Quincy Lumber Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 3, 1946

67 N.L.R.B. 1119 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of QUINCY LUMBER COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL
WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA (CIO)
Case No. 00-R-1479.-Decided May 3, 1946
Mr. C. A. King, of Quincy, Calif., for the Company.
Mr. H. H. Watson, of Greenville, Calif , Mr. Joe F. Clark, of Susan-
ville, Calif., and Mr. Virgil Burtz, of Portland, Oreg., for the
Woodworkers.
Mr. Earl Miller, of Westwood, Calif., Mr. Charles Langdon, of
Dunsmuir, Calif., and Mr. W. Yoenian, of Klamath Falls, Oreg., for
the Sawmill Workers.
Mr. David E. Pitt, of Spring Garden, Calif., for the United.
Miss Margaret M. Farmer, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by International Woodworkers of
America (CIO), herein called the Woodworkers, alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Quincy Lumber Company, Quincy, California, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for
an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Wallace E. Royster,
Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Quincy, California, on
August 27, 1945. The Company, the Lumber and Sawmill Workers,
A. F. L., herein called the Sawmill Workers, and United Independent
Workers Union, herein called the United, appeared and participated.
All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and
cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the
issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were
afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF TILE COMPANY
Quincy Lumber Company is a Nevada corporation, engaged in log-
ging and in the manufacture of lumber and box shook near Quincy,
67 N. L. R. B., No. 144.
1119
1120 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
California. This proceeding is concerned exclusively with its opera-
tions at Sloat, near Quincy. During the calendar year of 1944, the
Company's gross revenue was approximately $1,450,000. Seventy
percent of the Company's lumber production is shipped to points
outside California.
The Company does not deny, and we find, that it is engaged in com-
merce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
International Woodworkers of America is a labor organization
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting
to membership employees of the Company.
Lumber and Sawmill Workers is a labor organization affiliated
with the American Federation of Labor, admitting to membership
employees of the Company.
United Independent Workers Union is an unaffiliated labor organ-
ization, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. TIIE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Woodworkers claims to represent a majority of the Company's
employees. The Company and the United have been since 1940, and
are presently operating under a contract of indefinite duration with
a 30-day termination clause. The contract, of course, presents no bar
to this proceeding.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Woodworkers and the Sawmill Workers each
represents a substantial number of employees in the unit which it con-
tends is appropriate.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Woodworkers and the United seek a unit composed of all the
Company's production and maintenance employees in both the mill
and woods at the Company's Sloat operation. The Sawmill Workers
'The Field Examiner reported that the Woodworkers submitted 89 cards, bearing the
names of 81 employees listed on the Company's pay roll of July 31, 1945, which contained
the names of 135 employees in the mill-and-woods unit sought by the Woodworkers ; and
that the Sawmill Woikers submitted 38 cards, bearing the names of 33 employees listed
on the same pay loll The United dui not submit its membership cards but relied on its
closed-shop contract
The Field Examiner's report shows that there are 110 employees in the mill , and 25 In
the woods.
QUINCY LUMBER COMPANY 1121
desires two bargaining units, one composed of the woods crew and
the other composed of the mill employees , the logging truck drivers,
and the maintenance men who repair woods equipment , but excluding
the woods crew. The Company has taken no position on the unit.
The business of the Company is primarily the production and dis-
tribution of lumber and box shook . All its operations are integrated
to this end. At its mill site the Company operates, under separate
foremen , a sawmill , a planer mill , a box factory , and maintains the
usual yard and shipping facilities . The logs are cut, under the super-
vision of its woods foreman, approximately 1") miles from the mill,
and transported in logging trucks to the millpond and thence to the
mill. Both the woods crew and the mill employees live in a camp or
village which the Company has erected near the mill. In the morning
the woods crew is transported from the camp to the woods in company
trucks and returned to the camp at night.
The United has represented both the mill and woods employees in
a single bargaining unit since 1940. The Sawmill Workers, although
requesting that this single unit be now divided, has failed to show any
compelling reason for departure from the bargaining pattern. In
view of the integration of the Company's operations , the fact that
the woods and mill employees live together in the same community,
and the long period during which these two groups have bargained
in one unit , we find that the woods crew and the mill employees
together comprise the appropriate unit.
The Woodworkers, the Sawmill Workers, and the United all desire
the inclusion of the bull buck in the unit. The Company, although
stating that it thought it advisable to include all employees possible
within the unit, took no position with respect to the bull buck. The
record shows that the bull buck in this case hires , supervises , and can
effectively recommend the discharge of a small gang of men who work
in advance of the regular woods crew ; he is therefore a supervisory
employee within our usual definition. However, in view of our
established policy regarding bull bucks and certain other types of
supervisors in this industry 2 and the desires of the parties herein, we
shall include the bull buck in the unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Company at its Sloat operation, including the chief engineer,3 woods
crew workers and the bull buck, but excluding clerical employees, the
shipping clerk , all foremen , and all or any other supervisory employees
at the mill with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
2 Matter of Coos Bay Lumber Company, 62 N. L R B . 93. Matter of Fischer Lumber
Company, 62 N L. R B 543 ; Matter of lVeyerhauser Timber Company , 62 N L R B
1166 Mattel of Cobbs and Mitchell Company , 65 N L R R 488
r The record shows that the chief engineer has no supervisory authority. All parties
desire his inclusion in the unit
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1122 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively rec-
ommend such action , constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among employees
in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein,
subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction.
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, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it
is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Quincy Lumber
Company, Quincy, California, an election by secret ballot shall be
conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) clays
from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision
of the Regional Director for the Twentieth Region, acting in this mat-
ter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to
Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among
employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
date of this Direction, including employees who did not work during
said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily
laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United
States who present themselves in person at the polls, 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, to
determine whether they desire to be represented by International
Woodworkers of America, CIO, by Lumber and Sawmill Workers.
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, or by United Inde-
pendent Workers Union, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or
by none of these organizations.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above.
Decision and Direction of Election.