Colonial Oil Industries, Inc.

502 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Chatham Towing Company, Inc., a Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Colonial Oil Industries , Inc. and Lo- cal 333, United Maritime Division, ILA, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 10-RC-10648 October 18, 1976 DECISION ON REVIEW AND ORDER By MEMBERS JENKINS, PENELLO, AND WALTHER On May 20, 1976, the Acting Regional Director for Region 10 issued a Decision and Direction of Elec- tion on the above-entitled proceeding, in which he found appropriate the unit sought by Petitioner limit- ed to the seagoing personnel. Thereafter, in accor- dance with National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, the Employer filed a timely request for review of the Acting Re- gional Director's decision contending that Employer and Colonial Oil Industries, Inc. (hereinafter Coloni- al), function as a single-integrated enterprise and that the overwhelming community of interest between the terminal and maritime employees require the inclu- sion of the shore-based personnel in the unit. The Petitioner filed a brief in opposition to the request for review. By telegraphic order dated June 21, 1976, the Na- tional Labor Relations Board granted the request for review and stayed the election pending decision on review. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na- tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au- thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel. The Board has considered the entire record in this case, with respect to the issues under review, and makes the following findings: Colonial operates a terminal for the storage and sale of petroleum products, employing over 50 em- ployees, including maintenance men, transport truckloaders, warehousemen, welders, pipefitters, mechanics, electricians, and operators. The Employer, a wholly owned subsidiary of Colo- nial, is engaged primarily in the transportation of pe- troleum products sold by Colonial.' Three tugboats and four barges, manned by three captains, two li- censed tankermen, and one deckhand, are utilized to provide this service. Of the Employer's operations 85 percent take place locally in the Savannah harbor, the remaining 15 percent being "long haul" deliveries with a 36-hour round trip outside the harbor. Employer and Colonial have common officers. Employer's operating manager is carried on Colonial's payroll. The common president for both companies establishes wages and benefits for all em- ployees. The employees of both companies share the same insurance program, lounges, safety programs, work- ing rules, company social functions, tools and equip- ment, showers, profit-sharing trust, bonus formula, raises, and cost-of-living increases. While the wage rates and work schedules are not identical, they are very similar. Although the seagoing personnel are covered by maritime law while at sea, i.e., Jones Act and not workmen's compensation, and do receive free medical care at the U.S. Marine Hospital, the hospitalization benefits provided by the Employer still apply and cover the employees' families. The record establishes a substantial degree of functional integration between the two companies. As stated above, the Employer transports petroleum sold by Colonial which bills the customer for this service and later reimburses the Employer. The latter uses Colonial's clericals when needed and stores large equipment in Colonial's warehouse. There is also considerable contact among the em- ployees of both companies. Colonial's terminal em- ployees often assist Employer in its operations, for which help no reimbursement to Colonial is made. In fact, shore-based employees work with Employer's personnel on the average of 1 full day each week. These interactions include, inter alia, assignment of Colonial workers as deckhands twice a week for 3- or 4-hour periods as well as full-time for a 6-week peri- od last summer; assistance in casting off; use of Colonial's yacht captain to skipper Employer's boats; employees from the two companies working together to clean the barges and load and deliver lube oil 50-60 times a year; and Colonial employees making repairs on the boats three or four times a month. Further, it appears seniority obtained in either of the two companies is portable to the other. On the basis of the foregoing and the record as a whole, we find, contrary to the Regional Director, that the two operations constitute a single-integrated enterprise and that the employees of the Employer do not have a community of interest sufficiently sep- arate from that of Colonial's employees to warrant finding the one deckhand and the two tankermen to be an appropriate unit. Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petition. ORDER ' The total amount of revenue received for services unrelated to Colonial is $9,000. It is hereby ordered that the petition filed herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed. 226 NLRB No. 80