Ozan Lumber Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 2, 1944

54 N.L.R.B. 1025 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of OZAN LUMBER COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL WOOD-
WORKERS OF AMERICA, AFFILIATED WITH CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL.
ORGANIZATIONS
Case No. 15-B-1047.-Decided February 0, 1944
Mr. Wilbur F. Pell, of Shelbyville, Ind., and McRae & Tompkins,
by Mr. Chas. H. Tompkins, of Prescott, Ark., for the Company.
Mr. Wilson E. Rwnton, of Little Rock, Ark., and Mr. Lloyd Welch
of DeQueen, Ark., for the Union.
Mr. William Strong, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by International Woodworkers of Amer-
ica, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, herein
called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had
arisen concerning the representation of employees of Ozan Lumber
Company, Prescott, Arkansas, herein called the Company, the
National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice before Laurence H. Whitlow, Trial Examiner. Said
hearing was held at Hope, Arkansas, on January 5, 1944. The Com-
pany 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. The Company has filed a brief.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Ozan Lumber Company, which operates three plants in Arkansas,
is engaged in the sawmill and lumber production business . We are
Pursuant to agreement among the parties the transcript of testimony has been corrected,
In certain respects.
54 N. L. R. B., No. 151.
567900-44-vol. 54-66 1025,
1026 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL' LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
here concerned only with the Prescott, Arkansas, operations. During
1943 the Company produced lumber at its Prescott plant valued in
excess of $350,000, approximately 90' percent of which was shipped to
points outside the State of Arkansas. The Company has brought into
Arkansas for use in the Prescott plant equipment and supplies valued
at more than $30,000. We find that the Company at the Prescott plant
is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Re-
lations'Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Woodworkers of America, affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On November 5,1943, the Union requested the Company to recognize
it as the exclusive collective bargaining representative of the Com-
pany's employees. The Company refused.
A statement of the Regional Director for the Board for the Fifteenth
Region, introduced into evidence at the hearing, indicates that the
Union represents a substantial number of employees in the unit here-
inafter found appropriate.2
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
The Union 'requests a unit consisting of all production and mainte-
nance employees and watchmen at the Company's Prescott plant,
excluding supervisory, office and clerical employees and the woods
crew. The Company agrees with this proposed unit except that it
would include, rather than exclude the woods crew.
The Prescott plant is divided roughly into six main divisions,
namely, the sawmill, the dry kiln, the planing mill, the power plant,
the shipping room, and the woods crew. Each is under a separate
supervisor. All records, pay rolls, and other office matters are kept and
prepared for all six divisions, in Prescott. All the operations are
performed in close physical proximity except that of cutting timber,
which is performed by the woods crew on timber stands situated
between 2 and 35 miles from the plant itself. Members of the woods
2 The Regional Director reported that the Union submitted 58 membership application
cards, `57 of which bore apparently genuine original signatures ; that the names of 42 persons
appearing on the cards were listed on the Company 's pay roll of December 5, 1943. The
pay roll contains the names of approximately 53 employees. The record fails to show how
many of these employees are in the appropriate unit.
OZAN LUMBER COMPANY 1027
crew come to the plant only occasionally, spending almost their entire
time in the woods. There is no interchange of employees between
the woods crew and other operations of the Company. Occasionally
an employee transfers from one job to another, however. While the
woods crew is eligible to membership in the Union, the Union, for
various reasons, has not sought to organize the members of the woods
crew. The woods crew is geographically separated from the other
employees, possesses skills different from those of the other employees,
and works under markedly different conditions. We have in the past
on occasion included, and on others excluded woods crew or logging
employees from units embracing the other described operations.3
Since here there is no history of collective bargaining on an overall
basis, and since the unit sought by the Union coincides with the extent
of organization of the employees, we shall exclude the woods crew
from the unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the
Prescott plant of the Company, including non-militarized watchmen '4
but excluding the woods crew, supervisory, office and clerical em-
ployees and any other supervisory employees with authority to hire,
promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the
status of employees, 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 an election by secret'ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion 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, it is hereby
DniECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with. Ozan Lumber
Company, Prescott plant, Prescott, Arkansas, an election by secret
See Matter of E. A: Agnew Lumber Co., 44 N. L. R. B . 1253; Matter of Potlatch Forests,
Inc.,51 N. L. R. B. 288; Matter of Dierke Lumber if Coal Co., 52 N. L. R. B. 631; and
Matter of Hillyer-Deut8cli-Edwards , Inc., 53 N. L. R. B. 198.
4 The record fails to indicate whether the watchmen are militarized ; if they are, they
will be excluded from the unit ; if they are not militarized they are included.
1028 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 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 the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section
IV, 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 been rehired or reinstated prior
to the date of the election, to determine whether or not they desire to
be represented by International Woodworkers of America, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, for the purposes of
collective bargaining.