Emsco Derrick & Equipment Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 16, 1944

54 N.L.R.B. 1390 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of D & B DIVISION OF THE EMsco DERRICK & EQUIPMENT
COMPANY and UNITED STEEI.woRKERs' of AMERICA, CIO
Case No. 16-R-782.-Decided February 16, 1944
Mr. B. M. Caldwell, of Dallas, Tex., for the Company.
Messrs. W. A. Leigh and A. R. Hardesty, of Dallas, Tex., for the
Union.
Mr. William Strong, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Steelworkers of America, CIO,
herein called the Union,, alleging that a question affecting commerce
had ,arisen' concerning the representation of employees of D & B
Division of the Emsco Derrick & Equipment Company, Dallas, Texas,
herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board
provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Gustaf
B. Erickson, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Dallas, Texas,
on January 7, 1944. 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
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY 1
Emsco Derrick & Equipment Company is a California corporation
operating plants in California and Texas., We are here, concerned
with its Dallas, Texas,•plant, known as the D & B Division, where-the
1 The findings as to the Company's business are based upon findings of the Board in a
prior decision, to which reference was made at the hearing herein. See Matter of D & B
Divtiston of Emsco Derrick & Equipment Co., 51 N. L. R. B. 959.
54 N. L. R. B., No. 215.
1390
EMSCO DERRICK & EQUIPMENT COMPANY 1391
Company produces and sells oil derricks and other related machinery,
and various war materials, the latter for the United States Army,
Navy, and Maritime Commission. In June 1943, about 70 percent of
the Company's production was war materials. Ordinarily about 8
percent of the Company's raw materials, valued at about $198,000, is
brought into Dallas, Texas, from States other than the State of Texas,
and about 3 percent of its finished products, valued at about $212,000,
is shipped to points outside that State.
The Company does not deny, and we find, that it is engaged in
commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
Jr. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Steelworkers of America, affiliated with the Congress of In-
dustrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to member-
ship employees of the Company.
' III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of the Company's employees, in
effect until the Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate
unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the
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
We find, in substantial agreement with the concurrence of the parties,
that all production and maintenance employees at the Dallas plant,
excluding plant guards, clerical and technical employees and all super-
visory 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.
R The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 87 membership application
cards, 41 of which bore apparently genuine original signatures signed in the proper space
on the cards , and 44 bore apparently genuine original signatures affixed in the space for
the name rather than the signature of the applicant ; that the names of 82 persons appear-
ing on the cards were listed on the Company 's pay roll of November 30, 1943, which
contained the names of 135 employees in the alleged appropriate unit.
1392 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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, it is hereby
Dnu cTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with D & B Division of
the Emsco Derrick & Equipment Company, Dallas, Texas, an election
by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later
than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction, under the direc-
tion and supervision of the Regional Director for the Sixteenth Region,
acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board,
and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regula-
tions, 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 said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation
or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces
of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls,
but excluding those employees 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 United Steelworkers of America, affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, for the purposes of collective bargaining.