Union Lumber Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 23, 1938

7 N.L.R.B. 1094 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter of UNION LUMBER COMPANY and LUMBER & SAWMILL
WORKERS UNION LOCAL 2826
Case No. R-659.-Decided June 03, 1,938
Lumber Industry-Investigation of Representatives: controversy concerning
representation of employees : refusal by employer to recognize union as ex-
clusive representative-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: production
employees, including cooks and waiters, but excluding executives, clerical work-
ers, foremen, strawbosser timekeepers, hook tenders, and watchmen ; employees
of private contractor, included in unit by agreement of parties, excluded by
Board-Election Ordered
Mr. John P. Jennings, for the Board.
Mr. John B. Harman, of Fort Bragg, Calif., and Newmark c1"
Strong, by 111r. Charles A. Strong, of San Francisco, Calif., for the
Company.
Mr. Don Cameron, of San Francisco, Calif., for the Union.
Mr. William Anderson, of Fort Bragg, Calif., for 674 employees of
the Company.
Mr. Willard Y. Morris, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On October 18, 1937, Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, Local
2826, herein called the Union, filed with the Regional Director for
the Twentieth Region (San Francisco, California) a. petition alleg-
ing that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the
representation of employees of Union Lumber Company, Fort Bragg,
California, herein called the Company, and requesting an investiga-
tion and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act.
On January 10, 1938, 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.
1094
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 1095
On March 2. 1938 , the Regional Director issued a notice of hear-
mg, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and upon
the Union. On March 8, 1938 , the Company filed an answer with
the Regional Director , wherein, after reserving its right to object to
the constitutionality of the Act and the jurisdiction of the Board, it
denied the essential allegations of the petition . Pursuant to the
notice, a hearing was held on March 21, 1938 , at Fort Bragg, Cali-
fornia , before Dwight W. Stephenson , the Trial Examiner duly des-
ignated by the Board . The Board and the Company were repre-
sented by counsel, the Union by its representatives , and all partici-
pated in the hearing. At the opening of the hearing William Ander-
son, claiming to represent 674 of the Company 's employees, asked
permission to make an appearance . The permission was granted.
Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross -examine wit-
nesses, 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 . Thereafter , a brief was filed with the Board, which
has been given due consideration . The Board has reviewed the rul-
ings 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
I.' TI-IE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Union Lumber Company is a California corporation engaged in
the lumber business and having its plant and mill site at Fort Bragg,
California. It owns or controls the following : Mendocino Lumber
Company of Mendocino, California; Mendocino County Retail Lum-
ber Company, engaged exclusively in retail lumber business in Men-
docino County , California ; California Western Railroad , which op-
erates entirely within California; National Steamship Company,
which operates along the Pacific coast between California ports; and
Union Lumber Company of Delaware, a sales agency of the Com-
pany with offices in Chicago, Illinois , and New York City.
The average annual output of the Company at its Fort Bragg
plant is between 80,000,000 and 90,000,000 feet b.m. In 1937 it pro-
duced at that plant 89,028,000 feet b. in. Of this amount 60,850,000
feet were sold in California and there used; 24,814,000 feet were sold
f.o.b. Fort Bragg and shipped to points outside the State; and
3,364,000 feet were sold to Redwood Export Company and eventually
shipped in foreign commerce.
106791-3S-vol vii-70
1096 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, Local 2826, is a labor organi-
zation under the jurisdiction of the United Carpenters and Joiners of
America, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. It admits
to its membership all persons engaged in lumber production in and
around Fort Bragg.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
In October 1937, a committee of Union members at a meeting with
officials of the Company requested that the Company recognize the
Union as bargaining agent for all the production employees of the
Company at its Fort Bragg plant. The Company officials denied
tl.e committee's contention that the Union represented a majority of
the production employees and refused to grant the requested
recognition.
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 rela-
tion 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
The Company and the Union agreed at the hearing that the unit
should consist of all production employees of the Company working
in the woods or in the mills at its Fort Bragg plant, including cooks
and waiters, but excluding executives, clerical workers, foremen,
strawbosses, timekeepers, hook tenders, and watchmen. The parties
also agreed to the inclusion in the unit of certain persons employed
by an unnamed private contractor on the ground that the Company
substantially dictated the wages, hours, and working conditions of
such persons. There is no showing in the record that the Company
exercises any control whatsoever over the hiring or discharge of such
persons; nor is there any showing as to the extent or nature of the
alleged dictation relative to wages, hours, and working conditions.
On the basis of the facts presented we are of the opinion that such
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 1097
persons may not properly be included in the same unit with employees
of the Company.
We find that the production employees of the Company, working
in the woods or in the mills at its Fort Bragg plant, including cooks
and waiters, but excluding executives, clerical workers, foremen,
strawbosses, timekeepers, hook tenders, and watchmen, constitute a
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining and that
said unit will insure to employees of the Company the full benefit of
their right to, self-organization and to collective bargaining and
otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Company introduced evidence at the hearing showing that as
of October 1937, the petition date, it employed approximately 1,130
persons within the unit we have found appropriate and that as of
March 1938, the hearing date, it employed approximately 1,048 such
persons. The Union claimed to represent a majority of such em-
ployees, but did not introduce in evidence membership cards or other
evidence in support of this claim, William Anderson, the intervenor,
submitted in evidence lists signed by approximately 674 employees
of the Company, stating that the signatories did not wish to be rep-
resented for the purposes of collective bargaining by the Union or
any other labor organization. The Union contested the validity of
the lists, claiming that many persons signing them did so without
understanding what they were doing. Under all the circumstances
we find that the question concerning representation which has arisen
can best be resolved by means of an election by secret ballot.
The Union asked that, if an election was held, eligibility to vote
be based on the Company pay roll as of October 1937, the date of
the filing of the petition. The Company took no definite position
relative to the eligibility date. There is no showing in the record
that the persons employed by the Company in October 1937, - but
not now working for it, have any definite expectancy of reemploy-
ment by the Company. In view of this fact and the time which
has elapsed since the petition was filed, Nye are of the opinion that
eligibility should be based on the pay-roll period next preceding
March 21, 1938, the date of the hearing. Those eligible to vote in
the election, therefore, shall be the persons in the appropriate unit
who were employed by the Company during the pay-roll period next
preceding March 21, 1938, excluding those who have since quit or been
discharged for cause.
1098 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS Or LAW
1. A question afFectzn() commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Union Lumber Company, Fort Bragg,
California, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6)
and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The production employees of the Company at its Fort Bragg
plant, working in the woods or in the mills, including cooks and
waiters, but excluding executives, clerical workers, strawbosses, fore-
men, timekeepers, hook tenders, and watchmen constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations 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, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended,
it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for collective bargaining with Union
Lumber Company, Fort Bragg, California, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted within twenty (20) days from the date of
this Direction under the supervision and direction of the Regional
Director for the Twentieth 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 em-
ployees of Union Lumber Company, working in the woods or in the
mills at its Fort Bragg plant, who were employed by the Company
during the pay-roll period next preceding March 21, 1938, including
cooks and waiters, but excluding executives, clerical workers, fore-
men, strawbosses, timekeepers, hook tenders, watchmen and those
who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented by Lumber and Saw-:
mill Workers Union, Local 2826, United Brotherhood of Carpenters
and Joiners of America, affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor, for the purposes of collective bargaining.