Shell Chemical Corp.

In' the Matter of SHELL CHEMICAL CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, PETITIONER and OIL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, CIO, INTERVENOR Case No. 2_7-RC-199.-Decided September 15, 1948 DECISION AND ORDER 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 engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent employees of the Employer. 3. No question of representation 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, for the following reasons: The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all machinists and ma- chinists' helpers at the Employer's Dominguez, California, plant. The Intervenor contends that its present bargaining unit, including all employees at the Employer's Dominguez and Martinez, California, plants, constitutes the only appropriate unit. The Employer takes a neutral position in the matter. At its Dominguez and Martinez plants, the Employer is engaged in the manufacture of alcohol and related products from petroleum. In each plant there is a plant maintenance department, the primary *Houston, Reynolds, and Gray. 79 N. L. R. B., No 90. 697 698 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD function of which is to insure that its plant operates continuously 24 hours a day. Each maintenance department is composed of pipe fitters, welders, machinists, electricians, painters, and other craftsmen. The Intervenor has represented all hourly paid employees at both plants since 1937, annually executing a single contract with the Em- ployer covering the employees in both plants.' We have frequently held that where there has been a long continued bargaining history among employees at like plants on the basis of a multi-plant unit, a unit limited to employees of one of such plants,2 or, as here, to a seg- ment of employees of one of such plants,3 is not appropriate for pur- poses of collective bargaining. We find that the unit limited to the machinists in the Dominguez plant, to the exclusion of the machinists in the Martinez plant, is inappropriate, and we shall, therefore, dismiss the petition. ORDER Upon the basis of the entire record in this case, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the petition filed in the instant matter be, and it hereby is, dismissed. i In 1937, the Board certified the present Intervenor as the sole bargaining agent for all hourly paid production and operation employees at the Employer' s Dominguez , Martinez, and Shell Point plants . Matter of Shell Chemical Corporation, 4 N L R. B. 259, 269. Electricians and machinists at the Shell Point plant were excluded from the unit. There were, at that time, no such craftsmen at the Dominguez and Martinez plants. The instant record is silent respecting the Shell Point plant , nor does it indicate when the Dominguez and Martinez plants employed craftsmen 2 Matter of Standard Bi ands, Incorporated , 75 N. L R B 394. 3 Matter of Robert (lair Company, Inc, 77 N. L. It, B, 649.