Oil Well Supply Co.

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.