Schlumberger Well Surveying Corp.

In the Matter of SCHLUMBERGER WELL SURVEYING CORPORATION", EM- PLOYER and OIL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, LOCAL 227, CIO, PETITIONER Case No. 16-RC-110.-Decided August 25,1948 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION 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 a consulting engineering firm engaged in rendering certain specialized services to the drilling departments of various oil producing companies. Use of the services while drilling a well enables the Employer's clients to obtain data about the sub- surface formations or the drill hole. The services are rendered as a well is being drilled, and, by means of electric cables inserted into the well from an elaborately equipped truck owned by the Employer, such information as the depth of the well at a given stage of the drilling, the thickness, content and radioactivity of a specific formation, the angle and direction of the dip of the formation, and the deviation of the well from the vertical, is obtained. The Employer has 13 or more divisions, operating in all oil-produc- ing areas of the United States and Canada. The work of each division is carried on, except in cases of emergency, entirely in the area. assigned to that division. The Employer has its principal office in Houston, Texas, and branch offices in its various divisions. This case is con- •Chairman Flerzog and Members Murdock and Gray. 79 N. L. R. B., No. 11. ,59 60 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD cerned with the Gulf Coast Texas Division, which comprises only territory within the State of Texas. The Employer's gross income for its fiscal year ending in August 1947, was about $12,000,000. Of this sum, approximately $1,300,000 was earned by the Gulf Coast Texas Division. This -Division pur- chased, about $400,000 worth of materials during the past year. of which 1 or 2 percent was purchased directly from sources outside the State of Texas. Among the, clients of the Employer are Texas Company, Shell Oil Company, Superior Oil Company, Humble Oil Company, Sun Oil Company, and Salt Dome Oil Company.''- We find, contrary to the contention of the Employer, that it is en- gaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Rela- tions Act? 2. The labor organization named below claims to represent em- ployees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa- tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. In accordance with an agreement of the parties, we find that the following employees constitute a unit appropriate for purposes.of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.: All production and maintenance employees in the Employer's Gulf Coast Texas Division, including employees at Wharton, Beaumont, and Houston, Texas, but excluding all engineers and engineering per- sonnel (which includes field engineers, junior engineers, specialists, and trainee engineers), other professional employees, office and clerical employees, guards, watchmen, division supervisor, division mechanic, division electrician, and all other supervisors, as defined in the Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur- poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date 1 On these facts we also find the Company 's contention that assumption of jurisdiction by the,Board will not effectuate the policies of the Act to be without merit. SCHLUMBERGER WELL SURVEYING CORPORATION 61 of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, 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, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Oil Workers International Union, Local 227, CIO. t