W. A. Swanson Logging Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 2, 1955

111 N.L.R.B. 495 (N.L.R.B. 1955)

W. A. SWANSON LOGGING CO. 495
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. The operations of the Charging Company occur in commerce within the mean-
ing of Section 2 (6) of the Act.
2. Truck Drivers and Helpers Local Union No. 728, International Brotherhood of
Teamsters , Chauffeurs , Warehousemen & Helpers of America , A. F. L., is a labor
organization within the meaning of Section 2 (5) of the Act.
3. The Respondent has not engaged in unfair labor practices , as alleged in the
complaint , within the meaning of Section 8 (b) (4) (A) and (B ) of the Act.
[Recommendations omitted from publication.]
W. A. SWANSON LOGGING CO.; GEORGE SECOR LOGGING CO.; SPOELSTRA
BROS. LOGGING CO.; SANDBERG LOGGING Co.; Fox LOGGING CO.;
L. O. G. LOGGING Co.; N. ANDERSON LOGGING CO., PETITIONERS and
OLYMPIC PENINSULA INDEPENDENT WOODWORKERS UNION, PETI-
TIONER and INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 23-90,
CIO. Cases Nos. 19-RM-147, 19-RC-1524, 19-RM-149, 19-RC-
1527, 19-RM-148, 19-RC-1558, 19-RM-150, 19-RC-1522, 19-RM-
151, 19-RC-1526, 19-RM-152, 19-RC-1530, 19-RM-153, and
19-RC-1540 . February 2,1955
Decision, Direction of Elections , and Order
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before
Melton Boyd, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at
the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. All the above-mentioned Employers, except George Secor Log-
ging Co., are engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act.
George Secor Logging Co., herein called Secor, is engaged at Port
Angeles, Washington, in the business of cutting and transporting logs
for several firms who own stumpage. During 1954, Secor was under
contract to the Albion Creek Logging Company, herein called Albion,
to cut, yard, buck, and transport logs removed from Albion's stump-
age to the place of business of its customers. For these logging serv-
ices, Albion paid Secor approximately $160,000 during the past year.
Record testimony reveals that Albion has no production employees,
and contracts all of its logging operations to Secor and three other
logging contractors. Annually, Albion sells about $850,000 worth
of logs, of which approximately $300,000 worth are cut and delivered
by Secor to Albion's customers. Thus, of the amount produced by
Secor, it delivered about 45 percent to Nettleton Timber Co., and the
remainder to two other lumber companies, all located in the State of
Washington. There is no evidence as to how Albion disposes of the
lumber cut by other contractors.
111 NLRB No. 73.
496 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Nettleton Timber Co., a corporation engaged in the manufacture
of lumber, owns 50 percent of the stock in Albion, and 50 percent is
owned by an individual. Nettleton intermingles the logs purchased
from Albion with logs obtained from other sources and converts them
into lumber. Its annual sales of this lumber exceeds $2,000,000, of
which more than 95 percent is shipped outside the State of
Washington.
During 1954, Secor worked entirely for Albion. All the Albion
lumber cut by Secor was delivered at Albion's order to customers
located within the State of Washington. Secor's services to Albion
were therefore twice removed from interstate commerce 1 and do not
meet the Board's present jurisdictional standards for asserting juris-
diction.2 Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petitions in Cases Nos.
19-RM-149 and 19-RC-1527 involving the employees of George Secor
Logging Co.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the representa-
tion of employees of each of the Employers, except George Secor
Logging Co., within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2
(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit :
Olympic Peninsula Independent Woodworkers Union, herein called
the Independent, seeks to represent separate units of logging em-
ployees at each of the Employers' logging operations. International
Woodworkers of America, Local 23-90, CIO, herein called the IWA-
CIO, contends that the unit should be multiemployer in scope. The
Employers agree with the unit contentions of the Independent.
The individual Employers are members of Timber Operators Asso-
ciation, herein called the TOA, which among its other functions con-
ducts collective-bargaining negotiations on behalf of its members.
For several years, the TOA and the IWA-CIO negotiated collective-
bargaining agreements on a multiemployer basis covering the logging
employees involved in these proceedings. The most recent contracts
expired in April 1954. Shortly after their expiration, the IWA-CIO
sought without success to renew the agreements. During July and
August 1954, the Independent notified each of the Employers that it
claimed to represent the employees of each Employer as a separate
unit. Faced with claims of representation by the IWA-CIO and the
Independent, each Employer filed a separate representation petition
requesting the Board to decide the question of representation. Dur-
ing September and October 1954, each Employer also wrote a letter to,
'Brooks Wood Products, 107 NLRB 237; 0 B Brown Fertilizer Company, 110 NLRB
1912 Member Murdock has already noted his dissent in the cited cases
2 Jonesboro Grain Drying Cooperative, 110 NLRB 481. -
WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORPORATION 497
the TOA cancelling the latter's authority to represent it in collective-
bargaining matters.
The Board has held that, despite earlier participation in group bar-
gaining, if an employer at an appropriate time manifests an unequivo-
cal intent to Withdraw from multiemployer bargaining and to pursue
an individual course in labor relations, only a single employer unit
thereafter is appropriate .3 In the present case, each Employer has
cancelled the TOA's authority to negotiate in its behalf and has ex-
pressed an unequivocal intention hereafter to bargain on an individual
employer basis. In these circumstances, only separate employer units
are appropriate. .
We find that the following employees employed by each of the Em-
ployers at Forks and Port Angeles, Washington, constitute separate
units appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
All employees excluding office clerical employees, watchmen, guards,
professional employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
[The Board dismissed the petitions filed in Cases Nos. 19-RC-1527
and 19-RM-149.]
3 The Milk and Ice Cream Dealers of the Greater Cincinnati , Ohio, 94 NLRB 23.
WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORPORATION, SMALL MOTOR DIVISION 1 and
LIMA WESTINGHOUSE' PROFESSIONAL COUNCIL, PETITIONER. Case
No. 8-RC-2332. February 2,1955
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 Phillip Fusco, hearing offi-
cer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.2
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.
I The Employer 's name appears as amended at the hearing.
2 The Intervenor , Lima Westinghouse Salaried Employees Association ( affiliated with
the Federation of Westinghouse Independent Salaried Unions, herein called the Federation)
intervened on the basis of its current contract
Ill NLRB No. 70.