Mobil Oil Corp., 259 (1968)

Mobil Oil Corporation and International Union of Operating Engineers , Local Union 30, AFL-CIO,

Petitioner. Case 29-RC-546

January 22, 1968 DECISION ON REVIEW AND ORDER

On December 28, 1966, the Regional Director for Region 29 issued a Decision and Direction of Election in the above-entitled proceeding, finding appropriate the Petitioner's requested unit of powerhouse employees at the Employer's Port Mobil terminal in Staten Island, New York, for severance from the established broader unit represented by the Intervenor, Petroleum Association of Labor. Thereafter, the Employer requested reconsideration of such Decision in the light of the National Labor Relations Board's decision in Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, Uranium Division, 162 NLRB 387, issued the same day. On January 6, 1967, the Regional Director issued an Order in which, upon reconsideration, he reaffirmed his Decision as consistent with the rationale of Mallinckrodt. Thereafter, the Employer, in accordance with Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, filed a timely request for review of the Regional Director's Decision and subsequent Order as to the craft severance issue presented. The,Petitioner filed a statement in opposition to the request for review.

By telegraphic Order dated February 9, 1967, the'Board granted the request for review, invited the parties to submit offers of proof concerning industry and area practice in the representation of powerhouse employees, and stayed the election pending decision on review. Thereafter, all the parties filed briefs on review; the Employer and the Petitioner also filed offers of proof.

The Board has considered the entire record in this case, including the briefs on review and offers of proof submitted by the parties, and makes the following findings:

The Petitioner in its petition sought to sever a unit of 5 licensed stationary engineers employed in the powerhouse at the Employer's Port Mobil terminal from the Intervenor's established unit covering all employees at 15 terminal's in the greater New York City area which are administratively part of the Employer's New York State division.' The Intervenor has bargained for the broader unit for over 20 years .2

In his Decision and Direction of Election, the Regional Director found that the requested stationary engineers, including three bulk plant helpers permanently assigned to assist the stationary engineers in the powerhouse, constituted a functionally distinct departmental unit, that the Petitioner has traditionally represented separate units of employees in powerhouses, and that, under American Potash.' the powerhouse unit involved was appropriate for severance from the broader unit herein. In his Order, as above-indicated, he reconsidered the record in the light of the Mallinckrodt standards enunciated by the Board to replace those of American Potash, and he reaffirmed his conclusion that severance was appropriate.

The Employer and the Intervenor contend that the Regional Director gave insufficient weight to the length and stability of the established bargaining relationship and the high degree of functional integration of powerhouse operations with terminal operations. In addition, the Employer offers to prove that among major oil companies with unionized terminal facilities which have a powerhouse like that at Port Mobil, the universal practice has been to include the powerhouse employees in a broader unit. The Petitioner argues that the Regional Director correctly concluded that severance was proper under the standards of Mallinckrodt.

Although it does not dispute the facts advanced in the Employer's offer of proof, the Petitioner itself offers to prove that it represents separate units of powerhouse employees like those here in question at six oil company storage facilities in New York and New Jersey 4 and that it represents powerhouse units in many industries.

At its Port Mobil terminal the Employer receives, stores, and subsequently sells or redistributes its petroleum products.5 The terminal covers approximately 203 acres and contains about 40 large tanks for the storage of petroleum products, in addition to smaller tanks used in the operation of terminal equipment. There are pipelines throughout the terminal used to convey salt water and fresh water, steam, and the various petroleum products. Tankers and barges unload products at a wharf for conveyance by pipe to the storage tanks. The products, when sold or redistributed, are reloaded from the tanks into barges at the wharf or into tank trucks at I The Port Mobil terminal is the only one among the 15 terminals within the unit which employs' powerhouse employees There are two other terminals within the Employer's New York State division, located in Brooklyn and Albany, New York, which do employ similar powerhouse employees. At each of these terminals, the powerhouse employees are represented by another labor organization as part of a termmalwide unit L The Intervenor was certified as the representative of such unit on May 7, 1456.

3 American Potash & Chemical Corporation, 107 NLRB 1418

4 As indicated above, there are powerhouse facilities at only three of the 169 NLRB No. 35 terminals in the Employer's New York State division. The Employer, in its offer of proof, states that operation of its own high pressure boiler system is economically competitive only in a large terminal such as Port Mobil Other major oil companies apparently follow the same policy Of the approximately 350 organized terminals of other major oil companies listed in the Employer's offer of proof, only I 1 operate their own powerhouses 5 Gasolines, kerosenes , fuel oils, jet fuels, solvents , No 6 fuel oil, and others 350-212 0-70-18 one of two truckloading racks. At one end of the wharf there is a barge cleaning plant where barges used for transporting a product are steam cleaned in preparation for reuse in transporting a different product. All the buildings, including the garage and office building, warehouses for storage of steel drums and pipes, the marine building, and the powerhouse, are located at one corner of the property.

A small percentage of the steam produced by the high pressure boilers in the powerhouse is utilized to heat the buildings at the terminal. Most of the steam produced is used to heat the No. 6 fuel oil, which is a heavy oil somewhat like tar when cold, in order to facilitate its movement through pipes into and out of storage tanks, to steam clean barges in the barge cleaning plant, to power steam-driven pumps on water pipelines and certain product pipelines, and, when necessary in the winter time, to heat the water pipes which are part of the fire protection system.

Port Mobil terminal is in operation around the clock everyday. The employees included in the Intervenor's contract unit consist of 15 bulk plant men, 18 bulk plant helpers, 8 motor vehicle drivers, 1 auto mechanic, I dispatcher, and 5 stationary engineers. The entire complement is under a terminal superintendent and his assistant, and six foremen, including four gauger or terminal foremen who direct all operations on each shift, a stationary engineer foreman, and a maintenance foreman. There are bulk plant men assigned to each shift whose duties are to gauge the products in the storage tanks, receive and 'ship' barges and tankers, and do general maintenance work. There is at least one bulk plant helper assigned to each shift to assist in a variety of tasks and to do maintenance work. In addition, as indicated above, there are three bulk plant helpers permanently assigned to assist in the powerhouse.

Of the five stationary engineers , four regularly perform duties in the powerhouse, on rotating shifts 7 days per week. The fifth is the relief stationary engineer. On the second and third shifts, the stationary engineers are assisted by one of the three bulk plant helpers permanently assigned to such duties.

There is also a stationary engineer foreman 6 on the day shift who supervises the five stationary engineers and the bulk plant helpers assigned to the powerhouse.

The relief stationary engineer, when not relieving a regular powerhouse engineer, works on the day shift and spends most of his time outside the powerhouse performing maintenance and construction work on boilers, pumps, and steam and water lines, as well as some mainteanace work not related 8 The stationary engineer foreman supervises the first shift and handles questions on technical matters on the other shifts, while on the second and third shifts the gauger foreman supervises 'all employees, including stationary engineers, in nontechnical matters.

directly to the power system. At such times he is assisted by bulk plant helpers, who, in addition, are assigned as needed to powerhouse duties on the day shift and as relief for bulk plant helpers permanently assigned to the powerhouse on the second and third shifts. When working with a stationary engineer, the bulk plant helpers are under the supervision of the stationary engineer foreman, but at other times are under the supervision of the...