Oil Well Supply Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 14, 1942

45 N.L.R.B. 607 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of OIL WELL SUPPLY COMPANY and PATTERN MAKERS
LEAGUE OF NORTH AMERICA , A. F. OF L.
Case No. R-4414.-Decided November 14, 1942
Jurisdiction : oil-well equipment and ordnance manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re-
fusal to grant recognition until appropriate unit determined and certification,
by the Board ; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate-for Collective Bargaining : determination of appropriate unit
dependent upon election to be conducted among the pattern makers and ap-
prentices, excluding the foreman, to determine whether they wished repre-
sentation by craft unit, industrial unit, or neither.
Mr. B. L. Rawlins, of Pittsburgh, Pa., and Mr. Frank L. Wiegand,
Jr., of Oil City, Pa., for the Company.
Mr. C. D. Madigan, of Cleveland, Ohio, and Mr. Paul A., Gareis,
of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the' Pattern Makers. }
Mr. John W. Grajciar, of Sharon, Pa., for the U. S. A.
Mr. Louis Cokvn, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition and amended petition duly filed by Pattern Makers
League of North America , A. F. of L., herein called the Pattern
Makers , alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of Oil Well Supply Com-
pany, Oil City, Pennsylvania, herein called the Company , the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice before Henry Shore , Trial Examiner . Said hear-
ing was held at Franklin , Pennsylvania , on October 19, 1942. The
Company, the Pattern Makers , and United Steelworkers of America,
herein called the U . S. A., appeared , participated , and were afforded
full opportunity to be heard , to' examine and cross -examine wit-
45 N. L. R. B , No. 90.
607
603 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
nesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. During
the course of the hearing, counsel for the Company and counsel for
the U. S. A. moved to dismiss the petition. The Trial Examiner
reserved his rulings. The motions are hereby denied. During the
course of. the hearing; counsel for the Pattern Makers moved to
amend the petition. The Trial Examiner reserved his ruling. The
motion is hereby granted.' The Trial Examiner's rulings made at
the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
On November 2 and 3, 1942, respectively, the U. S. A. and the
Company filed briefs which the Board has considered.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:'
FINDINGS OF FACT
I.' THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Oil Well Supply Company is a New Jersey corporation and a sub-
sidiary of United States Steel Corporation. The Company's principal
offices are at Dallas, Texas. We are here concerned with the' Com-
pany's plant at Oil City, Pennsylvania, where it is engaged in the
,manufacture of oil-well equipment and supplies and war materials.
During the 12-month period ending May 31, 1942,. the Company
purchased raw materials for use at its Oil City plant valued in excess
of $250,000, 40 percent of which was shipped to it from outside Penn-
sylvania. During the same, period the Company shipped finished
products, valued in excess of $200,000, from its Oil City plant to points
outside Pennsylvania: The Company admits that it is engaged in
commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
IT. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Pattern' Makers League of North America is a labor organization
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, admitting to mem-
bership employees of the Comany. ' -
United Steelworkers of America is a labor organization 'affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to member-
ship employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company refuses to recognize the Pattern' Makers as the .ex-
elusive representative of certain. of its employees until such time as
the Board determines the appropriateness of the unit claimed by the
Pattern Makers.
' OIL WELL SUPPLY COMPANY 609
A statement of the Regional Directdr,-introduced into "evidence at
the hearing, indicates that the Pattern Makers represents a substan-
tial number of employees in the unit urged by it to be 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 Pattern Makers contends that all pattern makers and appren-
tices at the' Oil City plant of the Company, excluding the foreman,
constitute, an appropriate bargaining unit. The Company and the
U. S. A. contend that all employees at the Oil City and Wilson-Snyder
plants of the Company.coristitute an appropriate unit and urge that
the petition herein be dismissed.
Since March 19, 1938, the Company has entered into members-only
bargaining contracts with the U. S. A. upon a two-plant basis. The
U. S. A. contracts have been substantially identical to contracts signed
between the U. S. A. and other subsidiaries of United States Steel
Corporation. Pursuant to a consent election agreement, the Board,
in September 1942, certified the U. S. A. as the exclusive representative
of all employees at the Oil City and Wilson-Snyder plants of the Com-
pany. However, no bargaining between the U. S. A. and the Com-
pany has begun as a result of the certification.. The Pattern Makers'
petition herein was filed prior to the consent election agreement alluded
to above; the Pattern Makers protested the industrial election and has
refused to acquiesce in the certification of September 2, 1942. All
employees claimed by the Pattern Makers are located in a single shop.
With one exception, the pattern makers are engaged in wood pattern
making under their own foreman. The evidence indicates that the
pattern makers constitute a clearly identifiable skilled craft possessing
many interests in common. The Pattern Makers has had members at
the Oil City plant since 1923. The Board has many times set forth the
considerations in favor of a separate unit of pattern makers and has
found the considerations evenly balanced with those tending to favor
an industrial unit.2 We find in this proceeding that the considerations
i The Regional Director reported that the Pattern Makers presented 13 membership
application cards or membership roster records bearing apparently genuine signatures
of persons whose names appear on the Company's pay roll of May 1942 There are 16
employees on that pay roll who are in the alleged appropriate unit The Regional
Director further reported that the U. S. A. presented 1 membership application card
bearing the apparently genuine signature of a person whose name appears on the Com-
pany's'pay roll of May 1942 in the alleged appropriate unit
2 See Matter of Tennessee Coal, Iron and R R Co. and United Steel Workers of America,
45 N. L. R B 423; Matter of Bendix Products Division of Bendix Aviation Corpo
ration and Pattern Makers League of North America, South Bend Association, affiliated
with the A. F of L', 39 N. L. R. B. 81.
493508-43-vol. 45-39
610 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL -LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
are sufficiently balanced to make the desires of the pattern makers them-
selves controlling in our determination of the type of unit through
which they should bargain.
Some controversy arose at the hearing with respect to the disposition
to be made of Alfred Bartlett. The Pattern Makers contends that he
should be included in the unit. This employee is classified by the Com-
pany as a metal pattern maker and he works under the supervision of
the pattern shop foreman. We find that Bartlett is a pattern maker.
An election will be held among all pattern makers and apprentices,
excluding the foreman, to determine whether they wish to be repre--
sented by the Pattern Makers, by the U. S. A., or by neither. On the
results of this election will depend in part the appropriate unit.
If these employees select the Pattern Makers as their bargaining repre-
sentative they will constitute a separate and distinct unit; if they
choosethe U. S. A. they will then constitute a part of the unit for which
the U. S. A. is already certified. We shall, therefore, make no final
determination of the appropriate unit pending the election to be con-
ducted among the pattern makers and apprentices.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the employees eligible to vote in the election
heretofore decided to be necessary shall be those employees who. were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of the Direction of Election herein, subject to the limitations and addi-
tions 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 Rela-
tions Act , and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National. Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Oil Well Supply
Company, Oil City, Pennsylvania , an election by secret ballot shall
be conducted as soon as possible , but not later than thirty ( 30) days
from the date of this Direction; under the direction and supervision of
the Regional Director for the Sixth Region, acting --in this matter as
agent for the National Labor Relation's Board, and subject to Article,
III, Section 10, of said Rules and Regulations , among all pattern
makers and apprentices of the Company at its Oil City, plant who
OIL WELL SUPPLY COMPANY 611
were 'employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
date of the Direction of Election herein, including Alfred Bartlett and
employees who did not work during such pay-roll period because they
were ill or on vacation or in the active military service or training of
the United States, or temporarily laid off, but excluding the foreman
and employees who have since quit or been discharged for, cause, to
determine whether they desire to be represented by Pattern Makers
League of North America, affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor, or by United Steelworkers of America, affiliated with the Con-
gress of Industrial Organizations, for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining, or by neither.