California Door Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 10, 1945

64 N.L.R.B. 5 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of CALIFORNIA DOOR COMPANY and LUMBER & SAWMILL
WORKERS UNION, No. 2760, A. F. L.
Case No. 20-B-1357.-Decided October 10, 1945 -
Mr. C. G. Price, of Diamond Springs, Calif ., for the Company.
Mr. J. S. Hazard, of San Francisco , Calif., and Mr. Lindley 0.
Kearns, of Diamond Springs, Calif., for the A. F. L.
Mr. Joseph F. Clark, of Susanville , Calif., and Mr. R. B. Johnson,
of Placerville , Calif., for the C. I. O.
Mr. David P. Easton, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF TIIE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Lumber & Sawmill Workers Union
No. 2760, A. F. L., herein called the A. F. L., alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of California Door Company, Diamond Springs , California,
herein called the Company , the National Labor Relations Board pro-
vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Robert E.
Tillman, Trial Examiner . Said hearing was held at Placerville,
California, on July 2, 1945. The Company, the A. F. L., and Interna:
tional Woodworkers of America, Local Union 286, herein called
the C. I. 0., appeared and participated. All parties were afforded
full opportunity to be heard , to examine and cross-examine witnesses,
and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues . The I . O. moved
at the hearing for a dismissal of the petition herein. The Trial
Examiner reserved ruling upon this motion for the Board. For
reasons stated in Section III, infra, the motion is granted. The Trial
Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial
error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an oppor-
tunity 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 TIIE COMPANY
California Door Company , a California corporation, is engaged
in felling timber, transporting logs, and manufacturing lumber. The
64 N. L . R. B., No. 2.
5
6 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Company maintains a logging camp near Caldor, Eldorado County,
California, from which logs 'arc carried via the Company's railroad
to, its sawmill at Diamond Springs, California. We are concerned
herein with the Company's logging operations. Approximately 90-
percent of the logs,used at the sawmill is obtained from these opera-
tions; the balance is purchased in the open inarket. During the year
1944, the Company produced at its sawmill approximately 24 million
board feet of, lumber valued at approximately $200,000, of which about
20 percent was shipped to points outside the State of California.
The Company admits that'it is engaged in commerce within the.
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Lumber & Sawmill Workers Union , No. 2760, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, and International Woodworkers of
America, Local 286 , affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organ-
izations , are labor organizations, admitting to membership employees.
of the Company.
III. THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
By letter dated January 5, 1945, the A. F. L. requested recognition
from the Coihpany as the representative of its Jogging employees.
The Company made no reply thereto,.-and on March 29, 1945, the
A. F: L. filed the petition herein. ,
As previously noted, the Company operates a logging camp and a
sawmill connected by a company-owned railroad. Because, of severe
weather conditions, the operations of the logging 'camp are usually
suspended between the months of December and April, and the crew
engaged at- these operations is, for the most part, laid off until such
operations resume. On October-11, 1943, the C. I. O. was certified by
the Board as the e±clusive representative of the logging employees.'
Shortly thereafter, the C.; I. O. held several membership meetings to
determine what demands .should be made upon the Company. By
the time these, demands were determined, the winter shut-down of
the Company's logging operations had taken place, and the crew had
been disbanded. However, previous thereto, a group of 'the C. I. O.'s'
officers had been autliorized by the crew to negotiate with the Company
,during the shut-down, and this group met with representatives of the
Company to negotiate the terms of a contract, with the understanding
by both the Company and the -C. I. O. ' that any agreement reached
was to be subject to the approval of the employees. Such approval,
of course, could be obtained only after the resumption of the logging
1 For Decision and Direction of Election , see Matter of California Door Company, 52
N. L. R. B. 68.
CALIFORNIA DOOR COMPANY
operations in the spring. " - Although agreement was reached between
the parties upon some of the points proposed by the C. I. 0., they
became dead-locked on others and they agreed to defer further discus-
sions of these issues until the resumption of logging operations.
In addition to the negotiations upon the C. I. O.'s proposals men-
tioned above , the parties apparently, also discussed' the C. I. O.'s 1943-
industry-wide demands. The parties agreed with respect to some of
these industry-wide demands, but they reached an impasse on the•
majority of them. The resulting dispute was submitted to the
National War Labor Board for determination some time in Jan-
uary 1944.2
The Company's logging operations resumed in -April 1944. In
May or June of that year, the C. I. O. again met with the Company,
at which time -the parties agreed to postpone further discussion until
the National War Labor Board issued a directive with respect to the
C. I. O.'s 1943 industry -wide demands , since these demands , the parties
realized, were similar to those matters upon which they had deferred
negotiations. -
-
. Subsequently the C. I. U. presented to the Company its 1944 indus-
try-wide demands upon the assumption that any agreement reached
thereon was to be incorporated into the contract resulting from the
proceedings then before the National War Labor Board. There was
disagreement upon virtually all the 1944 industry -wide ' demands,
and in December 1944, a conciliator was called upon to assist in the
negotiations. As indicated above, the A. F. L. 'then notified the Com-'
parry of its claim to representation on January 5, 1945, and on January
15, the Company informed the conciliator , that because of this claim,
it could not sign any contract with the C . I. O. The conciliator ,certified
the dispute on the 1944 industry -wide demands to the National War
Labor Board on February 8, and these issues are apparently still
pending before that agency.
On February 22, 1945, the National War Labor Board issued a
directive concerning the 1943 industry -wide demands . On March 29,
the A. Y . L. filed the petition in the instant proceeding ,3 and, there-
after, the Company refused to enter into any contract with the C. I. O.
on the ground that an unresolved question concerning representation
existed.
The C. I. O. argues, in effect, that the doctrine of the Allis-Chalmers
case 4 is applicable to the facts herein, and that it should be permitted
a reasonable time within which to conclude an agreement with the
8 N W L B Case No 111-6087-D
a The A . F L had previously filed a petition for certification of representatives of the
Company's employees in June 1944 . In October of that year , the petition was dismissed
administratively by the Regional Office.
* Matter of Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company , 50 N. L R B 306
I
8 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Company. We agree. Within the first year of the C. I. O.'s certifica-
tion the parties reached an impasse in several matters and these issues
were submitted to the National War Labor Board for determination.
It is clear that we would not have directed an election while the pro-
ceedings before that agency were pending.,' Not until February 1945
did the National War Labor Board issue a directive, and, because of
the nature of the Company's seasonal operations and the commitment
of the parties based thereon, the C. I. O. and the Company were in no
-position to execute a collective bargaining agreement incorporating
the provisions of the directive until April 194.5. By that time, how-
ever, the Company was confronted with the demand of a rival labor
organization and the fact that a representation petition filed by that
organization was then pending before this Board, and it refused to
sign any contract with the C. I. O. Thus, we are satisfied, the C. I. O.
did not have a. reasonable opportunity to obtain a contract from the
Company" and serve as the certified bargaining representative of the
logging employees. Accordingly, we find that no question affecting
commerce exists at this time concerning the representation of these
employees.e The A. F. L.'s petition for certification of representatives
will be dismissed.?
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, and upon the entire
record in the case, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders
that the petition for investigation and certification of representatives
of employees of California Door Company, Diamond Springs, Cali-
fornia, filed by Lumber & Sawmill Workers Union, No. 2760, A.,F."L.,
be, and it hereby is, dismissed. .
P See Matter of Aluminum Company of America, 53 N. L R B 593 ; Matter of Kennecott
Copper Corporation, 51 N L R B 1140. -
6 We are of the opinion that the issues before the National War Labor Board relating to
the C I 0 's 1944 industry -wide demands do not warrant a contrary conclusion They
are merely cumulative to the matters disposed of by the February 5, 1945, directive, which
was contemplated by the Company and the C. I. O. as constituting the basis for their
initial contract.
7 Cf Matter of Jackson Box Company , 59 N. L. R. B. 808 , in which we directed an elec-
tion In that case more than a year elapsed between the effective date of a directive of
the war Labor Board disposing of matters in dispute between the employer and a union
designated as bargaining agent of the employees concerned and the date a rival labor
organization filed its petition for certification of representatives There , moreover, the
employer and the designated union were not handicapped in reaching an agreement because
of a normal cessation of operations and disbanding of employees