International Paper Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 5, 1963

143 N.L.R.B. 1192 (N.L.R.B. 1963)

1192 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
International Paper Company, Long-Bell Division , Gardiner
Branch 1 and Plywood Workers Local 2195, United Brother-
hood of Carpenters & Joiners of America , AFL-CIO, Peti-
tioner. Case No. 36-RC-751. August 5, 1963
DECISION AND ORDER DENYING MOTION TO CLARIFY
BARGAINING UNIT
On May 7, 1952, the Board certified Coos Bay Area District Coun-
cil, United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners, AFL, as the bar-
gaining representative for a unit of production and maintenance
employees at Gardiner Lumber Co. Plywood Department, at Gardiner,
Oregon. On June 5, 1956, in Case No. 36-RC-1191, the Board certi-
fied International Woodworkers of America, Local?-140, AFL-CIO,
as bargaining representative for a unit of all employees, including
production and maintenance employees, at the Long-Bell Lumber
Company sawmill, planing mill, and kiln, also located at Gardiner,
Oregon.2
Thereafter, on November 27, 1962, Plywood Workers Local No.
2195, United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, AFL-
CIO, filed a motion to clarify bargaining unit, in which it alleged
that it is the certified bargaining agent of certain employees of Inter-
national Paper Co., Long-Bell Division, Gardiner Branch (Long-
Bell Lumber Co.) at its Gardiner, Oregon, plywood plant; that said
Company has installed a "full log ring barker" at the situs of such
plant and is presently engaged in installing a "chipper" operation
in conjunction therewith; that these two units are an integral part
of the plywood operation for which it is the certified bargaining agent;
and requesting that the employees employed in the "barker" and
"chipper" operations should be included in its certified unit.
On November 29, 1962, the Western States Regional Council No.
III, International Woodworkers of America, AFL-CIO, sent a letter
to the Board alleging that Local Union No. 3-140, International
Woodworkers of America, AFL-CIO, is the certified bargaining rep-
resentative for certain other employees of the International Paper
Company, Sawmill Division, at the same general location as that of
the plywood plant mentioned above, and contending that the above
motion has created a question concerning representation, that a hear-
ing should be conducted by the Board, and that oral argument should
be held.'
1The caption is hereby amended to reflect the current names of the parties. See
footnote 4,enfra.
2 These certifications are not published in NLRB volumes.
8 As the record and briefs in this proceeding adequately present the issues and the posi-
tions of the parties, Woodworkers ' request for oral argument is hereby denied.
143 NLRB No. 97.
INT'L PAPER CO., LONG-BELL DIV., GARDINER BRANCH 1193
On December 21, 1962, International Paper Company, Long-Bell
Division, sent a letter to the Board, alleging that it was in the process
of constructing certain new facilities at the above-mentioned plants
which will affect employees in both the plywood and sawmill units,
but otherwise taking no position with respect to the motion for clari-
fication. On February 7, 1963, the Board remanded the matter to
the Regional Director for the Nineteenth Region for the purpose of
conducting a hearing on the issues raised by the parties. A hearing
was held on March 21, 1963, before E. G. Strumpf, hearing officer.4
The hearing officer's rulings are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman McCulloch and Members Leedom and Brown].
Upon the entire record in the case, including the motion for clarifica-
tion and the briefs filed by the parties subsequent to the hearing, the
Board hereby makes the following findings :
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of wood products
at its Gardiner, Oregon, operations. Plywood Workers has been certi-
fied to represent employees of the Employer's plywood plant in
Gardiner and Woodworkers has been certified to represent the em-
ployees at the Employer's sawmill, planing mill, and kiln at the same
location.' As will be more fully described below, the Employer is in
the process of constructing and utilizing a new debarking and bucking
center which will consolidate, at one general site, certain operations
now performed by employees in both of these present units.6 Both
Plywood Workers and Woodworkers contend that the new operations
are an accretion to their respective units. The Employer takes no
position regarding the unit placement of employees who will work
at the new facilities.
At its Gardiner operations the Employer receives logs and processes
them into lumber at its sawmill or into plywood at its plywood plant.
The present log handling procedure is as follows : Trucks bring about
25 percent of the logs to the log dump on the Umpqua river where
they are placed in the river by the Berger crane operator 7 The re-
4 The parties stipulated at the hearing that International Paper Company Long-Bell
Division , Gardiner Branch, herein referred to as the Employer , is the successor to the
Gardiner Lumber Co. and the Long-Bell Lumber Company ; that Plywood Workers Local
2195, United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, AFL-CIO, herein referred
to as Plywood Workers, Is the successor to the Coos Bay Area District Council, United
Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners, AFL ; and that International Woodworkers of
America, Local No. 3-140, AFL - CIO, herein referred to as Woodworkers , Is the successor
to International Woodworkers of America , Local 7-140 , AFL-CIO
G Woodworkers also represents employees engaged in operating the Employer's pump-
house, powerhouse , and certain maintenance functions
, At the time of the hearing , the Employer 's new facilities had not yet gone into opera-
tion The facts as developed at the hearing represent the Employer 's projected plans for
such facilities.
'The parties agreed that the Berger crane operation should remain within the Wood-
workers' unit . The parties also stipulated that the "chipper" operation , which was re-
ferred to in the Plywood Workers motion , is properly a part of the Plywood Workers unit.
1194 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
maining logs are towed to this area in rafts by an independent con-
tractor. Virtually all the logs then go through a sorting area on the
river where they are graded and scaled for either plywood or sawmill
use; these logs are then floated to a drag saw where they are bucked
(i.e., cut into shorter lengths) .8 The logs chosen for use at the sawmill
are then floated to the sawmill where another employee arranges them
for hoisting from the water into the mill. The logs are then processed
into lumber. The logs chosen for plywood use (approximately two-
thirds of all the logs which reach the Gardiner operations) are turned
over to an independent contractor who tows them to the plywood op-
erations. All the above-described work performed by the Employer is
performed by employees represented by Woodworkers. The logs
which are to be used for plywood are then floated to a chain saw where
employees represented by Plywood Workers cut them into blocks suit-
able for the plywood plant. From the chain saw, the logs are floated
to and fed into the plywood plant where they are debarked, further
processed, and ultimately converted into plywood by employees rep-
resented by Plywood Workers.
As noted, the Employer is presently engaged in constructing and
activating a new debarking and bucking center which will greatly
simplify these procedures and will require only 7 employees, including
the Berger crane operator, whereas the operations to be replaced
were manned by 16 employees in the plywood plant unit and 6 em-
ployees in the sawmill unit.' In brief, under the new operations, the
logs will still arrive at the Gardiner location by truck or raft as they
have in the past. However, all logs will go directly to the new center
where an employee on the river will guide them to the new debarker.lo
After debarking, the logs will be graded as to suitability for use as ply-
wood or as lumber and then bucked into lengths appropriate for their
respective uses. The bucked logs suitable for use in the plywood plant
will be placed on a conveyor going to the plywood plant; the remain-
ing logs will be transported by a log stacker to the sawmill area.ll
The dispute herein relates to the employees who will operate the new
bucking and debarking center. Both Plywood Workers and Wood-
workers claim that these employees should be included in their respec-
tive certified units.
8 Only about 5 percent of the rafted logs bypass this sorting area and go directly to the
plywood operations.
9 The Employer is also constructing a new sawmill and expects to transfer its saw-
milling operations there in August 1963. The representation of these sawmill employees
is not in dispute . The new sawmill , unlike the present sawmill which is on the river, will
be landlocked.
1O Previously , the logs to be used in the sawmill had not been debarked ; however, under
the new procedures, all logs will be debarked whether for sawmill or plywood plant use.
n The conveyor is a stationary piece of machinery connected to both the new center and
to the plywood plant. The log stacker is a large wheeled vehicle which will pick up a
load of logs and transport them on a roadway to the new sawmill.
AMBERTON KNITTING MILLS, INC. 1195
The above facts, we believe, establish that the employees at the
new center could properly be included in either of the existing units.
Thus, the new center will debark and buck logs for both the sawmill
and the plywood plant; the new center will displace employees from
both the sawmill and plywood units; although, by virtue of the log
conveyor, the new center will be physically attached to the plywood
plant, the powerhouse, pumphouse, and certain other maintenance
functions upon which the bucking center will be dependent will con-
tinue to be manned by employees in the sawmill unit; and with the
exception of two job classifications (i.e., log stacker operator and ring
barker operator), the work to be performed by employees in the new
center is virtually identical to the work previously performed in the
Employer's present sawmill and plywood operations and employees
in both the Plywood Workers' and the Woodworkers' units are cap-
able of performing this work without further training.12
In these circumstances, and since the new debarking and bucking
center could properly be included in either of the existing units, we
find that this center is not an accretion to either the Plywood Workers
or the Woodworkers units. We therefore find that the motion for
clarification raises a question concerning representation which may
not be resolved through a clarification of the existing units. Accord-
ingly, we shall deny the Petitioner's motion for clarification.l3
[The Board denied the motion to clarify the certification in Case
No. 36-RC-751.]
's With only 2 weeks training, present employees in either unit could be readied to
operate the log stacker and ring barker.
1 See The Gas Service Company , 140 NLRB 445.
In view of the determination , we find it unnecessary to reach Woodworkers ' contention
that the Plywood Workers' motion be dismissed on the ground that it was untimely filed.
Amberton Knitting Mills, Inc. and Joseph Benigno
Knitgood Workers Union, Local 155 , International Ladies' Gar-
ment Workers Union , AFL-CIO (Amberton Knitting Mills,.
Inc.) and Joseph Benigno
Knitgood Workers Union , Local 155 , International Ladies' Gar-
ment Workers Union, AFL-CIO ( Amberton Knitting Mills,
Inc.) and Philip Shulman . Cases Nos.. 2-CA-8301, 2-CB-3299,
and 92-CB-3281. August 6, 1963
DECISION AND ORDER
On February 1, 1963, Trial Examiner Thomas N. Kessel issued his
Intermediate Report in the above-entitled proceeding, finding that
143 NLRB No. 111.