Charles R. Krimm Lumber Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 31, 1946

65 N.L.R.B. 657 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of CHARLES R. KRIMM LUMBER COMPANY, INC. and
UNITED FURNITURE WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO
Case No. 4-R-1837.-Decided January 31, 1946
Mr. Joseph M. McNarney , of Williamsport , Pa., for the Company.
Mr. Michael Ardis, of Williamsport , Pa., for the Union.
Mr. Arnold Ordman, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Furniture Workers of America,
CIO, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting com-
merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Charles R. Krimm Lumber Company, Inc., Williamsport, Pennsyl-
vania, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board
provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Herman.
Lazarus, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Williamsport,
Pennsylvania, or October 18, 1945. The Company and the Union
appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full oppor-
tunity to be heard,- to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to,
introduce evidence bearing on the issues. 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
I. TIIE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Charles R. Krimm Lumber Company, Inc., is a Pennsylvania cor-
poration with office and plant located, at Williamsport, Pennsylvania,
where it is engaged in the manufacture, sale, and delivery of rough-
cut lumber. During the past year, the Company sold approximately
$500,000 worth of its product, about 20 percent of which was shipped
to points outside the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
6.5N L R B, No 112.
657
658 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Furniture Workers of America is a labor organization affili-
ated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
During the course of the hearing, the parties stipulated that in the
month of July 1945, the Union orally requested the Company to rec-
ognize it as bargaining agent of employees of the Company and that
the Company has refused and still refuses so to recognize it.
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 aff ecting 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.
IT. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union contends for a unit embracing all production employees
employed at the Company's plant, including watchmen, firemen, and
truck drivers, but excluding the managerial staff, office workers, and
supervisory employees. The Company, however, contends that the
unit should include not only the employees sought by the Union, but
also the employees of Krimm Brothers Lumber Company, a partner-
ship engaged in logging and trucking operations, and herein called
the partnership.
The, partnership is engaged solely in felling trees, cutting the logs
into required lengths, and conveying them by truck to the Company's
plant. At the time of the hearing, these operations were being con-
ducted 10 to 15 miles from the Company's premises. After the logs
are received by the Company, they are unloaded from the trucks and
placed in a pond where they are scaled and washed. They are then
removed from the pond, sorted by type of tree, and processed at the
sawmill. Thereafter, they are sent to the lumber yard, from where
they are ultimately delivered or shipped to purchasers.
' The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 22 authorization cards dated
in July 1945 . There are approximately 28 employees in the appropriate unit.
At the hearing the Company requested the right to examine the authorization cards
submitted to the Board 's office by the Union to prove its interest . The Trial Examiner
properly refused this request. The showing of interest is purely an administrative matter,
the sole purpose of which is to give reasonable assurance to the Board that a substantial
number of employees in the unit contended for desires representation . Matter of Buffalo
Arms Corporation , 57 N. L. R . B 1560 , Matter of Hari y Manaster & Bro , et al., 60 N. L.
R. B. 979.
CHARLES R . KRIMM LUMBER COMPANY, INC. 659
Apparently, all the timber cut by the partnership is transported by
its trucks or the Company's trucks to the Company's plant where it is
processed. It also appears that financial control of both enterprises is
held by the same parties, although they are completely separate and
independent organizations. However, the record indicates that the
employees of the partnership and the Company are independent of
each other as to pay roll, identity, and supervision.
The functions of the two groups of employees are quite separate
and distinct. The Union moreover, does not have, nor has it ever
exercised, jurisdiction over lumber jacks-people engaged in the fell-
ing of trees and logging operations-but it does have, and has exer-
cised, jurisdiction over the type of employees included here, and no
attempt was made by the Union to organize the employees of the part-
nership.2
In view of all the foregoing circumstances and the further fact
that there is no labor organization seeking to organize the employees
of both the Company and the partnership, we are of the opinion that
the unit sought by the Union is appropriate.3
We find that all production employees of the Company, including
watchmen, firemen, and truck drivers, but excluding the managerial
staff, office workers, and all supervisory employees with authority to
hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the
status of employees, or effectively recommend such 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 representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Charles R. Krimm
2 Except for a truck driver employed by the partnership who informed a representative
of the Union that he was an employee of the Company . Upon discovering that the truck
driver was in fact a partnership employee , he was excluded from the Union.
3 See Matter of Weyerhaeuser Timber Company , 62 N. L R. B. 1166 ; Matter of A. K.
Wilson Timber Co, 64 N. L. R. B. 90.
660 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Lumber Company, Inc., an election by secret ballot shall be conducted
as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from the date
of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional
Director for the Fourth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the
NationalPLabor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sections
10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among 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 vacation or temporarily laid off, and in-
cluding employees in the armed forces of the United States who pre-
sent 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 United Furniture
Workers of America, CIO, for the purposes of collective bargaining.