International Lumber Co.

In the Matter Of INTERNATIONAL LUMBER COMPANY and LUMBER & SAWMILL WORKERS, LOCAL No. 33 Case No. R-999.-Decided November 23, 1938 Lumber Industry-Investigation of Representatives: controversy concerning representation of employees: rival organizations-Unit Appropriate for Col- lective Bargaining : all hourly paid production employees ; eligibility for mem- bership in both of rival organizations ; no conflict as to classifications of employees to be included-Representatives : proof of choice: comparison of pay roll and union authorization cards-Contract : between employer and inter- venor ; no bar to determination of representatives-Certification of Representa- tives: upon proof of majority representation. Mr. Lee Loevinger, for the Board. Mr. George D. McClintock, of Minneapolis, Minn., for the Company. Mr. Henry Paull, of Duluth, Minn., for Local 33. Mr. L. H. Dow, of Duluth, Minn., for Local 2566. Mr. Daniel J. Harrington, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES STATEMENT OF THE CASE On May 27, 1938, Lumber & Sawmill Workers, Local No. 33, herein called Local 33, filed with the Regional Director for the Eighteenth Region (Minneapolis, Minnesota ) a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em- ployees of International Lumber Company, International Falls, Minnesota, herein called the Company, and requesting an investiga- tion and certification of representatives, pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On June 27, 1938, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act, and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. 9 N. L. R. B., No. 103. 1167 1168 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD On July 18, 1938, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing, and on July 30, 1938, and August 5, 1938, issued notices continuing the hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, upon Local 33, and upon Carpenters' District Council, Saint Paul, Minnesota , a labor organization claiming to represent employees di- rectly affected by the investigation . The notice of hearing and a notice continuing the hearing were served on Andrew Leaf , general representative of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, herein called the Carpenters and Joiners , on August 8, 1938. On August 10, 1938, the Regional Director issued a second notice of hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the above parties and upon the Sawmill Workers Union , Local No. 2566, herein called Local 2566 , a labor organization claiming to represent em- ployees directly affected by the investigation . Pursuant to the second notice, a hearing was held on August 22 and 23, 1938, at International Falls, Minnesota, before Howard Myers , the Trial Ex- aminer duly designated by the Board. The Board, the Company, Local 33, and Local 2566 were represented by counsel and par- ticipated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties . During the course of the hear- ing the Trial Examiner made several rulings on motions and on ob- jections to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed . The rulings are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following: FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY The Company, a Minnesota corporation, has its principal office and only place of business at International Falls, Minnesota. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Minnesota and Ontario Paper Com- pany and is engaged in the lumber business. Approximately 80 per cent of the lumber produced by the Company is sold for shipment outside the State of Minnesota. Its gross shipments of lumber during the 1937 fiscal year were in excess of 750 freight cars or over 15,000,000 feet of lumber. II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED Lumber & Sawmill Workers, Local No. 33, of the International Woodworkers of America is a labor organization affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organization, herein called the C. I. 0., admitting to its membership all hourly paid production employees of DECISIONS AND ORDERS 1169 the Company and employees in the logging department of the Minne- sota and Ontario Paper Company. Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, Local No. 2566 of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, is a labor organization admitting tormernbership all, production workers of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION On May 1, 1937, the Company entered into a preferential shop contract concerning wages, hours, and other conditions of employment with Local 2566. The contract was signed by the Company, the president of Local 2566, and the business agent of the Carpenters and Joiners. By its terms the contract was to remain in effect until May 1, 1938, and to continue in effect thereafter, except that it could be terminated on May 1 in any year by 30 days' notice in writing by either party. In July 1937 after an international union affiliated with the C. I. O. had been formed at a national convention of sawmill and lumber workers in Tacoma, Washington, Local 2566 voted to affiliate with the C. I. O. On August 17, 1937, Local 2566 notified the Carpenters and Joiners by letter that at a special meeting on August 1, 1937, it had severed its affiliation with the Carpenters and Joiners, effective as of July 31, 1937, and was returning its charter and seal. No reply to this letter was received from the Carpenters and Joiners. On August 30, 1937, Local 2566 notified the Company that its name and designation had been changed to Sawmill Workers Local 33, of the International Woodworkers of America, and that the membership had ratified, accepted, and adopted the agreement with the Company entered into by Local 2566. Since July 1937 the Company has dealt only with Local 33. During the first part of August 1938, about 2 weeks before the hearing, a group of approximately 20 men held a meeting for the purpose of reorganizing Local 2566, which had not been functioning since July 31, 1937. Officers were elected at the meeting. At the time of the hearing the reorganized Local 2566 had neither asserted any rights under the contract nor attempted to bargain collectively with the Company. The reorganized Local 2566 requests an election to determine representatives for collective bargaining. Local 33 seeks certification in this proceeding as the exclusive representative of the Company's employees in the appropriate bar- gaining unit. The Company states that it does not know which or- ganization to recognize as the representative of its employees. None of the parties asserts that the contract of May 1, 1937, constitutes a bar to a certification of representatives in this proceeding. 1170 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD We find' that •a question has arisen concerning representation of employees of the Company. ' " IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON COMMERCE We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States, and tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing com- merce and the free flow of commerce. V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT In its petition Local 33 claimed that the appropriate bargaining unit consisted of all employees eligible to membership in Local 33. At the hearing both Local 33 and Local 2566 agreed that all hourly paid production employees of the Company were within the appro- priate unit. The contract between the Company and Local 2566 covered all the employees in the agreed unit, which unit includes em- ployees in the dry-lumber yard, planing mill, platform, storage, green-lumber yard, barn, chain, sawmill, lath mill, steam-plant departments, and mechanics. We find that all hourly paid procuction employees of the Company in the dry-lumber yard, planing mill, platform, storage, green-lumber yard, barn, chain, sawmill, lath mill, steam-plant departments, and mechanics constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining and that said unit will insure to employees of the Com- pany the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to collec- tive bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act. VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES At the hearing the Company submitted pay rolls of its hourly paid employees for the periods ending August 29, 1937, January 31, 1938, May 31, 1938, and July 31, 1938. The number of employees on these pay rolls was as follows : 410 in August 1937, 149 in January 1938, 120 in May 1938, and 139 in July 1938. The August 1937 pay roll in- cludes almost 250 employees in the sawmill and its allied occupations. Local 2566 contends that an election should be held among the em- ployees of the Company on the pay roll of August 29, 1937, which includes employees in the sawmill, while Local 33 seeks certification on the basis of one of the other pay rolls, which omit sawmill employees. The sawmill has not operated since November 1937 and was not in operation at the time of the hearing. Ralph W. Croucher, person- DECISIONS AND ORDERS 1171 nel director of the Company, testified at the hearing that he did not know definitely whether or not the Company contemplated operating the sawmill in 1938' and that as far as he knew it was planned not to operate it. In view of the fact that the sawmill has not been oper- ating since November 1937, and since at the time of the hearing there was no present likelihood of its resuming operations, the pay roll of August 29, 1937, including sawmill employees, should not be used in determining the employees' choice of representatives. The logging season lasts from October to April, which is the Com- pany's busiest period. Of the other three pay rolls, that of July 31, 1938, is the latest pay roll and in point of number of employees ap- pears to be a fair average between the busy season as represented by the January 1938 pay roll and the dull season as represented by the May 1938 pay roll. We, therefore, shall use the July 31, 1938, pay roll in determining representation within the unit which we have found appropriate. Local 33 introduced into evidence a, total of 168 cards by which the signers authorized Local 33 to represent them for collective bar- gaining purposes. All the cards were dated oil or subsequent to July 26, 1938, and the signatures on them were properly identified by officials of Local 33. Neither the Company nor Local 2566 ques- tioned the authenticity of the signatures. A comparison of the au- thorization cards with the names of the 139 employees appearing on the pay roll of July 31, 1938, discloses that 117 of the names on the authorization cards also appear on the pay roll and that there are seven additional names of which comparison is doubtful due to the fact that the names appearing on the cards are not sufficiently legible.I Local 2566 introduced in evidence a list containing the names' of 64 members as of August 13, 1938, which list was drawn up, from names appearing on application cards of Local 2566. The signatures on the application cards were properly witnessed by officials of Local 2566. The'list was admitted in evidence over the objection of colii el for Local 33 that no sufficient foundation had been laid. Counsel for Local 2566 conceded at the hearing that none of the men whose names appeared on the cards or list of Local 2566 was then employed by the Company. We find that Local 33 has been designated and selected by a ma- jority of the employees in the appropriate unit as their representa- tive for the purposes of collective bargaining. It is, therefore, the 1 It may also be noted that a comparison of the cards with the May 31, 1938, pay roll of 120 employees disclosed that names on 98 of the cards were on the pay roll and that in addition there were 9 cards of which comparison was doubtful . A similar comparison with the January 31, 1938 , pay roll of 149 names disclosed that 109 names on the cards were on the pay roll and that there were in addition 17 cards of which comparison was doubtful. 134068-39-vol. ix-75 1172 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD exclusive representative of all the employees in such unit for the pur- poses of collective bargaining, and we will so certify. Upon the basis of the above findings of fact, and upon the entire record in'the case, the Board makes the following : CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre- sentation of employees of International Lumber Company, Interna- tional Falls, Minnesota, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The hourly paid production employees of the Company in the dry-lumber yard, planing mill, platform, storage, green-lumber yard, barn, chain, sawmill, lath mill, steam-plant departments, and mechanics constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act. 3. Lumber and Sawmill Workers, Local No. 33, is the exclusive representative of all the employees in such unit for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (a) of the National Labor Relations Act. CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Lumber & Sawmill Workers, Local No. 33, has been designated and selected by a majority of the hourly paid production employees of the International Lumber Company in dry-lumber yard, planing mill, platform, storage, green-lumber yard, barn, chain, sawmill, lath mill, steam-plant departments, and mechanics as their representative for the purposes of collective bar- gaining, and that, pursuant to the provisions of Section 9 (a) of the Act, Lumber & Sawmill Workers, Local No. 33, is the exclusive rep- resentative of all such employees for the purposes of collective bar- gaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of employment.