Beatty Logging Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 9, 1945

62 N.L.R.B. 266 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of BEATTY LOGGING Co. and KLAMATH BASIN DISTRICT
COUNCIL LUM BER & SAWMILL WORKERS, LOCAL 2705. A. F. OF L.
Case No. 19-R-1395.-Decided June 9, 1945
1VIr. C. L. Irving, of Klamath Falls, Oreg., for the Company.
Mr. J. G. Wolf, of Medford , Oreg., and Mr . Hugh R. Haddock , of Kla-
math Falls, Oreg., for the AFL.
Mr. George Brown , of Portland , Oreg., for the CIO.
Miss Frances Lopinsky, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Klamath Basin District Council Lumber &
Sawmill Workers, Local 2705, A. F. of L., herein called the AFL, alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa-
tion of employees of Beatty Logging Co.,' Klamath Falls, Oregon, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice before John E. Hedrick, Trial Exam-
iner. Said hearing was held at Klamath Falls, Oregon, on December 11,
1944. The Company, the AFL, and International Woodworkers of Amer-
ica. Local No. 6-12, CIO, herein called the CIO, appeared and participated
All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-
examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. At the
hearing, the CIO moved the dismissal of the petition on the grounds that
had it not been for the intervention of the AFI: on two separate occasions,-
a contract between the Company and the CIO would have been in effect
For reasons hereinafter given, the motion is hereby denied. The Trial
Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error
1 At the hearing upon motion of the Company the name of the Company as it appears in the
pleadings was corrected as above
62 N L R B., No 42.
266
0
BEATTY LOGGING CO. 267
and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an opportunity to file
briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. TILE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Beatty Logging Co., a copartnership,` maintains offices at Klamath Fall',
Oregon, and logging operations near Beatty, Oregon. All logs cut by the
Company are sold by it to mills at Klamath Falls, Oregon, which convert
the logs into finished lumber and lumber products, almost all of which is
shipped to points outside the State of Oregon. The Company produces
about 5,000,000 board feet of logs a month.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning
of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Klamath Basin District Council Lumber & Sawmill Workers, Local
2705, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, is a labor organi-
zation admitting to membership employees of the Company.
International Woodworkers of America, Local No. 6-12, affiliated with
the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting
to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On October 1, 1943, as a result of a consent election, the CIO was desig-
nated as collective bargaining representative for employees of the Company.
Thereafter, the Company and the CIO entered into negotiations for a col-
lective bargaining contract. In February 1944, the AFL filed a petition for
investigation and certification of representatives which the Board on
-March 29, 1944, dismissed as premature in view of the CIO's recent desig-
nation.' The Company and the CIO then resumed negotiations, which had
been interrupted by the representation proceeding. An oral agreement was
finally reached and reduced to writing. The Company, however, refused to
sign the contract because of typographical errors therein. On September
2, 1944, the AFL filed its petition herein and the Company, for that rea-
son, refused to sign the contract. The CIO contends that its unsigned
agreement is a bar to a present determination of representatives because, it
2 Prior to January 1, 1944, the Company operated as a copal tnei ship under the name Beatty
Logging Company. On January 1, 1944, the copartnership was succeeded by a corporation, Beatty
Logging Company, Inc , which operated until March 1, 1944, when it was in turn succeeded by the
present copartnership The operations and the employees involved herein are the same as those
involved in Matter of Beatty Logging Company, Inc., 55 N L. R B 810, and Matter of Beatty
Lumber Company, 19-R-1187, involving a consent election conducted by a Board agent on September
13, 1943.
8 55 N. L. R. B. 810.
268 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
alleges , its failure to obtain an executed contract is directly attributable to
the two petitions filed by the AFL. We find no merit in this contention. In
Matter of EIcor,` we established the policy, to which we have since firmly
adhered, that an oral contract is no bar to a determination of representa-
tives . That principle is herein applicable . The CIO does not in this case
establish any such equitable claim to remain undisturbed as has been recog-
nized by us in Matter of Allis-Chalmers and related cases ' Although the
pendency of the February petition operated to delay negotiations , the CIO
remained the statutory bargaining representative entitled to recognition
as such, throughout the period when that petition was pending, a fact which
the Board affirmed when it promptly dismissed the petition . The filing in
September of the petition in this proceeding was not premature , inasmuch
as nearly a year had then elapsed since the CIO had been designated by the
Board as bargaining representative ! We find the unexecuted contract to be
no bar to a present determination of representatives.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced -into evidence at the hearing,
indicates that the AFL represents a substantial number of employees in
the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the
representation of employees of the Company , within the meaning of Section
9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
•
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
All parties agree that all production and maintenance employees of the
Company, excluding supervisory and confidential employees and the camp
clerk, constitute an appropriate unit. Except for the woods boss and woods
superintendent whom all parties would exclude, the parties disagree as to
what categories of employees should be excluded from the unit under the
designation "supervisory." The CIO would include the cat foreman, the
truck foreman, and the bull buck in the unit. The AFL takes no position as
to the cat foreman and the truck foreman, but would exclude the bull buck.
The Company would exclude all of the named categories from the unit.
Each of the named employees is in charge of a small crew, many of the
members of which he has hired or recommended for hire. It appears that
the authority of these employees to hire is based upon the present labor
shortage and is not commonly exercised in normal times, but that even
' 46 N. L. R B 1035.
5 Matter of Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, 50 N L. R B. 306; see Matter of Taylor
Forge and Pipe Works, 58 N L R B 1375, and cases cited therein.
6 See Matter of General Chemical Co , 48 N L R B 988, Matte; of J M Portela and Co , 61
N. L. R. B 64
7The Field Examiner reported that the AFL submitted 54 designation cards, 33 of which bore
the names of persons listed on the Company 's pay roll of September 1, 1944, which contained the
names of 70 employees in the appropriate unit. The CIO relied upon its prior designation by the
Regional Director as bargaining representative to show its interest in the proceeding.
BEATTY LOGGING CO. 269
then, no employee is placed in a crew without the approval of the head of
the crew. The cat foreman, the truck foreman, and the bull buck perform
physical labor ; they are paid on an hourly rate. They are integral parts of
their crews. Since we perceive,no appreciable difference between the cat
foreman, truck foremen, and bull bucks employed by the Company and the
minor supervisory employees involved in Matter of Coos Bay Lumber
Company,' recently decided by the Board, we shall include them within the
appropriate unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the Company,
including the cat foreman, the truck foreman, and the bull buck, but exclud-
ing the camp clerk, all confidential employees, the woods superintendent,
the woods boss, and other supervisory employees of equal and higher rank,
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
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which has
arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the employees in
the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period imme-
diately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein, subject to the
limitations and additions set forth in the Direction
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, and
pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representatives
for the purposes of collective bargaining with Beatty Logging Co., Klamath
Falls, Oregon, 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 Nine-
teenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules
and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in
Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immedi-
ately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not
work during the 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 of been discharged for cause and have
8 62 N. L. R. B. 93.
270 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to determihe
whether they desire to be represented by Klamath Basin District Council
Lumber and Sawmill Workers, Local 2705 A. F: of L., or by International
Woodworkers of America, Local 6-12, C I. 0. for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining, or by neither.
Mr. GERARD D. REILLY, dissenting :
For the reasons stated in my dissenting opinions in Matter of Coos Bay
Lumber Company° and Matter of Packard Motor Car Company," I dis-
agree with the inclusion of supervisory employees within the unit of rank
and file maintenance and production employees.
0 62 N. L. R. B. 93
1061N L R B.4