Claridge Logging Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 25, 1967

164 N.L.R.B. 1068 (N.L.R.B. 1967)

1068 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Claridge Logging Company , Inc.' and
Teamsters , Chauffeurs , Warehousemen and
Helpers Local No. 448 , affiliated with
International Brotherhood of Teamsters,
Chauffeurs , Warehousemen and Helpers of
America , Independent , Petitioner. Case
19-RC-3916.
May 25,1967
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held before a hearing officer of the
National Labor Relations Board. The hearing
officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. The
Employer and the Intervenor filed briefs which have
been duly considered by the Board.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board
finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act and it will effectuate the
purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The labor organizations2 involved claim to
represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists
concerning the representation of certain employees
of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9(c)(1)
and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act for the following
reasons:
Petitioner seeks a unit of all truckdrivers, tire
repairmen, and servicemen at the Employer's
logging operation in western Montana. It is
apparently the Petitioner's contention that the
Employer's production process with respect to its
commodity (logs) ends before the logs leave the
woods and all that is left to be performed is the
transportation of the logs to customers. On this
basis, Petitioner seeks only the truckdrivers and
repairmen and not an overall unit of production and
.maintenance employees. Both the Employer and
Intervenor moved to dismiss the petition claiming
Petitioner was seeking an inappropriate unit.3
The Employer does not operate a sawmill, but is
engaged in contract logging for various sawmill
operators. This logging operation includes building
roads, sawing, felling, bucking, skidding, loading,
and hauling logs. In performing such functions, the
Employer employs such different categories of
employees as cat skinners or operators, chocker
i The name of the Employer appears in the caption as amended
at the hearing.
3 Montana District Council, Lumber and Sawmill Workers
Union, AFL-CIO, was permitted to intervene at the hearing on
the basis of authorization cards . Intervenor does not claim
majority representation and does not desire to appear on the
ballot, but sought only to argue the appropriateness of the unit
3 The Employer and Intervenor assert that the Employer is
setters, dozer operators, fellers and buckers, load
operators, tongs setters, truckdrivers, and shop
mechanics, besides administrative employees. A
logging superintendent exercises general supervision
over all the Employer's operations. At each woods
show there is a foreman, and there is also a shop
supervisor who acts as a dispatcher. All employees
located in the woods, including the truckdrivers, are
under the supervision of the foreman. While at the
shop, truckdrivers are apparently dispatched by the
shop supervisor.
Although the primary function of the drivers is to
drive trucks, the record shows that many drivers
perform other work such as loading logs, brush
burning, running front-end loaders, driving cats, and
working in the shop. At least 13 of the present
truckdrivers have performed or are presently
performing jobs for the Employer other than
truckdriving. Many of the drivers when originally
employed performed work in the logging operation
prior to being selected for training to become a
driver. The Employer when hiring truckdrivers
prefers men with woods experience.
All the Employer's production and maintenance
employees receive the same benefits, are paid the
same day from a common payroll, work the same
week, and have common supervision. In addition,
the work of each job classification is dependent on
the operation of the other classifications in such a
way that any termination or slowdown of work in one
part of the logging operation will affect the balance
of the operation.
The Board has found in appropriate cases that
truckdrivers may constitute separate units where
the drivers are a functionally distinct and
homogeneous group whose duties and interests are
different from the Employer's other employees.
However, this case is distinguishable. As is clear
from the foregoing, the requested drivers share a
community of interest with the other employees,
interchange with them quite frequently, and are
selected as drivers from other job classifications
within the logging operation. In such circumstances,
where the functions of all employees are integrated
and transfers between job classifications occur, we
find that a unit limited to drivers and repairmen is
inappropriate.4 We shall, therefore, dismiss the
petition.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition filed herein
be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
engaged in the basic lumber industry, and contend that the only
appropriate unit in such industry , under Weyerhaeuser Timber
Company, 87 NLRB 1076, 1079, is an overall production and
maintenance unit We find this contention without merit.
Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, Uranium Division , 162 NLRB 387,
In 17.
4 See Standard Oil Company, 147 NLRB 1226.
164 NLRB No. 147