North Memphis Lumber Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 16, 1949

81 N.L.R.B. 745 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of NORTH MEMPHIS LUMBER COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS AND JOINERS OF AMERICA,
AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 32-RC-81.-Decided February 16, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing offi-
cer 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-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is a Tennessee corporation with its corporate office
and place of business located in Memphis, Tennessee. It operates a
plant for the manufacture of hardwood flooring, a dry kiln for the
drying of lumber, and a retail lumber yard for the sale of finished
lumber products and other building materials. The manufacturing
plant, although located 10 or 12 miles from the dry kiln and retail
lumber yard, is, nevertheless within the confines of the city of Memphis.
The Employer admits that it is engaged in interstate commerce
within the meaning of the Act insofar as its manufacturing and dry
kiln enterprises are concerned. The manufacturing division opera-
tions involve a very substantial inflow of raw materials and outflow
of products in interstate commerce, and the kiln division similarly
ships a substantial volume of products out of the State. But the
Employer contends that its retail lumber yard operations, as such,
are essentially local in character and that for this reason, the Board
is without jurisdiction over that phase of its activities.
With respect to the operation of its retail lumber yard, the Em-
ployer, during the 6-month period ending October 31, 1948, purchased
finished lumber, lumber products, and other building materials
*Reynolds , Murdock, and Gray.
81 N. L. R. B., No. 123. 745
746 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
amounting in value to approximately $200,000, of which amount about
40 percent was shipped to the Employer from points outside the State
of Tennessee. During the same period, retail sales by the Employer
amounted to approximately $212,000 in value, all of which was sold
to purchasers within the State of Tennessee.'
The record shows that corporate stock ownership of the Employer is
divided among only five individuals, with active control over all
corporate affairs lodged in the president who, together with his wife,
owns 50 percent of the corporate stock. It does not appear that any
of the other stockholders are associated with management. All of its
activities are conducted in the corporate name. The Employer em-
ploys a single clerical staff for all three enterprises, and maintains a
common bookkeeping department. The corporate office is located at
510 Pear Street, Memphis, Tennessee, on which premises there is also
located the retail lumber yard. Gasoline supplies for all vehicles
owned by the Employer are stored on the retail premises and all of
the Employer's trucks call there for their gasoline requirements. The
dry kiln is located across Pear Street at No. 511. The record also shows
that conditions of employment with respect to vacations, hospitaliza-
tion, and medical care are the same for all employees, and that a fairly
uniform wage policy as established by the Employer's president
applies to the employees in all three operations.
In other cases involving employers engaged in similar activities,
we have held such employers to be engaged in interstate commerce
within the meaning of the Act.a Upon the basis of the entire record
in this case, we are of the opinion that the retail lumber yard opera-
tions are part of an integrated enterprise and that the operations of
the retail lumber yard necessarily affect commerce within the mean-
ing of the Act.'
We find, contrary to the contentions of the Employer, that it is
engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved herein claim to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
I The Employer 's president testified , however, that a small amount of retail merchandise
may possibly have been sold and delivered to points outside the State of Tennessee.
I Cf. Matter of Farmville Manufacturing Company, 76 N L. R. B. 237 ; Matter of W. P.
Stephens Lumber Company , 73 N. L. R . B. 1451; Matter of J. F. Johnson Lumber Company,
73 N. L. R B. 320 ; Matter of Clinton Lumber Corporation , 72 N. L. R. B 217.
S See N. L. R B v. Weyerhaeuser Timber Company , Clemons Branch , 132 F. ( 2d) 234
(C A 9) 1942 ; Matter of L B. Smith , Inc, 70 N L R. B 1326 , Matter of Fairchild Engine
and Airplane Corporation, 72 N. L. R. B. 381 , 72 N. L R. B. 385.
NORTH MEMPHIS LUMBER COMPANY 747
4. The Petitioner and the Intervenor request a single unit of pro-
duction and maintenance employees, including truck drivers, em-
ployed at the Employer's hardwood flooring manufacturing plant, dry
kiln, and retail lumber yard, but excluding all office and clerical em-
ployes, professional employees, watchmen, guards, and supervisors
as defined in the Act. The Employer does not oppose the requested
unit or the categories of employees to be included or excluded but
contends : (1) the employees of the retail lumber yard should be
excluded; 4 and (2) separate production and maintenance units should
be established for the employees in each of the other two plants.
There is no history of collective bargaining for any of the employees
in any of the Employer's plants.
The hardwood manufacturing plant employs 36 production and
maintenance employees,5 including 13 machine operators or employees
who perform duties related to machine processes. The dry kiln em-
ploys 30 employees including a number of lift truck drivers and a
group of temporary employees referred to as construction employees.
Except for the group of construction employees, the work of the dry
kiln employees is concerned with the unloading of stacks of lumber of
15,000 to 18,000 pounds from freight cars, their transfer to the kiln, and
the reloading of the lumber for shipment after the drying process has
been completed. Practically all lumber used by the Employer in the
manufacture of flooring is processed in the dry kiln.
As previously indicated, the hardwood manufacturing plant, al-
though located about 10 or 12 miles from the dry kiln and the adjoin-
ing retail lumber yard is, nevertheless, together with the dry kiln
and retail lumber yard, within the city limits of Memphis, Tennessee.
While the record discloses that there is no interchange of employees
among the three plants and that each plant is separately supervised
or managed with authority in the supervisors to fix the appropriate
wage for individual workers, such wage determination is subject to
the overriding authority of the Employer's presidents As herein-
above stated, all employees enjoy the same vacation benefits, hospital-
ization and medical care. Moreover, we believe that the employees
of the several plants, particularly those of the dry kiln and the retail
lumber yard, have, through their relatively close proximity to one
* The production and maintenance employees in the retail lumber yard consist of five truck
drivers , one carpenter , and three laborers.
5 The record is not clear as to whether the figure of 36 production and maintenance
employees at the manufacturing plant is inclusive of 1 truck driver employed at such
plant The Employer does not oppose the inclusion of the truck drivers in a unit of
production and maintenance employees.
6 The Employer 's president also has the ultimate authority with respect to the adjust-
ment of grievances not settled at lower levels of supervision.
748 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
another, frequent opportunities for the discussion of common employ-
ment problems.
Although there are factors here present which, under other cir-
cumstances, might justify the establishment of separate units,' the
functional relationship between the flooring plant and the dry kiln, the
ultimate control of wage policies and the adjustment of grievances
by the Employer's president, and the community of interest among
all employees in common conditions of employment, all persuade us
that a single unit of production and maintenance employees in the
three plants of the Employer would be more appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining.8
We find that all production and maintenance employees including
truck drivers in the Employer's dry kiln and retail lumber yard in
Memphis, Tennessee, but excluding all office and clerical employees,
professional employees, watchmen, guards, and supervisors as defined
in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the 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
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 Fifteenth Region and subject
to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, 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 during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vaca-
tion 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 em-
ployees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine
whether they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bar-
gaining, by United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of Amer-
ica, AFL, or International Woodworkers of America, CIO, or neither.
7 See Matter of Burgess Battery Company, 76 N. L. R B. 820.
8 See Matter of B7les - Coleman Lumber Co., Inc ., 24 N L. R. B. 1036. Cf Matter of
Bloch Brothers , 80 N. L. R. B. 257; Matter of Johnson Lumber Co., 78 N L R B. 1181;
Matter of Geneva Forge , Inc., 76 N. L. R. B 497; Matter of Cummer-Graham, 71 N. L R. B.
289.