Savage Lumber and Manufacturing Co.

In the Matter of SAVAGE LUMBER AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY,1 EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS , LOCAL 910, AFL, PETITIONER Case No. 19-RC-217.-Decided March 0.9,1949 DECISION AND ORDER 0 Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-man panel.* Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Ware- housemen and Helpers, Local 910, AFL, herein called the Petitioner, and Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, Local No. 2519, chartered by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, AFL, herein called the Intervenor, are labor organizations, claiming to represent employees of the Employer. 3. The alleged appropriate unit : The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all truck drivers, ware- housemen and helpers at the Employer's plant at Renton, Washington, excluding all other employees. The Employer and the Intervenor contend, however, that the only appropriate unit is one embracing all production employees, including those sought by the Petitioner, except truck drivers and members of Millmeri s Union Local No. 338 2 The Employer is engaged in mill . work manufacturing and the wholesale distribution of lumber and building materials. It operates i The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing. *Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Gray. 2 The record discloses that Millmen 's Union Local No. 338, chartered by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners , AFL, is not a party to this proceeding. 82 N. L. R. B., No. 51. 459 460 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD a plant at Renton, Washington, and maintains a distributing yard and warehouse at Seattle, Washington. The Renton plant, with which we are herein concerned, is located in a large barn-like building, approxi- mately 45 feet wide and 150 feet long. The plant is divided into a number of departments such as the sash department, re-saw depart- ment, glazing department, cabinet department, frame department, sticker crew, receiving department, and shipping department, all of which are under the supervision of the plant's general manager. The manufacturing and processing operations are carried on at one end of the plant. The other end of the building is designated as the storage area or warehouse , and is used to store lumber and finished construction materials. The shipping department is located in this latter area; shipping operations are also conducted at 2 other loca- tions in the plant. The record does not disclose the present number of employees at the Renton plant; however, it indicates that as of July 1948, the Employer employed approximately 43 production employees, including those sought by the Petitioner. The history of collective bargaining shows that the Employer and the Intervenor have been in contractual relationship since 1941. The first collective bargaining contract between the Employer and the Intervenor was executed in March of that year, and from that date until 1945, the Employer bargained with the Intervenor on a single- employer basis. On February 6, 1945, the Employer joined with approximately 55 other companies in the Seattle area in executing a collective bargaining agreement with the Intervenor , on a multiple- employer basis. The contract recognized the Intervenor as the bar- gaining representative of all employees , of the participating employ- ers, except "truck drivers and members of Millmen's Local Union 338." In August 1947, the Employer and 8 other companies in the Seattle area executed a similar contract with the Intervenor, negotiated on behalf of these employers by the Industrial Conference Board, and employer's association. On April 1, 1948, the Seattle millwork plants, comprising the Employer and approximately 9 other firms, entered into the current contract with the Intervenor; by the terms of this contract, the Employer recognized the Intervenor as the collective bargaining representative of "its employees , members of Local No. 2519." The exclusion with respect to truck drivers and members of Millmen's Local Union No. 338, contained in prior contracts, was omitted from the 1948 contract. The unit proposed by the Petitioner would embrace three employees all of whom are members of the Petitioner . The parties are agreed that one of these employees, a truck driver, should be included in the SAVAGE LUMBER AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY 461 proposed unit.3 However, the parties disagree with respect to the status of the other two employees, Burton Jones and Dan Shannon. The Petitioner urges that Jones and Shannon are distinguishable from the Employer's production employees and properly fall within the classification of "warehousemen and helpers" set forth in its petition. In support of its unit position, the Petitioner contends further that these employees, not being members of the Intervenor, have been ex- cluded from coverage under the 1948 contract by the unit description therein, and, therefore, are not represented by the Intervenor. The Employer and the Intervenor assert, however, that Jones and Shannon are lumber handlers or laborers, and as such are already included, together with other lumber handlers employed by the Employer, in the production unit currently represented by the Intervenor. The Employer employs approximately 10 employees in its shipping and receiving departments, including Jones and Shannon. These 10 employees are unskilled workmen and are classified by the Employer as laborers. Their duties consist primarily, in handling and moving lumber, loading and unloading trucks, and crating materials for ship- ment. They have substantially the same hours and working conditions as the Employer's other production employees. The record also shows that the employees in the shipping and receiving departments are interchanged, or shifted from one of these departments to the other, whenever the work load requires; and on occasion, when work is slack, they are assigned duties in the various other departments of the plant. It appears that although Jones devotes some of his time to driving a truck, the greater percentage of his time is spent in the shipping department; and that Shannon acts as a leadman in connection with various duties such as filling and crating orders. From the fore- going facts, and upon the entire record, we are persuaded that Jones and Shannon perform essentially the same functions and duties as the Employer's other lumber handlers, with whom we believe they have a substantial community of interests. We find no justification on the basis of their duties, therefore, to include Jones and Shannon in a unit separate and apart from the other shipping and receiving employees. Nor do we attach any significance to the contention based on the exclusion of these employees from the coverage of the 1948 contract. For apart from the question of whether or not their exclusion was in- advertent, as the Intervenor contends, it is clear that the Intervenor is at present willing to represent Jones and Shannon together with the other employees similarly engaged. 3 As noted previously , the Intervenor disclaims any interest in the full-time truck driver. 462 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD This leaves only the truck driver in the Petitioner's proposed unit. The Board, however, does not establish units for a single employee.' We shall, therefore, dismiss the petition. ORDER IT is HEREBY ORDERED that the petition herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed. 4 Matter of G a D Radiator Service and Terrill-Phelps Chevrolet Co., Inc., 80 N. L. R. B. 1308.