Chicago Mill and Lumber Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 24, 1946

69 N.L.R.B. 855 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of CHICAGO MILL AND LUMBER COMPANY and
INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA (CIO)
Case No. 15-R-1564.Decided July 241, 1946
Mr. C. E. Daggett , of Marianna , Ark., and Messrs . F. W. Schatz and
J. H. Dunn, of Helena , Ark., for the Company.
Mr. George Bentley, of Memphis, Tenn ., for the CIO.
Mr. Charles Mendenhall , of Little Rock, Ark., Mr. W. A. Hunder-
mark, of Vicksburg , Miss ., and Mr. S. E. Genola , of Greenville , Miss.,
for the AFL.
Mr. Bernard Duman , of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by International Woodworkers of Amer-
ica (CIO), herein called the CIO, alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Chicago Mill and Lumber Company, Greenville, Mississippi, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided
for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before C. Paul Barker,
Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Greenville, Mississippi,
on May 16, 1946. The Company, the CIO, and United Brotherhood
of Carpenters & Joiners of America, Locals 2677 and 2684, AFL,
herein called the AFL, appeared and participated. At the hearing the
AFL's motion to intervene was granted. All parties were afforded
full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses,
and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs
with the Board.
69 N. L. R. B., No. 103.
855
856 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Chicago Mill and Lumber Company, a Delaware corporation, oper-
ates plants at Chicago, Illinois; Helena, Arkansas; Tallulah, Loui-
siana; Waterproof, Louisiana; and Greenville, Mississippi. The
Company is engaged in the business of manufacturing lumber and
wooden boxes. At the Greenville plant, solely involved in this pro-
ceeding, the Company, during the year 1945, used raw materials
valued at about $900,000, of which 25 percent Was shipped to it from
points outside the State of Mississippi. During the same period of
time, the Company produced finished products at the Greenville plant
valued at about $1,750,000, of which 85 percent was shipped to points
outside the State.
The Company admits, and we find, that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
International Woodworkers of America is a labor organization,
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, Locals
2677 and 2684, is a labor organization, affiliated with the American
Federation of. Labor, admitting to membership employees of the Com-
pany.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
As a result of a, consent cross-check on January 28, 1941,1 the AFL
was designated the exclusive bargaining representative of the em-
ployees of the Company by the Regional Director for the Fifteenth
Region. On January 22, 1942, a collective agreement was entered into
between the Company and the AFL. Section XVI of the agreement
provides that, with the exception of the wage scale agreement, it shall
remain in effect for a period of 1 year, and it shall be automatically
renewable for annual periods thereafter unless notice of termination
shall be given by one of the parties at least 30 days prior to the ex-
piration date of the contract. Section XV of the contract provides
that the wage scale agreement shall be effective for successive 90-day
periods subject to discontinuance on 30 (lays' notice prior to the
terminal date. The contract has never been reopened in accordance
with Section XVI, but it has been twice reopened in accordance with
I Case No. 15-R--527.
CHICAGO MILL AND LUMBER COMPANY 857
Section XV. The Company and the AFL contend that this agree-
ment bars a current determination of representatives. They assert
that under the terms of the contract the agreement automatically re-
newed itself on December 22, and that the filing of a petition later
than December 21 by the CIO was unavailing. The CIO contends
that the contract, properly construed, automatically renewed itself
.on December 23, and that its effort to file a petition on December 22,
hereafter fully described, rendered the contract without force for the
purpose of barring an election. Under this view of the case, the
crucial question is whether the last day during which notice of termi-
nation could be given by the contracting parties under Section XVI
of the contract was December 21, as the AFL and the Company con-
tend, or December 22, as the CIO contends.2 However, we find it un-
necessary to determine which interpretation of the contract is correct,
for in our view the CIO's actions beginning on December 21, in all
the circumstances of this case, sufficed to stay the operation of the
contract as a bar.
A representative of the CIO, on Friday, December 21, 1945, visited
the Memphis Subregional Office where he was advised that the Green-
ville, Mississippi, plant, involved in the case, was under the jurisdic-
tion of the New Orleans Regional Office. He was further advised that
the Board's offices would be closed from December 22 to December 25,
both days inclusive, because of the Christmas holiday. On Saturday,
December 22, at 10:06 a. in., the CIO dispatched a telegram to the
New Orleans Office stating in substance that a question concerning
representation had arisen at the Greenville plant. The telegram was
received in New Orleans at 10: 52 a. m., but delivery could not be
effected because the Board's offices were closed. On the same day,
December 22, a petition was mailed by the CIO to the New Orleans
Office. Both the telegram and the petition were delivered on
Wednesday, December 26, on which day the petition was docketed.
The Memphis Subregional Office, a suboffice to the New Orleans
Regional Office, is equally competent with the latter to receive peti-
tions for certification of representatives affecting employee units
located within the Fifteenth Region. But for the implied advice
given to the CIO that any petition affecting this plant should be filed
in New Orleans, it is likely that the petition would have been timely
filed in the Memphis Subregional Office on December 21. It would
be inequitable to permit an erroneous ministerial act by a Board's
agent to redound to the disadvantage of a party. We are also im-
pressed by the effort made by the CIO to effect timely filing by its
2 Under the rule in Matter of JIM B, Inc., 40 N. L. R. B. 346, the date specified for
notice of termination is the last day during which a challenging union can prevent the
operation of an automatic renewal clause by the filing of a petition to determine repre-
sentatives or by an informal demand on the employer for exclusive recognition.
858 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
telegram and petition dispatched on December 22 and received in the
New Orleans office on the first succeeding working day following the
Christmas holiday, but we express no opinion whether these acts of
themselves would have been sufficient to prevent the operation of the
automatic renewal clause. Considering all the circumstances we
find that the contract is not a bar to a current determination of
representatives.
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
We find, in accordance with the agreement of the parties, that all
employees of the Company's Greenville, Mississippi, plant, but ex-
cluding clerical and office employees, watchmen, and logging and wood
crews, and all supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote,
discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
ployees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appro-
priate 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 employees
in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period
immediately 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 Rela-
tions 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 representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Chicago Mill and
Lumber Company, Greenville, Mississippi, 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 super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Fifteenth Region, acting in
this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and
subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regula-
tions, among employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV,
CHICAGO MILL AND LTJMBER COMPANY 859
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, 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 or been discharged
for cause and have not beenvehired or reinstated prior to the date of
the election, to determine whether they desire to be represented by
International Woodworkers of America (CIO), or by United
Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, Locals 2677 and
2684, AFL, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.