Weyerhaeuser Timber Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 4, 1949

81 N.L.R.B. 472 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter Of WEYERHAEUSER TIMBER CO., EMPLOYER and INTER-
NATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 19-RC-38
SECOND SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND
ORDER
February 4, 1949
On August 20, 1948, the National Labor Relations Board, herein
called the Board,' issued a Decision and Direction of Election in this
proceeding.2
On September 8, 1948, and prior to said election, the Petitioner filed
a petition for amendment of the Direction of Election, requesting
that its name be changed on the ballot to "Plywood Workers of
America, CIO." On September 13,1948, the Employer filed a petition
to vacate the Decision and Direction of Election and grant a rehear-
ing upon the grounds (1) that there were no "maintenance employees"
at the Employer's plywood plant; (2) that employees engaged in
transportation, stock handling, loading, and shipping of plywood are
so intermingled with similar operations in the sawmills that it is im-
possible to separate such employees for purposes of the election; and
(3) that balloting should be separated to permit employees to vote
(a) the bargaining unit and (b) a choice of the bargaining agent.
On September 16, 1948, the Board issued its Order denying the
above petitions, upon the grounds : (1) that Petitioner's petition was
untimely and inconsistent with its pleading both in its petition and
at the hearing, and (2) that the Employer had agreed at the hearing
to an election among production and maintenance employees, and
made no exceptions to, and raised no questions concerning, maintenance
employees, and that the raising of such issues subsequent thereto was
not timely. However, the Board stated that its ruling was without
prejudice to the right of any party to question the eligibility of main-
tenance employees by challenging voters at the polls.
1 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 -man panel consisting of the undersigned
Board Members ( Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Reynolds].
2 78 N. L . R. B. 1267.
81 N. L . R. B., No. 86.
472
WEYERHAEUSER TIMBER CO. 473
On September 16, 1948, the Intervenor 3 won the election by a vote
of 114 to 40. Out of a total of 161 votes counted, 7 were challenged.
On October 12, 1948, the Board issued its Supplemental Decision and
Certification of Representatives, wherein the Intervenor was certified
as the exclusive bargaining representative of all the production and
maintenance employees in the Employer's plywood plant. The
Board did not pass upon the challenges, because they did not affect
the results of the election.
On November 8, 1948, the Petitioner filed a petition for reconsidera-
tion of the Supplemental Decision and Certification of Representa-
tives upon the grounds : (1) that production 4 and maintenance eiii-
ployees working in the plywood plant are within the bargaining unit
established in a prior Board certification; 5 (2) that the Supplemental
Decision and Certification of Representatives issued by the Board im-
pairs the enforcement of the collective bargaining agreement presently
existing between the Employer and the Petitioner. as to such employ-
ees; and (3) that aside from the challenges, upon which the Board
did not rule for the reason that they were not determinative, the extent
to which the present Certification affects employees formerly included
in the over-all unit is now uncertain. The Petitioner therefore re-
quested that the Board modify and amend its Supplemental Decision
and Certification of Representatives to state specifically that such
employees are outside the plywood unit, or, in the alternative, that
the Decision and Direction of Election be set aside and that a further
bearing be held to establish the exact limits of the plywood unit.
On November 26, 1948, the Employer filed a petition for clarification
of Supplemental Decision and Certification, reiterating its former
position as to maintenance employees and urging that they be specifi-
cally excluded from the unit. On December 8, 1948, the Intervenor
filed a motion to dismiss the petitions of the Petitioner and Employer
on the grounds : (1) that the Supplemental Decision and Certification
of Representatives gives rise to no doubt or ambiguity as to the exact
limits of the plywood unit; and (2) that it disclaims any interest in
(a) maintenance employees not permanently stationed in the plywood
plant, and (b) transportation employees under the lumber superin-
tendent.
A review of the entire record in this case,reveals that maintenance
work at the plywood plant is handled by three groups of employees.
The first of these groups consists of three millwrights, one oiler, three
conveyor tenders, and one electrician, all of whom are assigned per-
Plywood workers, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, AFL,.
Petitioner refers to transportation employees who come under the direct supervision
of the plywood lumber superintendent. .
" Matter of Weyerhaeuser Timber Company , Longview Branch, 29 N. L. It. B. 571.
474 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
manently to the plywood plant,6 a condition which did not exist at the
date of the Board's prior Certification covering the over-all unit.7
The second group consists of production clean-up men who are per-
manently assigned to plywood and are under the supervision of the
plywood superintendent. A third and final group is composed of
casual maintenance men, construction electricians, carpenters, paint-
ers, and mechanics, all of whom work only infrequently in the plywood
plant, and who upon the completion of a specific job assignment
return to their work stations outside the plywood plant."
The evidence indicates that the plywood plant, unlike the mills
and other departments at Longview, has its own shipping clerk
under the direct supervision of the plywood plant superintendent.
There are permanently assigned under the shipping clerk and on the
plywood pay roll four lumber handlers who load finished plywood
on the boxcars and flatcars or into boxes for carrier transportation,
but who are in no way concerned either with the transportation of
the finished product to the storage sheds for future shipment in
mixed carloads or its transportation direct to customers. The record
clearly shows that the transportation operations, as such, are handled
by personnel who come under the supervision and jurisdiction of the
lumber superintendent and who are in no way connected with the
plywood plant.
As indicated above, the Intervenor herein disclaims any interest
in the casual maintenance employees or the transportation employees
who, from the record alone, are clearly distinguishable from the
permanent plywood employees by the absence of every prerequisite
necessary to their inclusion in the unit. On the other hand, it is clear
that the permanently assigned maintenance employees, the production
clean-up men, and the lumber handlers under the plywood shipping
clerk, have the same interests and working conditions as those of
other plywood employees; that they are classified and grouped for
pay-roll purposes upon the same pay roll; 9 and that they are all
functionally a part of the plywood plant.
The Board has considered the motions of the Employer and the
Petitioner, and, upon the basis of the entire record, finds that such
maintenance employees, clean-up men, and lumber handlers as are
permanently assigned to the plywood plant are properly within the
4 Except for the electrician , who does not come under plywood supervision, these em-
ployees, although under the over -all supervision of the operation maintenance superin-
tendent, come under the direct supervision of the plywood head millwright.
7 See footnote 4, supra.
e L,kewlse these employees perform maintenance work on the same basis in the Em-
ployer 's mills and other departments.
S Intervenor Exhibit No. 2 shows tentative job classification and wage scales for .ply-
wood employees , the last page thereof is entitled "Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, Long-
view Plywood Division, Maintenance ," and reads In part : "millwright $1.625; electrician
$1.1625 ; oiler $1.425."
WEYERHAEUSER TIMBER CO. 475
unit of plywood plant employees . The Board finds, accordingly,
that all plywood maintenance employees in the classifications of elec-
trician , millwright , oiler , and conveyor tender , permanently assigned
to the plywood plant, together with permanently assigned plywood
production clean-up men and lumber handlers under the plywood
shipping clerk , are included within the unit referred to in the Sup-
plemental Decision and Certification in the instant proceeding. The
Board further finds that all casual plywood maintenance employees
and transportation employees under the lumber superintendent are
excluded from such unit.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Supplemental Decision and Certifica-
tion of Representatives be, and it hereby is, amended specifically to
include in the unit therein referred to, all permanent plywood main-
tenance employees, all permanent plywood production clean-up men
and all lumber handlers under the plywood shipping clerk, and
specifically to exclude from the unit all casual maintenance employees
not permanently stationed or assigned within the plywood plant and
all transportation employees under the supervision of the lumber
superintendent located at the Employer's plant, Longview Branch,
Longview, Washington.