Atlanta Oak Flooring Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 20, 1945

60 N.L.R.B. 1343 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of ATLANTA OAK FLOORING COMPANY and UNITED
BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS & JOINERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL UNIONS
Nos. '2281 AND 552
Case No. 10-R-1321.Decided March 200, 1945
Messrs. Ralph Williams and John L. Tye, Jr., of Atlanta, Ga., for
the Company.
Mr. W. Lee Sorrells, Sr., of Atlanta, Ga., for the Union.
Mr. Julius Kirle, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon an amended petition duly filed by United Brotherhood of
Carpenters & Joiners of America, Local Unions Nos. 2281 and 552,
herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce
had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Atlanta Oak
Flooring Company, Atlanta, Georgia, herein called the Company,
the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hear-
ing upon due notice before Paul S. Kuelthau, Trial Examiner. Said
hearing was held at Atlanta, Georgia, on December 11, 1944. The
Company and the Union appeared and participated., All parties
were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-exam-
ine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The
Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju-
dicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an op-
portunity to file briefs with the Board. Following the hearing, a mo-
tion was filed jointly by Local Unions Nos. 2281 and 552 to amend
the petition by making Local Union No. 552 a party to the instant
proceeding, and further defining the unit sought herein. The said
motion is hereby granted.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
I Local No 552 did not appear at the hearing but following the hearing moved to join in
the petition filed by Local No. 2281.
60 N. L. R. B., No. 234.
1343
1344 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Atlanta Oak Flooring Company, a Georgia corporation, is engaged
in the manufacture of flooring and dimension wood products, and in
the sale of building supplies. We are concerned herein only with the
manufacturing operations. The Company purchases annually for use
in its manufacturing operations raw materials valued at in excess of
$50,000, of which more than 50 percent is shipped to it from points
outside the State of Georgia. The Company sells annually manufac-
tured products valued at in excess of $100,000, of which more than 50
percent is shipped to points outside the State of Georgia.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, Local
Unions Nos. 2281 and 552, both affiliated with the American Federa-
tion of Labor, are labor organizations admitting to membership em-
ployees of the Company.
III. TIIE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION ; THE
ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit of all employees of the Company engaged
in the feeding, setting, or operating of saws, machines, planers, trim-
mers, and sanders, including the maintenance men, saw filers, graders,
and stationary engineer. It does not wish to include off-bearers on
various machines, tie-up men on the molder machines, firemen and
their helpers, watchmen, and truck drivers. The Company, on the
other hand, seeks a plant-wide unit, or in' the alternative, a unit of
all employees in the dimension and flooring mills, contending that
there is no craft or functional basis for segregating the employees
sought by the Union.2
The Company 's operations involve the processing of lumber into
finished products. These operations, which are carried out on an
assembly line basis, are performed in the flooring mill and dimension
mill, which are located in the same building but on different floors.
All of the operations are interrelated and incident to the manufacture
of the finished products ; the lumber brought into the flooring mill
Y While the Union contended that it sought the unit set forth above because it admits
to membership only employees engaged in the operating of woodworking machines and
the hand help necessary thereto , its desire to include , the maintenance men and the sta-
tionary engineer and to exclude the off -bearers and tie-up men appears contrary to such
contention.
ATLANTA OAK FLOORING COMPANY 1345
and dimension mill is placed on conveyor belts by off-bearers, fed into
the various machines by feeders and operators, graded by graders, tied
into bundles by tie-up men, and taken off the conveyor belts by off-
bearers. The material is also moved in and about the plant by
laborers who may or may not be off-bearers. Both mills are under the
supervision of the superintendent of the flooring mill and dimension
mill.
The Union apparently seeks a unit of skilled and semi-skilled em-
ployees. However, the unit sought by the Union does not constitute
a craft unit, since it would include maintenance men, the stationary
engineer, and others who, although possessing various degrees of
skill or adaptability, nevertheless, are not part of any single craft.
Nor does it fall within the category of a departmental unit, since it
would exclude the off-bearers, tie-up men, and the laborers.. Thus, the
unit sought by the Union is neither craft, departmental nor other-
wise in conformance with any functional division of the Company,
but instead constitutes an artificial grouping of employees which
lacks the homogeneity requisite to a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining. On the other hand, the functions of
all the employees engaged in the manufacturing operations of the
flooring and dimension mills are so 'closely interrelated and their
interests so similar as would warrant finding appropriate a unit com-
prising all of such employees. However, the Union has made no
substantial showing of representation in such a unit.3
In view of the inappropriateness of the unit sought by the Union,
and since no substantial showing was made by the Union in the unit
which we have indicated to be appropriate, we find that no question
affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of the Company within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and"
Section 2 (6)- and (7) of the Act. Accordingly, we shall dismiss the
Union's petition filed herein.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and the entire
record in the case, the Board hereby orders that the petition for in-
vestigation and certification of representatives of employees of At-
lanta Oak Flooring Company, Atlanta, Georgia, filed by United
Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, Local Unions Nos.
2281 and 552, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor be,
and it hereby is, dismissed.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Order.
'The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 31 cards, 26 of which were
dated in August 1944 , and 5 of which were undated The record reveals that there are
approximately 125 employees in the flooring mill and the dimension mill.
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