Sohio Petroleum Co., a Division of Sohio Natural Resources Co. v. National Labor Relations Board

Sohio petitions this court to review a decision and order of the National Labor Relations Board requiring Sohio to bargain with the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 302. Sohio contends that the Board should not have certified the IUOE as the bargaining representative of its central power station employees because (1) the employees did not constitute a proper bargaining unit, and (2) the procedures followed by the Board in the representation election were improper. We disagree and enforce the Board’s order.

Sohio produces oil for itself and other leaseholders on the Prudhoe Bay oil field for Alaska’s North Slope. Twenty-two of Sohio’s approximately three hundred North Slope employees staff the central power station which produces electricity for Sohio and ARCO, the other major oil producer on the North Slope.. On October 22, 1976, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1547, filed a petition with the NLRB seeking to represent Sohio’s central power station employees. Eleven days later the North Slope Employees Association petitioned to represent all of Sohio’s employees. The International Union of Operating Engineers intervened in both…