Commerce Clearing House, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 13, 1940

21 N.L.R.B. 585 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

In the Matter of COMMERCE CLEARING HOUSE, INC. and CHICAGO
TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION, LOCAL 16, AFFILIATED WITH THE INTERNA-
TIONAL TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION (A. F. OF L.)
Case No. R-1735.-Decided March 13, 1940
Tax and Business Law Reporting-Investigation of Representatives: contro-
versy concerning representation of employees : refusal to bargain with Union
prior to certification by Board-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining:
all Company's composing-room employees including foremen, but excluding
office boys-Electron Ordered: agreement of parties as to eligibility date.
Mr. Robert R. Rissman, for the Board.
Mr. Justus L. Schlichting, of Chicago, Ill., for the Company.
Mr. Daniel D. Carmell, of Chicago, Ill., for the Union.
Miss Mary Metlay, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On January 15, 1940, Chicago Typographical Union, Local 16, of
the International Typographical Union (suspended by A. F. of L.),
herein called the Union, filed with the Regional Director for the
Thirteenth Region (Chicago, Illinois) a petition alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Commerce Clearing House, Inc., Chicago, Illinois,
herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation and
certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On
February 5, 1940, 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 Regu-
lations-Series 2, as amended, ordered an investigation and author-
ized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On February 8,, 1940, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and
the Union. Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held on February
15, 1940, at Chicago, Illinois, before Albert Lohm, the Trial Ex-
21 N L. R. B., No 56.
585
586 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
aminer duly designated by the Board. The Board and the Union
were represented by counsel, and the Company was represented by
its president; 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.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Commerce Clearing House, Inc., a Delaware corporation having its
principal office and place of business in Chicago, Illinois, is engaged in
loose-leaf tax and business law reporting. In the course and conduct
of its business the company gathers, compiles, reports, edits, publishes,
prints, sells, and distributes loose-leaf publications and reports on tax
and business laws. The Corporation Trust Company, organized
under the banking laws of the States of New York and New Jersey,
owns 52.6 per cent of the issued voting stock of the Company.
Special representatives who secure information for the Company
are maintained in Washington, District of Columbia, and in all State
capitals of the United States. Approximately 75 per cent of the
information thus secured is transmitted by mail and 25 per cent by
telegraph and teletype. A teletype system is maintained between the
branch offices of the Company at Chicago, Illinois; New York, New
York; and Washington, District of Columbia. The Company's sales
offices are located in 32 principal cities of the United States; Montreal
and Toronto, Canada; and Honolulu. The Company has approxi-
mately 100,000 subscribers throughout the United States, of which
number 8,932 are located within the State of Illinois. The Company
employs approximately 513 persons in its Chicago offices, 84 of whom
are employed in the composing room. It concedes that its business is
conducted in interstate commerce.
IT. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Chicago Typographical Union Local 16, of the International Typo-
graphical Union 1 is a labor organization admitting to membership
all employees in the composing room of the Company, including fore-
men, but excluding office boys.
'The International Typographical Union was recently suspended from the American
Federation of Labor.
COMMERCE CLEARING HOUSE, INC.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
587
On several occasions between November 1939 and January 1940, the
Union requested the Company to bargain with it as the representative
of the Company's employees in its composing room. The Company
refused to bargain with the Union prior to the certification by this,
Board that it had been designated by a majority of the Company's
employees in an appropriate unit.
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 re-
lation 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 UNrr
The Union contends that all employees of the Company in its
composing room, including foremen,2 but excluding office boys, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the- purposes of collective bargaining.
The employees in the composing room consist of foremen, composi-
tors, linotype operators, linotype machinists, apprentices, proof-
readers, revisers , copy holders, and office boys. The Company
disputes the exclusion of office boys from the appropriate unit, main-
taining that since the Union desires the inclusion of copy holders, the
office boys should also be included. There is no controversy con-
cerning the other composing-room employees.
The four office boys employed by the Company perform the tasks
of tying and wrapping type in page form, and carrying it back
and forth from the composing room to the basement where it is
stored . The Company admits that the office boys perform no func-
tion necessary to the operations involved in composing, printing-
setting of type, or correction. The office boys are not apprentices.
The Union states that office boys are not eligible to membership in
the Union and that the Union does not bargain for them. The record
shows that they are eligible to membership in an office workers' union,
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor.
The Union amended its petition at the hearing to include foremen.
588 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Copy holders assist in the proofreading. They are considered by
the Union as apprentice proofreaders and as such are eligible to
membership in the Union. The Union has bargained for copy
holders in the newspaper industry for 25 years. Although it has not
bargained for copy holders in the job shops, nevertheless it was
authorized at its last convention to obtain jurisdiction over all copy
holders.
In view of all the facts, we are of the opinion that the functional
differences between the office boys and the copy holders are sufficient
to warrant the exclusion of the former from the appropriate unit
and the inclusion of the latter.
We find that all employees of the Company in its composing room,
including the foremen, but excluding the office boys, constitute 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 representative of the Union stated at the hearing that a majority
of the Company's composing-room employees within the appropriate
unit had signed membership application cards. The Union, however,
agreed that an election is necessary. We shall direct that an election
by secret ballot be held.
The parties agreed at the hearing that the pay roll for February
14, 1940, should be used as the basis for determining eligibility to par-
ticipate in the election. We shall direct that all employees within
the appropriate unit who were on the pay roll on February 14, 1940,
including employees who did not work during such pay-roll period
because they were ill or on vacation, and employees who were then
or have since been temporarily laid off, but excluding those who have
since quit or been discharged for cause, be eligible to participate in
the election.
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 Commerce Clearing House, Inc., Chicago,
Illinois, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7)
of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All composing-room employees of the Company, including fore-
men, but excluding office boys, constitute a unit appropriate for the
COMMERCE CLEARING HOUSE, INC. 589
purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the National Labor Relations 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
Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8,
of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2,
as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Commerce Clearing House, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, 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 of Election, under
the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Thir-
teenth Region, acting 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 composing-room employees of the Com-
pany, including foremen but excluding office boys, who were employed
by the Company during the pay-roll period ending February 14, 1940,
including employees who did not work during such pay-roll period
because they were ill or on vacation, and employees who were then
or have since been temporarily laid off, but excluding those who have
since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not
they desire to be represented by Chicago Typographical Union,
Local 16, affiliated with International Typographical Union, for the
purposes of collective bargaining.