The West Side Lumber Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 20, 1963

144 N.L.R.B. 81 (N.L.R.B. 1963)

THE WEST SIDE LUMBER CO., ETC. 81
WE WILL bargain collectively, upon request, with the above -named Union as
the exclusive representative of all employees in the bargaining unit described
below with respect to rates of pay, hours of employment , and other conditions
of employment, and, if an understanding is reached , embody such understanding
in a signed agreement . The bargaining unit is:
All production and maintenance employees employed by us at our Hous-
ton, Texas, establishment , including truckdrivers and plant clericals, but
excluding office clerical employees , professional employees , guards, watch-
men, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
WE WILL, upon their application , offer reinstatement to their former or sub-
stantially equivalent positions , without prejudice to their seniority or other
rights and privileges , to all our employees in the above bargaining unit, if any
there be, who engaged in the strike beginning on March 11 , 1963, and who have
not heretofore been duly offered such reinstatement , and make them whole for
any loss of pay suffered as a result of our refusal , if any, to reinstate them upon
such application.
All our employees are free to become, remain , or refrain from becoming or re-
maining members of United Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO, or any other labor
organization.
SCHILL STEEL PRODUCTS, INC.,
Employer.
Dated------------------- By-------------------------------------------
(Representative ) ( Title)
NOTE: We will notify any of the above -mentioned employees presently serving
in the Armed Forces of the United States of their right to full reinstatement upon
application in accordance with the Selective Service Act and the Universal Military
Training and Service Act of 1948, as amended , after discharge from the Armed
Forces.
This notice must remain posted for 60 consecutive days from the date of posting,
and must not be altered , defaced , or covered by any other material.
Employees may communicate directly with the Board 's Regional Office, 6617
Federal Office Building, 515 Rusk Avenue, Houston 2 , Texas, Telephone No. Capitol
8-0611 , Extension 271, if they have any question concerning this notice or com-
pliance with its provisions.
The West Side Lumber Co., the F . A. Requarth Co., the Peter
Kuntz Lumber Company, the Kuntz Johnson Lumber Com-
pany, Petitioner and General Truck Drivers, Chauffeurs, Ware-
housemen and Helpers Local Union No. 957, International
Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and
Helpers of America'
The West Side Lumber Co., the F. A. Requarth Co., the Peter
Kuntz Lumber Company, Petitioner and Milimen 's Local 684,
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America,
AFL-CI0.2 Cases Nos. 9-RM-259, 9-RM-26f, 9-RM-263, 9-RM-
265, 9-RM-260, 9 RM-261, and 9 RM-264. August 20, 1963
DECISION AND ORDER CLARIFYING CERTIFICATIONS
On May 23, 1961, in Cases Nos. 9-RM-259, 9-RM-262, 9-RM-263,
and 9-RM-265, the Teamsters was certified as the collective-
bargaining representative for a multiemployer unit of all truck-
Herein called Teamsters.
a Herein called Carpenters.
144 NLRB No. 14.
82 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
drivers, yardmen, and laborers, and in Cases Nos. 9-RM-260,
9-RM-261, and 9-RM-264, the Carpenters was certified as the
collective-bargaining representative for a multiemployer unit of all
carpenters and millmen.
Thereafter, on March 25, 1963, the Peter Kuntz Lumber Company,
one of the participating companies, and herein called the Employer,
filed a motion for clarification of the said bargaining units with
respect to its operations, alleging that a dispute exists between Team-
sters and Carpenters as to the proper unit inclusion of the following
job classifications: truss assembler, saw man-prefabrication depart-
ment, layout man. It requested that the Board determine the appro-
priate unit placement of each of the said classifications. On April 19,
1963, the Carpenters filed its statement of position on the motion
and by telegram dated April 19, 1963, the Teamsters requested a hear-
ing on the issues. On May 17, 1963, the Board referred the matter
to the regional Director for the Ninth Region for the purpose of
taking testimony on the issues raised by the Employer's motion.
Thereafter, a hearing was held on June 5, 1963, before Alan D. Greene,
hearing officer. All parties appeared and participated. 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 proceeding to a three-member panel [Members Leedom, Fanning,
and Brown].
Upon the entire record, the Board finds :
The Employer is engaged in the buying, warehousing, and sale of
lumber, the cutting and finishing of lumber according to architects'
specifications, and the manufacture of prefabricated trusses and wall
panels. Its operations are divided into four departments. The mill
department is located in a separate building 100 feet from the Em-
ployer's other facilities. In this department, the journeymen car-
penters are in the Carpenters unit and are engaged in the skilled
work of cutting and finishing lumber under the supervision of the
mill superintendent. The yard department and the delivery depart-
ment are both under the supervision of the yard superintendent. The
employees in these departments are unskilled and are in the Team-
sters unit. They drive delivery trucks, load, unload, and stack lum-
ber in the lumber building, and deliver lumber to, and finished
product from, the mill and prefabrication departments. The
prefabrication department, located in the lumber building, is also
under the supervision of the yard superintendent. Here the prefab-
ricated trusses and wall panels are manufactured. The employee
classifications with which the motion for clarification is concerned
are in this department. Unskilled yard department employees assist
THE WEST SIDE LUMBER Co., ETC. 83
in the prefabrication department for periods of less than 50 percent
of their working time.
Although the positions of the Unions on the motion indicated dis-
agreement as to the unit placement of truss assemblers, saw men-
prefabrication department, and layout man, they agreed at the hear-
ing that the truss assemblers and the saw men should be included,
respectively, in the Teamsters and Carpenters units. Thus, the sole
remaining issue between them concerns the unit placement of the
layout man and his helper. The Employer agreed that the saw man
should be in the Carpenters unit but took a neutral position with
respect to the unit placement of the other two classifications. The
Teamsters contends that the layout man and his helper belong in
its unit, which covers all employees except the journeymen carpenters,
because they have the same employment interests as the yard and
delivery employees. The Carpenters, on the other hand, contends
that the jobs of the layout man and his helper are basically skilled
carpentry work, and therefore they belong to its unit.
The record shows that the prefabrication department, unlike the
Employer's other departments, is not a full-time operation. The
two saw men work there practically full time. All other employees
who work in the prefabrication department, including the disputed
layout man and his helper, and the truss assembler, spend less than
50 percent of their time in prefabrication work and the remainder
of their time in the yard department working as unskilled truck-
drivers or loaders.
The saw men are journeymen carpenters engaged in substantially
the same skilled work as the saw men in the mill department where
they also occasionally do skilled work. In accordance with the agree-
ment of the parties we find that the saw men-prefabrication depart-
ment are appropriately part of the Carpenters unit.
The work of the truss assemblers, unlike that of the saw men, is
unskilled and requires no training. The Unions agree, and we find,
that they belong in the Teamsters unit.
The layout man has had a "2 weeks" instruction course in layout
work. His helper does not require and has had no special training.
Occasionally the layout man and his helper are assisted by yard em-
ployees who have had no special training. Layout work consists of
taking from drawings the dimensions of a particular panel and mark-
ing on a "layout strip" of lumber a full-scale measurement of the
panel. The panel is then constructed from boards measured by direct
application to the marks on the "layout strip." Although carpenters
traditionally do layout work when panels are cut at the construction
site, they do not use layout strips, as do the layout men herein, but
rather use a 2-foot carpenters' square, which is a tool of that craft.
727-083-64-voL 144-7
84 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The record fails to establish that the layout man and his helper exer-
cise craft skills comparable to the carpenters or that they have in-
terests in common with the carpenters. On the contrary, they are
relatively unskilled employees whose interests and conditions of
employment are similar to those of the yard and delivery employees
represented by the Teamsters. Accordingly, we find that the. layout
man and his helper are appropriately a part of the Teamsters unit.'
[The Board amended the Certification of Representative issued in
Cases Nos. 9-RM-260, 9-RM-261, and 9-RM-264 on May 23, 1961,
to include in the unit description therein the classification of saw
man-prefabrication department of Peter Kuntz Lumber Company ;
and in Cases Nos. 9-RM-259, 9-RM-262, 9-RM-263, and 9-RM-265
to include in the unit description therein the classifications of truss
assembler and of layout man and his helper.]
3 See Lumber and Millwork Industry Labor Committee of Cleveland , Ohio, et at., 136
NLRB 1083, 1085. Compare Lumber Fabricators , Inc., 110 NLRB 187.
Thunderbird Hotel , Inc. and Joe Wells, James Schuyler and
William Deer, Co-partners, d/b/a Thunderbird Hotel Com-
pany 1 and Independent Guards Association of Nevada, Local
No. 1, Petitioner. Case No. 20-RC-5294. August 20, 1963
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 James S. Jenson, 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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-
member panel [Chairman McCulloch and Members Fanning and
Brown].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1 The Employer 's name appears as amended at the hearing.
2 We find no merit in the contention of Thunderbird Hotel, Inc., that the Hearing Officer
improperly permitted its name to be added during the reopened hearing. Thunderbird
Hotel, Inc., had been named in the petition and notice of hearing but in the original hear-
ing an amendment was allowed deleting its name . However, it participated fully in the
first hearing in all material respects . Further, at the reopened hearing the general
manager and the comptroller ( who, as noted infra, serve both companies in those capacities)
attended and testified , and counsel who appeared for the partnership is also an officer of
and attorney for Thunderbird Hotel, Inc. No request was made for continuance. Under
these circumstances , we affirm the Hearing Officer's action in allowing the amendment.
Truss -Mart Corporation, et at., 121 NLRB 1430. Cf. Dekalb Gas, Inc., et at., 133 NLRB
352; and Southwest Hotels, Inc., 126 NLRB 1151.
144 NLRB No. 19.