Reynolds & Manley Lumber Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 20, 1950

88 N.L.R.B. 1300 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter Of REYNOLDS & MANLEY LUMBER COMPANY, EMPLOYER
and INTERNATIONAL UNION OF MINE, MILL AND SMELTER WORKERS,
PETITIONER
Case No. 10-RC-797.-Decided March 20,1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Jerold B.
Sindler, 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 had delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Murdock].
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 named below claims to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. The Employer urges that a collective bargaining contract exe-
cuted December 1, 1948, with Local Union No. 2472 of the United
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, an affiliate of
the American Federation of Labor, covering employees involved
herein,' constitutes a bar to this proceeding. The contract provided
for 1 year's duration and automatic renewal from year to year there-
after, unless terminated by notice of one of the contracting parties.
No notice to terminate the contract has been given by either of the
contracting parties.
In the spring or summer of 1949, at the specific request of a repre-
sentative of United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of
America, the chairman of Local Union No. 2472 returned its charter
and transferred its funds to United Brotherhood of Carpenters and
Joiners of America. Since then, Local Union No. 2472 has neither held
meetings nor collected dues. According to the uncontradicted testi-
mony of employee witnesses, the grievance committee of Local Union
No. 2472 has never processed any grievances. There is no evidence
88 NLRB No. 236.
1.300
J
REYNOLDS & MANLEY LUMBER COMPANY 1301
in the record that this Local has had any negotiations with the Em-
ployer since the execution of the contract noted above. Though served
with written notice, Local Union No. 2472 did not appear at the hear-
ing. Under all these circumstances, we find that the contract executed
on December 1, 1948, does not constitute a bar to this proceeding.'
A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation
of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section
9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The following employees of the Employer constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the Act: All production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Employer's sawmill, planer mill, and yard at Savannah,
Georgia, excluding office and clerical employees, watchmen,2 and
supervisors.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 3
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses 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 payroll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work
during said payroll 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 International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers.
' Rock City Paper Box Company, Inc., 82 NLRB 746, and cases cited therein.
s Watchmen work from 6 p. m. to 6 a. m., lock the gate to the Employer's plant after
production employees have left, punch clocks, exclude trespassers from the Employer's
plant, and report trespassers to the Employer. We therefore find that the watchmen are
employed as guards within the meaning of Section 9 (b) (3) of the Act. Riverside Mills,
85 NLRB 969.
' Local Union No. 2472 has never been in compliance with the requirements of Section
9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act. We shall therefore make no provision that its name appeav
on the ballot.