Canyon Lumber Company

In the Matter of CANYON LuirBER COMPANY and LUMBER AND SAw11fILL WORKERS UNION7 LOCAL No. 2655, CHARTERED BY THE UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS AND JOINERS OF AMERICA Case No. R-1414.-Decided August 23, 1939 Lumber Products Manufacturing Industry-Investigation of Representatives: controversy concerning representation of employees : rival organizations ; refusal of company to recognize petitioning union because mill not operating-Unit Ap- propriate for Collective Bargainings production and maintenance employees, excluding office and supervisory employees ; head filer excluded because of super- visory nature of duties-Representatives: evidence introduced shows duplication of membership-Election Ordered Mr. William A. Babcock, Jr., for the Board. Mr. Arthur Soli of Everett, Wash., for the Company. Mr. L. Presley Gill, of Seattle, Wash., for Local No. 2655. Mr. John C. Stevenson,, of Seattle, Wash., for Local No. 101. Miss Marcia Hertzmark, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE On April 3, 1939, Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, Local No. 2655, chartered by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, herein called Local No. 2655, filed with the Regional Director for the Nine- teenth Region (Seattle, Washington), a petition alleging that a ques- tion affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Canyon Lumber Company, Everett, Washington, herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On May 27, 1939, 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. 14 N. L. R. B., No. 73. 931 932 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD On June 3, 1939, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing and on June 12, an order postponing the hearing. Copies of the notice of hearing and notice of the order of postponement were duly served upon the Company, upon Local 2655, and upon the Interna- tional Woodworkers of America, Local No. 101, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, herein referred to as Local No. 101, a labor organization claiming to represent employees directly affected by the investigation. Copies were also served upon Boom- men and Rafters Local No. 11-132, I. W. A. Pursuant to the notice of hearing and the notice of postponement, a hearing was held on June 22, 1939, at Everett, Washington, before J. J. Fitzpatrick, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board, Local No. 2655, and Local No. 101, were represented by counsel; the Company was represented by its office manager. All participated 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 hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings on motions and on objections 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 Canyon Lumber Company is a Washington corporation having its principal office and place of business at Everett, Washington. It is engaged in the manufacture and sale of general lumber products. In 1937 the Company's lumber shipments totaled 60,541,032 feet at a value of $1,313,818. Of this total approximately 89 per cent was shipped-outside the State of Washington. During the first 10 months of 1938 the Company shipped about 80 per cent of its products out- side the State of Washington. The total value of all shipments made by the Company during these 10 months in 1938 was $769,217.48. In October 1938 the Company's mill was shut down because of business conditions, and had not reopened at the time of the hearing. II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union Local No. 2655, chartered by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, is a labor organiza- CANYON LUMBER COMPANY 933 tion admitting to membership production and maintenance employees of the Company. International Woodworkers of America, Local No. 101, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organiza- tion also admitting to membership production and maintenance employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION On March 21, 1938, in a consent election, the employees of the Coin- pany selected Local No. 101, as against Local No. 2655, to represent them as exclusive bargaining agent. From January 1939 to June 1939 Local No. 2655 circulated -among employees of the Company a petition stating that the signers thereby withdrew from membership in Local No. 101 and designated Local No. 2655 as their collective bargaining agency. This petition and a copy of a proposed agree- ment were presented to the general manager of the Company 3 or 4 months before the hearing, after the mill had closed down. He re- fused to consider either of them because the mill was not operating. The office manager testified that the general manager's son, who con- templated operating the sawmill, had expressed a desire to have the question concerning representation settled prior to his reopening the mill. 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 commerce and the free flow of commerce. V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT At the hearing Local No. 2655 and Local No. 101 stipulated that the appropriate bargaining unit shall consist of all production and maintenance employees of the Company, excluding office and super- visory employees, whose names appear on the Company's pay roll for October 1938. However, Local No. 101 reserved the right to produce testimony on the ,positions held by two men who appear on the pay roll and whose duties are discussed below: 934 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Guy Scribner is a head filer and has two or three men under him. His duties are to see that the saws are in proper shape and he works on the bench himself. The foreman reports to him as to the condition of the saws, and if the work of a filer is not satisfactory, Scribner reports to the manager. It is not clear whether he has the right to hire and discharge the filers since the occasion has not arisen in re- cent years and he has been given no instructions on the subject. Local No. 101 desires his exclusion from the unit; Local No. 2655 his inclusion. Since Scribner's duties are supervisory in character, we will exclude him from the unit.' George Johnson is listed on the Company's pay roll as a machine. man. He is also called a set-up man. At the time of the hearing he was acting temporarily as foreman of the Company's planing mill which was then operating on a part-time basis. It was stipulated that the occupation of set-up man is included within the bargaining unit. If at the time of the election, Johnson is acting in the capacity of a machine man or set-up man he shall be permitted to vote, but if he is then acting as foreman, a position excluded from the unit, he^ shall be ineligible to vote. A question was raised at the hearing as to the inclusion or exclusion of four boommen, whose duties consist of shifting logs in the log pond, taking the chains or ropes off logs when they come to the pond, and generally handling the logs in the pond and delivering them to the end of the mill. Since the work of the boommen is clearly an integral part of the mill's processes, and since neither Local No. 2655 nor Local No. 101 contends that they should be excluded, they will be included within the unit.2 We find that the Company's production and maintenance employees, including boommen, but excluding supervisory and office employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining and that said unit will insure to the employees of the Company the full benefit of their rights to self-organization and collective bargain- ing and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act. VI. TIIE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES The Company's pay roll for October 1938, the last month during which the Company operated, was introduced in evidence. It con- tains 248 names of employees, 6 of whom are admittedly supervisory. Local No. 2655 introduced in evidence a petition containing names of 172 persons of whom 15 were not working for the Company in October 1 See Matter of Rea Manufacturing Co., Inc. and A. F. of L. Federal Local Union, No. 20893, 7 N. L. R. B. 95; Matter of Keystone Manufacturing Company and United Toy and Novelty Workers Local Industrial Union No. 538 of the C. I. 0., 7 N. L. R. B. 172. 2 The foreman of the boommen is excluded because of his supervisory status. CANYON LUMBER. COMPANY 935 1938. Local No. 101 produced 154 membership cards and it was agreed that the names appearing thereon appear also on the Com- pany's pay roll for October 1938. There is apparently a duplication of at least 69 names. We find that the question which has arisen concerning the represen- tation of employees of the Company can best be resolved by the hold- ing of an election by secret ballot. The parties did not agree upon any particular pay roll to govern eligibility to vote, but the latest pay roll available appears to be that of October 1938, just prior to the shut-down. We shall direct that those eligible to vote shall be employees in the appropriate unit whose names appear on the pay roll of October 1938, including employees who did not work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation, and also includ- ing employees who were then or have since been temporarily laid off, but excluding those who have since quit or been discharged for cause. 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 Canyon Lumber Company, Everett, Wash- ington, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 2. The employees of the Company employed in production and maintenance work, including boommen, but excluding supervisory and office employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. 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 Relations, Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the: Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Canyon Lumber Company, Everett, Washington,, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted within twenty (20) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-- vision of the Regional Director for the Nineteenth Region, acting in. this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among- the production and maintenance employees of Canyon Lumber Corn-- 190935-40-vol. 14-- G 0 936 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD parry, whose names appear upon the pay roll of the Company for October 1938, including employees who did not work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation and employees who were then or have since been temporarily laid off, and including . boommen, but excluding office and supervisory employees, and those who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether they desire to be represented for the purposes of collective bargaining by Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, Local No. 2655, chartered by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, or by International Woodworkers of America, Local No. 101, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, or by neither.