Pekin Wood Products Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 18, 1941

35 N.L.R.B. 495 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of PEKIN WOOD PRODUCTS Co. and LOCAL UNION 2930,
LUMBER & SAWMILL WORKERS DIVISION OF THE UNITED BRrnn:FR-
HOOD OF CARPENTERS AND JOINERS OF AMERICA, AFFILIATED WITH THE
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR
Case No. R-2925.-Decided September 18, 1941
Jurisdiction : wood products manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : re-
fusal of Company to accord union recognition until it is certified by the Board ;
election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all production and maintenance
employees, excluding foremen, assistant foremen, timekeepers, plant-protection
employees, clerical employees, confidential salaried employees, salaried engi-
neers, and janitors ; no controversy as to.
Larkin, Rathbone and Perry, by Mr. John B. Leary, of New York.
City, and Mr. John C. Sheffield and Mr. W. G. Denning, of Helena,
Ark., for the Company.
Mr. Charles F. Mendenhall, of Little Rock, Ark., and Mr. Wilson E.
Ray, of Memphis, Tenn., for the Union.
Mr. William H. Bartley, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On June 11, 1941, Local Union 2930, Lumber & Sawmill Workers
Division of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of
America, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, herein
called the Union, filed with the Regional Director for the Fifteenth
Region (New Orleans, Louisiana) a petition alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Pekin Wood Products Co., West Helena, Arkansas, herein
called the Company, and requesting 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 July 26, 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 Na-
35 N. L. R. B., No. 112.
495
496 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tional Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as
amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Direc
tor to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due
notice.
On August 16, 1941, the Acting Regional Director issued a notice
of hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the parties. Pur-
suant to notice, a hearing was held on August 23, 1941, at Helena,
Arkansas, before Charles A. Kyle, the Trial Examiner duly designated
by the Chief Trial Examiner. All parties were represented by counsel
and participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to
examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bear-
ing on the issues was afforded all parties. - During the course of the
hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings on motions and 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.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Pekin Wood Products Co., an Arkansas corporation with its prin-
cipal office and place of business at West Helena, Arkansas, is engaged
in dimensioning wood parts for passenger automobile bodies -and trucks
and in making shipping boxes for automobile manufacturers., Be-
tween July 1, 1940, and June 30, 1941, the Company purchased more
than 7,000,000 feet of hardwood, 800,000 feet of pine, 600,000 feet of
plywood, and 15,000,000 feet of dressed pine. Approximately 40 per
cent of the hardwood, 87 per cent of the rough pine, 99 per cent of the
plywood, and 70 per cent of the dressed pine were purchased from ven-
dors who shipped from States other than Arkansas. The Company
also purchased certain miscellaneous materials outside the State of
Arkansas during the same period. The Company sells and ships 100
per cent of its manufactured parts to purchasers outside the State of
Arkansas.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Local Union 2930, Lumber & Sawmill Workers Division of the
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, is a labor
organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, admit-
ting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Union has requested the Company to recognize it as the ex-
clusive bargaining representative of the employees in the unit claimed
PEKIN WOOD PRODUCTS CO. 497
by the Union to be appropriate. The Company has refused to recog-
nize the Union until the Board certifies it as the exclusive representa-
tive. A statement of the Trial Examiner introduced in evidence shows
that the Union represents a substantial number of employees in the
unit hereinafter found 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 Union contends that all production and maintenance em-
ployees in the West Helena, Arkansas, plant, excluding foremen,
assistant foremen, timekeepers, plant-protection employees, clerical
employees, confidential salaried employees, salaried engineers, and
janitors, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining. The Company expressed no view as,to the appropriate
unit. We see no reason to find a unit different from the one re-
quested by the Union.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Company in the West Helena, Arkansas, plant, excluding foremen,
assistant foremen, timekeepers, plant-protection employees, clerical
employees, confidential salaried employees, salaried engineers, and
janitors, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining. We further find that such unit will insure' to the em-
ployees of the Company the full benefit of their right to self-organi-
zation and to collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the
policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen can best be resolved by an election by secret ballot.
' The Trial ' Examiner 's statement shows that the Union presented to him 474 applica-
tion cards dated in the period from April 1 to June 1, 1941 , 332 of which bore signatures
of persons whose names appeared on the Company 's pay roll for the period. ending July
19, 1941. There were approximately 366 employees on the pay roll of July 19 , 1941. The
parties agreed at the hearing that there are usually 400 to 600 employees on the pay roll-
498 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Union requested that the pay roll for the period ending June
15, 1941, be used to determine eligibility to vote in the election but
gave no reasons for its request. The Company expressed no view
as to the eligibility date. We see no reason for departing from our
usual practice, and therefore we shall direct that those eligibly to
vote in the election shall be the employees in the appropriate unit
who are employed by the Company during the pay-roll period im-
mediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein,
subject to such additions and limitations as are hereinafter set forth
in the Direction.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
i ecord 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 Pekin Wood Products Co., West Helena,
Arkansas, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6)
and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All production' and maintenance employees of the Company in
the West Helena, Arkansas, plant, excluding foremen, assistant fore-
,men, timekeepers, plant-protection employees, clerical employees,
confidential salaried employees, salaried engineers, and janitors, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining,
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the 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-
tions Act, 49 Stat. 449, 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 Pekin Wood Products Co., West Helena, Arkansas, an election
by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later
than thirty (30), days from the date of this Direction of Election,
under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for
the Fifteenth Region, 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 all production and maintenance em-
ployees employed by the Company in the West Helena, Arkansas,
plant during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of
this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work
PEKIN WOOD PRODUCTS CO. 499
during said 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 foremen, assistant foremen, time-
keepers, plant-protection employees; clerical employees, confidential
salaried employees , salaried engineers, and janitors , and employees
who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine -
whether or not they desire to be represented by Local Union 2930,
Lumber & Sawmill Workers Division of the United Brotherhood
of Carpenters and Joiners of America, affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, for the purposes of collective bargaining.
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