Bear River Lumber Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 26, 1965

150 N.L.R.B. 1295 (N.L.R.B. 1965)

BEAR RIVER LUMBER CO., INC.
APPENDIX A
NOTICE TO ALL EMPLOYEES
1295
Pursuant to the Recommended Order of a Trial Examiner of the National Labor
Relations Board, and in order to effectuate the policies of the-National Labor Rela-
tions Act, we hereby notify you that:
WE WILL NOT discourage membership in or activity on behalf of Los Angeles
Typographical Union No. 174, International Typographical Union, AFL-CIO,
or any other labor organization, by discharging any of our employees, or in any
other manner discriminating against employees in regard to their hire, tenure,
or employment or any term dr condition of employment.
WE WILL NOT in any other manner interfere with, restrain, or coerce our
employees in the exercise of rights guaranteed to them by Section 7 of the Act,
or to refrain from the exercise of any or all of such rights, except to the extent
that such rights may be affected by an agreement requiring membership in a
labor organization as a condition of employment, as authorized in Section
8(a)(3) of the Act.
WE WILL offer Javier Martinez immediate and full reinstatement to the sub-
stitute linotype position, or such other position as he would have occupied in
the absence of the discrimination against him, without prejudice to seniority or
other rights and privileges previously enjoyed, and make him whole for any loss
of earnings he may have suffered by reason of our discrimination against him.
All our employees are free to become, remain, or refrain from becoming or remain-
ing members of any labor organization, except to the extent that such right may be
affected by an agreement requiring membership in a labor organization as a condi-
tion of employment, as authorized by Section 8(a)(3) of the Act.
LOZANO ENTERPRISES,
Employer.
Dated------------------- By-------------------------------------------(Representative) : (Title)
NOTE.-We will notify Javier Martinez if presently serving in the ,Armed Forces
of the United States of his 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, 849 South
Broadway, Los Angeles, California, Telephone No. 688-5206, if they have any ques-
tion concerning this notice or compliance with its provisions.
Bear River Lumber Co., Inc. and Teamsters , Chauffeurs, Ware-
housemen and Helpers of America, Local 150 , International
Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs , Warehousemen, and
Helpers of America,' Petitioner . Case No. 20-RC-6060. Janu-
ary 26, 1965
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 Hearing Officer
I The name of the Petlitoner appears in the caption as amended at the hearing.
150 NLRB No. 125.
775-692-65-vol. 150-83
1296 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Thomas J. Heidenreich. The Hearing Officer's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Thereafter, the Employer and the Petitioner involved herein filed
briefs.
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 [Members Fanning, Brown, and Jenkins].
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 organization involved claims to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen-
tation of certain employees of the Employer within the meaning of
Section 9(c) (1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of production and mainte-
nance employees employed at the Employer's sawmill -only, exclud-
ing truckdrivers and cleanup employees, or, in the alternative, such
unit as may be found by the Board to be appropriate. The Em-
ployer contends that the only appropriate unit is a unit of all pro-
duction and maintenance employees employed at the Employer's
sawmill and planing mill, including truckdrivers and cleanup em-
ployees. The Employer has no history of collective bargaining.
The Employer is engaged in the year-round manufacture and sale
of rough and finished lumber. Its operation consists basically of a
sawmill employing 28 employees and a planing mill employing 15
employees, including 3 truckdrivers. The planing mill is located
approximately 21/2 miles from the sawmill. The sawmill manufac-
tures rough lumber out of logs purchased by the Employer, and the
planing mill produces finished lumber out of unsold rough lumber
received from the sawmill and from outside sources. All purchases
and sales are made in the name of the Employer. The operation of
the sawmill is directed by the Employer's president, who, together
with the Employer's salesmanager, also directs the planing mill
operation. They issue daily instructions to a maintenance man-
superintendent located in each mill who has only limited authority
to hire and discharge and who oversees only routine mill operations.
Although the skills and functions of some sawmill and planing
mill employees differ, employees capable of performing work at
either mill are frequently temporarily interchanged between the
two operations. Thus, the grader, tally man, mechanic, chainpullers,
welders, utility men, forklift operators, and even the sawmill main-
tenance man-superintendent, move from their regular positions to
meet a need at one mill or the other. There is also some interchange
BEAR RIVER LUMBER CO., INC. 1297
of equipment between the two mills. There is a common wage
policy for all employees, including wage increases which all employ-
ees receive when granted. Although separate payroll records are
kept for each mill; this is done only to facilitate the computation
of compensation insurance premium rates, and all employees are paid
out of the same account through a centralized bookkeeping system.
In addition, all employees except cleanup employees and possibly
truckdrivers are subject to the same hours of work, and all, includ-
ing those excepted employees, participate in the same bonus, insur-
ance, and social programs, and_ receive the same number of paid
holidays.
The three truckdrivers operate out of,the plahing mill with trucks
garaged at the sawmill. Their work, which consists of hauling
lumber to and from each mill and delivering. the Employer's prod-
ucts to its customers, is also performed under the direct supervision
of the Employer's president and its salesmanager. Although they
are paid a trip rate when hauling lumber, they are paid on an hourly
basis, as are all of the Employer's other employees, when perform-
ing repair and maintenance work on their vehicles. As indicated
above, they also fall within the Employer's common wage policy
and share in the same programs and benefits as other production and
maintenance workers.
Cleanup employees are employed at both mills and work only
when the mills are not operating. They spend 90 percent of their
time in cleanup operations and, incidental to their main janitorial
duties, are also required to be on the alert for fires. They are not
armed, deputized, or uniformed, and have no authority to order
anyone off the Employer's premises unless "a bandit or a madman
came in." They also participate in the same programs and receive
the same benefits as the other employees. On these facts, we find,
contrary to the Petitioner, that these cleanup employees perform
janitorial-like maintenance service and are not guards.
In view of the single management, the integration of the Em-
ployer's operations, the interchange of employees and equipment,
the common policies with regard to wages, hours, and. employee
benefits, and the absence of any collective-bargaining history, we
find that sawmill 'and planing mill employees, including the truck-
drivers 2 and cleanup men,3 constitute a single appropriate unit.'
21nyo Lumber Company o f California, 129 NLRB 79 , 81-82; Magnolia Lumber Corpo-
ration, 88 NLRB 161.
'Accord: Watchmanitors, Inc, 128 NLRB 903, 905; McDonnell Aircraft Corporation,
109 NLRB 967, 969
4 Oro ply Corporation, 121 NLRB 1067 , 1069; Seattle Cedar Lumber Manufacturing
Company, 112 NLRB 54 , 55. See also Boise Cascade Corporation, 148 NLRB 491;
Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, 87 NLRB 1076.
1298 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Accordingly, we find that the following employees of the Employer
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act : All production
and maintenance employees, including truckdrivers and cleanup
employees, employed at the Employer's Grass Valley, California,
sawmill and planing mill, excluding office clerical employees, guards,
and supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and Insurance Workers
International Union , AFL-CIO. Case No. 14-CA-3459. Janu-
ary 07, 1965
DECISION AND ORDER
On November 24, 1964, Trial Examiner Reeves R. Hilton issued
his Decision in the above-entitled proceeding, finding that the Re-
spondent had engaged in and was engaging in certain unfair labor
practices and recommending that it cease and desist therefrom and
take certain affirmative action, as set forth in the attached Trial
Examiner's Decision. Thereafter, Respondent filed exceptions to the
Trial Examiner's Decision.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman McCulloch and Mem-
bers Fanning and Brown].
The Board has considered the Trial Examiner's Decision and the
entire record in this case, including the exceptions of the Respond-
ent, and hereby adopts the findings, conclusions, and recommenda-
tions of the Trial Examiner.
ORDER
Pursuant to Section 10(c) of the National Labor Relations Act,
as amended, the National Labor Relations Board hereby adopts, as
its Order, the Order recommended by the Trial Examiner, and
orders that Respondent, its officers, agents, successors, and assigns,
shall take the action set forth in the Trial Examiner's Recom-
mended Order.
TRIAL EXAMINER 'S DECISION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon charges filed by the above -named Union , the General Counsel of the National
Labor Relations Board issued a complaint, together with a notice of hearing, dated
September 29, 1964, which alleges, in substance, that:
(1) All Metropolitan Insurance consultants and canvassing , regular, and office
account agents of the Company , attached to the district office and to the Litchfield
150 NLRB No. 127.