Burruss Timber Products, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 30, 1949

87 N.L.R.B. 1561 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of BURRUSS TIMBER PRODUCTS, INC.,' EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA CIO, PETITIONER
Cases Nos. 5-RC-381 and 5-RC-382.-Decided December 30, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon consolidated petitions duly filed, a hearing was held before
H. Raymond Cluster, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings
made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.2
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Reynolds and Murdock].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain
employees 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 Petitioner seeks separate production and maintenance units
at the Employer's Brookneal and Lynchburg, Virginia, plants ; or in
the alternative the Petitioner would represent both plants in a single
bargaining unit. The Employer opposes these units and contends that
the only appropriate unit is an Employer-wide production and main-
1 The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing.
2 The Employer moved to dismiss the petition upon the ground that , although the Inter-
national Woodworkers (Petitioner) is in compliance with Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of
the Act, its affiliate , Congress of Industrial Organization, is not. For reasons stated in
Northern Virginia Broadcasters , Radio Station WARL, 75 NLRB 11, we find no merit in
this contention.
87 NLRB No. 151.
1561
1562 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tenance one consisting of the above-mentioned plants and plants lo-
cated at Kenbridge, Dillwyn, Chatham, and Pamplin, Virginia.3
There is no history of collective bargaining among the plants involved.
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of lumber at its six
plants. The general offices of the Employer are located at the Lynch-
burg plant, which is considered the main plant. All six plants are
under the same over-all management. Substantially the same work-
ing rules, pay scales, bonus plans, and vacation and insurance bene-
fits prevail at the six plants. It would thus appear that the unit, in
scope, may be one which includes employees at all six plants of the
Employer.
There are factors, however, which would justify single-plant units.
There is virtually no interchange among the employees of the various
plants. Furthermore, these plants are geographically separated 4 so
that the employees at each plant have little contact with each other;
while the production and labor relation policies are formulated in the
main offices of the Lynchburg plant, there is a separate supervisor
responsible for the hiring, discharge, and adjusting of the grievances
of the employees at each plant. In view of all the foregoing circum-
stances and the fact that there is no history of collective bargaining
covering the employees in a larger unit, we are persuaded that the
separate units of production and maintenance employees petitioned
for at the Brookneal and the Lynchburg plants are appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the Act.,'
We shall direct separate elections among the employees of the Em-
ployer in the voting groups enumerated below, excluding from each
office clerical employees, guards, professional employees and super-
visors, as defined in the Act :
(1) All production and maintenance employees at the Brookneal,
Virginia, plant;
(2) All production and maintenance employees at the Lynchburg,
Virginia, plant.
3 The Petitioner originally was under the impression that the plants it now seeks to
represent were owned by Burrus Land and Lumber Company, a partnership. At the
hearing it developed that , in fact, the Brookneal and Lynchburg plants were owned by
Burrus Timber Products , Inc., and that the Kenbridge , Dillwyn, Chatham , and Pamplin
plants were owned by Burrus Land and Lumber Company. The copartners of the latter
own 85 percent of the stock of the former and the operations of both are controlled
by a common office at the Lynchburg plant . It thus appears that Burrus Timber Products
Inc., and Burrus Land and Lumber Company may constitute a single Employer for purposes
of collective bargaining . See Everett Automotive Jobbers Association, et at., 81 NLRB 304.
4 The plants are located within a radius of from 31 to 90 miles from the main plant at
Lynchburg.
5 Burgess Battery Company, 76 NLRB 820 ; The Clark Thread Company, 79 NLRB 542.
BURRUSS TIMBER PRODUCTS, INC. 1 563
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, separate elec-
tions 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 supervision 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 units found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
date of this Direction of Elections, including employees who did not
work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vaca-
tion 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 elections and also excluding em-
ployees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine :
(a) Whether or not the employees in voting group (1) desire to
be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by International
Woodworkers of America, CIO;
(b) Whether or not the employees in voting group (2) desire to
be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by International
Woodworkers of America, CIO.