Cummer-Graham Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 8, 1946

71 N.L.R.B. 289 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of CUMMER-GRAHAM COMPANY, EMPLOYER and UNITED
FURNITURE WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. 0., PETITIONER
Case No. 16-B-1743.-Decided October 8,1941
Mr. O. B. Fisher, of Paris, Tex., for the Employer.
Mr. W. E. Keefer, of Dallas, Tex., for the Petitioner.
Mr. Conrad A. Wickham, Jr., of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Paris,
Texas, on July 27, 1946, before Glenn L. Moller, hearing officer. The
hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial
error and are hereby affirmed.
At the hearing the Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the
grounds that the unit sought is inappropriate and the Petitioner has
made no showing of interest in the units alleged by the Employer to
be appropriate. For reasons stated in the O. D. Jennings case,' and
in Section IV, infra, the motion is hereby denied.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following;
FINDINGS OF- FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Cummer-Graham Company is a Texas corporation having its prin-
cipal office at Paris, Texas. It is engaged in the manufacture and
sale of wooden boxes, baskets, crates, containers, lumber and veneer.
It operates plants at Paris, Beaumont, Longview, and Mineola, Texas,
and at Hornbeck, Louisiana. Only the Employer's Paris, Texas,
operations are here involved. The Employer receives annually at its
Paris plants raw materials valued in excess of $100,000, more than 30
percent of which represents shipments received from points outside
the State of Texas. The Employer produces annually at its Paris
operations boxes, crates, lumber and veneer valued in excess of $100,-
000, of which more than $7,000 represents shipments to points out-
I platter of 0 D Jennings & Company, 68 N L R B 516
71 N. L. U. B., No. 35.
289
290 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
side the State of Texas. Crates and boxes valued in excess of $93,000
annually are shipped from the Paris operations to fruit and vegetable
packers in the Rio Grande Valley.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
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 on the ground
that the unit sought is inappropriate.
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 kPPROPRIATE UNIT
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Employer's Paris, Texas, operations, which comprise
the sawmill, the veneer plant, the box and crate factory (hereinafter
referred to as the "factory") and the lumber and storage yards appur-
tenant thereto, including the truck drivels, the veneer yard foreman,
and, at the factory, the engineer and assistant engineers, the saw filer,
the lumber checkers and watchmen, but excluding office and clerical
employees and all supervisory employees. The Employer contends
that there should be three separate units, consisting of the factory and
its lumber yard, the veneer plant and its storage yard, and the saw-
mill and its yard. In addition, it would exclude the lumber checkers
as clerical employees, and the engineer, assistant engineers, saw filer,
and veneer yard foreman as supervisors. The parties agree to the
inclusion of the truck driver and the watchmen, and to the exclusion
of the superintendents of the factory, of the sawmill and the veneer
plant, and higher ranking officials, as well as the veneer plant night
foreman and the respective factory foremen of machinery, of the lum-
ber yard, and of the stitching and nailing department.
The Employer's Paris operations consist of three separate plants-
the sawmill, the factory, and the veneer plant. The sawmill is engaged
in the cutting and production of lumber from logs, part of which is
consumed by the factory. The factory manufactures boxes and crates
from rough board lumber, and the veneer plant manufactures veneer.
CUMMER-GRAHAM COMPANY 291
Although these plants occupy separate buildings, they are all in close
proximity to each other and are served by a single office. The latter
office is in the same building as the Employer's home office which
serves all of its other plants. The entire output of the veneer plant
is consumed by the factory, while about 20 percent of the rough lumber
used by the latter is produced at the sawmill. Together, these materials
constitute approximately 40 percent of the raw materials used by the
factory, the remainder being purchased from outside sources. The
power for both the factory and the veneer plant is produced by the
powerhouse located in the factory, while the sawmill obtains its power
from outside sources. Although each plant has its own superintendent,
each of these officials is responsible to the Employer's general super-
intendent of the Paris operations. All employees use the same time
clock, and the pay rolls for each plant are maintained in the main
office, the employees of all plants being paid by company check from
this office. In keeping with the Employer's policy of attempting to
provide steady employment for its skilled employees, there is, during
lay-off periods, considerable interchange of personnel between the
sawmill and the factory, transfers being made to whichever operation
remains in active production. The veneer plant is only affected to a
minor degree by these interchanges. Wage scales, hours and working
conditions, vacation privileges, and general personnel and employee
relations problems of all three plants are centrally determined by top
management officials rather than by the individual superintendents
of the respective units.
The three operations can, and frequently do, operate independently
of one another, depending upon the availability of materials. Al-
though a separate profit and loss sheet is maintained for the sawmill,
a single account is kept for the combined operations of the factory
and veneer plant.
Under all the circumstances, we are of the opinion that the interests
of the three Paris operations are so integrated, both by the inter-
relation of their functions and by the nature of the managerial organi-
zation and control, as to render a single bargaining unit of all the
Employer's employees more appropriate than three separate units.
We therefore find that a single unit is appropriate in this case for the
purposes of collective bargaining.2
Specific disputed categories
Engineer and assistant engineers: The engineer is in charge of the
factory powerhouse and is assisted by two assistant engineers. All
three of these employees have the authority to hire and discharge. We
2 Matter of Longhorn Roofing Products , Inc., 67 N. L. R . B. 84 ; Matter of Thomaston
Cotton Mills, 66 N. L. It. B. 731.
292 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
find them to be supervisory employees within the meaning of our cus-
tomary definition. We shall exclude them from the unit.
Saito filer: The duties of this employee, a skilled craftsman, nor-
mally involve the checking of factory saws in operation, and, with the
help of one or two assistants, the removal and sharpening of factory
saws as required. It is conceded that he is not a supervisor when
performing these duties. However, the Employer contends that two
or three times a year, for periods of about a week, he assumes the
position of factory superintendent, in which capacity he performs
supervisory functions. Since he assumes these duties only sporadi-
cally, we are of the opinion that he is not a supervisor within the cus-
tomary meaning of the term. We shall therefore include him in
the unit.3
Checkers: There are two lumber checkers in the factory lumber
yard whose duties are to measure and check the quantity of incoming
rough board lumber, and also to grade it when such is necessary.
Upon their reports are based the Employer's payments to the sellers
from whom the lumber is received. Their work is performed entirely
in the lumber yard and they are under the supervision of the lumber
yard foreman, who also has common labor under him. Although the
Employer would exclude these men as clerical employees, we are of
the opinion that their interests are more closely associated with those
of the lumber yard and factory workers than with the Employer's
clerical force. We shall therefore include them in the Unit .4
Veneer Yard Foreman: This employee is in charge of stacking the
finished veneer in the veneer yard, and is under the supervision of the
veneer plant superintendent. Although he spends most of his time
working along with his subordinates, he has the authority to hire and
discharge. We shall exclude him from the unit as a supervisory
employee.
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the
Employer's Paris, Texas, operations, consisting of its box and crate
factory, veneer plant, sawmill, and all yards adjacent thereto, includ-
ing the saw filer, truck driver, lumber checkers, and watchmen, but
excluding the superintendents of the box and crate factory, the veneer
plant, and the sawmill, and higher ranking officials, the lumber yard
foreman, machinery foreman, stitching and nailing department fore-
man, veneer plant night foreman, and veneer yard foreman, office
clerical employees, and all other supervisory employees with authority
to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in
the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, con-
3 Matter of E . I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Inc , Rayon Division, 62 N L . It. B. 146 ;
Matter of Aluminum Company of America , 61 N. L . It. B. 1066.
4 Matter of Goodman Manufacturing Company, 58 N. L . It. B. 531 ; Matter of Servel, Inc.,
58 N. L. It. B. 5.
CUMMER-GRAHAM COMPANY 293
stitute 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 Cummer-Graham Company,
Paris, Texas, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted 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 Di-
rector for the Sixteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the
National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections 203.55 and
203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
Series 4, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Sec-
tion IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period im-
mediately 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 employees 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 reinstated prior to
the date of the election, to determine whether or not they desire to be
represented by United Furniture Workers of America, C. I. 0., for the
purposes of collective bargaining.