Quaker State Oil Refining Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 11, 1949

81 N.L.R.B. 611 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of QUAKER STATE OIL REFINING CORPORATION (MCKEAN
PLANT), EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL CHEMICAL WORKERS UNION,
AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 6-RC-1,51.-Decided February 11, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. At the hearing the
Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the ground of a contract
bar. The intervenor, United Mine Workers of America, District No.
50, urges the same ground in its brief. For the reasons hereinafter
set forth this motion is denied, 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 herein claim to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.'
3. The Employer, District No. 50 and Local Union No. 12391 had
entered into a collective bargaining agreement terminating on July
1, 1948. Due and timely notice of a desire to negotiate a new con-
tract was served upon the Employer by District No. 50. Negotia-
tions followed and on May 27, 1948, the above-mentioned parties
reached a complete understanding on the terms of a new agreement.
On June 2, 1948, the Petitioner notified the Employer of its claim to
recognition and on June 8, 1948, filed its petition herein.
*Reynolds , Murdock, and Gray.
i United Mine Workers of America, District No. 50 , and Local Union No. 12391 of
District No. 50, United Mine Workers of America , moved to intervene on the basis of their
contractual relationship with the Employer . Oil Workers International Union, CIO, moved
to intervene on the basis of a showing of substantial representation among the employees
in the unit requested by the Petitioner . In the absence of objections , these motions were
granted.
81 N. L. R. B., No. 105. 611
829595-50-vol. 81-40
612 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
On June 2, 1948, the Employer, without knowledge of the Peti-
tioner's claim, executed a formal agreement covering the understand-
ing reached on May 27, 1948. On June 4, 1948, Local Union No.
12391 of District No. 50 signed this agreement after it had been in-
formed by the Employer of the Petitioner's claim to representation.
District No. 50 itself did not sign the agreement until sometime be-
tween June 10 and June 13.
The Employer contends that the contract, the terms of which had
been agreed upon by May 27, 1948, constitutes a bar to a determination
of representatives. This contention is without merit, because the
agreement of May 27, 1948, even though subsequently reduced to
writing, was not executed by all the parties thereto prior to the receipt
of the Petitioner's claim to recognition and the timely filing of
its petition? Accordingly we find that the 1948 contract is not a
bar to a present determination of representatives.'
We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The following employees of the Employer constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the Act :
All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's
McKean plant at Farmers Valley, Smethport, Pennsylvania, exclud-
ing all other employees, guards, professional employees, and super-
visors, as defined in the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 4
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes 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 su-
pervision of the Regional Director for the Sixth Region, and subject
to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board
2 The Petitioner contends that in addition to the signatures of Local Union No. 12391 by
Its representatives and District No. 50, by its Regional Director, the contract also required
the signature of the Administrator of District No. 50, in accordance with the published
rules of this organization , and that until the signature of the Administrator had been
affixed to the contract it could not be regarded as an executed instrument . Our finding
herein makes it unnecessary to pass upon this contention. The petition, having been filed
within 10 days from the date of notification by the Petitioner of its claim to representation,
was thus validated under the General Electric X-Ray doctrine. See Matter of General
Electric X-Ray Corporation, 67 N. L. R B. 997.
8 See Matter of Eieor, Inc., 46 N. L. R. B 1035 ; Matter of Sterling Pulp & Paper Com-
pany, et al , 77 N. L R B. 63 ; Matter of F. I. Bruce Company, 74 N L. R B 1354.
4 As the Intervenors, United Mine Workers of America, District No 50, and Local Union
No. 12391 of District No. 50, United Mine Workers of America, are not in compliance with
Sections 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act, their names will not be placed on the ballot.
QUAKER STATE OIL REFINING CORPORATION 613
Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, 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 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 had not been rehired or rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
they desire to be represented, for the purposes of collective bargaining,
by International Chemical Workers Union, AFL, or Oil Workers
International Union, CIO, or by neither.