Cummer-Graham Co.

In the Matter of CUMMER-GRAHAM COMPANY, EMPLOYER and UNITED FURNITURE WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. 0., PETITIONER Case No. 16-B-1743.-Decided October 8,1941 Mr. O. B. Fisher, of Paris, Tex., for the Employer. Mr. W. E. Keefer, of Dallas, Tex., for the Petitioner. Mr. Conrad A. Wickham, Jr., of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Paris, Texas, on July 27, 1946, before Glenn L. Moller, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. At the hearing the Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the grounds that the unit sought is inappropriate and the Petitioner has made no showing of interest in the units alleged by the Employer to be appropriate. For reasons stated in the O. D. Jennings case,' and in Section IV, infra, the motion is hereby denied. Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations Board makes the following; FINDINGS OF- FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER Cummer-Graham Company is a Texas corporation having its prin- cipal office at Paris, Texas. It is engaged in the manufacture and sale of wooden boxes, baskets, crates, containers, lumber and veneer. It operates plants at Paris, Beaumont, Longview, and Mineola, Texas, and at Hornbeck, Louisiana. Only the Employer's Paris, Texas, operations are here involved. The Employer receives annually at its Paris plants raw materials valued in excess of $100,000, more than 30 percent of which represents shipments received from points outside the State of Texas. The Employer produces annually at its Paris operations boxes, crates, lumber and veneer valued in excess of $100,- 000, of which more than $7,000 represents shipments to points out- I platter of 0 D Jennings & Company, 68 N L R B 516 71 N. L. U. B., No. 35. 289 290 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD side the State of Texas. Crates and boxes valued in excess of $93,000 annually are shipped from the Paris operations to fruit and vegetable packers in the Rio Grande Valley. The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent= employees of the Employer. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive bargaining representative of employees of the Employer on the ground that the unit sought is inappropriate. We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE kPPROPRIATE UNIT The Petitioner seeks a unit of all production and maintenance em- ployees at the Employer's Paris, Texas, operations, which comprise the sawmill, the veneer plant, the box and crate factory (hereinafter referred to as the "factory") and the lumber and storage yards appur- tenant thereto, including the truck drivels, the veneer yard foreman, and, at the factory, the engineer and assistant engineers, the saw filer, the lumber checkers and watchmen, but excluding office and clerical employees and all supervisory employees. The Employer contends that there should be three separate units, consisting of the factory and its lumber yard, the veneer plant and its storage yard, and the saw- mill and its yard. In addition, it would exclude the lumber checkers as clerical employees, and the engineer, assistant engineers, saw filer, and veneer yard foreman as supervisors. The parties agree to the inclusion of the truck driver and the watchmen, and to the exclusion of the superintendents of the factory, of the sawmill and the veneer plant, and higher ranking officials, as well as the veneer plant night foreman and the respective factory foremen of machinery, of the lum- ber yard, and of the stitching and nailing department. The Employer's Paris operations consist of three separate plants- the sawmill, the factory, and the veneer plant. The sawmill is engaged in the cutting and production of lumber from logs, part of which is consumed by the factory. The factory manufactures boxes and crates from rough board lumber, and the veneer plant manufactures veneer. CUMMER-GRAHAM COMPANY 291 Although these plants occupy separate buildings, they are all in close proximity to each other and are served by a single office. The latter office is in the same building as the Employer's home office which serves all of its other plants. The entire output of the veneer plant is consumed by the factory, while about 20 percent of the rough lumber used by the latter is produced at the sawmill. Together, these materials constitute approximately 40 percent of the raw materials used by the factory, the remainder being purchased from outside sources. The power for both the factory and the veneer plant is produced by the powerhouse located in the factory, while the sawmill obtains its power from outside sources. Although each plant has its own superintendent, each of these officials is responsible to the Employer's general super- intendent of the Paris operations. All employees use the same time clock, and the pay rolls for each plant are maintained in the main office, the employees of all plants being paid by company check from this office. In keeping with the Employer's policy of attempting to provide steady employment for its skilled employees, there is, during lay-off periods, considerable interchange of personnel between the sawmill and the factory, transfers being made to whichever operation remains in active production. The veneer plant is only affected to a minor degree by these interchanges. Wage scales, hours and working conditions, vacation privileges, and general personnel and employee relations problems of all three plants are centrally determined by top management officials rather than by the individual superintendents of the respective units. The three operations can, and frequently do, operate independently of one another, depending upon the availability of materials. Al- though a separate profit and loss sheet is maintained for the sawmill, a single account is kept for the combined operations of the factory and veneer plant. Under all the circumstances, we are of the opinion that the interests of the three Paris operations are so integrated, both by the inter- relation of their functions and by the nature of the managerial organi- zation and control, as to render a single bargaining unit of all the Employer's employees more appropriate than three separate units. We therefore find that a single unit is appropriate in this case for the purposes of collective bargaining.2 Specific disputed categories Engineer and assistant engineers: The engineer is in charge of the factory powerhouse and is assisted by two assistant engineers. All three of these employees have the authority to hire and discharge. We 2 Matter of Longhorn Roofing Products, Inc., 67 N. L. R . B. 84 ; Matter of Thomaston Cotton Mills, 66 N. L. It. B. 731. 292 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD find them to be supervisory employees within the meaning of our cus- tomary definition. We shall exclude them from the unit. Saito filer: The duties of this employee, a skilled craftsman, nor- mally involve the checking of factory saws in operation, and, with the help of one or two assistants, the removal and sharpening of factory saws as required. It is conceded that he is not a supervisor when performing these duties. However, the Employer contends that two or three times a year, for periods of about a week, he assumes the position of factory superintendent, in which capacity he performs supervisory functions. Since he assumes these duties only sporadi- cally, we are of the opinion that he is not a supervisor within the cus- tomary meaning of the term. We shall therefore include him in the unit.3 Checkers: There are two lumber checkers in the factory lumber yard whose duties are to measure and check the quantity of incoming rough board lumber, and also to grade it when such is necessary. Upon their reports are based the Employer's payments to the sellers from whom the lumber is received. Their work is performed entirely in the lumber yard and they are under the supervision of the lumber yard foreman, who also has common labor under him. Although the Employer would exclude these men as clerical employees, we are of the opinion that their interests are more closely associated with those of the lumber yard and factory workers than with the Employer's clerical force. We shall therefore include them in the Unit .4 Veneer Yard Foreman: This employee is in charge of stacking the finished veneer in the veneer yard, and is under the supervision of the veneer plant superintendent. Although he spends most of his time working along with his subordinates, he has the authority to hire and discharge. We shall exclude him from the unit as a supervisory employee. We find that all production and maintenance employees at the Employer's Paris, Texas, operations, consisting of its box and crate factory, veneer plant, sawmill, and all yards adjacent thereto, includ- ing the saw filer, truck driver, lumber checkers, and watchmen, but excluding the superintendents of the box and crate factory, the veneer plant, and the sawmill, and higher ranking officials, the lumber yard foreman, machinery foreman, stitching and nailing department fore- man, veneer plant night foreman, and veneer yard foreman, office clerical employees, and all other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, con- 3 Matter of E . I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Inc , Rayon Division, 62 N L. It. B. 146 ; Matter of Aluminum Company of America , 61 N. L. It. B. 1066. 4 Matter of Goodman Manufacturing Company, 58 N. L. It. B. 531 ; Matter of Servel, Inc., 58 N. L. It. B. 5. CUMMER-GRAHAM COMPANY 293 stitute a unit appropriate for the 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 purposes of collective bargaining with Cummer-Graham Company, Paris, 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 direction and supervision of the Regional Di- rector for the Sixteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections 203.55 and 203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations- Series 4, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Sec- tion IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period im- mediately 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 Furniture Workers of America, C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective bargaining.