Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau, Inc., 529 (1938)

In the Matter Of PACIFIC LUMBER INSPECTION BUREAU, INC. and NORTHWEST LUMBER INSPECTORS' UNION, LOCAL No. 20,877

Case No. R-699-Decided May 28,1938

Lumber Inspection Industry-Investigation of Representatives: controversy concerning representation of employees : employer's refusal to grant recognition of union; rival organizations-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: lumber inspectors employed by the Company in Oregon and Washington ; no controversy as to-Agreement: collective, no bar to determination of representatives-Election Ordered Mr. Daniel Baker and Mr. William A. Babcock,'Jr., for the Board.

Mr. W. H. Abel, of Montesano, Wash., for the Company.

Mr. L. Presley Gill, of Seattle, Wash., for the Union.

Mr. Ray Chenoweth, of Longview, Wash., for the Association.

Mr. Willard Y. Morris, of counsel to the Board.

DECISION

AND

DIRECTION OF ELECTION

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

On February 23, 1938, Northwest Lumber Inspectors' Ui ion, Local No. 20,877, herein called the Union, 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 Pacific Lumber Ir:ipection Bureau, Inc.,

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 March 23, 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 Regulations-Series 1, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.

On March 31, 1937, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, upon the 529

530 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD

Union, and upon Northwest Lumber Inspectors' Association, herein called the Association, a labor organization claiming to represent employees directly affected by the investigation. Pursuant to the notice a hearing was held on April 11, 1938, •at Seattle, Washington, before James M. Brown, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board, the Company, and the Union were represented by counsel ; the Association was represented by its president ; and all 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 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.

After the hearing the Company filed a brief which has been duly considered by the Board.

Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau is a non-profit membership corporation organized under the laws of the State of Washington and is engaged in the business of inspecting timber products for its member companies and other lumber concerns. The membership of the Company consists of 171 lumber manufacturers operating in the States of Oregon and Washington and in British Columbia. The Company is engaged primarily in certifying that grades of lumber prepared for shipment conform to the orders placed with the respective mills filling the orders and that the mills have complied with.the requirements of the orders. The bulk of its work is performed on waterborne shipments of timber products , which are destined to foreign countries or to States other than that in which the mill filling the order is situated. In 1936 the Company inspected 2,408,000,000 feet of lumber.

   Of this amount 2,332,000,000 feet were shipped by water and 76,000,000 feet were shipped by rail to the Middle West and to points east. The work performed by the Company has come to be so uniformly accepted by both buyers and shippers of lumber that a certificate of inspection furnished by the Company is now considered an essential document in the export trade in connection with all shipments of timber products made by mills situated in the territory in which the Company operates.

   The Company stipulated that :

   The business of the Bureau is interstate in character and has a close, intimate, and substantial relationship to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several states and with foreign countries.

   IT. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED Northwest Lumber Inspectors ' Union, Local No. 20,877, is a labor ,organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, admitting to its membership all lumber inspectors of the Company, excluding clerical and supervisory employees.

   Northwest Lumber Inspectors' Association is an unaffiliated labor organization , admitting to its membership all lumber , inspectors of the Company, excluding clerical and supervisory employees.

   3. THE QUESTION, CONCERNING REPRESENTATION On April 4, 1937, at a meeting of the delegates of the Association, which had been in existence among the Company 's employees since 1934, it was decided by vote to apply to the American Federation of Labor for a charter. On May 7, 1937, the Association and the Company executed a written contract whereby the Company agreed to recognize the Association as the sole bargaining agency for all the Company's inspectors. Before signing this contract, however, the president of the Association informed the Company's representatives of the Association's intention to affiliate with a national organization.

      Upon assurance by the Company's representatives that such affiliation would not constitute a breach of the contract and that the contract contained adequate provisions for dealing with such a situation, the president of the Association signed the contract.

      On July 11, 1937, an American Federation of...