Chicago Mill and Lumber Co.

In the Matter of CHICAGO MILL AND LUMBER COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA (CIO) Case No. 15-R-1564.Decided July 241, 1946 Mr. C. E. Daggett , of Marianna, Ark., and Messrs. F. W. Schatz and J. H. Dunn, of Helena, Ark., for the Company. Mr. George Bentley, of Memphis, Tenn., for the CIO. Mr. Charles Mendenhall , of Little Rock, Ark., Mr. W. A. Hunder- mark, of Vicksburg, Miss., and Mr. S. E. Genola , of Greenville, Miss., for the AFL. Mr. Bernard Duman, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon a petition duly filed by International Woodworkers of Amer- ica (CIO), herein called the CIO, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Chicago Mill and Lumber Company, Greenville, Mississippi, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before C. Paul Barker, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Greenville, Mississippi, on May 16, 1946. The Company, the CIO, and United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, Locals 2677 and 2684, AFL, herein called the AFL, appeared and participated. At the hearing the AFL's motion to intervene was granted. 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 opportunity to file briefs with the Board. 69 N. L. R. B., No. 103. 855 856 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Chicago Mill and Lumber Company, a Delaware corporation, oper- ates plants at Chicago, Illinois; Helena, Arkansas; Tallulah, Loui- siana; Waterproof, Louisiana; and Greenville, Mississippi. The Company is engaged in the business of manufacturing lumber and wooden boxes. At the Greenville plant, solely involved in this pro- ceeding, the Company, during the year 1945, used raw materials valued at about $900,000, of which 25 percent Was shipped to it from points outside the State of Mississippi. During the same period of time, the Company produced finished products at the Greenville plant valued at about $1,750,000, of which 85 percent was shipped to points outside the State. The Company admits, and we find, that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED International Woodworkers of America is a labor organization, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the Company. United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, Locals 2677 and 2684, is a labor organization, affiliated with the American Federation of. Labor, admitting to membership employees of the Com- pany. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION As a result of a, consent cross-check on January 28, 1941,1 the AFL was designated the exclusive bargaining representative of the em- ployees of the Company by the Regional Director for the Fifteenth Region. On January 22, 1942, a collective agreement was entered into between the Company and the AFL. Section XVI of the agreement provides that, with the exception of the wage scale agreement, it shall remain in effect for a period of 1 year, and it shall be automatically renewable for annual periods thereafter unless notice of termination shall be given by one of the parties at least 30 days prior to the ex- piration date of the contract. Section XV of the contract provides that the wage scale agreement shall be effective for successive 90-day periods subject to discontinuance on 30 (lays' notice prior to the terminal date. The contract has never been reopened in accordance with Section XVI, but it has been twice reopened in accordance with I Case No. 15-R--527. CHICAGO MILL AND LUMBER COMPANY 857 Section XV. The Company and the AFL contend that this agree- ment bars a current determination of representatives. They assert that under the terms of the contract the agreement automatically re- newed itself on December 22, and that the filing of a petition later than December 21 by the CIO was unavailing. The CIO contends that the contract, properly construed, automatically renewed itself .on December 23, and that its effort to file a petition on December 22, hereafter fully described, rendered the contract without force for the purpose of barring an election. Under this view of the case, the crucial question is whether the last day during which notice of termi- nation could be given by the contracting parties under Section XVI of the contract was December 21, as the AFL and the Company con- tend, or December 22, as the CIO contends.2 However, we find it un- necessary to determine which interpretation of the contract is correct, for in our view the CIO's actions beginning on December 21, in all the circumstances of this case, sufficed to stay the operation of the contract as a bar. A representative of the CIO, on Friday, December 21, 1945, visited the Memphis Subregional Office where he was advised that the Green- ville, Mississippi, plant, involved in the case, was under the jurisdic- tion of the New Orleans Regional Office. He was further advised that the Board's offices would be closed from December 22 to December 25, both days inclusive, because of the Christmas holiday. On Saturday, December 22, at 10:06 a. in., the CIO dispatched a telegram to the New Orleans Office stating in substance that a question concerning representation had arisen at the Greenville plant. The telegram was received in New Orleans at 10: 52 a. m., but delivery could not be effected because the Board's offices were closed. On the same day, December 22, a petition was mailed by the CIO to the New Orleans Office. Both the telegram and the petition were delivered on Wednesday, December 26, on which day the petition was docketed. The Memphis Subregional Office, a suboffice to the New Orleans Regional Office, is equally competent with the latter to receive peti- tions for certification of representatives affecting employee units located within the Fifteenth Region. But for the implied advice given to the CIO that any petition affecting this plant should be filed in New Orleans, it is likely that the petition would have been timely filed in the Memphis Subregional Office on December 21. It would be inequitable to permit an erroneous ministerial act by a Board's agent to redound to the disadvantage of a party. We are also im- pressed by the effort made by the CIO to effect timely filing by its 2 Under the rule in Matter of JIM B, Inc., 40 N. L. R. B. 346, the date specified for notice of termination is the last day during which a challenging union can prevent the operation of an automatic renewal clause by the filing of a petition to determine repre- sentatives or by an informal demand on the employer for exclusive recognition. 858 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD telegram and petition dispatched on December 22 and received in the New Orleans office on the first succeeding working day following the Christmas holiday, but we express no opinion whether these acts of themselves would have been sufficient to prevent the operation of the automatic renewal clause. Considering all the circumstances we find that the contract is not a bar to a current determination of representatives. 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 We find, in accordance with the agreement of the parties, that all employees of the Company's Greenville, Mississippi, plant, but ex- cluding clerical and office employees, watchmen, and logging and wood crews, and all supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em- ployees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appro- priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. 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 employees 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 Rela- tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa- tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Chicago Mill and Lumber Company, Greenville, Mississippi, 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 direction and super- vision of the Regional Director for the Fifteenth 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 employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, CHICAGO MILL AND LTJMBER COMPANY 859 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 beenvehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to determine whether they desire to be represented by International Woodworkers of America (CIO), or by United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, Locals 2677 and 2684, AFL, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.