Dierks Lumber & Coal Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 16, 1943

51 N.L.R.B. 1358 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of DIERKS LUMBER & COAL COMPANY and INTERNA-
TIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA, AFFILIATED WITH THE CON-
GRESS OF INDUSTRIAL, ORGANIZATIONS
Case No. R-5736.-Decided August 16, 1943
Mr. Carl E. Enggas, of Kansas City, ,Mo., and Mr. Elbert Cook,
of De Queen, Ark., for the Company. ,
Mr. Kenneth Snyder, of Dierks, Ark., for the C. 1. 0.
Mr. C. W. Mowery, of Little Rock, Ark., for the, Carpenters.
Miss Muriel J. Levor, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon amended petition duly filed by International Woodworkers
of America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
herein called the C. I. 0., alleging that a question affecting commerce
had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Dierks Lum-
ber & Coal Company, Mt. Pine, Arkansas, herein called the Company,
the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate
hearing upon due notice before Earl S. Bellman, Trial Examiner.
Said hearing was held at Hot Springs, Arkansas, on July 23, 1943.
The Company, the C. I. 0., and United Brotherhood of Carpenters
and Joiners of America, affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor, herein called the Carpenters, appeared, participated, and were
afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine
witnesses and to introduce evidence bearing on the issueg. The Trial
Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial
error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded opportunity
to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Dierks Lumber & Coal Company, a Delaware corporation, owns
and operates four sawmills, located at Mt. Pine and Dierks, Arkansas,
51 N. L. R B., No. 215.
1358
T,
DIERKS LUMBER & COAL COMPANY 1359
and Broken Bow and Wright City, Oklahoma. It is with the Mt. Pine
operations of the Company that we are concerned in this proceeding.
Most of the timber used at the Mt. Pine mill is logged from land
owned by the Company in that vicinity and is transported over the
Company's logging railroad or by truck from the Company's logging
camp. The principal products manufactured by the Company are
rough lumber, pine flooring, shiplap, dimension lumber, finished floor-
ing and other incidental lumber. Approximately 60 percent of all
finished products manufactured at the Mt. Pine mill is shipped to
points outside the State of Arkansas.
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
International Woodworkers of America is a labor organization, affili-
ated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America is a
labor organization, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor,
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The C. I. O. desires recognition as sole bargaining representative
of the Company's Mt. Pine employees and the Company has indicated
that it, would not recognize the C. I. O. as such unless and until it
was certified as the exclusive bargaining representative by the Board.
A statement of the Regional Director introduced in evidence at
the hearing, together with a statement of the Trial Examiner made
at the hearing, indicate that the C. 1. 0. and the Carpenters each repre-
sents a substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found
appropriate i
'We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The parties agreed at the hearing that all production, maintenance,
and logging employees of the Company's Mt. Pine operations, exclud-
ing clerical and supervisory employees and watchmen,2, constitute an
1 The Regional Director reported that the C. I. O. submitted 224 designations , of which
186 correspond with names on the Company's pay roll of June 30, 1943, which contains
464 names.
The Trial Examiner reported that the Carpenters submitted 102 designations , of which
88 correspond with names on the aforesaid pay roll.
2 The full-time watchmen are armed plant-protection employees . The parties agreed,
and we find, that part-time watchmen are not excluded.
1360 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
appropriate unit for collective bargaining. purposes. The parties-fur-
ther agreed that the Company does not employ supervisory employees
lower in the supervisory hierarchy, than ,assistant foremen, or their
equivalent, who have the power to hire and discharge or effectively to
change the status of other employees.
It appears that the major portion of the timber manufactured at
the mill is logged by the Mt. Pine logging employees and transported
over the Company's logging railroad or by trucks driven by the Com-
pany's truck drivers. The sole controversy concerns the logging rail-
road crew whom the C. I. O. asserts, and the Carpenters denies, should
be excluded from the unit; the Company takes no position i'n the mat-
ter. In view of the integration of the Company's Mt. Pine operations,
as a part of which the train crew is solely employed, we shall include
its members in the unit.3
Accordingly, we find that all production, maintenance, and logging
employees of the Company's Mt. Pine logging and sawmill opera-
tions, including part-time watchmen, truck drivers, logging train
crews, logging machine and road building maintenance crews, and ex-
cluding all clerical employees, the shipping clerk, the head machinist,
head electrician, head saw filer, plant and civil engineers, armed
watchmen, foremen, assistant foremen, and any other supervisory
employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees or effectively
recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em.
ployees within the appropriate unit who were employed during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of
Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in
the Direction.4
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 9, of National Labor
See Matter of Meadow River Lumber Co, 48 N. L. R. B. 531.
The C. I O. and the Carpenters requested that they appear on the ballot as Interne-
tional Woodworkers of -America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
and as United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, respectively. The requests are hereby granted.
DIERKS LUMBER & COAL COMPANY 1361
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Dierks.Lumber
& Coal Company, Mt. Pine, Arkansas, 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 super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Fifteenth Region, acting in
this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and
subject to Article III, Section 10, of said Rules and Regulations,
among the employees' in the unit found appropriate in Section IV,
above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did
not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on va-
cation 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 any who have since quit or been discharged for
cause, to determine whether they desire to be represented by Inter-
national Woodworkers of America, affiliated with the Congress of In-
dustrial Organizations, or by United Brotherhood of Carpenters and
Joiners of America; affiliated with the American Federation of Labor,
for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.
CHAIRMAN MILLIs took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.