Charles Ingram Lumber Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 1, 1952

100 N.L.R.B. 440 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

440 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Certification of Representatives
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that International Brotherhood of Pulp,
Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers, AFL, has been selected by a ma-
jority of the employees in Unit 1 and Unit 2 below, as their repre-
sentative for the purposes of collective bargaining and that, pur-
suant to Section 9 (a) of the Act, the said organization is the ex-
clusive representative of all such employees for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining with respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of em-
ployment, and other conditions of employment.
Unit 1: All production and maintenance employees at the Balti-
more, Maryland, plant of L. Gordon & Son, Inc., excluding office cleri-
cal and sales employees, truck drivers, and all supervisors.
Unit 2: All production and maintenance employees at the Balti-
more, Maryland, plant of Stylecraft Division of L. Gordon & Son,
Inc., including assistant foreladies, but excluding office clerical and
sales employees, the forelady, and all other supervisors.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Supplemental Decision and Certification of Representatives.
CHARLES N . INGRAM AND MARY C. INGRAM, D/B/A CHARLES INGRAM
LUMBER COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA,
CIO, PETITIONER . Case No. 10-RC-1858. August 1, 1952
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before John S. Patton, hearing offi-
cer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-
member panel [Members Houston, Styles, and Peterson].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit :
100 NLRB No. 78.
CHARLES INGRAM LUMBER COMPANY 441
The Petitioner seeks a unit of production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Employer's Willow Creek, South Carolina, plant. The
Employer contends that the only appropriate unit is an Employer-wide
production and maintenance unit consisting of the above-mentioned
plant and plants located at Camp Field, Black River, Pleasant Hill,
and New Zion, South Carolina. There is no history of collective
bargaining at the plants here involved.
The Employer is engaged in the production and sale of lumber at
its 5 plants . The Employer processes lumber at the Willow Creek
plant. Approximately 80 percent of the lumber processed at Willow
Creek is sent from the Employer's 4 other plants, while the balance is
purchased from contractors in the area. Of the Employer's approxi-
mately 120 employees, 80 are located at the Willow Creek plant, while
about 40 are at the 4 remaining plants.
Substantially the same working rules, hours, rates of pay, and classi-
fications of employees prevail at all five plants, which are under the
same central management . A single seniority list is maintained for
all plants . The general offices of the Employer are at Willow Creek.
Payroll and other records for all plants are kept there and all the
clerical personnel is there. These factors militate in favor of a unit
of employees at all five plants, but they are not so compelling as to
require our holding that no other unit is appropriate. There are fac-
tors which justify a single-plant unit at the Willow Creek establish-
ment . Thus the four plants are located from 35 to 57 miles from the
main plant at Willow Creek; the employees at each of these plants
are separately hired, discharged, and supervised; and they are not
generally interchanged with those at Willow Creek except in cases
where there is a prolonged breakdown of machinery at a plant or
"for wet weather reasons." In view of the foregoing circumstances,
and the fact that there is no history of collective bargaining in a larger
unit, we find that a single-plant unit at the Willow Creek plant is
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act.'
There remains for consideration the question of the inclusion or
exclusion of the following categories :
Log scalers: The Petitioner would exclude log scalers from the unit
on the ground that they are supervisors within the meaning of the
Act. The Employer would include them. The log scalers spend 95
percent of their time performing the manual operations connected
with the scaling of logs and the balance of their time in assigning
work to other employees. They possess no authority to hire, dis-
charge, or discipline employees, nor can they effectively recommend
I Telechron, Inc., 90 NLRB 931 ; Burruss Timber Products, Inc., 87 NLRB 1561.
442 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
such action. In making work assignments, they merely relay orders
from the plant manager. We find that the log scalers are not, super-
visors within the meaning of the Act, and we shall therefore include
them in the unit.2
Hauling truck drivers: The Petitioner would exclude the truck
drivers in the hauling department on the ground that their duties and
interests are not sufficiently identifiable with the employees in the pro-
duction and maintenance unit at the Willow Creek plant. The Em-
ployer would include these drivers in the unit. The hauling truck
drivers spend the major portion of their time transporting unfinished
lumber from the Employer's four plants to the Willow Creek plant.
Although they are technically assigned to the Willow Creek plant,
these drivers do not-regularly report there. After each day's work,
they drive their vehicles to their homes, and on each succeeding morn-
ing depart for one of the Employer's other plants to pick up a load of
lumber. While the drivers may be called upon to load and unload
lumber from their vehicles, they do not usually perform any produc-
tion and maintenance work. Under the circumstances, we find that the
interests and duties of the hauling truck drivers do not justify their
inclusion in the unit 3
Watchmen: The Petitioner and Employer stipulated that two
watchmen employed at Willow Creek should be included in the unit.
The evidence discloses, however, that although these individuals are
neither armed, deputized, nor uniformed, they spend 80 percent of
their time performing the duties of watchmen. They guard the plant
property against theft and fire, and enforce company rules within the
scope of the limited authority granted them. We find that these
individuals are guards within the meaning of the Act, and we shall
therefore exclude them from the unit .4
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the Em-
ployer's Willow Creek, South Carolina, plant, including log scalers,
but excluding hauling truck drivers, office clerical employees, guards,
and supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9 (b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
2 West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company, 96 NLRB 871 ; Long-Bell Lumber Company,
36 NLRB 664.
' Mullins Lumber Company, 96 NLRB 1367.
4 Fruit Growers Supply Company, 94 NLRB 909 ; Telechron, Inc., 90 NLRB 931.