Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsDec 9, 1938

10 N.L.R.B. 398 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter Of SNOQUAL14IE FALLS LUMBER COMPANY and INTER- NATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL No. 106 Case No. R-988.-Decided December 9, 1938 Lumber Industry-Investigation of Representatives : controversy concerning representation of employees : controversy concerning appropriate unit ; rival organizations-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : employees of Com- pany working in logging operations and in sawmills , excluding clerical and supervisory employees-Election Ordered Mr. Patrick H. Walker, for the Board. Mr. W. E. Heidinger, of Tacoma, Wash., for the Company. Houghton, Cluck d Coughlin, by Mr. R. V. Houghton and Mr. Paul Coughlin, of Seattle, Wash., for the I. W. A. Mr. L. Presley Gill, of Seattle, Wash., for the Sawmill Union. Mr. Willard Y. Mori-is, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE On February 2, 1938, International Woodworkers of America, Local No. 106, affiliated with the C. I. 0., herein called the I. W. A., filed with the Regional Director for the Nineteenth Region (Seattle, Washington) a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Weyer- haeuser Timber Company, Snoqualmie Falls, Washington, and re- questing an investigation and certification of representatives pur- suant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On July 5, 1938, the I. W. A. filed an amended petition in which it changed the name of the employer to Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company, herein called the Company. In other respects the amended petition was substantially the same as the original petition. On July 16, 1938, the National Labor Rela- tions Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c), of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Rela- tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, ordered ION L R B.,No 30. 398 DECISIONS AND ORDERS 399 an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. On July 26, 1938 , the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing, copies of which were - duly served upon the Company , the I. W. A., and Lumber and Sawmill Workers Local Union No. 2545, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, herein called the Sawmill Union, a labor organization claiming to represent employees directly affected by the investigation . Pursuant to the notice , a hearing was held on August 8, 9, and 10, 1938 , at Seattle , Washington , before JosephL : Maguire , the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board, the Company, the I. W. A., and the Sawmill Union were represented by counsel and participated in the hearing . Full oppor- tunity 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 on motions and on objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following: FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company is a Washington corporation engaged in the manufacture and sale of fir, hemlock, and cedar lumber. It owns and operates a sawmill at Snoquahmie Falls, Washington, an unincorporated town at the foot of the Cascade Mountains, about 40 miles east of Seattle, Washington. The Company owns extensive areas of timber and conducts its logging operations on its own lands. Approximately 99 per cent of the logs produced by the Company's operations are sawed in the Company 's mills. The logging operations are at present conducted at a distance of approximately 20 miles from the mills and are connected with the mills by the Company's private logging railroad. The Company produces and sells annually between 110,000,000 and 120,000,000 feet of lumber, approximately 90 per cent of which are shipped to points outside the State of Washington. All sales of the Company's lumber are made through the Weyerhaeuser Sales Company, a,Washington corporation , having its principal office at St. Paul, Minnesota . Most of the shipments are made by rail and truck, only a small percentage being shipped by water. The Com- pany normally employs approximately 600 employees in its sawmills and approximately 300 employees in its logging operations. 400 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED International Woodworkers of America, Local No. 106, is a labor organization affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organiza- tion. It admits to membership all production employees who work in the Company's logging operations, exclusive of supervisory em- ployees. The jurisdiction of the international organization includes all employees in the lumber industry. Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, Local No. 2545, is a labor organization, affiliated with United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, which in turn is affiliated with American Fed- eration of Labor. It admits to membership all employees engaged in the production of lumber, both in the logging operations and in the sawmills, exclusive of supervisory and clerical employees. Its membership is not confined to employees of the Company, but in- cludes'employees of several other neighboring lumber companies. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Sawmill Union obtained its charter from the United Brother- hood of Carpenters and Joiners of America in March 1935. Front the outset its membership extended- to employees in both the saw- mills and the logging operations. On May 10, 1937, a -working agreement was entered into between the Company and the Sawmill Union, which was to terminate on March 1, 1938. This agreement recognized the Sawmill Union as the representative of its members who were employed in the sawmills and logging operations. The I. W. A. installed its charter on December 21, 1937. On De- cember 22 , 1937, the I. W. A. wrote a letter to the Company, stating- that a majority of the employees in the Company's logging oper- ations had designated the I. W. A. as their bargaining agency, and calling attention to the expiration' date of the working agreement between the Sawmill Union and the Company. On February 23, 1938, the I. W. A. filed with the Board its original petition for in- vestigation and certification. On March 23, 1938, the I. W. A. wrote- a second letter to the Company, stating that they represented a majority of the Company's employees in the logging operations and that they desired to open negotiations. The Company made no reply. On March 28, 1938, the I. W. A. wrote a third letter, sub- stantially similar to the letter of March 23, 1938. - The Company on March 31, 1938,. replied to the I. W. A. that the Company had no assurance that the I. W. A.'represented a majority of the Company's employees. On May 11, 1938, a second working agreement was entered into between the Company and the Sawmill Union. This agreement may DECISIONS AND ORDERS 401 be terminated by mutual agreement or by 60 days'. written notice by either party. Like the first agreement it does not grant exclusive bargaining rights, but merely recognizes the Sawmill Union as the representative of its members who were employed in the Company's sawmills and logging operations. We find that a question has arisen concerning 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 1 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 I. W. A. claim, that the employees in the Company's logging operations constitute a unit appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining. In support of its claim the I. W. A. advanced the fol- lowing considerations: The logging camps are situated approximately 20 miles from Snoqualmie Falls, the site of the sawmills. The Com- pany's logging railroad is the only means of transportation to the camps. The nearest auto road is approximately 8 miles from the camps. It is asserted that this isolation is a barrier to effective coop- eration between the logging employees and the sawmill workers. The Sawmill Union and the Company claim that all the employees, including both those working in the sawmills and logging operations, constitute a single appropriate unit.' In support of their claim they point to the following factors: (1) That the operations of the Com- pany are interdependent, neither the sawmills nor the logging oper- ating being able to operate separately for more than 30 days; and (2) that the Company and the Sawmill Union have bargained collec- tively on the basis of such a single unit. The employees of the Company were first organized in 1934 by a federal union affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. The membership in this federal union included both the sawmill workers and the logging employees. In 1934, under the National Industrial Recovery Act, an election was conducted among all the I The term "sawmills" does not include a shingle mill owned and operated by the Company. The employees in the shingle mill are rcpiesented by a labor organization not involved in this pioceedmg 402 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Company's employees and the federal union was designated as their representative for the purposes of collective bargaining . In 1935 the federal union affiliated with the United Brotherhood of Carpen- ters and Joiners of America and received a charter as the Sawmill Union. In 1937 the Sawmill Union and the Company entered into a working agreement which was renewed in 1938. This agreement covered the Sawmill Union's membership both in the sawmill and logging operations. It was not until the end of 1937, almost 7 months after the first working agreement with the Sawmill Union was executed, that the I. W. A. began organizing the logging employees. It thus appears that both the sawmill workers and the logging em- ployees have been organized for several years by a single union and collective bargaining has been carried on successfully on the basis of a single unit composed of all the Company 's employees . In Mat- ter of Bloedel-Donovan Lumber Mills and Columbia Valley Lumber Company and International Woodworkers o l America 2 we held, under closely analogous circumstances , that a single unit composed of the sawmill workers and the logging employees was appropriate. In that case the two unions involved were locals of the same parent organizations as the loca l s involved in the instant case. In that case both local unions had industrial jurisdiction , admitting to member- ship both the sawmill workers and the logging employees, whole in this case the I. W. A. has thus far limited its membership solely to the logging employees. The I. W. A. admitted that a basic principle of its parent body is industrial organization of employees in the lumber industry but stated that in this case the local union had con- fined its membership to the logging employees of the Company by a motion passed by its membership. The restriction may be removed by the same procedure. We are impressed by the fact that officers of the I. W. A. were unable to cite another instance where a local of the same national organization had excluded sawmill workers from membership. The local involved in the Bloedel-Donovan case claimed that a single unit composed of all the employees was ap- propriate. We conclude that the claim made by the I. W. A. in the instant case as to the appropriate unit is not well founded. The I . W. A. and the Sawmill Union agreed that all supervisory and clerical employees, except strawbosses, should be excluded from whatever unit or units were found to be appropriate . We see no reason for departing from the desires of the unions in this respect. We find that all the employees of the Company in its sawmills and logging operations, excluding clerical and supervisory employees, but 2 8 N L R B. 230. DECISIONS AND ORDERS 403 including strawbosses, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining and that said unit will insure to employees of the Company the fill benefit of their right to self-organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act. VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES There were introduced in evidence two lists of the Company's em- ployees. The lists were prepared by officials of the Company from their Social Security records. The lists show the number of produc- tion employees, exclusive of supervisory and clerical workers, on De- cember 21, 19371 and June 21, 1938, as follows : December 21, 1937 June 21, 1938 Number engaged in logging operations------------- 257 196 Number engaged in sawmill operations------------- 584 590 Total-------------------------------------- 841 786 The Company normally employs approximately 300 men in the Iog- ging operations.. One of the logging camps had been idle since the in zn early part of 1938. At the time of the hearing, however, the Com- pany was increasing its logging operations to normal capacity. Thus there are almost 900 employees in the appropriate unit under normal conditions. The Sawmill Union introduced in evidence a list of names prepared from their membership records. The list shows 516 names of mem- bers employed by the Company in its sawmills on June 21, 1938. Offi- cials of the Sawmill Union testified that at least 85 per cent of these employees were members in good standing at the time of the hearing. The I. W. A. stipulated that, if the Board found that the sawmill workers constituted a separate appropriate unit, the Sawmill Union represented a majority of the sawmill workers for the purposes of collective bargaining. The I. W. A. introduced in evidence 158 membership-application cards. The Sawmill Union introduced in evidence a list of 119 mem- bers who were employed by the Company in its logging operations on June 21, 1938. The names of most of these employees also appear among the membership-application cards introduced by the I. W. A. The I. W. A. clearly has failed to establish that it represents a majority of the employees in the appropriate unit. In view of the qualification to the stipulation that the Sawmill Union represents a majority of the sawmill workers, we are unable to determine whether the Sawmill Union represents a majority of the employees in the appropriate unit. Accordingly, we find that an election by secret ballot will best resolve the question concerning representation. Since, 404 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD at the time of the hearing, the Company was increasing the number of employees in its logging operations to normal, we find that those eligible to vote shall be the employees in the appropriate unit who were employed by the Company during the pay-roll period next preceding the date of this Decision and Direction of Election, excluding those -who have since quit or been discharged for cause. Upon the basis of the foregoing 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 Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company, Sno- qualmie Falls, Washington, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 2. All the employees of the Company in its sawmills and logging operations, excluding clerical and supervisory employees, but includ- ing strawbosses, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, Within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the 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 Rela- tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, it is l_ereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the -Board to ascertain representatives for collective bargaining with .Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company, Snoqualmie Falls, Washing- ton, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted within fifteen (15) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Nineteenth Region, act- ing in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, .among all the employees of Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company in its sawmills and logging operations, who were employed during the pay-roll period next preceding the date of this Direction, in- cluding strawbosses, and excluding clerical and supervisory em- ployees, and those who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether such employees desire to be represented by International Woodworkers of America, Local No. 106, affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organization, or by Lumber and `Sawmill Workers Union, Local No. 2545, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, for the purpose of collective bargaining, or by neither. DECISIONS AND ORDERS [SAME TITLE ] CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES 405 January 28, 1939 On December 9, 1938„ the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, issued a Decision and Direction of Election in the above-entitled proceeding. The Direction of Election provided that an election by secret ballot be conducted within fifteen (15) days from the date of the Direction among all the employees of Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company, herein called the Company, in its sawmills and logging operations, who were employed during the pay-roll period next preceding the date of the Direction, including straw- bosses, and excluding clerical and supervisory employees, and those who had since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether such employees desired to be represented by International Wood- workers of America, Local No. 106, affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organization, or by Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, Local No. 2545, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.- Pursuant to the Direction, an election by secret ballot was con- ducted on December 21 and 22, 1938, at Snoqualmie Falls, Washing- ton, and at the Company's logging camps, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Nineteenth Region (Seattle, Washington). Full opportunity was afforded all parties to this investigation to participate in the conduct of the secret ballot and to make challenges. On December 29, 1938, the Regional Direc- tor, acting pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, issued and duly served upon the parties an Intermediate Report on the Election. No objections or exceptions to the Intermediate Report have been filed by any of the parties. As to the balloting and its results, the Regional Director reported as follows : Total number eligible to vote------------------------------------ 917 Total number of ballots cast------------------------------------ 851 Total number of votes in favor of International Woodworkers of America, Local 106, affiliated with the C. I. 0 --------------- 330 Total number of votes in favor of Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union Local 2545. chartered by the United Brotherhood of Car- penters and Joiners, affiliated with the A. F. of L------------ 510 Total number of votes in favor of neither------------------------ 9 Total number of blank ballots-------------------------------- Total number of void ballots----------------------------------- Total number of challenged votes----- ------------------------- 1 1 0 147541-39-vol 10--27 406- NATIONAL LABOR-RELATIONS BOARD 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, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Sections 8 and 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, Local No. 2545, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, has been selected by a majority of the employees of Snoqualmie Falls' Lumber Company, Snoqualmie Falls, Washington, in its sawmills and logging operations, including strawbosses, and excluding clerical and supervisory employees, as their representative for the purposes of collective bargaining, and that pursuant to Section 9 (a) of the Act, Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, Local No. 2545, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, is the exclusive representative of all such employees for the purposes of collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of employment. MR. DONALD WAKEFIELD SMITH took no part in the consideration of the above Certification of Representatives. 10 N. L R. B, No. 30a.