Meadow Valley Lumber Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 27, 1941

32 N.L.R.B. 115 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter Of MEADOW VALLEY LUMBER COMPANY and LUMBER AND
SAWMILL WORKERS UNION, LOCAL #2626
Case No. B-2472.-Decided May 27,1911
Jurisdiction : lumber manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : re-
fusal to accord union recognition until it is certified by the Board ; election
ordered to be held when the Regional Director finds Company has resumed
normal operations.
Unit Appropriate for Collective-Bargaining : production employees of the Com-
pany at its sawmill, excluding supervisory and clerical employees and
construction workers.
Mr. Ray C. Smith, of Twain, Calif., for the Company.
Mr. Charles J. Janigian, of San Francisco, Calif. and Mr. D. R.
Streeter, of Quincy, Calif., for the L. & S. W.
Mr. Howard Dyer and Mr. Harold Arrasmith, of Susanville, Calif.,
for the I. W. A.
Mr. William T. Little, of counsel to the Board
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On October 19, 1940, Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, No.
2626, herein called the L. & S. W., filed with the Regional Director
for the Twentieth Region (San Francisco, California) a petition
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning
the representation of employees of Meadow Valley Lumber Company,
Meadow Valley, California, herein called the Company, and request-
ing an investigation and certification of representatives pursuant to
Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449,
herein called the Act. On January 24, 1941, the National Labor
Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section
9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered
an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it
and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. On
32 N. L. R. B., No. 21.
445692-42-vol. 32--9 115
116 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
March 6, 1941, the Acting Regional Director issued a notice of hear-
ing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the L. &
S. W., and International Woodworkers of America, Local No. 6-215,
and California State Industrial Union Council, labor organizations
claiming to represent employees directly affected by the investigation.
Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on April 14, 1941, at Quincy,
California, before Paul Jennings, the Trial Examiner duly designated
by the Chief Trial Examiner. At the hearing, International Wood-
workers of America, Local 6-234, affiliated with the C. I. 0., herein
called the I. W. A., appeared and intervened in the proceeding. The
Company, the L. & S. W., and the I. W. A. were represented by
counsel or official representatives, and all participated in the hearing.
Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses,
and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all
parties. During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made
several rulings on objections to the admission of evidence. The Board
has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no
prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
On May 2, 1941, the L. & S. W. submitted a brief which has been
duly considered by the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Meadow Valley Lumber Company, a California corporation having
its principal office and place of business in Oakland, California, is
engaged in the, manufacture of lumber at Spanish Ranch and Grey's
Flat, California. Of the 20,245,701 board feet of lumber cut at the
Company's sawmill between January 1 and November 20, 1940, ap-
proximately 4,761,000 board feet, or about 24 per cent, were shipped
to points outside the State of California; 5,906,000 board feet, or
about 29 per cent, were shipped to points within the State of Cali-
fornia; and approximately 9,578,701 board feet, or about 47 per cent,
remained unsold at the time of the hearing. The Company admits
that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, Local No. 2626, is a labor
organization chartered by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters &
Joiners of America, and affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor. It admits to membership employees of the Company.
MEADOW VALLEY LUMBER COMPANY 117
International Woodworkers of America, Local 6-234, is a labor
organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organization,,
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
In September 1940, the L. & S. W. requested recognition as the
exclusive bargaining agent of the employees of the Company's saw-
mill. The Company replied that it would not recognize the L. &
S. W. as the exclusive representative of the sawmill employees until
the L. & S. W. was certified by the Board.
A statement prepared by the Acting Regional Director and intro-
duced in evidence at the hearing, shows that the L. & S. W. and the
I. W. A. represent a substantial number of employees 1 in the unit
found below to be appropriate.
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Company's business is comprised of (1) a sawmill and (2)
a yard and planing mill. At the Company's sawmill at Meadow
Valley,2 logs are cut into rough green lumber. The lumber is then
transported to the Company's yard and planing mill at Grey's Flat,
approximately 25 miles distant,3 where it is piled, seasoned, and
manufactured into the finished product. The L. & S. W. claims that
the production employees of the sawmill, excluding the employees
of the yard and planing mill, constitute an appropriate unit. The
I. W. A. claims that all the employees of the Company, including
1 The report of the Acting Regional Director shows that 43 of the 63 employees on the
October 15 , 1940, sawmill pay roll , signed application cards for the L & S W. and 11
signed application cards for the I. W. A.
2 Throughout the hearing the names Spanish Ranch and Meado w Valley were used inter-
changeably to designate the locatlon•of the sawmill
3 At the time of the hearing the Company was constiucting a new yard and planing mill
about 8 miles from the sawmill . When the new yard and planing mill is completed, the
present one w ill be abandoned.
118 bECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
those of the yard and planing mill, constitute a single appropriate
unit. The Company takes no position as to the appropriateness of
the unit.
On February 1, 1940, the Company and the I. W. A. negotiated a
closed-shop contract for the employees of the yard and planing mill.
During the summer of 1940 both the L. & S. W. and the I. W. A.
sought to organize the employees of the sawmill. On March 30, 1941,
the contract with the I. W. A. expired. Thereafter, however, the
Company and the I. W. A. officials tentatively agreed upon a new
contract subject to the approval of the international union. Mean-
while it was agreed that the closed-shop provisions of the original
contract remain in force. As noted above, the closed-shop contract
between the I. W. A. and the Company did not cover employees of
the sawmill.
From the foregoing we are of the opinion that at the present time
a unit consisting of all the employees of the Company, as urged by
the I. W. A., is not appropriate. The I. W. A. has confined its
bargaining relations with the Company to the employees of the yard
and planing mill. It is apparent, moreover, from its express desire
not to participate in an election confined to employees of the sawmill 4
and from its membership showing among such employees, that the
I. W. A. does not claim to represent a majority of the sawmill em-
ployees. On the other hand, the L. & S. W. has confined its organi-
zation activity to the sawmill employees. Under all the circum-
stances we believe that the unit requested by the L. & S. W. is
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
The Company presently employs a number of construction workers
who are engaged in building the Company's new yard and planing
mill. The L. & S. W. desires that these construction workers and the
Company's supervisory and clerical employees be excluded from the
unit of sawmill employees.5 The Company did not object to the
exclusion of these employees and we shall exclude them from the unit.
We find that all production employees of the Company at its saw-
mill, excluding supervisory and clerical employees and construction
workers, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining, and that said unit will insure to employees of the Com-
pany the full benefit of their; right to self-organization and to
collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act.
4 See Section VI, infra.
5 V. R. Christy, the sawmill superintendent , and J H. Knight, the night foreman of the
sawmill, as supervisory employees , and 0. E. Burton, Lester Fay, James E. Pullen, Rex
Morehouse, Ray C. Smith , and Elmer Wolfe, as clerical employees
MEADOW VALLEY LUMBER COMPANY 119
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen can best be resolved by means of an election by secret ballot.
The I. W. A. stated at the hearing that it did not desire to participate
in the election if the Board found that the sawmill employees con-
stituted an appropriate unit. We shall accordingly exclude the
I. W. A. from the ballot.
The L. & S. W. requested that the election should not be held until
the sawmill resumes full operations on both day and night shifts.
The L. & S. W. also requested that eligibility to participate in the
election should be determined by the pay roll next preceding the date
of the election. The Company did not object to either request of the
L. & S. W. At the time of the hearing, the sawmill had been closed
since November 1940. The Company stated that it intended to com-
mence operations within a short time after the hearing. The record
is not clear, however, as to when the sawmill will resume full opera-
tions. We shall accordingly direct that the election shall be held as
soon as practicable under the direction and supervision of the Regional
Director for the Twentieth Region, who shall determine in his dis-
cretion the time such election shall be conducted to the end that such
election shall be held when the Company is engaged in normal
operations. We shall further direct that employees eligible to vote
in the election shall be those employees in the appropriate unit who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding
the date of the election, subject to such limitations and additions as
are set forth in the Direction of Election herein.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Meadow Valley Lumber Company, Meadow
Valley, California, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section
2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All production employees of the Company at its sawmill, exclud-
ing supervisory and clerical employees and construction workers,
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining,
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations
Act.
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 Rela-
120 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that , as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Meadow Valley Lumber Company, Meadow Valley, California,
an election by secret ballot shall be conducted at such time as the
Regional Director for the Twentieth Region shall determine pursuant
to the provisions of Section VI of the Decision herein, under the
direction and supervision of said Regional Director , acting in this
matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board and subject
to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations , among the
production employees of Meadow Valley Lumber Company , Meadow
Valley, California , at its sawmill , employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of the election , including employees
who did not work during such pay-roll period because they were ill
or on vacation or in the active military service or training of the
United States , or temporarily laid off, but excluding supervisory and
clerical employees , construction workers, and those who have since
quit or been discharged for cause , to determine whether or not they
desire to be represented for the purposes of collective bargaining by
Lumber and Sawmill Workers , A. F. of L., Local Union 2626.
MR. EDWIN S. SMITH , dissenting :
For the reasons stated in Matter of Lewis Lumber Company and
International Woodworkers of America, Local Union No. 257, afli-
ated with the C. I. 0.,6 I would find a single unit consisting of the
sawmill and the yard and planing mill employees.
°31 N L R B 688