Crawford Tank and Supply Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 29, 1945

64 N.L.R.B. 1079 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of CRAWFORD TANK AND SUPPLY COMPANY and OIL
WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, CIO
Case No. 16-R-1315.Decided November 29, 1945
Mueller cl; Mueller, by Mr. Harold E. Mueller, of Fort Worth,
Tex., and Mr. Samuel'P. Wallace, of Dallas, Tex., for the Company.
Mr. C. Massengale, of Fort Worth, Tex., for the Union.
Mr. David V. Easton, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Oil Workers International Union,
CIO, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting com-
merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Crawford Tank and Supply Company, Odessa, Texas, herein called
the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice before William J. Scott, Trial
Examiner. Said hearing was held at Fort Worth, Texas, on Septem-
ber 12,1945. The Company and the Union appeared and participated.
All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine
and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on
the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were
afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Crawford Tank and Supply Company is a Delaware corpora-
tion, with headquarters at 309 First National Bank Building, Dallas,
Texas. It maintains 10 offices and branches, operating in the States
of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
We are concerned herein solely with the Company's employees en-
64 N. L . R. B., No. 178.
1079
1080 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
gaged at its Odessa, Texas, branch, who perform work in New Mexico
and West Texas.
The Company is a distributor of bolted steel tanks, manufactured
by the Butler Manufacturing Company of Kansas City, Missouri ;
drilling and pumping steel derricks manufactured by the Muskogee
Iron Works, Muskogee, Oklahoma ; and oil and gas separators, manu-
factured by the Vulcan Steel Tank Corporation, of Tulsa, Oklahoma-
All materials used by the Company in Texas during the year 1944
were purchased from outside the State of Texas, and the approximate
dollar volume of such purchases was $360,000.OQ. The principal prod-
ucts handled by the Company are bolted steel tanks, used chiefly in
the storage of crude oil on the leased properties of oil companies,
as well as in connection with pipe line stations. The Company is
solely a distributor and has no manufacturing facilities.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Oil Workers International Union is a labor organization affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to mem-
bership employees of the Company.
III. TIIE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as
the exclusive bargaining representative of its employees until the
Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Field Examiner, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit composed of all employees of the Company's
Odessa, Texas, branch, performing work in West Texas, or New
Mexico, except for supervisory and clerical employees. The Company
agrees generally with respect to the scope of the unit, except that it
would exclude therefrom'tank setters and the truck driver.
i The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted i 1 membership cards dated
March 1945 The Company listed 11 employees in the appropriate umt,on its pay roll of
April 1945.
CRAWFORD TANK AND SUPPLY COMPANY 1081
The Company contends that tank setters are independent contrac-
tors and should, therefore, be excluded from the unit.2 Without
passing upon this contention, and assuming that tank setters are
employees of the Company, it is clear that they are supervisory em-
ployees within the meaning of our customary definition who ordi-
narily would be excluded. Although the Union asserts that it is cus-
tomary to include tank setters in similar units, the evidence fails to
support its assertion. We shall exclude the tank setters.
With respect to the truck driver, the record indicates that his duties
and skills are not akin to those of the other employees involved herein,
and, in accordance with our usual practice,3 we shall exclude him.
Accordingly, we find that all employees of the Company's Odessa,
Texas, branch, performing work in West Texas or New Mexico, ex-
cluding the truck driver, clerical employees, tank setters, and all other
supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge,
discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or
effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Crawford Tank
and Supply Company, Odessa, Texas, an election by secret ballot shall
be conducted as early as possible, but not later than sixty (60) days
from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision
of the Regional Director for the Sixteenth Region, acting in this matter
2 That the Company and the tank setters can he co-emplovers of the tank setters' crews
within the meaning of the Act is not open to question See Matter of Theodore Klement,
et al, 59 N L R B. 681
'See Matter of Blue Ribbon Laundry, 64 N L R B 645; Matter of Kingan & Co.,
Incorporated , 61 N L R r, 1222 ; Matter of W ilson it Company, Inc, 62 N. L. R. B. 895.
1082 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article
III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among the*
employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
date of this Direction, including employees who did not work during
the said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or tem-
porarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the
United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but ex-
cluding any who have since quit or been discharged for cause and
have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to
determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Oil Workers
International Union, CIO, for the purposes of collective bargaining.