Friesen Box Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 29, 1945

64 N.L.R.B. 1083 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of FRIESEN Box COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL WOOD-
WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL UNION No. 5-63, CIO
Case No. 19-R-1584.-Decided November 29, 1945
Mr. Oliver S . Bacon, of Taft, Oreg., for the Company.
Mr. A. F. Hartung, of Portland, Oreg., and Mr . Ernest E. Carlberg,
of Cutler City, Oreg., for the Union.
Mr. Donald B ., Brady, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND 0
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by International Woodworkers of Amer-
ica, Local Union No. 5-63, CIO, herein called the Union, alleging that
a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Friesen Box Company, Cutler City, Oregon, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for
an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Erwin A. Peterson,
Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Taft, Oregon, on Septem-
ber 26,1945. The Company and the Union 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 TILE COMPANY
Friesen Box Company, a partnership consisting of John S. Friesen,
Anna N. Friesen, Ernest R. Friesen, Willard R. Friesen, and Allen C.
Friesen, is licensed to do business in Oregon. The Company operates
sawmills at Cutler City and Mowich, Oregon, and a box factory at
Salem, Oregon. This proceeding is concerned only with the Cutler
City sawmill. At that mill the Company produces between 30,000
64 N. L. R B., No . 179. 1083
1084 . DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and 35,000 board feet of lumber a day, valued at approximately $30
per thousand feet. Seventy-five percent of the lumber produced by
the Company at this mill is shipped to its box factory at Salem,
Oregon, and the remaining 25 percent is sold on the open market.
The Company ships approximately 85 percent of the finished products,
of the box factory to points outside the State of Oregon.
The Company does not deny, and we find, that it is engaged in com-
merce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Woodworkers of America, Local Union No. 5-63,
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor
organization admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of certain of its employees until
the Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
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 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.
18'. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit of all production and maintenance employees
of the Company at its Cutler City plant, exchlding office employees and
supervisory employees. The Company agrees generally that this unit
is appropriate but, contrary to the Union's position, contends that A.
Hamilton, millwright, is a supervisory employee who should be ex-
cluded from the unit.
The evidence discloses that the only regular full-time supervisory
employee employed at the Company's Cutler City operation is the
superintendent. The record indicates that it is necessary for the super-
intendent to be absent from the mill a considerable amount of time.
During the absence of the superintendent, Hamilton is in full charge
of the mill and during such times has authority to hire and discharge
employees. Accordingly, we find that he is a supervisory employee
1 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted a signed authorization petition
containing the signatures of 16 persons ; that the petition was dated in May 1945; and
that there were 18 employees in the alleged appropriate unit.
FRIESEN BOX COMPANY 1085
within the meaning of our customary definition and, as such , we shall
exclude him from the unit.
We find , in accordance with the agreement of the parties and our
foregoing determination , that all production and maintenance employ-
ees of the Company at its Cutler City, Oregon , plant, excluding office
employees, and all supervisory employees with authority to hire, pro-
mote, discharge , discipline , or otherwise effect changes in the status of
employees , or effectively recommend such action ,2 constitute a unit ap-
propriate 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 the em-
ployees 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 Direc-
tion.
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-
t Ives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Friesen Box Com-
pany, Cutler City, Oregon, an election by secret ballot shall be con-
ducted as early as possible, but not later than sixty (60) 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 em-
ployees 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 the
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 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 Inter-
national Woodworkers of America, Local Union No. 5-63, CIO, for
the purposes of collective bargaining.
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