Detroit Typographical Un. No. 18

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsSep 27, 1974

213 N.L.R.B. 700 (N.L.R.B. 1974)

700 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Detroit Typographical Union No. 18 , International Ty- pographical Union, AFL-CIO and The Tribune Publishing Company and Detroit Stereotypers' and Electrotypers' Union, Local No. 9. Case 7-CD-299 the Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act, and that it will effectuate the policies of the Act to assert juris- diction herein. September 27, 1974 DECISION AND DETERMINATION OF DISPUTE BY CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS FANNING AND PENELLO This is a proceeding under Section 10(k) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, following charges filed by The Tribune Publishing Company, herein called the Employer, alleging that Detroit Typographical Union No. 18, International Typo- graphical Union, AFL-CIO, herein called the Typog- raphers, has violated Section 8(b)(4)(ii)(D) of the Act by engaging in certain proscribed activities with an object of forcing or requiring the Employer to assign certain work to employees represented by the Typog- raphers rather than to employees represented by De- troit Stereotypers' and Electrotypers' Union, Local No. 9, herein called the Stereotypers. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held before Hear- ing Officer L. W. Tucker on May 30, 1974, at Detroit, Michigan. All parties appeared at the hearing and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to exam- ine and cross-examine witnesses, and to present evi- dence bearing on the issues. Thereafter the Employer, Typographers, and Stereotypers filed briefs. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na- tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au- thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Hearing Officer made at the hearing and finds that they are free from prejudicial error. The rulings are hereby affirmed. The Board has considered the briefs and the entire record in this case and hereby makes the follow- ing findings: 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER The Tribune Publishing Company is engaged in Royal Oak, Michigan, in the publication of a daily newspaper known as the "Daily Tribune." The "Daily Tribune" has a gross volume of business in excess of $500,000 annually. The daily editions of the "Daily Tribune" carry both local and national advertising and the Employer subscribes to interstate news serv- ices and publishes nationally syndicated features. Ac- cordingly, we find, as the parties have stipulated, that 11. THE LABOR ORGANIZATIONS The parties stipulated, and we find, that the Typog- raphers and the Stereotypers are labor organizations within the meaning of Section 2(5) of the Act. III. THE DISPUTE A. The Work in Dispute The work in dispute consists of the preparation of and making of direct-impression photopolymer press plates (Letterflex) performed at The Tribune Pub- lishing Company, located at 110 East Third Street, Royal Oak, Michigan.' B. Background and Facts of the Dispute The Typographers and the Stereotypers have tradi- tionally represented, in separate units, certain of the Employer's employees in the mechanical depart- ments. Prior to late 1971, the Employer utilized the tradi- tional hot-metal process in its printing operations. In this process, news and editorial material is reproduced by means of metal slugs of type which are arranged into lines and used to make impressions on celluloid mats. Illustrative material is photoengraved onto magnesium plates, which are used instead of metal type to impress the mats. The mats, in turn, receive an injection of hot metal from which a semicylindrical lead plate is formed. This plate is fastened to the press and used to do the actual printing of a newspaper page. Under the traditional process, employees repre- sented by the Typographers performed typesetting, and the mats and semicylindrical lead printing plates were made by employees represented by the Stereo- typers. Photoengravers represented by the Typogra- phers performed the photoengraving work required for illustrative material. In early 1971, the Employer decided to convert its operation to the new cold-type and Letterflex direct printing processes. Under the new process, copy is photographed and the resulting negative is placed in a Letterflex exposure unit where it is imaged onto presensitized photopolymer plastic. Excess plastic is 1 The disputed work does not include operation of the camera and prepara- tion of the negatives used in the actual platemaking process . The Stereotypers concedes this work to employees represented by the Typographers. 213 NLRB No. 96 DETROIT TYPOGRAPHICAL UN. NO. 18 removed with an air-knife unit to produce a plastic plate in relief form . This plate is curved to fit directly on the press and the newspaper page is printed from it, thereby eliminating the necessity for mats and lead plates. In mid-1972 the Employer began to produce some of its display advertising by means of the cold-type process. As of the date of the hearing herein , the com- posing room had been completely converted to the cold-type process , and Letterflex plates were being produced . However, instead of Lettflex plates being used as a direct printing surface, they were used as pattern plates from which stereotypers made mats and cast the semicylindrical lead plates to be used on the presses. According to the uncontradicted testimony of Richard Miller , the Employer 's publisher , the com- plete conversion to the Letterflex system , i.e., the use of Letterflex plates on the presses , will occur some- time between August 1 and October 1, 1974. When the conversion to the Letterflex process is complete, the Employer would prefer to assign the work of actu- ally making the Letterflex plates to the photoengrav- ers represented by the Typographers. The Stereotypers , however , contends that the employees it represents should perform the disputed work. The parties stipulated at the hearing that on or about April 15, 1974 , the Typographers threatened to commence picketing the Employer for the purpose of obtaining a work assignment of the work in dispute herein . On April 19 , 1974, the Employer filed the in- stant charge , alleging that the Typographers, by threatening to strike for the stated object, violated Section 8 (b)(4)(ii)(D) of the Act. C. Contentions of the Parties The Stereotypers contends that the work in dispute should be assigned to the employees whom it repre- sents on the basis of area and industry practice, job impact , and availability of craftsmen. The Employer contends that the work in dispute should be assigned to the employees represented by the Typographers on the basis of employer prefer- ence , job impact , efficiency and economy of opera- tions, skills already demonstrated by the employees represented by the Typographers, area and industry practice , and the collective-bargaining agreement be- tween the Employer and the Typographers . The Ty- pographers takes the same position on the merits as the Employer. D. Applicability of the Statute Before the Board may proceed to the determination of a dispute pursuant to Section 10(k) of the Act, it 701 must be satisfied that ( 1) there is reasonable cause to believe that Section 8 (b)(4)(ii)(D) has been violated, and (2) the parties have no agreed-upon method, binding upon all parties , for the voluntary adjustment of the dispute. As to ( 1) above , the parties stipulated at the hearing that on or about April 15, 1974, Detroit Typographi- cal Union No. 18 threatened to commence picketing The Tribune Publishing Company for the purpose of obtaining an assignment of the disputed work. The parties further stipulated that there is probable cause to believe that a violation of Section 8(b)(4)(ii)(D) of the Act has occurred. Based on this stipulation, we find that reasonable cause exists to believe that Sec- tion 8(b)(4)(ii)(D) of the Act has been violated. As to (2) above, no evidence was adduced at the hearing which indicates that an agreed -upon method exists for the voluntary adjustment of the dispute which is binding upon all of the parties . Accordingly, we find that the dispute is properly before the Board for determination under Section 10(k) of the Act. E. Merits of the Dispute Section 10(k) of the Act requires the Board to make an affirmative award of disputed work after giving due consideration to various relevant factors, includ- ing the following: 1. Certification and collective -bargaining agreements The record does not indicate that either the Typog- raphers or the Stereotypers has ever been certified as the representative of any of the Employer's employ- ees. As mentioned supra, both the Typographers and the Employer contend that the Employer's contract with the Typographers covers the work in dispute. The contract , in effect from June 1, 1971, through May 31 , 1974, provides in pertinent part: Section 7.(a) Jurisdiction of the Union begins with the markup of copy and continues until the material is ready for the printing press (but ex- cluding the making of stereotypes), and the ap4 propriate collective bargaining unit consists of all employees performing any such work . Jurisdic- tion of the Union includes sorting cases , sorting and putting away leads and slugs , breaking up and distributing materials of dead forms (metal, metal furniture , type , spacing materials, etc.), locking and unlocking all forms and mounting all cuts. The operation of the office shall be non-de- 702 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD partmental recognizing the following classifica- tions : (1) floor work , which shall comprise ad work, makeup , proof press and bank work; (2) machine operators ; (3) proofreaders , and (4) ma- chinists. (b) Should the Publisher decide to install any new processes , equipment or machinery to be used as an evolution of or substitute for pro- cesses, equipment or machinery currently em- ployed in the performance of work within the jurisdiction of the Union , the Publisher shall no- tify the Union at least ninety (90) days prior to such installation . During this 90-day period the parties shall meet for the purpose of determining the number of employees required to be trained and the means by which such training can be accomplished. The Employer 's contract with the Stereotypers, also effective June 1, 1971, through May 31 , 1974, pro- vides: Should the Publisher install any machinery or equipment as a replacement for, or as an addition to, the machinery and equipment now being manned by Stereotypers , the Publisher shall as- sign the operation of such equipment to employ- ees covered by this contract and shall make no other agreement covering such work. A letter of agreement , executed by the Employer and the Stereotypers on July 23 , 1971, states: [I]n the event the Publisher alters its method of production by utilizing press plates other than stereotype plates , and that if the principal print- ing trade skill used in the processing of such other plates is that of a printing trade other than stereo- typing, then employees of the Publisher in such other trade will process such plates . To the extent additional employees are required to process such plates , the Publisher will offer training to stereotypers on the basis of priority in such pro- cess and will hire stereotypers to perform such process ahead of any other employees of the Pub- lisher and ahead of any non-employees of the Publisher. From the above-quoted provisions it appears that the contracts of both Unions lend some support to their respective claims to the work in dispute , but that neither is determinative . However, the letter of agree- ment executed by the Stereotypers and the Employer provides that , for new processes , plates, other than stereotype plates, shall be processed by other trades where the principal printing trade used is other than stereotyping . This agreement tends to dilute the strength of the Stereotypers contractual claim herein. Since it appears from the record that the principal skill required for the production of Letterflex plates is that of photoengraving , we find that the letter of agreement between the Stereotypers and the Employ- er tends to favor an award of the disputed work to the photoengravers represented by the Typographers. 2. Employer and area practice Inasmuch as the Employer had not yet utilized the Letterflex plate on the presses as of the date of the hearing herein , we find that employer practice with respect to Letterflex platemaking is not a factor in the determination of this dispute . We note, however, that under the Employer's previous practice with respect to illustrative material photoengravers represented by the Typographers prepared the chases utilized by the stereotypers in making the mats and casting the semi- cylindrical plates which are affixed to the press. Em- ployees represented by the Typographers did not make plates which are actually used to print a news- paper page. The Letterflex plate, like the semicylindrical lead plate, is attached to the press and can thus be said to be a substitute for the lead plates cast by the stereo- typers under the traditional printing process . To some extent , therefore, the Employer's past practice of as- signing lead platemaking to employees represented by the Stereotypers tends to favor award of the work in dispute to these employees . On the other hand, the Letterflex plate is made by a process similar to the photoengraving which was previously performed by employees represented by the Typographers with re- spect to magnesium plates. Accordingly , we find that the Employer 's past practice does not clearly favor the assignment of the disputed work either to the employ- ees represented by the Typographers or to those rep- resented by the Stereotypers. With respect to area practice , the Typographers in- troduced evidence that the Oakland Press , the Grand Rapids Press, the Kalamazoo Newspaper , the Port Huron Times Herald , and the Macomb Daily News all use the direct printing process . A witness for the Stereotypers testified that the Saginaw News and the Flint Journal also use the new method . All of these newspapers are located in Michigan . At the Oakland Press , employees represented by another local of the International Typographical Union make the plastic photopolymer plates , but the typographers unit has been expanded to include former stereotypers. At the Grand Rapids Press, plastic plates similar to Letter- flex plates are used and are produced by employees DETROIT TYPOGRAPHICAL UN. NO. 18 703 represented by another local of the International Ty- pographical Union. At that newspaper, the plastic plate is used as a pattern plate and stereotypers, pur- suant to an attrition agreement, continue to cast lead plates which are used on the press. At the Kalamazoo Gazette, Dyna-flex plates, which are also similar to Letterflex plates, are made by employees who are not represented by any labor organization. At the Port Huron Times Herald, employees represented by an- other local of the International Typographical Union make the direct printing plates. At the Macomb Dai- ly, typographers perform the camera work associated with the manufacture of the printing plates while ste- reotypers actually make the plates? Similarly, at the Saginaw News and the Flint Journal, typographers perform the camera work and stereotypers perform the platemaking function. On this record, according- ly, we find that the evidence with respect to area prac- tice, while not determinative, tends to favor assignment of the disputed work to the employees represented by the Typographers. 3. Skills, efficiency, and economy The Stereotypers introduced uncontradicted evi- dence that three-quarters of its 125 members have experience in producing Letterflex plates. However, there is no evidence in the record that any of the four stereotypers currently employed by the Employer have such experience or have been trained to operate Letterflex equipment. The Employer's publisher testified that the Employer's assignment of the disputed work to the employees represented by the Typographers was based on considerations of efficiency and economy. Thus, he testified that the photoengravers represented by the Typographers already had the skills and experi- ence necessary to produce the negative and to analyze the finished plate for quality. Moreover, there was uncontradicted testimony that the making of the Let- terflex plates will require approximately 1-1 /2 hours of work per day by two employees. If the work is awarded to employees represented by the Typogra- phers, these same employees will be able to perform other composing room functions during their remain- ing working time. However, inasmuch as the employ- ees represented by the Stereotypers are not able to perform other composing room functions, if plate- making is assigned to them, they will be idle during the balance of their working day. Accordingly, we find that the factors of skills, efficiency, and economy favor assignment of the disputed work to employees 2 This arrangement is pursuant to an agreement between the two labor organizations. represented by the Typographers. 4. Effect on employment The record establishes that if the work in dispute is awarded to employees represented by the Typogra- phers all four of the positions currently held by em- ployees represented by the Stereotypers will be eliminated. The record further establishes that the partial conversion from the traditional printing meth- od to the cold-type and direct printing processes had, as of the date of the hearing, eliminated 10 to 12 of the 50 jobs in the composing room and that a few more positions will be eliminated when the antici- pated changes are completed.' As discussed above, Letterflex platemaking will require only two employ- ees for part of a day. Therefore, even if the work is assigned to stereotypers, at least two stereotyper posi- tions will still be eliminated. Thus it would appear that however the disputed work is awarded both typogra- phers and stereotypers will lose jobs, although it is not clear from the record the exact number of jobs the typographers would lose if the disputed work should be awarded to the stereotypers. Accordingly, we find that this factor does not clear- ly favor awarding the work in dispute either to em- ployees represented by the Typographers or to those represented by the Stereotypers. Conclusion Upon the record as a whole, and after full consider- ation of all relevant factors involved, we conclude that The Tribune Publishing Company employees who are represented by the Typographers are entitled to per- form the work in dispute. We reach this conclusion upon the basis of the Employer's letter of agreement with the Stereotypers, area practice, and the fact that such assignment will result in greater efficiency and economy of operations. We further find that the em- ployees represented by the Typographers possess the requisite skills to perform the work. Accordingly, we shall determine the dispute before us by awarding the disputed work at the Employer's publishing plant in Royal Oak, Michigan, to the Employer's employees represented by the Typographers, but not to that Union or its members. DETERMINATION OF DISPUTE Pursuant to Section 10(k) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, and upon the basis of the foregoing findings and the entire record in this pro- 3 Apparently some composing room jobs will be eliminated whether or not the disputed work is assigned to employees represented by the Typographers. 704 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD ceeding , the National Labor Relations Board hereby graphical Union , AFL-CIO , are entitled to perform makes the following Determination of Dispute : the preparation of and making of direct-impression Employees of the Tribune Publishing Company, photopolymer press plates (Letterflex) at The Tribune Royal Oak, Michigan, who are represented by Detroit Publishing Company, located at 110 East Third Typographical Union No . 18, International Typo- Street , Royal Oak, Michigan.