Cheney California Lumber Company And Lumber And Sawmill Workers Local 2647, 205 (1944)

In the Matter of CHENEY CALIFORNIA LUMBER COMPANY and LUMBER AND SAWMILL WORKERS LOCAL 2647 Case No. 20-0-1195.-Decided December 30, 1,943 DECISION AND ORDER On October 25, 1943, the Trial Examiner issued his Intermediate Report in the above-entitled proceeding, finding that the respondent had engaged in and was engaging in certain unfair labor practices, and recommending that it cease and desist from the unfair labor practices found and take certain affirmative action, as set out in the copy of the Intermediate Report attached hereto. None of the parties filed exceptions or briefs, or requested oral argument before the Board at Washington, D. C. The Board has considered the rulings of the Trial Examiner at the hearing and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed. The Board has considered the Intermediate Report and the entire record in the case, and hereby adopts the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the Trial Examiner.

ORDER Upon the entire record in the case, and pursuant to Section 10 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the respondent, Cheney California Lumber Company, Greenville, California, and its officers, agents, successors, and assigns, shall:

  1. Cease and desist from:

    (

    1. Discouraging membership in Lumber and Sawmill Workers Local 2647, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, or in any other labor organization of its employees, by discharging or refusing to reinstate any of its employees, or by discriminating in any other manner in regard to their hire and tenure of employment or any term or condition of their employment;

    (b) In any other manner interfering with, restraining, or coercing its employees in the exercise of the right to self-organization, to form,

    join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in concerted activities, for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, as guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act.

  2. Take the following affirmative action which the Board finds will effectuate the policies of the Act:

    (

    1. Offer Clayton Block, Ira Ware, Leslie Allan, and Lindsay Glenn immediate and full reinstatement to their former or substantially equivalent positions, without prejudice to their seniority or other rights and privileges;

    (b) Make whole Clayton Block, Ira Ware, Leslie Allan, and Lindsay Glenn for any loss of pay they have suffered by reason of the respondent's discrimination against them, by payment to each of them of a sum of money equal to the amount which he normally would have earned as wages from the date of his discharge to the date of the respondent's offer of reinstatement, less his net earnings during said period;

    (c) Post immediately in conspicuous places in and about its sawmill plant located at Greenville, California, and maintain for a period of at least sixty (60) consecutive days from the date of posting, notices to its employees stating: (1) that the respondent will not engage in the conduct from which it is ordered to cease and desist in paragraphs 1 (a) and (b) of this Order; (2) that the respondent will take the affirmative action set forth in paragraphs 2 (a) and (b) of this Order;

    and (3) that the respondent's employees are free to become and remain members of Lumber and Sawmill Workers Local 2647, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, and that the respondent will not discriminate against any employee because of his membership or activity in that or any other labor organization;

    (d) Notify the Regional Director for the Twentieth Region in writing, within ten (10) days from the date of this Order, what steps the respondent has taken to comply herewith.

    CHAIRMAN MILULS took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Order.

    INTERMEDIATE REPORT Mr. John Paul Jcnnings, for the Board Mr. Francis Chieney, of Medford, Ore., for the respondent.

    STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon a charge duly filed June 1, 1943 by Lumber and Sawmill Workers, Local 2647, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, herein called the Union, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, by the Regional Director for the Twentieth Region (San Francisco, California), issued its complaint dated August 26, 1943, against Cheney California Lumber Company of Greenville, California, herein called the respondent, alleging that the respond ent had engaged in and was engaging in unfair labor practices affecting commerce, within the meaning of Section 8 (1) and (3) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. Copies of the complaint, accompanied by notices of hearing thereon, were duly served upon the respondent and the Union.

    With respect to the unfair labor practices, the complaint alleged, in substance, that the respondent: (1) discharged Clayton Block and Ira Ware on or about March 19, 1943, and Leslie Allan and Lindsay Glenn on or about May 21, 1943, and has at all times since said dates refused and failed to reinstate said employees because of their membership in and activities on behalf of the Union; discharged Allan and Glenn for the further reason that the respondent desired thereby to influence, and did influence, a Board election scheduled for, and held on May 22, 1943, for the purpose of determining whether the respondent's employees desired to be represented for collective bargaining purposes by the Union; (2) during approximately September and October 1942, informed its employees that it objected to their joining the Union, and that it might close the mill if the Union succeeded in organizing the employees; during March 1943, questioned its employees regarding their union affiliations, and again advised its employees that it objected to their joining the Union and that they would be better off if they did not join the Union; but instead should discuss their problems with the respondent through a committee of employees; and (3) by the acts above described, the respondent has interfered with, restrained, and coerced its employees and is interfering with, restraining, and coercing its employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act.

    Subsequent to the hearing and on or about September 26, 1943, the respondent filed its answer in which it denied generally the commission of any unfair labor practices, and alleged affirmatively that it discharged Block, Ware, Allan and Glenn for cause.

    Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held at Greenville, California, on September 14 and 15, 1943, before Peter F. Ward, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Board and the respondent were represented by counsel. 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 close of the hearing, counsel for the Board made a motion, without objection, that the pleadings in the proceedings be amended to conform to the proof.

    The motion was granted by the undersigned. Oral argument before the undersigned was waived by the parties. While all parties were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the undersigned, none has been received.

    Upon the entire record in the case and from his observation of the witnesses, the undersigned makes, in addition to the above, the following:

    FNINDINGS FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE RESPONDENT The respondent is a California corporation, organized early in 1942. It operates a sawmill near Greenville, California, where it is engaged in the manufacture, sale and distribution of lumber and lumber products, including railroad ties and studding. Its principal sales office is located at Tacoma, Washington.

    During the year ending June 30, 1943, the sales of the respondent amounted to approximately $285,000. During the same period the respondent manufactured SUp to the commencement of the hearing the respondent had filed no answer but requested and was granted the privilege of filing a formal answer after the close of the hearing.

    approximately 17,(00,000 board feet of lumber. Approximately 8 percent of such total sales was of products sold and delivered outside the State of California.

    The balance of such sales was of products sold and delivered F. O. B. Greenville.

    Its principal manufactured product consists of railroad ties which are sold to the Western Pacific and the Southern Pacific railroads, with the preponderance of such sales going to the Western Pacific Railroad. B. B. Cheney, the respondent's president, testified that the respondent had contracts for the sale of ties with 'most all the transcontinental railroads in this country.' II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED Lumber and Sawmill Workers, Local 2647, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, is a labor organization admitting to membership employees of the respondent.

    1!I. THE UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES A. Interference, restraint, and coercion The respondent first began operations at its Greenville, California sawmill early in 1942. The owners of the respondent corporation also operate the Cheney Lumber Company, Inc., of Tacoma, Washington, and other companies. Lionel Pease who had operated a sawmill for one of the other Cheney companies, was made general manager and put in charge of the respondent's Greenville mill.

    In or about September 1942, Alvin Waitts, employed as an edgerman, undertook to organize the respondent's employees on behalf of the AFL. He succeeded in having 17 or 18 employees sign union application cards.

    On or about September 20, Pease, having learned of the union activity in the sawmill, called the employees together after working hours and addressed them concerning the Union. In this connection, Waitts, credibly and without contradiction, testified:

    Q. What did Mr. Pease say to you at that time? A. He told us he'd rather we wouldn't join no...

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