Fruit Growers Supply Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 14, 1941

36 N.L.R.B. 959 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of FRUIT GROWERS SUPPLY COMPANY and LUMBER AND
SAWMILL WORKERS UNIoN, LOCAL #2732, A. F. L.
Case No. R-3213-Decided, November 14, 1941
Jurisdiction : lumber and lumber products manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: con-
flicting claims of rival representatives ; Company desires that Board determine
exclusive representative; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : production and maintenance em-
ployees, including employees in sawmill, lath mill, machine shop, electric shop,
powerhouse, yard and planing mill, box factory, train crew, bull gang, contract
lumber handlers, and police and watchmen, but excluding supervisory, clerical,
office and store employees ; agreed to.
Farrand Q Farrand, by Mr. George E. Farrcmrd, of Los Angeles,
Calif., and Tebbe cQc.Correia, by Mr. J. P. Correia, of Yreka, Calif.,
for the Company.
Mr. E. H. Card, of Medford, Oreg., for the L. and S. W.
Mr. S. J. Severson, of Medford, Oreg., for the I. W. A.
Mr. George A. Koplow, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On or about August 8, 1941, Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union,
Local #2732, A. F. L., herein called L. and S. W.,1 filed with the
Regional Director for the Twentieth Region (San Francisco, Cali-
fornia) a petition 'alleging that a question affecting commerce had
arisen concerning the representation of employees of Fruit Growers
Supply Company, Hilt, California, herein called the Company, and
requesting an investigation and certification of representatives pur-
suant to Sectioli.9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat.
449, herein called the Act. On September 24, 1941, the National Labor
Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section
9 (c) of the Act, and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Rela-
1 The Company, L. and S. W., and I. W. A. were referred to in certain of the formal
papers and at the hearing by appellations differing slightly from those set forth herein.
36 N. L. It. B., No. 199.
959
960 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered an
investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and
to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On October 6, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear-
ing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, L. and
S. W., and .International Woodworkers of America, Local #311,
C. I. 0., herein called I. W. A., a labor orgo;nization, claiming to
represent employees directly affected by the investigation. Pursuant
to notice, a hearing was held on October 20, 1941, at Medford, Oregon,
before LeRoy Marceau, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the
Chief Trial Examiner. The Company, L. and S. W., and I. W. A.
were represented by counsel and participated in the hearing. Full
opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses,
and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all
parties. During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made
several rulings regarding the admission of exhibits. The Board has
reviewed these rulings and finds that no prejudicial errors were
committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire. record in the case, 'the Boardiinakes the following
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Fruit Growers Supply Company, a California corporation with its
principal office and place of business in Los Angeles, California, is
engaged in the manufacturing of lumber and lumber products at its
place of business in Hilt, California, hereinafter called the Hilt- plant,
the only phase of its operations involved in these proceedings. Dur-
ing the. year 1940, the Company sold and distributed from the Hilt
plant, approximately $708,000 worth of - its products, amounting to
26,700,000 board feet. Of this amount, approximately 52.4 per cent;
computed by value, or 40.4 per cent, computed by bulk, was sold and
shipped from the Hilt plant to, into, or through foreign countries
or parts of the United States outside the State of California. Solely
for the purpose of these proceedings, the Company admits that it is
engaged in commerce within the meaning of Section 2 (6) and (7)
of the Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, Local #2732, affiliated with
the American Federation of Labor, and International Woodworkers
of America, Local #311, .affiliated with the. Congress of Industrial
Organizations, are labor organizations admitting. to their membership
employees of the Company. I .
-' FRUIT GROWERS SUPPLY COMPANY, '
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
96:1
Each of the two labor organizations has 'requested the Company
to bargain with it as the exclusive representative. of certain of its
employees. The Company will bargain with the labor organization
that is designated by a majority of. such employees; but is not certain
which organization, if either, such employees desire.
A statement by the Regional Director of the* Board introduced
into evidence shows that L. and S. W. and I. W. A. each represents
employees in the collective bargaining unit hereinafter found to be
appropriate .2
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of
employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
. COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation .which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations 'of the Company
described- in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The parties stipulated, and we find, that all production and main-
tenance employees of the Company at the Hilt plant, including em-.
ployees in the.sawmill, lath mill, machine shop, electric shop, power-
house, yard and planing mill, box factory, train crew, bull gang, con-
tract lumber handlers, and police and watchmen, but excluding super-
visory, clerical, office, and store employees, and the contractor in the
lath mill, the conductor in the train crew, the carpenter foreman in
the bull gang, and the foreman in the box factory, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. We find further
that said unit will insure. to employees of the Company the full benefit
of their right to self-organization and to collective bargaining and
otherwise will effectuate the policies of the Act.
2 The Regional Director stated that L. and S . W. had submitted to her , 144 applications
for membership , all dated between May 13 and July 15 , 1941 . One hundred thirty-two of
the 144 applications bore apparently genuine original signatures of persons on the'Com-
pany's pay roll of August 31„1941.
The Regional Director further stated that I. W. A. had submitted to her 25 applications
for membership , of which 21 were dated between May 1 and July 15 , 1941, and 4 were un-
dated . Twenty -two of the 25 applications bore apparently genuine original signatures of
persons on the Company ' s pay roll of August 31, 1941..
Evidence at the hearing shows that there are approximately 180 employees in the unit
hereinafter found to be appropriate.
43311:8-4--4--vo l. 3 ti--6 2
962 DECISIONS,OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen
can best be resolved by an election by secret ballot.
We shall direct that those eligible to vote in the election shall be the
employees in the appropriate unit who were employed by the Company
during the pay. ;roll period immediately preceding the-date, . of our
Direction of .Election, subject to the limitations and additions set
forth in the Direction.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Fruit Growers Supply Company, Hilt, Cali-
fornia, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7)
of the Act.
2. All production and maintenance employees of the Company at the
Hilt plant, including employees in the sawmill, lath mill, machine
shop, electric shop, powerhouse, yard and planing mill, box factory,
train crew, bull gang, contract lumber handlers, and police and watch-
men, but excluding supervisory, clerical, office, and store employees,
and the contractor in the lath mill, the conductor in the train crew, the
carpenter foreman in the bull gang, and the foreman in the box fac-
tory, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and. pursuant to the power vested in the National, Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations
Act and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Fruit Growers Supply Company, Hilt, California, 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 of Election, under the
direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Twentieth
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations
Board, and. subject to Article III, Section 9, of such Rules and Regu-
lations, among all production and maintenance employees of the Com-
pany at the Hilt plant, who were employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees
in the sawmill, lath mill, machine shop, electric shop, powerhouse,
FRUIT GROWERS SUPPLY COMPANY 963
;yard and planing mill, box factory, train `crew, bull gang, contract
lumber handlers, police and watchmen, and employees who did not
work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation
or in the active military service or training of the United States, or
temporarily laid off, but excluding supervisory, clerical, office, and
store employees, and the contractor in the lath mill, the conductor in
the train crew, the carpenter foreman in the bull gang, the foreman
in the box factory, and employees who have since quit or been dis-
charged for cause, to determine whether they desire to be represented
by Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, Local #2732, A. F. L., or by
International Woodworkers of America, Local #311, C. I. 0., for the
purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.