Dye Logging Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 14, 1943

52 N.L.R.B. 1384 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of DYE LOGGING COMPANY and LOCAL 5-238 , IWA-CIO
Case No. 19-R-1137.-Decided October 14, ,19.43
Mr. George D. Riechers, of Tillamook , Oreg., for the Company.
Mr. A. F. Hartung , of Portland , Oreg., for the CIO.
Mr. C. A. Paddock , of McMinnville , Oreg., for the AFL.
Mr. Robert $ilagi, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Local 5-238, International Wood-
workers of America, CIO, herein called the CIO, alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Dye Logging Company, Tillamook, Oregon, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided
for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Joseph D. Holmes,
Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Tillamook, Oregon,
on September 14, 1943. The Company, the CIO, and Local Union
No. 2609, Lumber and Sawmill Workers, AFL, herein called the
AFL, -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 Trial Examiner's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an opportunity 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 THE COMPANY
Dye Logging Company is a copartnership engaged in logging
operations near Tillamook,., Oregon. The Company cuts timber en-
tirely within the State of Oregon, but sells its logs to mills in the
52 N. L. R, B., No. 229.
1384
DYD LOGGING COMPANY 1385
vicinity of the Willamette River in Oregon and to mills near Grays
Harbor in the State of Washington. Its annual sales amount to
'about $300,000. The logs cut consist of approximately 45 percent
spruce, which is cut into finished lumber to be used by airplane
manufacturers outside the State of Oregon; 45 percent hemlock, from
which the mills produce pulp and paper for interstate shipment; and
10 percent, fir, which is used for the production of plywood used in
airplane construction. All of the fir is shipped from the logging
operation to Grays Harbor,, Washington.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Local 5-238, International Woodworkers of America, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organiza-
tion admitting to membership employees of the Company.
Local Union No. 2609, Lumber and Sawmill Workers, chartered
by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, affiliated
with the American Federation of Labor, is a labor organization
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
IH. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On June 13, 1941, the Company and the AFL entered into a con-
tract of indefinite duration, terminable upon 60 days' written notice:
On May 20, 1943, the CIO requested recognition as the collective
bargaining representative of the Company's employees. The Com-
pany refused this request stating that recognition would be con-
tingent upon the CIO's certification by the, Board in an appropriate
unit. On May 27, 1943, the CIO filed its petition herein. The AFL
urges its contract with the Company as a bar to a present election.
Inasmuch as it has long been our established policy not to construe
a contract of indefinite term as barring an election,' we find that the
contract in question does not bar a present investigation and deter-
mination of representatives.
A statement of the Field Examiner, introduced into evidence at
the hearing, indicates that both unions represent a substantial number
of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate:
i The pertinent clause in the contract recites that "when either party to this Agreement
desires to modify or terminate this Agreement , he shall give written notice to the other
party at least sixty ( 60) days in advance of such modification or termination."
2 See Matter of Cutisttina Brothers Lumber Company , et al., 41 N. L. R. B. 1243; see also
Matter of The American Coach d Body Co., 28 N. L . R B. 508.
3 The Field Examiner reported that the CIO submitted 35 designations , all of which
bore apparently genuine original signatures ; that the names of 28 persons appearing on the
designations were listed on the Company's pay roll of May 15, 1943, which contained the
1386 ' DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We find that a question affecting 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.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The CIO seeks a unit comprised of all production, maintenance,
transportation, and construction employees of the Company, exclud-
ing full-time supervisory and office employees. This unit is substan-
tially the same as the unit set forth in the contract between the AFL
and the Company. The AFL maintains that the hook tender, bullbuck
and road foreman were part of the contract unit for which it had bar-
gained collectively. It therefore insists that these employees be in-
cluded in the present appropriate unit. The Company would exclude
these individuals as supervisory employees, while the CIO would in-
clude them.
The record shows that the hook tender supervises the activities of
15 to 18 employees. He has the right to hire and discharge, to make
lay-offs and shift employees from one job to another. The evidence
further shows that the bullbuck and the road foreman have the same
authority. It is apparent that the authority and responsibilities vested
by the Company in these employees meets the test normally applied
by the Board in, determining supervisory status, 4 and we shall there-
fore exclude them.
We find that all production, maintenance, transportation, and con-
struction employees of the Company, but excluding office employees,
the hook tender, bullbuck and road foreman, and any other super-
visory 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
The AFL and the Company would limit the right to vote to those
employees who have been employed by the Company for at least 30
days. No substantial reason appearing for departing from our normal
names of 43 employees in the appropriate unit ; and that the designations were dated
during the month of May 1943.
The AFL submitted 35 application for membership cards, all of which bore apparently
genuine original signatures . The names of 28 persons appearing on the cards were listed
on the Company's pay roll of May 15, 1943, which contained the names of 43 employees
in the appropriate unit. The cards were variously dated between 1939 and 1943.
The names of 15 persons are duplicated in the designation cards submitted by both
labor organizations.
9 See Matter of The Maryland Drydock Company, 49 N . L. R. B. 733; and also Matter of
Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc., 49 N. L. R. B. 819.
DYES LOGGING COMPANY 1387
practice, we shall direct that the question concerning representation
which has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the
employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion 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 Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby
DiiECmn that, as part of the investigation to ascertain-representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Dye Logging
Company, Tillamook, Oregon, 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 Nineteenth Region, acting in this matter
as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to
Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among
the 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 including employees in the armed forces
of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls,
but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged
for cause, to determine whether they desire to be represented by Local
5-238, IWA-CIO, or by Local Union No. 2609, Lumber and Saw-
mill Workers, AFL, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by
neither.