Springfield Plywood Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 19, 1945

61 N.L.R.B. 1295 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of SPRINGFIELD PLYWOOD.CORPORATION and WILLAMETTE
VALLEY DISTRICT CouNCIL CHARTERED BY UNITED BROTHERHOOD Or
CARPENTERS & JOINERS OF AMERICA, AFL
Case No. 19-R-1476.-Decided May 19, 19415
Mr. Sam L. Janes, for the Company.
Mr. George E. Flood, of Seattle, Wash., Mr. Doyle Pearson, of
Portland, Oreg., and Mr.-Reese Wingard, of Eugene, Oreg., for the
AFL.
Houghton, Clarle dCoughlin, by Mr. Paul Coughlin, of Seattle,
Wash., and Mr. George W. Brown, of Portland, Oreg., for the CIO.
Mr. Alfred J. Schweppe, of Seattle, Wash., for the Employer
Association.
Mr. A. Sumner Lawrence, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Willamette Valley District Council,
Chartered by United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America,
AFL, herein called the AFL, alleging that a question affecting com-
merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Spring-
field Plywood Corporation, Springfield, Oregon, herein called the
Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appro-
priate hearing upon due notice before John E. Hedrick, Trial Ex-
aminer. Said hearing was held at Eugene, Oregon, on March 7 and
9, 1945. The Company, the AFL, Plywood Local No. 233, Plywood
Veneer Box Shook & Door Council, District No. 9, IWA, affiliated
with the CIO, herein called the CIO, and Plywood and Door Manu-
facturers Industrial Committee, herein called the Employer Associa-
tion, appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full oppor-
tunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to
introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rul-
ings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed. The CIO's motion to dismiss the petition is granted and the
61 N. L. R B, No. 208.
1295
1296 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
AFL's motion to dismiss the intervention by the CIO is denied for
reasons hereinafter stated. All parties were afforded an 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 THE COMPANY
Plywood and Door Manufacturers Industrial Committee is an em-
ployer association, embracing approximately half of the companies
engaged in the plywood manufacturing industry 1 in the Pacific Coast
area comprising the States of Oregon and Washington.
Springfield Plywood Corporation, an Oregon corporation, has its
principal office and place of business at Springfield, Oregon, where, in
addition to other locations, the Company is engaged in the-manufac-
ture of plywood. In the operation of its Springfield plant, the only
plant involved in this proceeding, the Company uses each month raw
materials consisting of approximately 2 million board feet of logs
from which it produces approximately 41/4 million square feet of ply-
wood. Substantially all the products from the Company's plant are
shipped to points outside the State of Oregon.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Willamette Valley District Council, Chartered by the United
Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, is a labor organization admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
Plywood Local Union No. 233, Plywood Box Shook & Door Council,
District No. 9, International Woodworkers of America, affiliated with
the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization ad-
mitting to membership employees of the Company.
M. THE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT
The AFL contends that the appropriate unit should consist of all
employees of the Company at its Springfield, Oregon, plant, excluding
the superintendent, office employees, shift foremen, and employees
equal or superior to shift foremen. The CIO and the Employer As-
sociation do not dispute the categories requested for, inclusion or ex-
'The AFL contends that the manufacture of plywood should not be recognized as a
separate industry apart from the lumber industry as a whole . However, while plywood
manufacturing is dependent upon forest products for its raw materials , it is, nevertheless,
a specialized operation , distinct from the manufacture of lumber as defined by ordinary and
commercial use.
SPRINGFIELD PLYWOOD CORPORATION 1297
elusion from the claimed unit, but do contend that the unit is inappro-
priate since the Company's employees are part of an established
multiple-employer unit which should not be disturbed.
The organization and history of the Employer Association: The
Employer Association, which was originally composed of eight mem-
ber companies, was organized in 1940,2 in response to a request from a
group of CIO locals comprising a district council that negotiations
with employers having CIO contracts be conducted on a district-wide
basis. While in its original form the Employer Association was an
unnamed committee consisting of members having employees repre-
sented by both the AFL and the CIO, it soon became an association
-composed exclusively of operators whose employees were affiliated
with the latter organization. Thereafter, as the result of negotiations
between the employers' committee, which later in the year was to be-
come the Employers Association, and a similar committee represent-
ing the CIO Council, a working contract was concluded in June of
1940. Upon approval by the locals and the individual employers, this
contract became, during the succeeding months of 1940 and early part
of 1941, the basis for a series of identical agreements executed by and
between the different employers and the appropriate CIO locals.
While the members of the Employer Association have not formally
bound themselves by an antecedent legal obligation to accept the de-
cisions of the majority of the Association members in their dealings
with the CIO,3 the individual members have invariably accepted the
results of the employers' negotiating committee, including the adoption
of numerous amendments to the uniform agreements. In addition to
the negotiation of such labor agreements and numerous amendments
thereto, the employers, acting through the Employer Association's
negotiating committee, have participated in the settlement of employee
grievances,' and have also undertaken through the agency of the Stand-
ing Committee, a program to establish uniform rates of pay for the
same types of work throughout the mills covered by the uniform agree-
ments.5 Although the Employer Association has in the past few
2 The organization of the Employer Association was the culmination of various efforts on
the part of both the plywood manufacturers and the unions to obtain a basis for industry-
wide negotiations , which efforts extended back to the year 1936
8 See Matter of Stevens Coat Company, 19 N. L. R B. 98, 109-110, in which the Board
held that the established custom by which employers have considered themselves bound
"needs no antecedent legal obligation to govern their responsibility under the contracts "
' Under the provisions of the uniform agreements , local grievances which cannot be
settled locally will be referred to the Standing Committee of the Association whose decision
will be final The Standing Committee , as established by the uniform agreements , is com-
posed of a committee representing the Employer Association and a committee representing
the CIO Council
5 Under the terms of an amendment to the uniform agreements , effective January 1, 1941,
the right of the Standing Committee to veto any change in the wage standardization pro-
gram is established by the provision that " no change in the said 'Program' shall be made
except upon the recommendation of the Standing Committee , as proNided by the working
agreement and adoption by the Company and the Union."
1298 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
years again admitted to membership a group of plywood manufactur-
ers who have bargaining relations with the AFL,s the identity of the
group of CIO employers for the purposes of collective bargaining has
been preserved in a subcommittee known as the CIO Operators Stand-
ing Committee, which committee now holds and exercises solely for
the benefit of an enlarged CIO employer group the joint bargaining
functions formerly exercised by the Employer Association as a whole.'
The organization and history of employee organizations: In 1937,
various CIO locals in the plywood industry in the Pacific Coast area
comprising the States of Washington and Oregon, met and organized
the Plywood Box Shook and Door Council, District No. 9. In the
spring of 1940, the Council communicated with the employers subse-
quently identified with the Employer Association, and requested nego-
tiations on an industry-wide basis. Thereafter, following the
successful negotiation of an agreement with the employers' committee,
the Council presented the contract to its constituent locals for approval
and took a secret ballot of the membership of each local. Prior to
the taking of such ballot, all the locals agreed to be bound by the
majority vote of the locals, which agreement was subsequently ob-
served by all locals, including the single local which voted against the
adoption of the uniform agreement. Elsewhere the principle of ma-
j ority rule is expressly recognized in the constitution and bylaws of the
Council wherein it is provided that recommendations of the Council,
which are approved by a majority of the members voting with respect
thereto, will become law and binding upon all the locals affiliated
therewith.
In addition to the aforesaid CIO Council, the record reveals that
during the last few years, the AFL, acting through the United Broth-
erhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, has organized within the
States of Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, and California, 17
district councils which together constitute the Northwestern Council
of the Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, chartered by the United
Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, AFL. This Coun-
cil, as distinguished from the CIO Council hereinabove mentioned,
operates throughout the lumber industry as a whole in contrast with
the CIO Council, which confines its activity to plywood manufacturers.
Summary of the history of collective bargaining: As indicated above,
since the year 1940, the members of the Employer Association have
acted in unison in matters pertaining to wages, hours, and other con-
ditions of employment. Signed collective bargaining agreements of
a The inclusion of the AFL employers resulted from the desire of the latter to obtain the
advisory services of the Employer Association with respect to common problems arising
out of wage demands and the handling of proceedings before the National War Labor Board.
The CIO group has increased from 8 to 15 companies who at the date of the hearing
had uniform agreements with CIO locals.
SPRINGFIELD PLYWOOD CORPORATION 1299
a uniform character," based upon the working agreement negotiated
by the Employer Association and the CIO Council, have been in force
among the individual employers and CIO locals continuously since 1940
or 1941 until April 1, 1945. Under the provisions of these agreements,
both locals and employers, through the agency of the Standing Com-
mittee therein established, have negotiated upon a multiple-employer
basis, numerous contract interpretations, grievances, and amendments
to the uniform agreements. In addition thereto, they have established
by joint action in many instances uniform rates of pay for the same
types of work throughout the mills owned and operated by members of
the Employer Association, in accordance with the program of wage
standardization adopted and confirmed by the uniform agreements.'
This system of dealing which has become traditional among the
group of plywood operators and locals who have participated therein,
has proved conducive to the orderly functioning of collective bargain-
ing and has contributed to uniformity and stability of labor relations
in a comparatively large portion of the plywood manufacturing indus-
try. The record indicates that during the period covered by uniform
labor agreements and joint collective bargaining on the part of both
unions and employers, the plywood manufacturing industry as repre-
sented by the members of the CIO group in the Employer Association,
has been singularly free from major industrial strife.10 While there
are at present no uniform agreements in existence with respect to the
group of CIO employers herein concerned, both the CIO and the Em-
ployer Association representatives have notified each other that they
desire to negotiate an extension of the uniform agreement for subse-
quent adoption by the locals and the individual employers. Moreover,
the CIO local with which the Company had its last uniform agreement
has given no indication of a desire to negotiate its own agreement
without the aid of the CIO Council. There is no evidence in the record
that the Company or any member of the CIO employer group is dis-
satisfied with the present bargaining procedure, or has expressed an
intent to pursue an individualistic course of action with regard to its
labor relations 11
Conclusions
On the basis of the facts above referred to, and upon the entire
record in the case , we are of the opinion that, notwithstanding evi-
8 The various uniform agreements are exclusive bargaining agreements for a period of
approximately 1 year from the date thereof and thereafter automatically renewable each
year until the year 1945 , when all agreements terminate according to the express provisions
thereof
° The program of wage standardization , although incorporated in the uniform agreements
which have recently terminated , will nevertheless continue by the express terms thereof
until December 31, 1945.
10 The evidence discloses that throughout the period in question there has not been a
single instance of a work stoppage in the plywood plants organized by the CIO.
°° The Chairman of the Employer Association testified that no CIO employer had ex-
pressed to him an unwillingness to extend the uniform agreement.
1300 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
dente indicating the appropriateness, from a functional viewpoint, of
a bargaining unit confined to one plant of a single employer, the course
of collective bargaining, which since 1940 has been conducted on a
multiple-employer or Association-wide basis, niust govern the scope
of the appropriate unit in the present instance. In reaching this con-
clusion, we find that the facts in the present proceeding are substan-
tially similar to those in prior cases in which multiple-employer units
have been found appropriate, where, notwithstanding the informal
character of the employer associations therein concerned, the members
of such associations have "established a practice of joint action in
regard to labor relations by negotiation with an effective employee
organization, and have, by their customary adherence to the uniform
labor agreements resulting therefrom, demonstrated their desire to be
bound by group rather than by individual action." 12 Accordingly,
we find that the single-employer unit requested by the AFL is inap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
IV. THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Since the bargaining unit sought to be established by the petition is
inappropriate as stated in Section III, above, we find that 'no question
has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Com-
pany in an appropriate bargaining unit.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, the National Labor
Relations Board hereby orders that the petition for investigation and
certification of representatives of employees of Springfield Plywood
Corporation, Springfield, Oregon, filed by Willamette Valley District
Council, Chartered by United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners
of'America, AFL, be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
12 See Matter of Rayonier, Incorporated , Grays Harbor Division , 52 N L . R. B. 1269, at
1274, 1275, Matter of Dolese & Shepherd Company , 56 N L R. B 532, at 539, Matter of
Advance Tanning Company, et al, '60 N. L R B 923 Cf Matter of Great Bear Logging
Company, 59 N L. R. B. 701, where a°multiple -employer unit was found mappropuate
in view of the expressed intent of the company to pursue an individualistic course of action
with regard to its labor relations Cf also Matter of Aluminum Company of America, 61
N. L R B. 251, where the company conducted extensive negotiations with the individual
locals in addition to those conducted on behalf of all the locals by their joint repre-
sentatives and where, unlike the instant case, there was no evidence that the locals as a
group had agreed to be bound by majority action ; the Board found therefore that the
joint negotiations were adopted b y the company as an expedient and did not indicate a
desire on the part of the locals , to be bound by group action or to establish an effective
employee organization for the purpose of bargaining collectively upon a multiple-plant
basis. With further regard to the necessity for an effective employee organization in the
establishment of a multiple-employer unit , see Matter of United Fur Manufacture ABso-
nattion, 49 N. L. R. B, 1405.