Weyerhaeuser Timber Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 16, 1949

87 N.L.R.B. 1076 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter Of WEYERHAEUSER TIMBER COMPANY (SPRINGFIELD LUM-
BER DIVISION), EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF
ELECTRICAL WORKERS, AFL, PETITIONER
In the Matter Of WEYERHAEUSER TIMBER COMPANY (SPRINGFIELD LUM-
BER DIVISION), EMPLOYER and UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS
AND JOINERS OF AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER
In the Matter Of WEYERHAEUSER TIMBER COMPANY (SPRINGFIELD LUM-
BER DIVISION, EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF
AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER
In the Matter Of WEYERHAEUSER TIMBER COMPANY (SPRINGFIELD LUM-
BER DIVISION), EMPLOYER and UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS
AND JOINERS OF AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER
In the Matter Of WEYERHAEUSER TIMBER COMPANY (SPRINGFIELD LUM-
BER DIVISION), EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF
PULP, SULPHITE AND PAPER MILL WORKERS, AFL, PETITIONER
Cases Nos. 36-RC-238, 36-RC-254, 36-RC-e56, 36-RC-d57, and
36-RC-264.-Decided December 16,19.19
DECISION
ORDER
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon petitions duly filed, a hearing on these consolidated cases was
held before Robert E. Tillman, hearing officer of the National Labor
Relations Board. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial. error and are hereby affirmed.
At the request of the Employer, the IWA, and the Carpenters, oral
argument was heard before the Board on November 1, 1949. All
parties were represented by counsel and participated in the argulnent.1
Upon the entire record in thise case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
I Oral argument was heard jointly in the instant cases and in Nettleton Timber Company,
87 NLRB 1319, and White River Lumber Company, 88 NLRB 158, because ,of certain
Issues common among them.
87 NLRB No. 106.
1076
WEYERHAEUSER TIMBER COMPANY 1077
2. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL, herein
called the IBEW; United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners
of America, AFL, herein called the Carpenters; International Wood-
workers of America, CIO, herein called the IWA; and International
Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers, AFL, herein
called the Pulp Workers, are all labor organizations claiming to rep-
resent employees of the Employer.2
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The IWA requests that we find appropriate for purposes of
collective bargaining a single unit of all logging and mill employees
at the Employer's Springfield Lumber Division. The Carpenters
requests two separate units of logging employees and further indi-
cated at the hearing that it wishes to represent a separate unit of mill
workers. The IBEW asks for a unit of all maintenance and construc-
tion electricians and electrician helpers and apprentices. The Pulp
Workers requests that the powerhouse employees be permitted to vote
as to whether they should be included in the same unit with sawmill
personnel or be merged in a unit with the future employees of the
uncompleted pulp mill. The Employer substantially agrees with the
position of the IWA and opposes separation of logging employees
from mill employees or separate elections for electricians and for
powerhouse employees.
The Employer is engaged in the production of logs and the manu-
facture of lumber at a number of locations, primarily in the Pacific
Northwest. The Springfield. Lumber Division is a recent extension
of the Employer's operations and consists basically of two logging
locations and a sawmill and planing mill. The mill site is near Spring-
field, Oregon, while the logging takes place at Fall Creek and Sutherlin,
Oregon, at distances, respectively, of 25 and 60 miles, from the mill. A
powerhouse and a pulp mill are located in the same area as the sawmill.
At the time of the hearing, the pulp, mill was still in the process of
construction. As it is not a part of the Lumber Division, and will
function under separate management, we are not concerned herein
with the employees to be hired for that operation. The entire produc-
tion of both logging operations is used by the mill and constitutes its
sole source of supply. The timber is cut on a sustained yield basis,
2 Santiam District Lodge 163 , International Association of Machinists ( Independent),
appeared at the hearing and requested a unit of welders and progressive helpers employed
by the Employer . Following the close of the bearing , the Machinists moved to withdraw
its intervention and claim of interest . In the absence of any opposition to this motion
and in view of our findings hereinafter , we shall grant the motion to withdraw filed by the
Machinists.
1078 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and the operations of the Employer are, for the most part, year round.
After being felled and bucked in the woods, logs are transported to
the mill by trucks operating on roads constructed by the Employer
and by rail. Cut and transported in a continuous process, the logs are
then dumped into the millpond. There they are sorted and processed
in the usual manner. by mill employees. The final product of finished
lumber is stored at the mill pending future disposition. A portion of
the lumber processed by the sawmill will be used by the pulp mill,
while waste products are consumed as fuel by the powerhouse. The
latter, in turn, produces electricity and steam for the use of the
sawmill and the pulp mill.
The supervisory hierarchy at these operations is headed by the man-
ager of the Springfield Lumber Division. Reporting to the division
manager, and in charge of all mill employees, is the mill superin-
tendent who is assisted by production department heads and a mechan-
ical superintendent directly under his supervision. All woods em-
ployees are under the direction of the logging manager, who also
reports to the division manager and has his headquarters at the mill.
Direct supervision of the logging camps is accomplished through a
camp foreman at each operation. The bull buck, who supervises the
fallers and buckers at both logging locations and coordinates their
work, spends most of his time at the Sutherlin operations. All road
construction is directed by a construction superintendent and there
is a construction foreman at each camp.
The logging at Sutherlin normally requires the services of between
75 and 120 employees. Some of these employees live in the immediate
vicinity while others commute to the camp by bus. All employees
at Sutherlin are hired through the camp clerk on the advice of the
camp foreman, although personnel relationships are generally under
the control of the office at Springfield. Approximately 60 employees
are normally employed at the Fall Creek logging operations. None
of these employees, other than a camp watchman, lives at the camp.
They are transported from the mill to the camp by company truck.
Personnel for the Fall Creek operations is hired through the office
at the mill in Springfield. Logging conditions and the types of
timber logged at both locations are the same. While there appear
to be no maintenance facilities at the Fall Creek camp, repairs on
light equipment at Sutherlin are made at a camp shop which has 4
employees.
The mill operations (which include the powerhouse) have a work-
ing force of approximately 400 to 450 employees, in a plant consist-
ing of a millpond, sawmill, planing mill, dry kiln, maintenance
department, hog fuel department, powerhouse department, and load-
WEYERHAEUSER TIMBER COMPANY 1079
ing, storage, and shipping departments. Skills in the mill range
from simple manual labor to the duties of chief sawyer, who is the
most experienced and highest skilled employee in the plant. Although
work classifications and duties of woods employees are different from
those of employees in the mill, there is an appreciable amount of
interchange between the logging camps and the mill. Such em-
ployees as crane drivers and cat operators are shifted from mill to
camp as needed and temporary transfers of personnel are frequent.
•Mechanics are also sent from the mill to the logging camps to do
repair work. Likewise, logging employees are transferred from one
camp to another as needed, particularly in the case of cat operators
and crane drivers. Road construction crews, truck drivers, and light
equipment are also moved from one operation to another.
Although each operation and department is under, a separate cost
accounting system, the general labor policies of the Employer are
centrally directed and uniform. Thus, the hours, wage systems,
vacation and insurance benefits, overtime rates and holidays are the
same for all employees whether they are engaged in logging or milling
operations. As the Springfield Lumber Division commenced opera-
tions at the close of 1948, and the instant petitions represent over-all
organization of the plant, no bargaining history has been established.3
The Employer, however, has a large number of contracts predomi-
nately with either the IWA or the Carpenters, at its other plants
and logging camps. In a great number of these instances, both log-
ging and mill employees bargain in one unit; in others, through the
operation of various circumstances, separate units for mill and woods
employees have been established.
The Employer and the IWA contend that the integrated, inter-
dependent operations of the woods crews and the mill personnel con-
cerned herein make the working conditions and interests of all lum-
ber employees identical, and indicate the appropriateness of a single
unit. The Carpenters, however, maintains that logging employees,
by virtue of the geographic separation of the camps from each other
and from the mill, have differing problems and interests and that,
therefore, separate units should be established. On previous occasions,
when this issue has been presented to the Board for consideration, we
have indicated that either a single unit of woods and mill employees
may be appropriate or that separate units limited to either woods or
a The Board, in Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, 82 NLRB 820, held that a unit of journey-
men machinists and auto mechanics at these same operations might be appropriate. The
IA11. the petitioner in that case, has since failed to secure a majority of ballots in the
elections directed . For reasons stated ' hereinafter we hereby overrule our decision in
Weyerhaeuser Timber and shall grant the motion of the Carpenters, made at the hearing, to
include the machinists and auto mechanics ' in the unit of production and maintenance
employees hereinafter found appropriate.
1080 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
mill may be established 4 In each of these cases, the factors of inter-
change between employee groups, bargaining history, supervision,
geographical separation, differing skills, and integration of the Em-
ployer's operations have been considered of importance. In the instant
situation, the factors favoring the establishment of an over-all unit
are preponderant. The extensive integration of operations, consider-
able and regular interchange between logging and mill employees,
year-round operations in both groups, common supervision from the
mill site, and the centralized and uniform policies of the Employer
establishing the same wage scales, hours, economic benefits, per-
sonnel standards and conditions of employment, strongly indicate the
appropriateness of a single unit for all logging and mill employees.
In view of these conditions which we have listed, and which, in our
opinion, outweigh the factor of geographical separation of the two
logging groups and the mill, we believe that a single unit of all logging
and mill employees of the Employer is appropriate for purposes of
collective bargaining .5
The IBEW, however, seeks to represent as a separate unit, 18 em-
ployees classified respectively as sawmill maintenance electrician,
planing mill maintenance electrician, oiler, outside leadman, outside
electrician, and outside apprentice. The Employer, the IWA, and
the Carpenters all oppose this request and ask that the electricians be
included in the same unit with" the production and maintenance
employees.
The electricians working at the mill at present, with one exception,
are licensed by the State of Oregon as journeymen in their craft, and
were hired from the construction crews employed in the building. of
the plant. Vacancies in these positions will be filled in the future
from outside the plant, unless electricians are employed in produc-
ti on jobs at the mill., in which event they will receive preference. The
electricians are assigned to the maintenance department at the mill and
together with the machinists, blacksmiths, auto mechanics, mill-
wrights, steam fitters and pipe fitters, are under the general supervi-
sion of the mechanical superintendent. Although they work under the
separate direction of the chief electrician, electricians are paid the
same wage scale and work the same hours as the other jour-
neymen in the maintenance department. Electrical supplies
4 See Matheny Creek Lumber Co., 85 NLRB 515; J. N. Bray Company, 83 NLRB 388;
Flodin Lumber Company , 82 NLRB 889 ; Farmville .Manufacturing Company, 76 NLRB 237;
Louisiana Cypress Lumber Company, 73 NLRB 909.
E Member Reynolds believes that the geographical separation oP the employees at the
different logging and mill operations with the accompanying differences in local working
conditions constitute sufficient grounds for permitting separate units. Accordingly, he
dissents from our finding on this issue and would direct Globe type elections for the logging
and mill groups.
WEYERHAEUSER TIMBER COMPANY 1081
are separately stored and there is an electricians' shop, which
at the time of the hearing consisted of a partitioned-off space in the
mill with an emery wheel as its only equipment. As the electricians
are stationed throughout the plant and spend, on an average, only 10
percent of their time in the shop, it also provides space for the storage
of mechanical and electrical supply parts and is used regularly by the
steam fitters, millwrights and the remainder of the maintenance
department.
The electricians are primarily responsible for all electrical equip-
ment, including electrical work in the powerhouse, generator equip-
ment, switch gear, and work on reduction gears and the conveyor sys-
tem. Each electrician has a more or less definite work assignment.
In case of a break-down in the machinery of the plant, or a "trouble
call," electricians are summoned and work as members of a team of
maintenance men. If the break-down has resulted from a mechanical
difficulty and a mechanic is present, he takes charge and the other
journeymen assist him. Likewise, if the trouble is in an electrical
circuit, the electrician directs the work which is done with the help of
the remainder of the team. Each maintenance man is expected to
have the skills and ability to handle both his own specialty and other
mechanical and electrical problems. In some instances, such as in
maintenance of the bundle trimmers in the planing mill, electricians
take care of air and mechanical work as a part of their normal re-
pair work without assistance from other journeymen.
The oiler cleans all electrical motors, oils them, and checks the oil
in couplings and in reduction gears. In contrast with the "trouble
shooting" of the maintenance electricians, his duties constitute the
only regular electrical maintenance in the mill. In the event the oiler
discovers something wrong with the motors or other parts, he calls
an electrician or millwright or repairs the damage himself. He is
sometimes called upon to assist both the millwrights and the electri-
cians. Apprentices assist the electricians and are assigned to them
according to the work needs.
The Board has often found that journeymen maintenance elec-
tricians are a recognized craft group, and, as such, may be separately
represented. The Employer, the Carpenters, and the IWA, how-
ever, contend strongly that the very nature of the lumber industry
makes severance or separate representation of craft groups imprac-
tical and unwise, and that the historical pattern of bargaining in the
industry has been consistently and exclusively opposed to such separa-
tions. They therefore urge that the petition of the IBEW be denied.
We are cognisant of the fact that from the very inception of col-
lective bargaining in the lumber industry, the "industrial" or "verti-
1082 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
cal" unit comprising all production and maintenance workers has
been, almost without exception, the bargaining unit choseii and util-
ized by both labor and management. Both the IWA and the Carpen-
ters have favored and established this type unit in virtually all the
bargaining contracts they have negotiated in the industry. Like-
wise, the Employer, with but minor deviations, has had only con-
tracts covering the industrial type unit at its numerous mills and
camps.e We have noted, in previous cases, the historically consistent
and uniform absence of craft groups from the processes of bargaining
in the lumber industry.? We have also ascertained, in other cases, that
the methods of production in the industry, from the cutting of tim-
ber to the manufacture of finished board, are such that a stoppage
anywhere in the line of production would bring all operations to h
halt.9
Electrical maintenance work, of course, assumes a position of im-
portance in any plant which is primarily powered by electricity.
However, the successful performance of the maintenance electricians'
duties is essential at this plant, not alone because of the nature of the
electricians' specific tasks in the servicing of motors and other electri-
cal equipment, but because they form a segment of a tightly interlaced
and interdependent group of highly skilled specialists. Each phase
of the production and manufacture of finished lumber from standing
timber requires the constant integration and coordination of many
groups of well trained and highly specialized personnel. Thus the
duties of the electricians in the maintenance department are not con-
fined to electrical maintenance jobs but are closely combined with and
related to the entire maintenance system, and still further are in close
connection and of extreme importance to the lines of production. The
development of successful maintenance and production processes and
methods in the lumber industry has been accomplished by an integra;
tiara and specialization which has foreclosed the existence of distinct
and well defined craft work. In view of the comprehensive and con-
sistent history of industrial bargaining, the extensive integration of
all production and maintenance work, and the fact that the industry
has tended to develop specialists rather than workmen in the craft
tradition, we believe that separate craft representation is not appro-
priate for employees in the lumber industry.9 Accordingly, we shall
6 The few exceptions to the general rule are in instances such as the Klamath Fa116
operations of the Employer where a maintenance department is separately represented,
and at its Longview operations where boom -men are in a separate bargaining unit. The
exceptions appear to be the result of unusual circumstances rather than important devia-
tions from . the general pattern.
' See Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, Longview Branch, 29 NLRB 571.
8 See Louisiana Cypress Lumber Company, Inc ., 73 NLRB 909.
9 See National Tube Company, 76 NLRB 1199.
WEYERHAEUSER TIMBER COMPANY 1083
dismiss the petition of the IBEW for separate representation of the
maintenance electricians and we shall include those employees in the
production and maintenance unit hereinafter found appropriate.
There remains for consideration the issue raised as to the power-
house personnel . The Pulp Workers requests that a self-determination
election be held among the employees assigned to the powerhouse to
decide whether they should be placed in the same unit with the saw-
mill workers , or in a unit with the, as yet unhired , personnel of the
pulp mill. The Employer, the IWA, and the Carpenters oppose such
an election , primarily on the grounds that the integration of all lum-
bering operations and, in particular , the administrative and super-
visory control of the powerhouse by the sawmill , negate the appro-
priateness of a self-determination election.
The power plant is located at the mill site in Springfield and is in
present operation with 18 employees classified as shift engineers, fire-
men, firemen 's helpers, maintenance man, instrument maan, and pump-
house operators . In brief, the powerhouse converts water pumped
from a nearby river into steam and electric power . It is fueled by
waste products from the sawmill and the, as yet uncompleted, pulp
mill. Administratively, the powerhouse is a part of the sawmill, and
the steam and power furnished to the pulp mill will be purchased by
the latter. The pulp mill is also linked with the powerhouse through its
use of filtered water supplied by the powerhouse pumps. The power-
house employees are under the direct supervision of the chief engineer
of the powerhouse and are under the general supervision of the me-
chanical superintendent . The powerhouse is in continual operation
to supply the requirements of the dry kilns and the plant lighting sys-
tem and is manned by 4 shifts.
None of the parties herein , including the Pulp Workers, requests
that separate representation of the powerhouse employees be granted.
Furthermore , for reasons expressed above in our discussion of the
unit request of the IBEW, we do not believe that a separate unit of
powerhouse employees would be appropriate in the lumber industry.
The Pulp Workers' proposal concerns only the question of affording
the powerhouse employees a choice as to whether they should be part
of a sawmill or, in the alternative , of a pulp mill bargaining unit.
This request brings into issue the unit status of future employees of
the pulp mill who at present have had no opportunity to express their
desires on the matter. While the Pulp Workers do not directly seek
a unit determination as to the personnel of the pulp mill, the election
which it requests would, of course , result in a finding as to the scope
of such a unit by indicating the propriety of inclusion or exclusion
of the powerhouse staff . We have consistently held that we will not
1084 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
make a unit finding as to employees to be hired in the future to man
new operations not unified and contiguous with those under consid-
eration.10 In accord with this position , and as the record shows that
the powerhouse is under the administrative jurisdiction and supervi-
sion of the lumber division , will function apart from the pulp mill,
and is an integral part of the sawmill operations , we shall dismiss the
petition filed by the Pulp Workers and include the powerhouse em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.
We find that all production , maintenance , transportation , cookhouse,
and powerhouse employees of the Springfield Lumber Division of the
Employer, including all maintenance electricians , machinists, auto
mechanics and welders , but excluding clerical and office employees,
temporary construction employees, guards , and all supervisors within
the meaning of the amended Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the Act.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petitions filed in Cases Nos. 36-RC-238,
36-RC-254, 36-RC-257, and 36-RC-264 be, and they hereby are,
dismissed.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer , an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible , but not later than
30 days from the date of this Direction , under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case
was heard , and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations , among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were em-
ployed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of
this Direction of Election , including employees who did not work
during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or
temporarily laid off, 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, and also excluding employees on strike
who are not entitled to reinstatement , to determine whether they desire
to be represented , for purposes of collective bargaining , by Interna-
tional Woodworkers of America, CIO, or by United Brotherhood of
Carpenters and Joiners of America , AFL, or by neither.
MEMBER MURDOCK took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision , Order, and Direction of Election.
11 See Commercial Solvents Corporation , 74 NLRB 1265.