Mathews Lumber Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 29, 1950

89 N.L.R.B. 50 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter Of MATHEWS LUMBER COMPANY, EMPLOYER and UNITED
BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS & JOINERS OF AMERICA, AFL, PETI-
TIONER
Case No. 20-RC-745.-Decided Iliarch 29, 1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Clayton
0. Rost, 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.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and
Murdock].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organization named below claims to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit:
We find, in accordance with the stipulation of the parties, that all
production and maintenance employees at the Employer's Fresno,
California, plant, but excluding office and clerical employees, and all
supervisors as defined in the Act, as amended, constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the Act.".
5. The determination of representatives :
The parties are in dispute as to the eligibility to vote of certain
laid-off employees. The Petitioner urges that these individuals were
i The parties agreed that the bookkeeper and salesman were office employees ; that the
yard foreman and the clerk named Orrin Tipton were supervisors ; and that these four
employees should therefore be excluded from the unit.
89 NLRB No. 2.
50
MATHEWS LUMBER COMPANY 51
temporarily laid off and therefore should be permitted to vote. The
.Employer contends that a retrenchment in business for economic
reasons has necessitated the permanent severance of these employees
and that they are therefore ineligible to vote.
We find the evidence as set forth in the record insufficient to decide
the employment status of these individuals. Therefore, we shall, at
this time, make no final determination with respect to the eligibility
issue raised by the parties but shall permit those employees laid off on
and after December 14, 1949, to vote subject to challenge. In the event
that the counting of the challenged ballots would affect the results of
the election, the question as to which of them shall be opened and
counted must await a further investigation concerning the employ-
ment status of the individual laid-off employees.2
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with Mathews Lumber Company,
Fresno, California , an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as
early as possible , but not later than 30 clays from the date of this
Direction , under the direction and supervision of the Regional Direc-
tor for the Region in which this case was heard , and subject to Sections
203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regu-
lations, and subject to our determination in paragraph numbered 5,
supra , among the employees in the unit found appropriate in para-
graph numbered 4, above , who were employed during the payroll
period immediately preceding the date of this Direction , including
employees who did riot work during said payroll period because they
were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, 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, and
also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstate-
ment, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented, for
the purposes of collective bargaining, by United Brotherhood of Car-
penters and Joiners of America, AFL.
z Auto-Lite Battery Corporation ( Vincennes, Indiana Division ), 85 NLRB 1034; compare
The Green Lumber - Company, 82 NLRB 886.
S89227-51-vol. 89--5