Michigan Pole & Tie Co.

In the Matter Of MICHIGAN POLE & TIE COMPANY, EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, LOCAL 12-15, PETITIONER Case No. 18-RC-499.-Decided January 30,1950 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before John P. von Rohr, hearing officer. 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-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Reynolds]. Upon the entire record in this case , the Board finds : 1. The Employer, a Michigan corporation, with its only plant and principal place of business located in Newberry, Michigan , manufac- tures lumber and related forest products . During the first 11 months of 1949, the Employer purchased raw material consisting of logs of the approximate value of $50 ,000, all of which was purchased within the State of Michigan. During the same period, the Employer proc- essed and sold lumber products of the approximate value of $500,000, of which approximately 25 percent was shipped to points outside the State. We find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.' 2. The labor organization involved claims to represent employees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa- tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The appropriate unit : The Petitioner seeks certification as representative of a unit con- sisting of the Employer's production and maintenance employees. 1 See Alabama Brick & Tile Company, Inc ., 80 NLRB 1365. 88 NLRB No. 87. 339 882191-51-23 340 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD The Petitioner would include in this unit the tallyman, lumber grader, log scaler and log pond foreman, the chief inspector foreman, and the inspector foreman as nonsupervisory workmen and plant clericals, but would exclude all office clerical employees, the cruiser, and one of the Employer's two watchmen. The Employer contends that all clerical employees, the cruiser, and both watchmen should be included. It further contends, however, that if its office clerical employees are excluded, the classifications named above, which the Petitioner would include as plant clericals, should also be excluded. Plant clericals and leadmen: The tallyman and the lumber grader are stationed in the mill next to each other where the lumber is being processed from logs. The tallyman keeps account of production by marking down on a tally sheet the size, quality, and quantity of the lumber as it passes by. At the end of the workday he brings his tally sheet to the office. The lumber grader marks the grade of the lumber on each log as it passes by. The log scaler and log pond foreman is an employee who spends about 60 percent of his time unloading logs from the trucks, and poling logs from the pond into a chain to be carried into the mill. He checks logs with a ruler to determine the footage, which he enters on a tally sheet. At the end of the day he summarizes his tally sheets and submits the summary to the office. The chief inspector foreman and the inspector foreman each work with three or four workmen loading freight cars in accordance with speci- fications of the shipping orders. They measure each piece of lumber before it is loaded, determining its length, width, quality, and kind. They also keep tally sheets which they submit to the office after the cars are loaded. All these employees work with small groups of pro- duction employees. However, they neither responsibly direct nor have power effectively to recommend the hiring and discharge of those with whom they work. We find that none of these employees have super- visory powers and we shall include them in the unit as nonsupervisory leadmen having some of the functions of plant clericals? Ofice clerical employees: The office clerical employees consist of one bookkeeper and three clerks. The bookkeeper is in charge of all the Employer's bookkeeping and accounting. One of the clerks, while doing most of his work in the office, frequently goes into the yard to deliver orders for lumber and to obtain information. The other two clerks perform all their duties in the office. Together these employees prepare shipping orders, invoices, and payrolls, take care of the ac- counting, and perform all the other office work. We shall adhere to our well-established policy not to include office clericals in a production 2 Welding Shipyards, Inc., 81 NLRB 936. MICHIGAN POLE & TIE COMPANY 341 and maintenance unit in a manufacturing industry. We shall exclude these employees from the unit herein found appropriate.3 Cruiser: The cruiser spends from 85 to 90 percent of his time outside the Employer's yard. His main duties consist of scouting the woods for the purpose of locating desirable timber and making estimates for the Employer of the total number of log feet. He also spends part of his time in building roads with a bulldozer, and he carries supplies from the mill to the crews in the woods. He is one of only three em- ployees who are paid on a salary basis 4 rather than on the basis of hourly rates. We find that, because of his duties, the cruiser has little,, if any, common interest with the Employer's production and main- tenance employees. We shall exclude him from the unit .5 Watchmen: The Employer has two employees who are classified as watchmen. One of these spends by far the greater part of his working time in production and maintenance work. Both the Employer and the Petitioner agree that he should be included in the unit. The other watchman works only at night. He spends only 10 minutes of each hour making the rounds and punching clocks. The balance of his working time is spent in tending the boilers, adding fuel and water, cleaning up the ashes and debris, and occasionally, answering the telephone. As he spends the greater part of his time in maintenance work, we shall include him in the unit .6 We find that all production and maintenance employees at the Employer's Newberry, Michigan, plant, including the tallyman, lum- ber grader, log scaler and long pond foreman, chief inspector fore- man, inspector foreman, and watchmen, but excluding office clerical employees, the cruiser, and all supervisors as defined in the Act, con- stitute a unit appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur- poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but, not later than 301 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super- vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was. heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor 3 Western Electric Company, Inc., 84 NLRB 552. * The superintendent and bookkeeper are the other two employees who are paid on a_ salary basis. S The Petitioner would exclude the cruiser as a confidential employee . The record indi- . cates that his work is confidential only in a business , and not a labor relations, sense. 6Swan Flodin, Walter Flodin and Eric Bryce, a partnership, d/b/a Flodin Lumber Com- pany, 82 NLRB 889. 342 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the. unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during said payroll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein- stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargain- ing, by International Woodworkers of America, CIO, Local 12-15.