Anderson Brothers Lumber Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 27, 1945

64 N.L.R.B. 986 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of ANDERSON BROTHERS LUMBER COMPANY and LUMBER
AND SAWMILL WORKERS UNION, LOCAL 2701, AFL
Case No. 19-R-1579.-Decided November 07, 1945
Messrs. Theodore. R. Conn, R. A. McDonald, and A. E. Anderson, of
Lakeview, Oreg., for the Company.
Mr. S. D. Nelson, of Lakeview, Oreg., and Mr. Donald Gilman, of
Klamath Falls, Oreg., for the Union.
Mr. John A. Nevros, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union,
Local 2701, A. F. of L., herein called the Union, alleging that a ques-
tion affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of
employees of Anderson Brothers Lumber Company, Lakeview, Oregon,
herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board pro-
vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before William H.
Bartley, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Lakeview, Oregon,
on August 15, 1945. The Company and the Union appeared and par-
ticipated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard,
to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence
bearing on the issues. At the hearing the Company moved to dismiss
the petition on the ground that the Union had failed to make a suf-
ficient showing of representation among the employees in the unit
petitioned for. The Trial Examiner reserved ruling on this motion
for the Board. For reasons set forth in Section III, infra, the motion
is denied. 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
Anderson Brothers Lumber Company, a partnership is engaged in a
sawmill and logging operation; its sawmill is located at Lakeview,
64 N. L. R B., No. 166
986
ANDERSON BROTHERS LUMBER COMPANY 987
Oregon, and it conducts its logging operations in Lake County, Ore-
gon. More than 50 percent of its finished products, valued in excess
of $500,000 annually, is shipped to points outside the State of Oregon.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union Local 2701, is a labor organiza-
tion, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On May 15, 1945, the Union requested but was refused recognition
as the exclusive bargaining representative of certain of the Company's
employees.
A statement of a. Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found 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 Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
We find, in accord with the stipulation of the parties, that all pro-
ductiou and maintenance employees in the sawmill, yard and logging
operation except for clerical employees and supervisory employees
with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise
effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such
'The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 27 application for membership
cards, all of which bore apparently genuine signatures and were listed on the Company's
June 1, 1945 pay roll; that , of the cards , 16 were dated between January and July 1945,
8 were dated between April and December 1944 and 3 were dated in March 1943 ; and that
there are approximately 70 employees in the alleged appropriate unit.
At the hearing, the Company moved to dismiss the petition , contending that the Union
has failed to make a showing of present substantial representation. In support of its
position it relies on the alleged "antiquity" of some of the Union 's cards , and the fact that
the names of "considerably less than half of the present number of employees " appeared
on the cards . We find no merit in the Company 's contention . The Board requires a
petitioning union to submit prima facie evidence of representation among the employees in
the appropriate unit for the sole purpose of determining whether the petitioner has sufficient
interest to justify setting in motion the Board's investigatory machinery and not as proof
of the precise number of employees who desire to be represented by petitioner We are of
the opinion that the Union's cards , most of which were dated between January and July
1945 , show that the Union had a sufficient interest as of the time it filed its petition to
warrant our conducting an election . See Matter of Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corpora-
tion, 64 N. L . R. B. 400; Matter of Jasper Chair Company , 63 N L. It. B. 632 ; Matter
of Brad Foote Gear Works , Incorporated , 60 N. L . R B 97 ; Matter of H. G. Hill Stores,
Inc, Warehouse, 39 N. L R B. 874.
988 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 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 Relations 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 represenuta-
tnves for the purposes of collective bargaining with Anderson Brothers
Lumber Company, Lakeview, Oregon, an election by secret ballot
shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than sixty (60)
(lays from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Nineteenth 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-
(nons, 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 vaca-
tion 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 Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, Local 2701,
A. F. of L., for the purposes of collective bargaining.