary to the superintendent
at Girard Point. The Employer would exclude her from the unit as a
confidential employee. The record indicates that the superintendent,
among other things, assists in the negotiation of collective bargaining
contracts, attends bargaining conferences, and adjusts grievances.
.The secretary has access to personnel and labor relations files, and per-
forms the necessary stenographic, clerical, and secretarial duties per-
taining to the superintendent's exercise of his managerial functions in
the field of labor relations. -In these circumstances, we find that the
secretary to the superintendent at Girard Point is a confidential
employee and shall exclude her from the clerical unit 15
i'We find that the following groups of employees constitute separate
units appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
a.- All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's
Girard Point Terminal, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, including deliv-
ery salesmen and watchinen,ls but excluding clerical employees, dis-
patchers, professional employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
b., All clerical employees and dispatchers at the Employer's Girard
Point Terminal, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,,excluding the superin-
tendent's secretary, professional employees, and supervisors as defined
in the Act. -
c. All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's
Glenside Bulk Station, Glenside, Pennsylvania, including delivery
salesmen, but excluding clerical employees, dispatchers; professional
employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
d. All clerical employees and dispatchers at the Employer's Glen-
side Bulk Station, Glenside, Pennsylvania, excluding professional
employees and supervisors as defined in the Act.
e. All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's
Upper Darby Central Repair and Equipment Shop, Upper Darby,
Pennsylvania, including watchmen'17 but excluding clerical employees,
professional employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
5. At Girard Point and Glenside, the Employer utilizes delivery
salesmen or truck drivers to distribute its petroleum products. Ap-
proximately 81 drivers work all year-round, while another 50 work
only iduiing "the peak heating season, a period of 7 months usually
14 Socony-Vacuum 011, Incorporated, 100 NLRB 90; see also New England Transporta-
tion Company, 90 NLRB 539.
_ --- _ "- ,_
11 Standard Oil Company ( Indiana ), 98 NLRB 282.
1° The record does not establish that these employees are guards within the meaning of
the Act.
17 See footnote 16, supra
227260-53-vol. 100--65
1012 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
extending from early October to late April. The Employer contends,
contrary to the Petitioner, that "first season" delivery- salesmen "a
should not be eligible to vote, because they are probationary employees
who have not yet acquired "vested rights" to reemployment. We do
not agree. The Employer concedes that the remaining drivers,
whether year-round or "second season," are eligible. However, all
drivers including "first-season" ones, perform the same work under the
same working conditions. The seasonal employees to whom the Em-
ployer would deny voting privileges have already had a substantial
tenure of employment, and in addition have, completed their probation.
They are not like temporary employees. We believe on the present
record that all "first season" employees have a reasonable expectancy
of reemployment sufficient to warrant their participation in the elec-
tions directed herein.19
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
" There are 24 at Girard Poipt and 2 at Glenside.
"Bee General Foods Corporation, 96 NLRB 1005 ; Twin Falls Canal Company, 97 NLRB
1473; Pent Electric Company, Inc ., 95 NLRB 1186 ; Gerber Produots Company, Inc., 95
NLRB 1668.
WEST TEXAS UTILITIES COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERIiOOD
OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCALS Nos. 898, 920, AND 1044, AFL,
PETITIONER . Case No. 16-RC--812. September 4, 1962
Third Supplemental Decision and Certification of Representatives
Pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Election issued by the
National Labor Relations Board," an election by secret ballot was
conducted in the above-entitled proceeding on December 19 and 20,
1951, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director
for the Sixteenth Region. Thereafter, a tally of ballots was fur-
nished the parties, which showed that, of the 152 votes cast, 59 valid
ballots were out for the Petitioner, 47 valid ballots were cast against
the Petitioner, 45 ballots were challenged, and 1 void ballot was cast.
On January 8, 1952, the Regional Director issued his report on
affecting the result of the election, and to the conduct of the election.
On January 8, 1952, the Regional Director issued his report on
objections to the election and challenged ballots, and on January 25,
1952, the Employer filed exceptions thereto.
Thereafter, on February 19, 1952, the Board issued a Supplemental
Decision, Direction, and Order 2 sustaining the challenges to 12 of
197 NLRB 184.
' 98 NLRB 157.
100 NLRB No. 157.