Rounds and Kilpatrick Lumber Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 25, 1950

89 N.L.R.B. 1643 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of ROUNDS AND KILPATRICK LUMBER COMPANY, EM-
PLOYER and GENERAL TRUCK DRIVERS, WAREHOUSEMEN & HELPERS,.
LOCAL 980, AFFILIATED WITH INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF
TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN & HELPERS OF AMERICA,
AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 20-RC-794.-Decided May 25, 1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Harry Bamford,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing
are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provision of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is a California corporation engaged in the custom
milling of lumber at Cloverdale, California, where it employs approx-
imately 108 persons. In 1949 the Employer purchased more than
$200,000 in supplies, of which approximately $57,000 came from out-
side the State of California. In the same period the Employer' s sales
amounted to $830,000, of which $220,000 represented the value of
lumber shipped directly to points outside of the State for the Rockport
Redwood Company and others. Although it is a separate corpora-
tion, the Employer was organized specifically to mill lumber for the
Rockport Lumber Company,' and all but 2 percent of its work comes
from that company. The majority of Employer's stock is held by
stockholders in the Rockport Lumber Company, and the same person,
Mr. F. C. Kilpatrick, serves as president of both businesses.
The Employer neither admitted nor denied jurisdiction. We find
on the facts above that the Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act.2
1 The Board has asserted jurisdiction over this Company. Rockport Redwood company,
60 NLRB 900.
2 Barrett Logging Company , 88 NLRB 638.
89 NLRB No. 219.
1643
1644 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
2. The Petitioner and the Intervenors 3 are labor organizations
which claim to represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A 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.
4. The appropriate unit :
The parties are in agreement as to the appropriateness of a pro-
duction and maintenance unit excluding guards, professional em-
ployees, office and clerical employees, and supervisors.4 Disputes
exist, however, as to the inclusion of the categories discussed below.
(a) The boiler room foreman-The record indicates that this em-
ployee has authority to hire and discharge boiler room employees and
to adjust grievances. Accordingly, we find that he is a supervisor
as defined in the Act and shall exclude him from the unit.
(b) The inventory clerk-This employee spends 98 percent of his
time in the office. He keeps inventory records and prepares daily
and weekly typewritten reports. He enters the lumberyard only
to check ambiguous inventory tickets or to trace missing tickets. We
.shall exclude him from the unit as an office clerical.
(c) The shipping clerk.-This employee is responsible for moving
material out of the yard on customer's order. He spends about 85
percent of his time in the office and the remainder in the yard. In
addition, the record indicates that he exercises supervisory authority
over the loading foremen, who the parties agreed is a supervisor.
On these facts we shall exclude the shipping clerk from the unit.
(d) The watchmen-Of the three employees classified as watchmen,
one: performs only plant protection duties and the parties by stipu-
lation have agreed to exclude him from the unit. The second, Bill
Thornton, spends all but about 80 minutes per week in plant protec-
tion duties; and the third, Albert Mariani, is engaged in plant pro-
tection duties. 4 days each, week and works as a laborer on the 5th
day. We shall exclude the three watchmen from the unit as guards.
(e) The kiln operator.-The Petitioner and the Employer would
exclude the kiln operator as a professional employee. The kiln oper-
ator is in charge of the kiln; he makes moisture content tests, sets
instruments, and consults with the University of California School
of Forestry and with the California Redwood Association. Although
the present kiln operator is a college graduate, we are not persuaded
3 Lumber and Sawmill Workers . United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America,
AFL and International Woodworkers of America, C70.
* The parties further agreed that the truck drivers presently engaged in making deliveries
for the Employer are either independent contractors or employees of the Rockport Red-
wood Company . As the record establishes that they are not employees of the Employer,
we shall, in agreement with the parties, exclude them from the unit.
ROUNDS AND BILPATRICK LUMBER COMPANY 1645
-that the work is predominantly intellectual in nature or requires the
consistent exercise of professional judgment. We find that the kiln
operator is not a professional employee. As the job performed by
this employee is an integral part of the Employer's production opera-
tion, we shall include the kiln operator in the unit.
5. The determination of representatives :
A dispute exists as to the eligibility to vote of two carpenters who
are the remnant of the crew engaged to construct the Employer's
plant, and who are presently engaged in building a garage shop on
the Employer's premises. In addition to their construction work
these employees have been spending part of their time working with
the plant maintenance crew. Those men have been working for the
Employer for more than a year during construction of the plant.
The record indicates that upon completion of their construction job
these employees will not be retained by the Employer. In these cir-
•cumstances, we do not believe that the two carpenters have sufficient
interest in the bargaining unit to permit them to vote.'
We find that the following employees of the Rounds and Kilpatrick
Lumber Company, Cloverdale, California, constitute a unit appropri-
.a.te for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of
.Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All employees at the Cloverdale mill including the kiln operator,
but excluding office and clerical employees, the shipping clerk, the in-
ventory clerk, professional employees, guards, the boiler room fore-
man, and all other supervisors as defined in the Act.6
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
:supervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this
ease was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National
Tabor 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
5 Fall River Gas Works Company , 82 NLRB 962.
E The parties stipulated that the following are supervisors : superintendent , general
maintenance foreman, planing mill foreman , loading foreman, and lumber sticking foreman.
1646 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or re-
instated prior to date of the election, and also excluding employees;
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether-
they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by
General Truck Drivers, Warehousemen and Helpers, Local 980, af-
filiated with International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs,
Warehousemen and Helpers of America, AFL, by Lumber and Saw-
mill Workers, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of
America, AFL, by International Woodworkers of America, CIO, or-
by none of the above.'
Any participant in the election directed herein may, upon its prompt request to, and:
approval thereof by, the Regional Director, have its name removed from the ballot.