O. L. Williams Veneer Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 31, 1944

58 N.L.R.B. 1629 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of O. L. WILLIAMS VENEER COMPANY, INCORPORATED and'
UNITED FURNITURE WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 273, C. I. O.
Case No. 10-R-1260.-Decided October 31, 1944
Mr. T. H. Brice, of Sumter, S. C., for the Company.
Mr. Bernard Hiatt, of Martinsville, Va., and Mr. J. F. Slemmer, of
Sumter, S. C., for the Union.
Mr. Louis C, okin, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Local 27.3, United Furniture Workers of-
America, C. I. 0., herein called the Union, alleging that a question af-
fecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of O. L. Williams Veneer Company, Incorporated, Sumter,.
South Carolina, herein called the Company, the National Labor Rela-
tions Board provided for an 'appropriate hearing upon due notice-
before Melton Boyd, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Sum-
ter, South Carolina, on October 4, 1944. The Company and the Union
appeared, participated, and 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.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
O. L. Williams Veneer Company, Incorporated, is a South Carolina,
corporation operating a plant at Sumter, South Carolina, where it is.
engaged in the manufacture of plywood panels. The Company pur-
chases raw materials valued at about $300,000 annually, approximately
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1630 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
20 percent of which is shipped to it from points outside the State of
South Carolina. During the same period the Company manufactured
products valued at about $800,000, approximately 75 percent of which
is shipped to points outside the State of South Carolina.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing-of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Local 273, United Furniture Workers of America, is a labor organi-
zation affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, ad-
mitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The company refuses to recognize the Union as the exclusive col-
lective barghining representative of its employees until such time as
the Union is certified by the Board.
A statement of a Field Examiner of the Board, introduced into
evidence at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a sub-
stantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found to be
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 National Labor
Relations Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union urges that all employees of the Company, including
watchmen,2 but excluding clerical employees and supervisors, con-
stitute an appropriate unit. The only controversy with respect to the
unit concerns hanger department employees.
The Company employs four persons in its hanger department who
are engaged in the manufacture of clothes hangers out of plywood.
The hanger department is located in a separate building, but is con-
nected with the main mill by a platform. The Company contends
that the employees of the hanger department are not its employees,
but, of the department head. It appears that the department head is
paid in proportion to the number of hangers manufactured, and oper-
atesthe hanger department under a verbal agreement with the Com-
pany which is varied from time to time. The Company maintains
separate bookkeeping records for the hanger department, but pays
r The Trial Examiner reported that the Union presented 78 membership application cards
bearing names of persons iuho appear on the July 26, 1944, pay roil of the Company. There
are approximately 159 employees in the appropriate unit.
2 Watchmen are neither armed, uniformed , nor militarized.
0. L. WILLIAMS 'VENEER COMPANY, INCORPORATED 1631
the Social Security tax and Workmen's Compensation tax covering
the workmen in that department. The essential character of the work
in the hanger, department is similar to that performed by the other
employees. The premises and equipment in that department are
owned by the Company. It further appears that the Company actually
has hired persons for that department and that several of the em-
ployees in the hanger department have been transferred to com-
parable positions in the regular mill when operations in the former
department were shut down. The hangers manufactured in the hanger
department are sold by the Company as its own product. We con-
clude that the-Company exercises practical control over the employees
in the hanger department with respect to matters subject to collective
bargaining and that such employees are employees of the Company
and should properly be included in the unit.
We find that all employees of the Company, including watchmen
and hanger department employees, but excluding clerical employees
and all supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, dis-
charge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
ployees, or effectively recommend such action, 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 means of an election by secret ballot among
the 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 Re-
lations 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 O. L. William,
Veneer Company, Incorporated, Sumter, South Carolina, 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 Tenth
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Rela-
1632 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tions Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said
Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found ap-
propriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, in-
cluding employees who did not work during said pay-roll period be-
cause they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and includ-
ing employees in the armed forces of the United States who present
themselves in person at the polls, but excluding any who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, to determine whether or not
they desire to be represented by Local 273, United Furniture Work-
ers of America, C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective bargaining.