Sound Timber Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 6, 1938

8 N.L.R.B. 844 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter Of SOUND TIMBER COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL WOOD-
WORKERS OF AMERICA LOCALS 67 AND 75.
Case No. R-850.-Decided August 6, 1938
Logging Industry-Investigation of Representatives : controversy concerning
representation of employees : contracts entered into with locals of one interna-
tional organization terminable upon 15 days' notice by either party ; later by
an overwhelming referendum of its members the locals transferred allegiance
to another international ; employer now refuses to recognize latter interna-
tional; contracts terminable upon 15 days' notice by either party no bar to
present investigation-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: geographi-
cal differences, centralization of management ; similarity of work performed,
wage scales , and employment conditions ; interchangeability of employees-
Representatives: proof of choice: membership cards-Certification of Represent-
atives: upon proof of majority representation.
Mr. William A. Babcock, Jr., for the Board.
Mr. R. W. Maxwell, of Seattle, Wash., for the Company.
Mr. P. Guerin, of Seattle, Wash., for the International.
Mr. Melvin S. Frazier, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On March 10, 1938, International Woodworkers of America, Locals
67 and 75, herein collectively called the International, filed with the
Regional Director for the Nineteenth Region (Seattle, Washington)
a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of Sound Timber Company,
Seattle, Washington, herein called the Company, and requesting an
investigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section
9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called
the Act.
On June 9, 1938, 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 Relations Board Rules and Regula-
tions-Series 1, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized
8 N. L. R . B., No. 103.
844
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 845
the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate
hearing upon due notice.
On June 14, 1938, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the International, the Com-
pany, and the Puget Sound District Council of the Lumber and Saw-
mill Workers Union, herein called the Lumber and Sawmill
Workers Union, a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor. Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held
on June 23, 1938, before Thomas S. Wilson, the Trial Examiner duly
designated by the Board. The Board, the Company, and the Interna-
tional were represented by counsel and participated in the hearing.
The Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union did not appear at 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.
At the commencement of the hearing the Company made a motion
to dismiss the petition for lack of jurisdiction. The Trial Examiner
reserved decision and upon renewal of the motion by the Company at
the end of the hearing, denied it. His ruling is hereby affirmed.
During the course of the hearing, the Trial Examiner made several
other ruiings on motions and on objections to the admission of evi-
dence. The Board has reviewed these rulings and finds that no pre-
judicial 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
The Company is an Iowa corporation engaged in the business of
logging fir, cedar, spruce, pine, and hemlock timber from land owned
by it in Skagit, Snohomish, and Whatcom counties, Washington.
The Company logged approximately 42,000,000 board feet of timber
in 1937. The Company sells all its logs to lumber manufacturers
operating in various cities in the State of Washington. Approxi-
mately 80 per cent of the Company's total sales for the year 1937 were
made to the Canyon Lumber Company, the Washington Veneer Com-
pany, the Seattle Cedar Lumber Manufacturing Company, the Jami-
son Mill Company, and the Super Shingle Company, all of which are
situated in the State of Washington. Approximately 80 per cent of
the products of these manufacturing companies are sold and shipped
to purchasers outside the State of Washington.
The Company's largest customer, the Canyon Lumber Company, a
concern engaged in the general manufacture of lumber and lumber
products, purchased from all sources approximately 40,700,000 board
846 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
feet of logs in 1937. Approximately 22,300,000 board feet of such
logs were purchased by the Canyon Lumber Company from the Com-
pany, which was more than 50 per cent of the Company' s total sales
of logs for 1937. The Canyon Lumber Company sells and ships
more than 90 per cent of its products to purchasers outside the State
of Washington. It is evident, therefore, that at least 40 per cent of
the logs which the Company sells are, after processing, shipped in
the channels of interstate commerce.
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
International Woodworkers of America is a labor organization
affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organization, herein
called the C. I. O. Local 67 admits to membership all of the Com-
pany's employees at camp No. 5, except clerical and supervisory
employees, and Local 75 admits to membership all of the Company's
employees at camp No. 3, except clerical and supervisory employees.'
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
In 1936 Locals 2626 and 2646 of Lumber and Sawmill Workers
Union represented a large number of the Company's employees. In
November or December 1936 the Company entered into two collective
bargaining contracts with the Puget Sound District Council of the
Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union in behalf of the two Locals.
One of the contracts covered the employees at camp No. 3 and the
other, almost identical in all respects, covered the employees at camp
No. 5. Although the contracts did not set forth specific termination
dates, each contained a' provision for cancellation by either party
upon 15 days' notice.
In the summer of 1937, as a result of a referendum, an overwhelm-
ing majority of the members of Locals 2626 and 2646 voted to affil-
iate with the C. I. O. Accordingly, Locals 67 and 75 of the Interna-
tional Woodworkers of America were established in September 1937,
and practically all the former members of Locals 2626 and 2646 trans-
ferred their allegiance to the International. Thereafter Lumber and
Sawmill Workers Union became inactive and the International
requested of the Company exclusive bargaining rights for its employ-
ees. The Company refused and has at all times since refused to grant
the International exclusive bargaining rights, contending (1) that it
does not know whether the International represents a majority of its
employees, and (2) that the contracts it entered into with the Puget
Sound District Council of the Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union
in 1936 have not been canceled.
1 Camp Nos 3 and 5 are the only logging camps which the, Company operates at the
present time.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 847
The contracts present no bar to an investigation and certification
of representatives in this case. Following the mass shift of the em-
ployees to the International, Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union
became inactive and abandoned all efforts to represent the Com-
pany's employees.
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 com-
merce and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Company's two logging camps are approximately 25 miles
apart. The International contends that all the Company's employees
in both camps, exclusive of clerical and supervisory employees, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
Both camps are under the general supervision of a single super-
intendent who spends an equal amount of time at each camp. The
work performed by the various classifications of employees in each
camp is identical, the wage scale is the same for both camps, and
the general conditions of employment are substantially the same in
both camps. Employees are occasionally transferred from one camp
to the other. In the past when one camp was closed, the other camp
was operated by employees selected by the Company from both
camps. Although the Company contends that the employees in
each camp, exclusive of clerical and supervisory employees, con-
stitute an appropriate unit, it admits that it desires to enter into
identical contracts with the representatives of the employees of
both camps. Under these circumstances, we see no reason for reject-
ing the unit claimed to be appropriate by the International.
The parties agreed that the clerical and supervisory employees
should be excluded from the unit found to be appropriate. Both
parties agreed that the superintendent and the two general foremen
are supervisory employees. There was some question as to whether
bull buckers, head riggers, steel foremen, cooks, section foremen, hook-
tenders, scalers, and other employees who have charge of small crews
but who do not have authority to hire and discharge fall within the
classification of supervisory employees. All of these employees are
848 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
under the supervision of the general-foremen. All of them are eligible
to membership in the International and many of them are members.
We will include them in the unit.
A question was raised as to whether the two timekeepers are clerical
employees . They are eligible for membership in the International
and at least one of them is a member . We will include them in the
unit.
We find that all employees of the Company at camp Nos. 3 and 5,
excluding the superintendent and the two general foremen, consti-
tute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining and
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 effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
A list of employees of the Company as of March 10, 1938, was
introduced in evidence . It shows that on that date there were 208
employees in the appropriate unit. The International introduced
its membership cards in evidence . A comparison of the membership
cards with the list of employees reveals that at least 130 of the 208
employees in the appropriate unit have signed membership cards
designating either Local 67 or 75 as their bargaining agent.
We find that Locals 67 and 75 of the International have been desig-
nated and selected by a majority of the employees in the appropriate
unit as their representatives for the purpose of collective bargaining.
Locals 67 and 75 are , therefore , the exclusive representatives of all
the employees in such unit for'the purposes of collective bargaining,
and we will so certify.
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 Sound Timber Company , Seattle, Washing-
ton, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7)
of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All employees of the Company at camp Nos . 3 and 5, excluding
the superintendent and the two general foremen, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purpose of collective bargaining , within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
3. International Woodworkers of America , Locals 67 and 75 are
the exclusive representatives of all the employees in such unit for
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 849
the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section
9 (a) of the National Labor Relations Act.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
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 HEREBY•CERTIFIED that International Woodworkers of America,
Locals 67 and 75, have been designated and selected by a majority
of the employees at camp Nos. 3 and 5 of Sound Timber Company,
Seattle, Washington, excluding the superintendent and the two general
foremen, as their representatives for the purpose of collective bar-
gaining and that, pursuant to the provisions of Section 9 (a) of the
Act, International Woodworkers of America, Locals 67 and 75, are
the exclusive representatives 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.
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