Mixer and Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 20, 1949

86 N.L.R.B. 656 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of MIxER AND COMPANY, EMPLOYER and LOCAL 10-353,
INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 19-RC-3.116.-Decided October 20, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed,' a hearing was held before Howard C.
McIntyre, 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 Gray].
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 involved claims to represent certain 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 Petitioner seeks a unit of all production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Employer's woods and mill operation at Lincoln, Mon-
tana, excluding all clerical employees and supervisors. The Employer
contends that the only appropriate unit is one comprising employees
at its Lincoln and Silver City plants. There is no history of collective
bargaining for employees at either plant.
At Lincoln, with some 40 employees, the Employer cuts timber and
hauls the logs to the sawmill where it saws them into rough, green
lumber. The Employer hauls the lumber to its Silver City plant, 36
miles distant, where the lumber is stacked, dried, resawed, and planed
by some 25 employees. The operations are under a common plants'
manager with a, separate , subordinate, supervisory staff at each loca-
1 The petition and other papers were amended at the hearing to show the correct name
of the Employer.
86 N. L. R. B., No. 93.
656
MIXER AND COMPANY 657
tion. All employees at both locations are listed on a single alpha-
betical pay roll, and single office records serve both plants. All em-
ployees are subject to the same wage plan, same hours of work, and
the same holidays. There is no exchange of employees between the
2 locations, but cessation of work at the Lincoln pant would halt
operations at the Silver City plant as soon as the rough lumber on hand
was processed. In view of the above, and upon the entire record of
this case, we find that a unit limited to the Lincoln employees is not
appropriate, but that a single unit including employees at the Lincoln
and Silver City operations is appropriate.'
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the Em-
ployer's logging and sawmill and planing operations at Lincoln and
Silver City, Montana, excluding all clerical and office employees,
guards,3 and supervisors, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes'
of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the
Act.
5. The unit above found appropriate is larger than that sought by
the Petitioner at this time. Because the Petitioner has made an
adequate showing of interest in the larger group, we shall provide that
an election be held among them. If, however, the Petitioner does not
desire to participate in such an election at this time, we shall permit
it to withdraw its petition without prejudice upon notice to the Re-
gional Director within 5 days after the issuance of this Decision and
Direction of Election and shall thereupon vacate the Direction of
Election.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
secret ballot-shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
30 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
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work
2 Matter of Johnson Lumber Company, 78 N. L. It. B. 1181.
3 The Employer carries on its pay, roll one employee listed as "watchman," who may do
some janitorial work. The record does not indicate what proportion of this employee's time
is devoted to plant protection duties . In the event that he spends more than 50 percent
of his time in the performance of such duties , we find that he is employed as a guard
within the meaning of the Act and that he is properly excluded from the unit . Otherwise
he is deemed included as a maintenance employee. Matter of G. R. Ogletree, d/b/a
Longhorn Sash and Door Company, 79 N. L. It. B. 1430.
658 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
during said pay-roll 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 bar-
gaining, by Local 10-353, International Woodworkers of America,
CIO.