W. P. Stephens Lumber Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 4, 1947

73 N.L.R.B. 1451 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of W. P. STEPHENS LUMBER COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 10-R-2380.-Decided June 4, 1947
Mr. Frank A. Constangy, of Atlanta, Ga., for the Employer.
Messrs. John J. Brownlee and T. 0. Porter, of Atlanta, Ga., for the
Petitioner.
Miss Eleanor ,8chwartzbach, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Atlanta,
Georgia, on March 11, 1947, before M. A. Prowell, 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 the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
The W. P. Stephens Lumber Company, a Georgia corporation, oper-
ates a retail hardware and buildings' supply store, a roofing business,
and a mill and lumber yard, at Marietta, Georgia.
During the year 1946, for its retail store, roofing business, and mill
and lumber yard, the Employer purchased goods valued at $1,182,000,
of which approximately $220,000 represented shipments to its prop-
erties from points outside the State of Georgia. During the same
period, the Employer sold products valued at $1,675,000, approxi-
mately $1,000 of which represented shipments to points outside the
State of Georgia. At its retail store the Employer purchased articles
valued at $862,000, of this amount $128,000 represented shipments to
the store from points outside the State of Georgia. For its roofing
business, the Employer purchased goods valued at more than $65,000,
consisting principally of asphalt and steel roofing materials, which
were shipped to its plant from Shreveport, Louisiana; Birmingham,
73 N. L. R. B., No. 246.
1451
1452 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Alabama; and Cincinnati, Ohio, and sold under agreements which
included installation on the customers' properties. The value of such
sales was $104,000.
The Employer's mill and lumber yard operations, with which this
proceeding is particularly concerned, include sorting and drying green
lumber, most of which is cut from the Employer's own timber,' and
grading and dressing the same for mill work. The mill produces door
and window frames, trim, sash, doors, screens, mantel pieces, cabinets,
moldings, interior mill work, and other types of mill work to order for
individual customers. Certain sizes of sash, doors, and screens are
usually constructed in large quantities for storage so they will be avail-
able as needed. During the year 1946, the raw materials used at the
Employer's mill amounted in value to approximately $235,000. Of
this amount, $7,500 represented shipments to the mill from points out-
side the State of Georgia. During the same period, the Employer's
products finished at the mill were valued in excess of $547,000, all of
which were sold through the Employer's retail store at Marietta,
Georgia.
We find, contrary to the contention of the Employer, that its opera-
tions affect commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Re-
lations Act.2
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses -to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Employer 's properties at Marietta include an area about the
size of two city blocks . The physical facilities consist of a retail store,
a mill and lumber yard , a shipping building , and several warehouses.
The retail store and one warehouse are separated from the other build-
ings by a railroad siding.
The Employer's business operations are divided into 3 administra-
tive divisions , the mill and lumber yard with 90 employees , the retail
i The Employer purchases stumpage within the State of Georgia, and contracts with
individuals and other companies to have the trees cut down and the timber rough-cut to
boards, and delivered to its lumber yard at Marietta.
2 Matter of J. F. Johnson Lumber Company, 73 N L R B , 320.
W. P. STEPHENS LUMBER COMPANY 1453
store with 40 employees, and the roofing business with 17 employees.
The rough lumber, received at the Employer's lumber yard, is dried
and dressed, and sent to the mill where it is made into finished products.
These finished products are then taken to a warehouse, where they are
stored until removed on customers' orders. The Employer maintains
other warehouses where paint, cement, roofing materials, and building
supplies are stored. All employees in the warehouses are on the retail
store pay roll, and a warehouse foreman is in charge of each warehouse.
All of the materials and supplies are charged on the books of the retail
store, through which all sales are made. The roofing division is a con-
tracting business. With the roofing material, the Employer sells the
labor incident to its application. The roofing division has a separate
sales organization, and is serviced by a group of employees who do
their work on the building of the customer at the job site.
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Employer's mill and lumber yard, excluding super-
visory employees. The Petitioner would include in the unit shipping
clerks, truck drivers, and truck driver helpers, car unloaders, and yard
checkers, and would exclude warehouse and cafeteria employees. The
Employer contends that unless all employees at Marietta except retail
store, roofing division, clerical and supervisory employees are included
in the unit, the unit should be restricted to production and main-
tenance employees at the mill and lumber yard, and all other material-
handling employees should be excluded.
There is no history of collective bargaining at the Employer's opera-
tions. Although the mill and the warehouses have certain functional
interrelations, each is a separate department under different super-
vision, and there is no interchange of personnel between the mill and
the remainder of the Employer's operations. The mill and lumber
yard employees, listed on a separate pay roll, constitute a homo-
geneous, identifiable group, having separate supervision, and functions
which differ from employees in other divisions of the Employer's
operations. In view of the physical and organizational separation
of the mill and lumber yard, the differences inherent in the three divi-
sions of the Employer's operations, and the absence of interchange of
employees in these divisions, we are of the opinion that the employees
of the mill and lumber yard may constitute a separate unit.
The Petitioner would include in the unit, and the Employer exclude,
the following employees :
Shipping clerks: There are approximately 23 employees in the ship-
ping department, including the shipping clerks who handle all ship-
ments for the retail store. They give the truck drivers instructions
for the loading and delivery of merchandise to customers. Their
duties do not bring them into contact with the mill or lumber yard
employees, and their functions are not closely related to production.
1454 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Truck drivers: In the shipping department, the Employer employs
eight truck drivers and two driver helpers under the supervision of the
chief shipping clerk. Their duties include the loading of trucks and
the delivery to consumers of roofing materials , building supplies, and
finished products from the Employer's warehouses and retail store.3
About 10 days a year , when the weather is too bad for driving, truck
drivers work in the warehouses and the mill in order to prevent a loss
of earnings . Otherwise , they have no contacts with mill employees.
Car unloaders : The principal function of the car unloaders is to
unload materials for the retail store and warehouses from freight
cars and trucks . They work under the supervision of the foreman
of the car unloading crew, and have no duties or contacts in connec-
tion with the mill , except for the delivery of an occasional shipment
of glass.
Yard checkers: The duties of yard checkers are not set forth in the
record.
The Petitioner would exclude the following employees . The Em-
ployer would include them , unless the unit is restricted to mill and
lumber yard employees.
Cafeteria workers: Two cafeteria employees are hourly paid work-
ers, employed in the preparation and serving of food in a cafeteria
operated by-the Employer for all its employees. Their work is essen-
tially different from that of the employees in the mill and lumber yard.
Warehouse employees: Warehouse employees at the Employer's
warehouses , under the supervision of warehouse foremen, store mate-
rial in the warehouses and remove it for customers who call for goods
in their own trucks. They check outgoing material loaded by truck
drivers and driver helpers on the Employer's trucks.
Shipping clerks, truck drivers, driver helpers, car unloaders, and
warehouse employees, concerning whom the parties disagree, are all
listed on the pay roll of the retail store, and their work is most closely
concerned with the operation of the store in connection with the re-
ceipt, storage and shipping of goods sold. Cafeteria employees, also
on the retail store pay roll, are not primarily production and mainte-
nance employees. Their services are not limited to employees in the
mill and lumber yard . Inasmuch as the Petitioner seeks to exclude
the retail store, roofing , and warehouse employees from the unit, we
believe that shipping clerks, truck drivers, driver helpers, car un-
loaders, and cafeteria employees should be excluded , and the unit
strictly limited to the mill and lumber yard workers who we have
found above constitute a clearly definable group. We shall, there-
fore, exclude shipping clerks, truck drivers, driver helpers, car un-
7 The truck drivers in dispute are to be distinguished from a laborer on the mill pay roll
who drives a yard truck on the Employer ' s premises , and who is included in the unit as a
mill and lumber yards employee.
W. P. STEPHENS LUMBER COMPANY 1455
loaders, and cafeteria employees. We shall make no specific finding
at this time respecting the unit placement of the yard checkers, in-
asmuch as the record does not disclose the nature of their duties.
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the
Employer's mill and lumber yard, excluding shipping clerks, truck
drivers, and driver helpers, car unloaders, warehouse employees, cafe-
teria workers , retail store and roofing employees , office and clerical
employees , and all supervisory employees with authority to hire, pro-
mote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status
of employees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with W. P. Stephens Lumber Com-
pany, Marietta, Georgia, an election by secret ballot shall be con-
ducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from
the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the
Regional Director for the Tenth Region, acting in this matter as
agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sec-
tions 203.55 and 203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and
Regulations-Series 4, among the employees in the unit found appro-
priate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including
employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they
were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including employ-
ees in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves
in person-at the polls, but excluding those employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or re-
instated prior to the date of the election, to determine whether or
not they desire to be represented by International Woodworkers of
America, CIO, for the purposes of collective bargaining.
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