Farmville Manufacturing Co.

In the Matter of FARMVILLE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER Case No. 5-R--946.Decided February 16, 1948 Messrs. W. P. Hazelgrove and W. A. Dickinson, of Roanoke, Va., for the Employer. Mr. Lloyd P. Vaughn, of Richmond, Va., dlr. George M. Sandlin, of Altavista, Va., and Mr. 7'. C. Stout, of Norfolk, Va., for the Petitioner. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Farin- ville, Virginia, on July 8, 1947, before Sidney J. Barban, 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 National Labor Relations Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board Members*, who upon the entire record in the case, make the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER Farinvill e Manufacturing Company, a Virginia corporation, located in Farinville, Virginia, is engaged in the business of buying, processing, and selling lumber, and manufacturing building materials, plow handles, and related products. It also buys and sells hardware, paints, wall paper, sporting goods, and home appliances. The principal raw materials used by the Employer are wood logs, paint, nails, screws, and strappings. In 1946 the employer used logs and lumber valued at approximately $145,000, none of which originated outside the Coin- 'Houston, Reynolds , and Gray. 76 N L. B. B., No. 34. 237 238 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD monwealth of Virginia. During the same period the Employer purchased approximately $5,000 worth of incidental raw materials, 90 percent of which was obtained outside the Commonwealth of Vir- ginia. During 1946, the Employer sold $98,000 worth of plow handles, of which 70 percent was sold to customers outside the Commonwealth of Virginia. During the same period, the Employer's retail store did a retail business of about $200,000, all in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the Employer sold building materials, valued at $135,000, all within the Commonwealth of Virginia. We And, contrary to the contention of the Employer, that its opera- tions affect commerce within the meaning of the Act.' D 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 until the Peti- tioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit. We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Employer's only plant is located at Farmville, Virginia, and covers an area of about one city block. It also owns certain nearby wood tracts, from which it cuts lumber. The Employer's operations are divided into a number of departments, each maintaining a separate pay roll f*r cost accounting purposes. The several departments, their functions, and their employees are as follows : a logging crew of approximately 12 men, including a work- ing foreman and a truck driver, cut logs from the Employer's tracts, load them on the Employer's trucks, which carry them to the Em- ployer's sawmill ; a sawmill with 3 to 6 employees cuts the logs into lumber; a planing mill with 5 employees dresses the lumber; a build- ing materials department 2 sells the usual building materials ; a plow 1Matter of Burnet-Binford Lumber Company, Inc, 75 N L R. B 421; Matter of J. F. Johnson Lumber Company, 73 N. L. R. B. 320; Matter of W. P. Stephens Lumber Company, 73 N L R B 1451 ; Matter of Clinton Lumber Corporation, 72 N. L. R B. 217, and cases cited therein. 2 The record is silent on the number of employees in this department. FARMVILLE MANUFACTURING COMPANY 239 handle department, of approximately 21 men, manufactures plow handles; a carpenter shop with 11 employees does special mill work, making cabinets, special size doors, etc. ; a machine shop, having 3 em- ployees, does maintenance work; a powerhouse with 1 employee sup- plies electrical energy; and a retail sales store, with 3 sales clerks and a maintenance man, sells hardware, paints, wall paper, electrical ap- pliances, and sporting goods. Four truck drivers deliver building ma- terials and hardware to the customers, and 2 loaders load the trucks. The Petitioner seeks a unit of all the Employer's production and maintenance employees, excluding the retail sales clerks and the work- ing foreman on the logging crew. The Employer would exclude the logging crew, but contends that, if the Board should decide to include this crew, the working foreman on the crew should also be included in the unit. The Employer would also include the sales clerks in the retail store. Employees in the retail store: The Employer employs in its retail store three sales clerks and one maintenance man. The sales clerks, unlike the Employer's other employees, are paid on a weekly basis; the maintenance man is paid on an hourly basis and devotes all of his time to work in the store. The sales clerks perform the usual duties associated with this employment category. Occasionally they go to the building materials warehouse and saw off a board of the desired length to fill a customer's order. The Employer urges that the retail store is an integral part of the plant, and that employees at the store should be included in the plant unit. However, it appears from the record that the retail store employees work exclusively in that store, and that the sales clerks are paid on a different basis, from that of other employees. The record does not disclose that they have any contacts with the other employees at the plant. We shall, accordingly, exclude the employees in the retail store from the unit hereinafter found appropriate.3 Logging crew: The Employer maintains a logging crew of approxi- mately 12 men, including a working foreman and a truck driver. These men cut logs on the Employer's tracts, and the truck driver hauls the logs to the Employer's sawmill, where the logs. are cut into lumber, part of which is used in manufacturing plow handles, and part in the Employer's carpenter shop. During bad weather the logging crew is sometimes transferred to the Employer's plan- ing mill in order that they will have continuous employment. The Employer contends that the logging crew has no community of inter- est with the other employees in that their trade or skill is separate 'Hatter of Riles-Coleman Lumber Co, Inc., 24 N L R B 1036, Hatter of Chrysler Pitt6burgh Company, Inc . 36 N L R B 1117. 240 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD and distinct from that of the other employees, and that their duties require them to work in the woods at a considerable distance from the plant. We find no merit in the Employer's contentions. The work of the logging crew is closely related to the Employer's other pro- duction operations and there is, as has been pointed out above, occa- sional transfer of employees from the logging operations to the mill. We have previously held that employees of the mill and logging operations of a manufacturer of lumber may together constitute an appropriate bargaining unit, and we shall, therefore, include the employees of the logging crew.4 The Employer would include, and the Petitioner would exclude from the unit, the working foreman on the logging crew. The Petitioner contends that the working foreman is a supervisor. The working foreman receives orders from the Employer regard- ing the timber to be cut and the amounts and lengths required. He is then responsible for seeing that these orders are carried out by the members of the logging crew. Officers of the Employer frequently visit the logging tract but unless an officer is actually present, the working foreman is the only person in charge of the logging operations. He is authorized to discipline an unwilling worker by sending him back to the Employer's office. He spends most of his time doing man- ual work, receives the same pay as at least one other member of the crew, and does not have the authority to hire or discharge. How- ever, the working foreman is in immediate charge of the crew and, on the basis of the entire record, we find that he responsibly directs the work of the logging crew and is therefore a supervisor within the meaning of the amended Act. We shall accordingly exclude the working foreman from the unit. We find that all production and maintenance employees of the Employer, including the logging crew, but excluding the working foreman of the logging crew, the employees in the retail sales store, and all supervisors, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES The Employer employs groups of temporary workers, varying in number from time to time, usually during the summer vacations. These employees are frequently high school boys who are told, when hired, that the jobs are only temporary. On rare occasions the Em- ployer may indicate to a boy, who does not intend to continue his schooling, that his job may become permanent. The Employer and "Matter of Mohawk Lumber Company, 51 N L R B 1080, and cases cited therein. FARMVILLE MANUFACTURING COMPANY 241 the Petitioner take no position with respect to the eligibility of these employees to vote. Since it appears that the temporary employees have little prospect of continued employment with the Employer, we find that they are not eligible to vote. DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Farmville Manufacturing Company, Farmville, Virginia, 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 Director for the Fifth Region, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regula- tions-Series 5, 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, but excluding temporary em- ployees and those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by International Woodworkers of America, CIO, for the purpose of collective bargaining.