Buckley Hemlock Mills, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 19, 1939

15 N.L.R.B. 498 (N.L.R.B. 1939)

In the Matter of BucKLEY HEMLOCK MILLS, INC.,' BucKLEY LOGGING
COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL
No. 52
Cases Nos . R-974 and C-985, respectively .-Decided .
September 19, 1939
Lumber Industry-Investigation of Representatives: controversy concerning
representation of employees: refusal. of employer to recognize petitioning union
as the representative of its employees-Contract: no termination date; entered
into after filing of petition, no. bar to investigation or certification of represent-
atives-Units Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: (1) all employees of the
Mill Company, excluding supervisory employees with authority to hire and
discharge, clerical employees, truck drivers, and certain employees by stipu-
lation; (2) all employees of the sLogging Company, excluding supervisory
employees' with authority to.hire and discharge, clerical employees, and certain
employees and their successors by stipulation ; controversy as to-Election
Ordered: eligibility to vote being determined by pay roll next preceding Direc-
tion of Election ; earlier date suggested by parties not used because it was
too remote.
Mr. Patrick H. Walker, for the Board.
Mr. Robert B. Walkinshaw, of Seattle, Wash., for the Companies.
Mr. Pat Guerin, of Seattle; Wash., for Local 52.
Mr. L. P. Gill, of Seattle, Wash., for Local 2613.
Mr. John K. Odisho, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On January 21, 1938, International Woodworkers of ' America,
Local No. 52, herein called Local 52, filed with the Regional Director
for the Nineteenth Region (Seattle, Washington) a petition alleging
that a question had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Buckley Hemlock Mills, Inc., Buckley, Washington,
herein called the Mill Company, and Buckley Logging Company,
'Incorrectly designated In the pleadings as Buckley Hemlock Mill Company. The
pleadings, were amended at the hearing to show the correct name of this company.
15 N. L. R. B., No. 54.
498
BUCKLEY H EJMLOCK MI1LLS, I\ C. 4991
Buckley, Washington, herein called the Logging Company, and re-
questing an investigation and certification of representatives pursuant
to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, here--
in called the Act. On February 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.
On February 23, 1938, Local 52 filed • with the Regional Director a
charge alleging that the Mill Company had engaged in and was
engaging in unfair labor practices affecting commerce, within the
meaning of Section 8 (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
On March 30, 1938, the Board acting pursuant to Article III,.
Section 10 (c) (2), and Article II,.Section 37 (b), of said Rules and
Regulations, ordered that the representation proceeding and the
proceeding with respect to the alleged unfair labor practices. be.
consolidated for purposes of hearing.?
On July 16, 1938, the Board, by the Regional Director, issued a
complaint alleging that the Mill Company had engaged in and was
engaging in unfair labor practices affecting commerce , within the.,
meaning of Section 8 (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
Copies of the complaint, accompanied by notice of hearing, were
duly served upon the Mill Company, Local 52, and Lumber & Saw-
.mill Workers Union, Local 2613, chartered by the United Brother-
hood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, herein called Local 2613. A notice-
of hearing was also served upon the Logging Company. The Mill
Company filed an answer to the complaint denying the alleged
unfair labor practices.
Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held in the consolidated
cases on July 25, 26, 27, 28,, and 29, 1938, at Seattle, Washington,.
before. J. A. Maguire, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the-
Board. The Board, the Companies, and Local 2613 were repre-
sented by counsel, and Local 52 by its representative; all participated
in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard,, to examine , and. to,
cross-examine witnesses , 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 objec
tioiis to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed : the
rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial. errors
were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
2 On June 27 , 1938, Local .52 filed an amended petition and the Board again ordered'
consolidation of the two proceedings . On July 13, 1938 , Local 52 filed an amended
charge.
500 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
On October 14, 1938, the Trial Examiner filed his Intermediate
Report, copies of which were duly served upon the parties, finding
that the Mill Company had not engaged in unfair labor practices
affecting commerce, within the meaning of Section' 8 (1) and Section
2 (6) and (7) of the Act and recommending dismissal of the com-
plaint. No exceptions to the Intermediate Report have been filed.
The case. arising upon the complaint alleging unfair labor practices
is accordingly considered closed.
The Board, acting pursuant to Article II, Section 36 (d), of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations- Series 2,
orders that-the representation proceeding be, and it hereby is, severed
:from the 'complaint proceeding.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF. FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE' COMPANIES
Buckley Hemlock Mills, Inc., a Washington corporation, with its
principal office. and place of business in Buckley, Washington, is
,engaged in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of lumber and
wood products. This Company obtains its raw materials within the
.State of Washington, but ships approximately 60 per cent of its
finished products outside the. State of Washington. Its average
annual sales amount to approximately $240,000. This Company
•employs 40 persons.
Buckley Logging Company is a Washington corporation with its
principal office in Seattle and its logging operations in Buckley,
Washington. In 1937 this Company cut and logged a total of
•23,269,660 board feet of fir, cedar, and hemlock, approximately one-
fourth of which was sold 'to Buckley Hemlock Mills, Inc., while
about one-third was shipped to Japan.* This Company employs
from 75 to 125 persons.
Craig Spencer and E. G. Peterson are on the board of directors
-Of both Companies. Spencer is the president of both Companies
while Peterson is the vice president of the Logging Company and
'the treasurer of the Mill Company. The Spencer and Peterson
families own and control the majority of the capital stock in both
'Companies.
The Companies operate under an arrangement whereby the Log-
ging Company agrees to sell and the Mill Company agrees to buy
all the small non-exportable logs cut by the former.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
International Woodworkers of America, Local No. 52, is a labor
,organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
BUCKLEY HEMLOCK MILLS, -INC. 501
admitting to its membership employees of both Companies, excluding
supervisory employees with authority to hire and discharge and
-clerical employees.
Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, Local 2613, is a labor-organ-
ization chartered by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and
Joiners of America, affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor. It admits to its membership employees of the Mill Company,
excluding supervisory employees with authority to hire and discharge
and clerical employees.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION '
In 1935 employees of both Companies became members of Old
Local 2613 of the Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, herein called
Old Local 2613, chartered at Buckley, Washington, in that year by
the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. In
August 1937, Local 2613 surrendered its charter to its parent organi-
zation and its former members received a charter from the Inter-
national Woodworkers of America as Local 52. In January 1938 a
majority of the employees of the Mill Company reaffiliated with the
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America as Local
2613. On about January 25, 1938, the Mill Company entered into a
collective bargaining contract with Local 2613. Thereafter the Mill
Company refused, upon request, to bargain with Local 52 which
claimed to represent a majority of the employees of. both Companies
within an appropriate Unit. The contract contains no termination
date. It was entered into after the filing of the petition in this pro-
ceeding. We do not consider it a bar to our determination of rep-
resentatives herein.
We find that a question has arisen concerning representation of
employees of the Companies. '
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 Companies
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation 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 UNITS
Local 52 contends that the employees of both Companies, excluding
supervisory employees with authority -to hire and discharge, clerical
employees, and truck drivers employed' by the Mill Company, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
199549-39-vol . 15--33
502 DECISIONS OT NATIONAL 'LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Local 2613 contends that the employees of the Mill Coinpany, alone,
constitute a separate unit. The Companies apparently agree with
the contention of Local 2613.
Old Local 2613 admitted to membership employees of both Com-
panies, excluding supervisory employees with authority to hire and
discharge and clerical employees.' Local 52 assumes a similar juris-
diction. ' Local 2613 claims jurisdiction over employees of the Mill
Company, only.
It appears that mill operations are entirely different from logging
operations and that employees in the mill and logging camps are
engaged in different types of work. There is no interchange of em-
ployees between the mill and the logging camps. The mill is geo-
graphically separated from the camps and is under separater
management.
In view of the foregoing considerations, and inasmuch as a ma-
jority of the employees of the Logging Company and a majority of
the employees of the Mill Company appear to have chosen rival labor
organizations as their respective representatives for the purposes of
collective bargaining, we are of the opinion that we should depart.
from our former policy, in an analogous case,3 of holding that saw-
mill workers and logging employees together comprise an appropriate-
unit. . We accordingly find that the employees of the respective Com-
panies, separately, constitute appropriate bargaining units.
At the hearing the parties. stipulated that the following employees
of the Logging Company "and their occupations" should be excluded
from the appropriate unit : B. B. Peterson, E. G. Peterson, O. R.
Peterson, George Vassil, A. F. Martin, and Joe Blessing. We shall
accordingly exclude the individuals named, as well as persons since
hired to take the places of any of them.
As stated previously, Local 52 desires the exclusion of truck drivers
employed by the Mill Company from the appropriate unit. Local
2613 takes no position in the matter. ' In view of the fact that the,
two or three truck, drivers involved are members of the Teamsters'
Union, an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor ; that one
labor organization desires their exclusion; and that the other raises
no objection, we shall exclude the truck drivers employed by the Mill
Company from the Mill unit.
We find` that all the employees of the Mill Company, excluding
supervisory employees with authority to hire and discharge,4 clerical:
employees, truck drivers, and the following persons : R. L. Brasen,.
3 Matter of Donovan Lumber Company and International Woodworkers of America,
Local No..2, et al., 10 N . L. R. B. 634; see also Matter of Snoqualmie Falls Irtember
Company and International Woodworkers of America , Local'No . 106, 10 N. L. R. B. 398.
4 The parties stipulated at the hearing that G. Gustafson , a foreman employed by
the. Mill Company, should be, included in the appropriate unit. As foreman , Gustafson.
does not have the authority to hire or discharge . He is included in the, unit we have,
found to be appropriate.
BUCKLEY HEMLOCK HILLS, INC. 503
J. R. Loughran," Rufus Semanski, and J. G. Workman, constitute a
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective, bargaining and that
said unit will insure to employees of the Mill Company the full
benefit of their right to self-organization and to collective bargaining
and will otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act.
We find that all the employees of ' the Logging Company, excluding
supervisory employees with authority to hire and discharge, clerical
employees, and the following persons : B. B. Peterson, E. G. Peter-
son, O. R. Peterson, George Vassil, A. F. Martin, and Joe Blessing,
and any person since hired by the Logging Company to fill the posi-
tions held by them at the time of the hearing, constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining and that said unit
will insure to employees of the Logging Company the full benefit of
their right to self-organization and to collective bargaining and will.
otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act.
In view of our conclusion with respect to the appropriate units,.
we need not determine whether the Mill Company and the Logging
Company together constitute an "employer" within the meaning-of
the Act.
VI. THE DETI RMIINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
Local 52 claims to represent a majority of the sawmill workers and
logging employees taken together and introduced documentary evi-
dence in support of its claim. Local 2613 claims to represent a ma-
jority of the sawmill workers and introduced documentary evidence
in support of its claim. We find that the question concerning rep-
resentation can best be resolved by holding elections by secret ballot.
Employees of the Mill Company will be given the opportunity to
vote for Local 52, Local 2613, or neither. It may be that, in view
of our determination that the mill employees constitute a separate
unit, Local 52 will not desire to participate in the election to be held
among them. In that event, Local 52 may make timely application,
to the Board to have its name removed from the ballot. Inasmuch:
as Local 2613 does not claim jurisdiction over the employees of the
Logging Company we shall omit its name from the ballot in the
election to be conducted among them.
The parties stipulated at the hearing that the Mill Company's pay
roll for June 1938 be used as a basis for the determination of repre-
sentatives. Local 52 urges that the Logging Company's pay roll for
October 1937 be used as a basis for the determination of representa-
tives. We are of the opinion, however, that the policies of the Act
will best be effectuated by the selection of a date for determining eligi-
bility which will more closely reflect the employment situation at the
time of,the elections.
We shall direct that all employees in the appropriate units who
were on the respective Companies' pay rolls for the period next pre-
'504 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not
work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation,
and employees who were then or have since been temporarily laid off,
-but excluding those who have since quit or been discharged for cause,
shall be eligible to vote.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Buckley Hemlock Mills, Inc., and Buckley
Logging Company, Buckley, Washington, within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act.
2. All the employees of the Mill Company, excluding supervisory
employees with authority to hire and discharge, clerical employees,
truck drivers, and the following persons : R. L. Brasen, J. R. Lough-
ran, Rufus Semanski, and J. G. Workman, constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
3. All the employees of the Logging Company, excluding super-
visory employees with authority to hire and discharge. clerical em-
ployees, and the following persons : B. B. Peterson, E. G. Peterson,
0. ' R. Peterson, George Vassil, A. F. Martin, and Joe Blessing, and
any person since hired by the Logging Company to fill the positions
held by them at the time of the hearing, 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 ELECTIONS
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 2, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation ordered by the
Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective
bargaining with Buckley Hemlock Mills, Inc.. and Buckley Logging
Company, Buckley, Washington, an election by secret ballot shall be
conducted within fifteen (15) days from the date of this Direction,
under the direction and supervision 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, Section 9, of said
Rules and Regulations, among all the employees of the Mill Company
who were on the Company's pay roll for the period next preceding
BUCKLEY HEiILOCIK MILLS, INC. 505
the date of this Direction , including employees who did not work
during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation, and
employees who were then or have since been temporarily laid off, but
excluding supervisory employees with authority to hire and discharge,
clerical employees , truck drivers , the following persons : R. L. Brasen,
J. R. Louglnran, Rufus Semanski , and J. G. Workman , and employees
who have since quit or been discharged for cause , to determine whether
they desire to be represented by International Ioodworkers of Amer-
ica. Local No . 52, affiliated With the Congress of Industrial Organi-
zations, or by Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union , Local 2613,
chartered by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners , affil-
iated with the American Federation of Labor, for the purposes of
collective bargaining , or by neither ; and it is
FURTHER DIRECTED that an election by secret ballot shall be con-
ducted within fifteen ( 15) days from the date of this Direction, under
the direction and supervision , of the Regional Director for the Nine-
teenth 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 all the employees of the Logging Company
who were on the Company 's pay roll for the period next preceding the
date of this Direction , including employees who did not work during
such pay -roll period because they were ill or on vacation , and em-
ployees who Were then or have since been temporarily laid off, but
excluding supervisory employees with authority to hire and discharge,
clerical employees , the following persons : B. B. Peterson, E . G. Pet-
erson. O. R. Peterson , George Vassil , H. F. Martin , and Joe Blessing,
and any person since hired by the Logging Company to fill the posi-
tions held by them at the .time of the hearing, and employees who
have since quit or been discharged for cause , to determine whether or
not they desire to be represented by International Woodworkers
of America , Local 52, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations.
MR. EDWIN S . SMITH, dissenting
I cannot concur in the decision that the 'iiiillworkers and the loggers
constitute separate bargaining units. In my opinion the financial
and commercial relationship between the Mill Company and the
Logging Company is such as to require a finding that together they
constitute an employer within the, meaning of the Act .5. I believe
F See Matter of C. A. Lund Company and Novelty Workers Union, Local 1866 (A. F.
of L.) .Successor, et al., 6 N. L. R. B.. 423, order enforced in National,Labor Relations
Board v. Christian A. Lund, doing business as C. A. Lund Company and Northland Ski`
Manufacturing Company, 103 F. (2d) 815 (C. C. A. 8th) ; Matter of the Harris-Hub
Bed h Spring Company, a corporation, Carl Harris Company, a corporation and United
Furniture Workers of America, Local 1608 (affiliated with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations), 13 N. L. R. B. 1236.
506 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
further that the millworkers and the loggers comprise a single
appropriate unit.
In the Donovan case e the Board, finding the same functional and
geographical differences between the employer's mill operations and
its logging operations as are present in the instant case, stated, I
think correctly :
Under an industrial form of union organization, however,
there is no reason why the employees of the logging camps and
the employees of the mill cannot constitute a single appropriate
unit despite the differences in their conditions of work. Both
unions here involved are industrial in scope. Local No. 2 admits
to membership the numerous different crafts in both the sawmill
and the logging camps, and Local 2782 admits to membership
the various crafts within the sawmill. Indeed, we have been
called upon to consider the same problem where other locals of
the shine parent labor organizations have taken substantially the
reverse positions from those of their related locals in the instant
case. In Matter of Snogvallmie Falls Lumber Company and
International Woodworkers of America, Local No. 106,7 Local
No. 2545 of Lumber and Sawmill Workers' Union urged the
adoption of a unit consisting of the employees of both a mill and
logging camp, whereas Local No. 106 of International Wood-
workers of America contended for a unit consisting solely of
logging camp employees. Under the circumstances , the division
of an industrial unit, which the operations of the Schafer
Brothers Company comprises, into two separate units cannot be
justified on the basis of functional and geographical differences
which prevail in the company's operations and which are re-
flected in the duties of the various employees.s
The majority of the Board apparently bases its departure from the
policy expressed in the quoted passage upon the showing that the
millworkers in the instant case have transferred their allegiance from
Local 52 to Local 2613. I see no justification for determining the
bargaining unit on such considerations.9
a Matter of Donovan Lumber Company and International Woodworkers of America,
Local No. 2, 10 N. L. R. B. 634.
710 N. L. R. B. 398.
See Matter of Bloedel-Donovan Lumber Mills and Columbia Valley Lumber Inter-
national Woodworkers of America, 8 N. L. R. B. 230.
Compare my. dissenting statements in Matter of Chrysler Corporation and United
Automobile Workers of America, Local 371, affiliated with the C. I. 0., 13 N. L. R. B.
1303; Matter of Briggs Manufacturing Company and International' Union, United Automo-
bile Workers of America, affiliated with the C. 1. 0., et al., 13 N. L. R. B. '1326.