Michigan Pole & Tie Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 30, 1950

88 N.L.R.B. 339 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter Of MICHIGAN POLE & TIE COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, LOCAL 12-15,
PETITIONER
Case No. 18-RC-499 .-Decided January 30,1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before John P.
von Rohr, hearing officer. 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 [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Reynolds].
Upon the entire record in this case , the Board finds :
1. The Employer , a Michigan corporation, with its only plant and
principal place of business located in Newberry, Michigan , manufac-
tures lumber and related forest products . During the first 11 months
of 1949, the Employer purchased raw material consisting of logs of
the approximate value of $50 ,000, all of which was purchased within
the State of Michigan . During the same period , the Employer proc-
essed and sold lumber products of the approximate value of $500,000,
of which approximately 25 percent was shipped to points outside
the State.
We find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.'
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent employees
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 :
The Petitioner seeks certification as representative of a unit con-
sisting of the Employer's production and maintenance employees.
1 See Alabama Brick & Tile Company, Inc ., 80 NLRB 1365.
88 NLRB No. 87.
339
882191-51-23
340 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Petitioner would include in this unit the tallyman, lumber grader,
log scaler and log pond foreman, the chief inspector foreman, and
the inspector foreman as nonsupervisory workmen and plant clericals,
but would exclude all office clerical employees, the cruiser, and one
of the Employer's two watchmen. The Employer contends that all
clerical employees, the cruiser, and both watchmen should be included.
It further contends, however, that if its office clerical employees are
excluded, the classifications named above, which the Petitioner would
include as plant clericals, should also be excluded.
Plant clericals and leadmen: The tallyman and the lumber grader
are stationed in the mill next to each other where the lumber is being
processed from logs. The tallyman keeps account of production by
marking down on a tally sheet the size, quality, and quantity of the
lumber as it passes by. At the end of the workday he brings his tally
sheet to the office. The lumber grader marks the grade of the lumber
on each log as it passes by. The log scaler and log pond foreman is
an employee who spends about 60 percent of his time unloading logs
from the trucks, and poling logs from the pond into a chain to be
carried into the mill. He checks logs with a ruler to determine the
footage, which he enters on a tally sheet. At the end of the day he
summarizes his tally sheets and submits the summary to the office.
The chief inspector foreman and the inspector foreman each work with
three or four workmen loading freight cars in accordance with speci-
fications of the shipping orders. They measure each piece of lumber
before it is loaded, determining its length, width, quality, and kind.
They also keep tally sheets which they submit to the office after the
cars are loaded. All these employees work with small groups of pro-
duction employees. However, they neither responsibly direct nor have
power effectively to recommend the hiring and discharge of those with
whom they work. We find that none of these employees have super-
visory powers and we shall include them in the unit as nonsupervisory
leadmen having some of the functions of plant clericals?
Ofice clerical employees: The office clerical employees consist of one
bookkeeper and three clerks. The bookkeeper is in charge of all the
Employer's bookkeeping and accounting. One of the clerks, while
doing most of his work in the office, frequently goes into the yard to
deliver orders for lumber and to obtain information. The other two
clerks perform all their duties in the office. Together these employees
prepare shipping orders, invoices, and payrolls, take care of the ac-
counting, and perform all the other office work. We shall adhere to
our well-established policy not to include office clericals in a production
2 Welding Shipyards, Inc., 81 NLRB 936.
MICHIGAN POLE & TIE COMPANY 341
and maintenance unit in a manufacturing industry. We shall exclude
these employees from the unit herein found appropriate.3
Cruiser: The cruiser spends from 85 to 90 percent of his time outside
the Employer's yard. His main duties consist of scouting the woods
for the purpose of locating desirable timber and making estimates for
the Employer of the total number of log feet. He also spends part of
his time in building roads with a bulldozer, and he carries supplies
from the mill to the crews in the woods. He is one of only three em-
ployees who are paid on a salary basis 4 rather than on the basis of
hourly rates. We find that, because of his duties, the cruiser has little,,
if any, common interest with the Employer's production and main-
tenance employees. We shall exclude him from the unit .5
Watchmen: The Employer has two employees who are classified
as watchmen. One of these spends by far the greater part of his
working time in production and maintenance work. Both the
Employer and the Petitioner agree that he should be included in the
unit. The other watchman works only at night. He spends only 10
minutes of each hour making the rounds and punching clocks. The
balance of his working time is spent in tending the boilers, adding
fuel and water, cleaning up the ashes and debris, and occasionally,
answering the telephone. As he spends the greater part of his time
in maintenance work, we shall include him in the unit .6
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the
Employer's Newberry, Michigan, plant, including the tallyman, lum-
ber grader, log scaler and long pond foreman, chief inspector fore-
man, inspector foreman, and watchmen, but excluding office clerical
employees, the cruiser, and all supervisors as defined in the Act, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining within
the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but, not later than 301
days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was.
heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
3 Western Electric Company, Inc., 84 NLRB 552.
* The superintendent and bookkeeper are the other two employees who are paid on a_
salary basis.
S The Petitioner would exclude the cruiser as a confidential employee . The record indi- .
cates that his work is confidential only in a business , and not a labor relations, sense.
6Swan Flodin, Walter Flodin and Eric Bryce, a partnership, d/b/a Flodin Lumber Com-
pany, 82 NLRB 889.
342 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the.
unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were
employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not 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 rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees on
strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargain-
ing, by International Woodworkers of America, CIO, Local 12-15.