Savage Lumber and Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 29, 1949

82 N.L.R.B. 459 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of SAVAGE LUMBER AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY,1
EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS,
CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS , LOCAL 910, AFL,
PETITIONER
Case No. 19-RC-217.-Decided March 0.9,1949
DECISION
AND
ORDER
0
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing officer
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.*
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. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Ware-
housemen and Helpers, Local 910, AFL, herein called the Petitioner,
and Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, Local No. 2519, chartered
by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America,
AFL, herein called the Intervenor, are labor organizations, claiming
to represent employees of the Employer.
3. The alleged appropriate unit :
The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all truck drivers, ware-
housemen and helpers at the Employer's plant at Renton, Washington,
excluding all other employees. The Employer and the Intervenor
contend, however, that the only appropriate unit is one embracing all
production employees, including those sought by the Petitioner, except
truck drivers and members of Millmeri s Union Local No. 338 2
The Employer is engaged in mill . work manufacturing and the
wholesale distribution of lumber and building materials. It operates
i The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing.
* Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Gray.
2 The record discloses that Millmen 's Union Local No. 338, chartered by the United
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners , AFL, is not a party to this proceeding.
82 N. L. R. B., No. 51. 459
460 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
a plant at Renton, Washington, and maintains a distributing yard and
warehouse at Seattle, Washington. The Renton plant, with which we
are herein concerned, is located in a large barn-like building, approxi-
mately 45 feet wide and 150 feet long. The plant is divided into a
number of departments such as the sash department, re-saw depart-
ment, glazing department, cabinet department, frame department,
sticker crew , receiving department , and shipping department, all of
which are under the supervision of the plant's general manager.
The manufacturing and processing operations are carried on at one
end of the plant. The other end of the building is designated as the
storage area or warehouse , and is used to store lumber and finished
construction materials . The shipping department is located in this
latter area; shipping operations are also conducted at 2 other loca-
tions in the plant. The record does not disclose the present number
of employees at the Renton plant; however, it indicates that as of July
1948 , the Employer employed approximately 43 production employees,
including those sought by the Petitioner.
The history of collective bargaining shows that the Employer and
the Intervenor have been in contractual relationship since 1941. The
first collective bargaining contract between the Employer and the
Intervenor was executed in March of that year, and from that date
until 1945 , the Employer bargained with the Intervenor on a single-
employer basis. On February 6, 1945, the Employer joined with
approximately 55 other companies in the Seattle area in executing
a collective bargaining agreement with the Intervenor , on a multiple-
employer basis . The contract recognized the Intervenor as the bar-
gaining representative of all employees , of the participating employ-
ers, except "truck drivers and members of Millmen 's Local Union
338." In August 1947, the Employer and 8 other companies in the
Seattle area executed a similar contract with the Intervenor , negotiated
on behalf of these employers by the Industrial Conference Board, and
employer's association. On April 1, 1948, the Seattle millwork plants,
comprising the Employer and approximately 9 other firms, entered
into the current contract with the Intervenor; by the terms of this
contract , the Employer recognized the Intervenor as the collective
bargaining representative of "its employees , members of Local No.
2519." The exclusion with respect to truck drivers and members of
Millmen 's Local Union No. 338, contained in prior contracts, was
omitted from the 1948 contract.
The unit proposed by the Petitioner would embrace three employees
all of whom are members of the Petitioner . The parties are agreed
that one of these employees, a truck driver, should be included in the
SAVAGE LUMBER AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY 461
proposed unit.3 However, the parties disagree with respect to the
status of the other two employees, Burton Jones and Dan Shannon.
The Petitioner urges that Jones and Shannon are distinguishable from
the Employer's production employees and properly fall within the
classification of "warehousemen and helpers" set forth in its petition.
In support of its unit position, the Petitioner contends further that
these employees, not being members of the Intervenor, have been ex-
cluded from coverage under the 1948 contract by the unit description
therein, and, therefore, are not represented by the Intervenor. The
Employer and the Intervenor assert, however, that Jones and Shannon
are lumber handlers or laborers, and as such are already included,
together with other lumber handlers employed by the Employer, in
the production unit currently represented by the Intervenor.
The Employer employs approximately 10 employees in its shipping
and receiving departments, including Jones and Shannon. These 10
employees are unskilled workmen and are classified by the Employer
as laborers. Their duties consist primarily, in handling and moving
lumber, loading and unloading trucks, and crating materials for ship-
ment. They have substantially the same hours and working conditions
as the Employer's other production employees. The record also
shows that the employees in the shipping and receiving departments
are interchanged, or shifted from one of these departments to the
other, whenever the work load requires; and on occasion, when work is
slack, they are assigned duties in the various other departments of
the plant.
It appears that although Jones devotes some of his time to driving
a truck, the greater percentage of his time is spent in the shipping
department; and that Shannon acts as a leadman in connection with
various duties such as filling and crating orders. From the fore-
going facts, and upon the entire record, we are persuaded that Jones
and Shannon perform essentially the same functions and duties as
the Employer's other lumber handlers, with whom we believe they
have a substantial community of interests. We find no justification on
the basis of their duties, therefore, to include Jones and Shannon in a
unit separate and apart from the other shipping and receiving
employees.
Nor do we attach any significance to the contention based on the
exclusion of these employees from the coverage of the 1948 contract.
For apart from the question of whether or not their exclusion was in-
advertent, as the Intervenor contends, it is clear that the Intervenor
is at present willing to represent Jones and Shannon together with the
other employees similarly engaged.
3 As noted previously , the Intervenor disclaims any interest in the full-time truck driver.
462 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
This leaves only the truck driver in the Petitioner's proposed unit.
The Board, however, does not establish units for a single employee.'
We shall, therefore, dismiss the petition.
ORDER
IT is HEREBY ORDERED that the petition herein be, and it hereby is,
dismissed.
4 Matter of G a D Radiator Service and Terrill-Phelps Chevrolet Co., Inc ., 80 N. L. R. B.
1308.