Seattle Cedar Lumber Manufacturing Co.

54 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD ees, leadmen,l watchmen, guards, and all supervisors as defined in the Act. [Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.] MEMBER LEEDOM took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Elections. 7 See footnote 6, supra. Seattle Cedar Lumber Manufacturing Company and Local No. 193, International Brotherhood of Firemen & Oilers, AFL, Petitioner. Case No. 19-RC-1591. April 6, 1955 DECISION AND ORDER Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Rachel Storer, hearing of- ficer. 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 Farmer and Members Murdock and Rodgers]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The labor organization 1 claims to represent employees of the Employer. 3. No 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, for the following reasons: The Employer operates a lumber manufacturing plant at Seattle, Washington. The plant consists of a shingle mill, a sawmill, a planing mill, drying kilns, and a powerplant. At the sawmill and planing mill, cedar logs are, processed into finished lumber, siding, and mold- ing; no stock millwork items are produced. This manufacting opera- tion is continuous and highly integrated. Recently, as a stop-gap measure caused by a scarcity of logs, the Employer purchased and processed some rough lumber. However, in all the years that the plant has been in operation, 99 percent of its production has been based on the processing of cedar logs. Since 1935, the Intervenor has represented all of the plant's production and maintenance employees, with the, exception of the employees working in the shingle mill. The I Local No. 2519, Lumber and Sawmill Workers, AFL, was allowed to intervene on the basis of its current contractual interest. 112 NLRB No. 26. SUPER VALU STORES, INC. 55 latter employees have been separately represented since 1935 by the Washington-Oregon Shingle Weavers District Council, which is not a party to this proceeding. The Petitioner seeks to sever from the production and maintenance unit represented by the Intervenor, all licensed engineers and firemen employed in the Employer's powerplant. The Employer and the Intervenor contend that the unit sought is inappropriate and move that the petition be dismissed. It is apparent from the above facts, and we so find, that at its Seattle plant the Employer is engaged in a primary lumber manu- facturing operation. The Board has held that the only appropriate unit for this type of operation is a production and maintenance unit. See Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, 87 NLRB 1076, and E. C. Olson Lumber Company, 106 NLRB 856; and compare Burke Millwork Co., Inc., 100 NLRB 522. Recently, moreover, the Board announced that it would not entertain petitions for craft or departmental severance in certain highly integrated industries, such as the lumber industry, where plantwide bargaining prevails and where the Board had pre- viously refused to entertain severance petitions under the National Tube (76 NLRB 1199) doctrine. See American Potash & Chemical' Corporation, 107 NLRB 1418. Accordingly, we find that the only appropriate unit at the Employer's plant is a production and main- tenance unit, and that the unit sought by the Petitioner is not appropriate. In reaching this conclusion, we have considered and found without merit the Petitioner's contention that the singular appropriateness of the production and maintenance unit is negated by the fact that the shingle mill employees are separately represented. The record reflects that historically shingle mill employees at other cedar lumber manu- facturing plants have been separately represented. In these circum- stances the separate representation of the Employer's shingle mill employees appears as a minor deviation which is not of sufficient weight to cause a departure from the Board's well-established practice. See Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, supra, at page 1082. The Em- ployer's and Intervenor's motions to dismiss the petition are therefore granted. [The Board dismissed the petition.] Super Valu Stores, Inc. and Local 548, I. B. of T. C. W. & H. of America, AFL, Petitioner. Case No. 18-RC-2315. April 6,1955 DECISION AND DIRECTION On August 19, 1954, pursuant to a stipulation for certification upon consent election, an election by secret ballot was conducted in the 112 NLRB No. 10.