Nettleton Timber Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 28, 1949

87 N.L.R.B. 1319 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of NETTLETON TIMBER COMPANY, EMPLOYER and CHAUF-
FEURS, TEAMSTERS AND HELPERS UNION, LOCAL No. 252, AFFILIATED'
WITII INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS,
WAREHOUSEMEN & HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 19-RC-303.-Decided December 28, 1949
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Hubert J.
Merrick, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
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 Petitioner and the Intervenor,2 Lumber and Sawmill Work-
ers, Local 2767, AFL, are labor organizations claiming to represent
employees of the Employer.
3. No 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, for the following
reasons:
The Petitioner seeks to sever a unit consisting of eight log truck
drivers, two dump truck drivers, and one greaser at the Employer's
logging operations from the over-all unit currently represented by
the Intervenor. The Employer and the Intervenor oppose this unit,
contending that the only appropriate unit is the existing one which
1 The Board granted oral argument in the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company cases,
19-RC-301 and 302 , 36-RC-238, 254 , 256, 257 , and 264 at the request of certain of the
parties in those proceedings . As the issue herein was substantially similar to that
presented in the Weyerhaeuser cases, the Board granted the Employer an opportunity to
participate therein. At the Employer's request, the Board granted the Employer's time
to counsel for Weyerhaeuser . The Petitioner ' s international was represented at, and
participated in, the oral argument.
2 The Intervenor was permitted to intervene at the hearing on the basis of its current
contract with the Employer. Neither the Employer nor the Intervenor urges this contract
as a bar to this petition.
87 NLRB No. 139.
1319
1320 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
includes all production and maintenance employees at the Employer's
logging operations.
The Employer is engaged in the processing and manufacture of
logs into lumber at its sawmill in Seattle, Washington. In addition,
the Employer operates a logging site at Davis Creek, near Randle,
Washington. At this location, the Employer employs about 46 men
who perform the various duties of yarding, loading, and transporting
the logs to a railroad siding where they are placed on railroad cars
and hauled to Tacoma and then floated to Seattle. Only the Davis
Creek operation is involved in this proceeding. This operation pro-
duces about 53 percent of the Employer's total requirements for logs.
At Davis Creek the Employer maintains a camp to house some of
the employees. The rest live in town. The Employer's operations
are seasonal and as its logging site is at an elevation of 4,200 feet, it
operates only about 6 months of the year. The falling and bucking
operations and the construction of logging roads are performed by
independent contractors not involved in this proceeding.
The log truck drivers requested by the Petitioner operate large spe-
cially built tractor-trailer trucks, hauling an average load of 40
tons of logs from the loading station in the woods to the unloading
station at the railroad siding. Two or three such trips are made each
day. The detailed description of the work performed by these em-
ployees contained in the record demonstrate that in each phase of
their work the log truck drivers work in close coordination with other.
logging employees, in particular with the loading and unloading
crews.
The dump truck drivers operate smaller trucks employed in the
maintenance of the company-constructed logging roads. They haul
rock and gravel used on the roads as well as road equipment and sup-
plies. The dump truck drivers work with the construction crew and,
although they work at some distance from the actual logging opera-
tions, they are in frequent contact with the other logging employees.
Both the dump trucks and log trucks haul logging equipment and
rigging when a "logging side" is being moved 3
Because of the special type of equipment used, the conditions under
which the work is performed, and the nature of the product handled,
the truck drivers involved herein-and in particular the log truck
drivers-are required to possess skills and experience in excess of that
required by the usual over-the-road truck driver. Of special signifi-
3 A "logging side" is the site at which the yarding and loading of logs is carried on.
Normally , a "side" operates about 3 weeks before it has to be moved to a new location
closer to the falling and bucking operations. Four or five days are needed to establish a
new side.
NETTLETON TIMBER COMPANY 1321
cance, however, is the fact-established by the record-that, in the
case of both log and dump truck drivers, prior experience in general
logging operations is considered particularly desirable. In this con-
nection we note that approximately three-fourths of the Employer's
log and dump truck drivers have previously worked in other phases
of logging, such as rigging or loading, at the time they were classified
as truck drivers.
Moreover, the record demonstrates that the Employer normally
utilizes this general logging experience possessed by its truck drivers.
Thus, during the seasonal shut-down of the felling operations, or
when their trucks are being repaired, the log and dump truck drivers
may be assigned to any of the other logging jobs for which a man is
needed. These may include cat operator, donkey operator, cat pitman,
jackhammer operator, rigger, choker, loader or second loader, power
man, or general maintenance work. When a log truck driver has no
log truck to drive, he will drive a dump truck if one is available, or
work with rigging or loading crews, and a dump truck driver who has
no truck to drive may work with the loading or rigging crew until a
truck is available. There are also occasions when a dump truck driver
is transferred to another job, even though a truck is available, if an
additional man is needed in a rigging operation, and when a dump
truck driver is absent due to illness or other cause, a man is often
taken from one of the other operations to drive his truck.
The interrelationship between the jobs of the truck drivers and those
performed by other logging employees is further reflected in the Em-
ployer's supervisory structure. Neither the log nor the dump truck
drivers are separately supervised, but are under the supervision of the
logging superintendent who has general supervision over all logging
operations. When the log truck is at the loading station, the work
of the log truck drivers is directed by the "hook tender" who also super-
vises the loading crew.
The truck drivers have the same starting and quitting time as other
logging employees, and are transported to and from their job sites in
company trucks together with other logging employees. All em-
ployees are on the same pay roll and are hourly paid, and the wage
rates for truck driving are comparable to those of other logging jobs.
All employees have the same holidays and vacation privileges and
receive the same insurance benefits. Regardless of job classification,
all employees live in either the company camp or the town, with no
separate quarters provided for any single group. The truck drivers
have no separate place to report for work and they are hired in the
same manner and under the same conditions as the other employees.
1322 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Employer's Davis Creek operations began in 1945. In 1946
the Employer and the Intervenor executed a collective bargaining
agreement covering these employees. In that agreement, and in all
subsequent bargaining, the Employer's Davis Creek employees have
been treated as a single industrial unit. The record further reveals
that at least 95 percent of all collective bargaining agreements exe-
cuted by logging companies in the northwestern region of the United
States have been on an industrial unit basis.
In our recent decision in the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company cases 4
we denied a separate unit of maintenance electricians at a saw and
planing mill. We reached that conclusion after a careful considera-
tion of the operations in the lumber industry, which persuaded us-
as we there stated-that "each phase of the production and manufac-
ture of finished lumber from standing timber requires the constant
integration and coordination of many groups of well trained and highly
specialized personnel." Following the policy we have adopted in
other industries in which functional integration, supported by a com-
prehensive history of industrial bargaining, has been deemed controll-
ing,' we concluded that separate craft representation is not appropriate
for employees in the lumber industry.
The principle enunciated in the Weyerhaeuser cases is controlling
here, whether the request for separate representation of the truck
drivers be based on the theory that these employees constitute a craft,
or on the theory that, for other reasons, they comprise a cohesive, iden-
tifiable group warranting severance. The facts set forth above amply
demonstrate the extent to which the tasks and work interests of the
log and dump truck drivers have been fused with those of the other
logging employees. Upon all the facts we are persuaded that, in the
logging as in the sawmill phase of the lumber industry, separate rep-
resentation of employees in a craft, departmental, or similar unit is
inappropriate for collective bargaining.
Accordingly, we find that the unit requested by the Petitioner is
inappropriate and we shall dismiss the petition:6
4Weyerhauser Timber Company, 87 NLRB 1076, issued December 16, 1949.
6 See National Tube Company, 76 NLRB 1199; Ford Motor Company (Maywood Plant),
78 NLRB 887; Corn Products Refining Company, 87 NLRB 187.
8 To the extent that Wayne Hale, 61 NLRB 1305 ; Selzer Bow Company, 64 NLRB 605 ;
Tougaw & Olson , Inc., 78 NLRB 810; and Vancouver Plywood Company , 79 NLRB 708, are
inconsistent with this decision they are hereby overruled.
We note that the transportation of logs by truck is an evolution of method from the
earlier process of transporting logs by private railroads operated by the logging companies.
The Board denied a request for a separate unit of railroad trainmen employed on such a
railroad because of the integrated nature of logging operations and the history of industrial
bargaining in this industry . Poison Logging Company , 31 NLRB -128; see also Collins
Pine Company, 54 NLRB 670.
NETTLETON TIMBER COMPANY 1323
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition herein be, and it hereby is,
dismissed.
MEMBER MURDOCK took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Order.