Mount Morris Graphic Arts

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 8, 1975

219 N.L.R.B. 1030 (N.L.R.B. 1975)

1030 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Mount Morris Graphic Arts International Union Lo-
cal No. 91-P (G.A.I.U.) and Blackhawk Engraving
Co. Case 38-CC-242
August 8, 1975
DECISION AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN MURPHY AND MEMBERS JENKINS AND
PENELLO
On September 25, 1974, Administrative Law Judge
Eugene E . Dixon issued the attached Decision in this
proceeding. Thereafter, the General Counsel and the
Charging Party filed exceptions and supporting
briefs, and the Respondent. Union filed cross-excep-
tions and a brief in answer to the exceptions of the
General Counsel and the Charging Party and in sup-
port of its cross-exceptions.
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 considered the record and the at-
tached Decision in light of the exceptions and briefs
and has decided to affirm the rulings, findings, and
conclusions of the Administrative Law Judge and to
adopt his recommended Order.
ORDER
Pursuant to Section 10(c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, as amended, the National Labor Re-
lations Board adopts as its Order the recommended
Order of the Administrative Law Judge and hereby
orders that the complaint herein be, and it hereby is,
dismissed in its entirety.
DECISION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
EUGENE E . DIXON, Administrative Law Judge: This pro-
ceeding, brought under Section 10(b) of the National La-
bor Relations Act, as amended , (61 Stat . 136), herein called
the Act, was heard at Freeport , Illinois, on July 16, 1974.
The complaint , dated June 26, 1974, based upon duly
served charges filed June 20, 1974, by Blackhawk Engrav-
ing Co., was issued by the Officer-in-Charge for Subregion
38 (Peoria, Illinois), on behalf of the General Counsel of
the National Labor Relations Board , herein called the
General Counsel and the Board.
The complaint alleged that Respondent had engaged in,
and was engaging in, unfair labor practices violating Sec-
tion 8(bx4Xi)(B) of the Act.
In its duly filed answer Respondent denied the commis-
sion of any unfair labor practice.
Upon the entire record I and from my observation of the
witnesses, I make the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS INVOLVED
At all times material Blackhawk Engraving Co. has been
an Illinois corporation with office and place of business
located at Oregon , Illinois . It is engaged in the business of
preparing plates and films for the graphic arts industry.
Blackhawk , during the past 12 months, which period is rep-
resentative of all times material herein , sold and shipped
from its Oregon , Illinois, plant, herein called the plant, fin-
ished products valued in excess of $50,000 to points outside
the State of Illinois . Blackhawk is, and has been at all times
material herein , an employer engaged in commerce within
the meaning of Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
II. THE LABOR ORGANIZATION
Mount Morris Graphic Arts International Union Local
No. 91-P (G.A.I.U.) is, and has been at all times material
herein, a labor organization within the meaning of Section
2(5) of the Act.
III. THE UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES
Blackhawk Engraving Co., located in Oregon , Illinois, is
a small printing preparatory shop . It does no printing as
such but forwards its product to printing companies for
actual printing . Of the some 30 employees at Blackhawk
approximately 20 are members of the collective-bargaining
unit represented by Respondent Union.
Kable Printing Company (the primary employer in this
matter) is a large printing company located in Mount Mor-
ris, Illinois . Respondent Union represents a unit of em-
ployees involved in the rotogravure process at Kable.
Other units of Kable are represented by other unions, in-
cluding the Printing Pressmen and the International Asso-
ciation of Machinists . There is no common ownership or
control between Blackhawk and Kable.
Since 1958 Kable has been under contract with the Chi-
cago Tribune to print 750,000 copies weekly of a rotogra-
vure magazine called TV Week. During this time there
were two periods (not counting the matter at issue here)
involving labor disputes at Kable in which the Tribune
went to other sources for the printing of TV Week. In this
connection , in 1973 the Machinists were on strike at Ka-
ble 2 and in early 1974 the pressmen were on strike . In 1973
Blackhawk did some preparatory work on approximately
10 issues of TV Week all paid for by the Tribune. Each of
these occasions involved the printing of TV Week on litho-
graphic offset presses (a different process from rotogravure
Respondent's posthearing motion for admission in evidence of Resp.
Exh. 16 is hereby granted and the exhibit received in evidence . The General
Counsel 's motion to correct the transcript is also hereby granted.
2It was apparently as a result of this strike that Tribune officials were
given a tour of Blackhawk 's plant (presumably to see if it was capable of
handling the TV Week preparatory work) and Blackhawk received the first
purchase order from the Tribune.
219 NLRB No. 169
MOUNT MORRIS GRAPHIC ARTS 1031
positives) presumably because the regular rotogravure
presses at Kable were unavailable due to the Machinists
strike. Blackhawk was involved in preparing offset nega-
tives from rotogravure positives which had been prepared
at Kable. The actual lithographic printing of these offset
negatives apparently was performed by Dixon Printing
Company in Dixon, Illinois, to whom the Tribune looked
for the printing of TV Week in. 1973 in place of the struck
Kable.
In early 1974 the Tribune, anticipating another hiatus
with Kable due to pending labor difficulties, again decided
to have TV Week produced at Dixon Printing Company.
Being a lithographic shop the rotogravure positives in prep-
aration at Kable had to be converted to offset negatives for
use in the lithographic process: After discussions with Ka-
ble management about the alternative sources of prepara-
tory work in which the availability of Blackhawk was dis-
cussed, the lithographic conversion work was given to
Blackhawk. Thereafter, for the January 13, 1974, issue
specifications for the work came from Kable and the work
was billed by Blackhawk to Kable.
Blackhawk produced the lithographic negatives for the
January 20, 1974, issue pursuant to a purchase order from
the Tribune. On written instructions from Kable this work
was billed to Kable but the instructions were later altered
and a bill was sent to the Tribune, again at the written
instructions of Kable. On the conversion for the January
27 issue, the shop order was initially invoiced to Kable;
however, Kable subsequently instructed Blackhawk to in-
voice the Tribune and informed them that the Tribune
would later provide a purchase order to cover the work. In
the same memorandum Kable instructed Blackhawk con-
cerning technical details of the February 3 issue of TV
Week stating, "You will shoot and make up the monotone
pages from original ads as supplied from Kable and the
Tribune. You should invoice the Tribune for this work.
The Tribune will provide a purchase order." Kable's direc-
tions were complied with.
On May 10, 1974, the union employees represented by
Respondent at Kable went on strike as a result of failure to
obtain a new contract. The printing department at Kable,
however, represented by the Pressmen's Union, continued
working. When the rotogravure preparatory department
employees at Kable began the strike, the Tribune trans-
ferred all production and printing of TV Week to R. R.
Donnelly and Co., a large Chicago printing concern. The
Donnelly contract provided for 4 weeks of production, is-
sues dated May 26 to June 16, 1974. During this period
Grant Hermann , president of Kable, and Dan Campbell,
sales representative of Kable, were in telephone communi-
cation with Wayne Perry, production manager of the Tri-
bune and the individual responsible for deciding where TV
Week is printed. Hermann and Campbell were trying to
convince Perry that Kable had the capability to resume the
printing of TV Week, including the making of the rotogra-
vure cylinders, if someone else would do the preparatory
work. They specifically discussed the possibility of Black-
hawk doing that work. Up until this time Blackhawk had
never done the rotogravure preparatory work for TV Week
as distinguished from lithographic offset preparatory work
which it had done on the occasions noted.
Perry was unconvinced of Kable's ability to divide up
the rotogravure process between itself and Blackhawk and
extended the contract at Donnelly's for an additional
week, thus giving Kable the opportunity to convince him to
the contrary. In this connection Perry was shown samples
of other work which Kable printed on the basis of prepara-
tory work done at Blackhawk. Convinced finally that Ka-
ble could resume printing TV Week, despite the ongoing
.strike, by using the previously untried practice of having
the rotogravure preparatory work done by Blackhawk and
shipping the positives to Kable for printing, Perry decided
on that course. Pursuant to this decision Perry had an as-
sistant get in touch with Blackhawk to discuss terms of
scheduling and processing the work. Thereupon, on June 7,
•1974, a purchase order was issued to Blackhawk from the
Tribune for production of rotogravure positives for TV
Week.
Douglass Brazell, vice president in charge of production
at Blackhawk, testified that he first learned of the TV
Week job from the job ticket written from the purchase
order of June 7. Prior to receipt of that order Brazell had
received a list of "struck work" at Kable which union
members at Blackhawk would not perform. On June 13,
1974, Brazell called Jack Steed, chapel chairman of the
Union and the liaison between the Union and Blackhawk,
and informed him of the receipt of the Tribune's June 7
purchase order. Steed informed Brazell that the union
members would not perform the work and suggested he
discuss the matter with Bob Flocker, vice president of the
Union.
In a telephone conversation between Brazell and Flocker
on June 17, Brazell confirmed that Blackhawk was intend-
ing to produce the TV Week roto-positives. Flocker asked
where the work was to be printed and Brazell replied that
he did not know but would notify Flocker when he
learned Flocker indicated that Blackhawk should not do
the rotogravure positives for printing at Kable since the
positives were regularly prepared by striking union mem-
bers. But he indicated that the Union would have no objec-
tion if the printing was to be done somewhere other than at
Kable. Thereafter that week, when Brazell assigned the TV
Week work to the employees, they refused to do it but
continued to do all other Blackhawk production work, in-
cluding Kable work which they had done prior to the strike
at Kable.
Commencing with the June 30 issue of TV Week the
copy would be forwarded to Blackhawk for preparation of
the rotogravure positives just as they had been prepared by
striking members of Kable's rotogravure department. Ka-
ble would forward technical specifications for preparation
of the positives to Blackhawk for each issue. When com-
pleted, the positives would be forwarded directly to Kable
for production of the gravure cylinders as before. From the
cylinders the Kable pressmen (who were not on strike)
would again print TV Week. Some technical problems
arose with respect to the production of the June 30 issue at
Blackhawk. These problems were corrected as a result of
discussions between Kable and Blackhawk, the Tribune
not being involved in the discussions whatsoever.
Blackhawk billed the work in connection with the June
30 issue directly to Kable. In reviewing the billings in prep-
1032 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
aration for the hearing in this matter Darryl Sanderson,
Blackhawk president, ordered the billing changed, charg-
ing it to the Tribune. The initial shop order on the June 30
issue had handwritten at the top by Sanderson: "Note:
Mary to see me personally before billing."
The Blackhawk invoices in connection with the prepara-
tory work for the July 7, 14, and 21 issues of TV Week were
billed directly to the Tribune. A Blackhawk memorandum
in connection with the June 14 issue indicated that dupli-
cate copies of the TV Week invoices were being forwarded
to a Ben Colvin. According to Sanderson, Colvin is the one
he checks with on all financial matters between Blackhawk
and Kable So far as the record shows, at no significant
time prior to the June 7 purchase order by the Tribune or
after that order were there any communications between
the Tribune and anyone at Blackhawk with the exception
of a request for early payment of a billing. In contrast there
were several conversations between Kable and Blackhawk
in connection with the preparatory work on TV Week dur-
ing the period in question.
There was no resistance by union members at Black-
hawk to doing the lithographic conversions from rotogra-
vure positives already prepared at Kable. Nor was there
any resistance to performing other preparatory work which
Blackhawk normally performed for printing at Kable. The
only objection was to the preparation of TV Week rotogra-
vure positives for printing at Kable-work which never be-
fore had been done by Blackhawk and which normally
would have been done by the striking union members at
Kable Printing Co
Conclusions
The evidence is undisputed that Respondent Union in-
duced and encouraged its members in the course of their
employment by Blackhawk to refuse to perform services
for Blackhawk, and threatened, coerced, and restrained
Blackhawk, all with the object of forcing Blackhawk to
stop doing business with the Chicago Tribune or forcing
the Tribune to cease doing business with Blackhawk or
Kable. I so find. The only question here is whether or not
Blackhawk, by performing the rotogravure preparatory
work on TV Week under the June 7 purchase order from
the Tribune became the economic ally of Kable "thus legi-
timizing Respondent's conduct with respect to Blackhawk"
under the so-called ally doctrine.
The record establishes and I find that the disputed work
is "struck work"-i.e., work that but for the strike at Kable
would have been done by the striking employees. Contrary
to the General Counsel and the Charging Party the record
also establishes and I find that Blackhawk never performed
(for Kable or anyone else) that type of TV preparatory
work prior to the Kable strike
While there is no showing of an arrangement directly
between Kable and Blackhawk for Blackhawk to perform
the struck work, I believe that the history of Kable's con-
tractual relationship with the Tribune shows that
Blackhawk's connection with Tribune grew out of and was
the result of discussions between Kable and Tribune vis-a-
vis the various Kable work stoppages, including the one at
issue, and that the June 7 purchase order by Tribune was
indeed "orchestrated by Kable." The part played by Black-
hawk in this orchestration, in my opinion, goes beyond
that neutrality required to protect it from the fallout of the
primary dispute and thus brings Blackhawk into the posi-
tion of being an ally of Kable as provided in Douds v.
Metropolitan Federation of Architects, etc., Local 231, 75 F.
Supp. 672 (D.C.S N Y., 1948), and N L.R B v. Business
Machines, etc, Local 459, IUE 228 F.2d 553 (C.A. 2, 1955).
I so find.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
I Blackhawk Engraving Co is an employer engaged in
commerce within the meaning of Section 2(6) and (7) of
the Act.
2. Mount Morris Graphic Arts International Union Lo-
cal No. 91-P (G.A.I U.) is a labor organization within the
meaning of Section 2(5) of the Act
3. Respondent Union did not violate the Act.
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and con-
clusions of law, and upon the entire record, I issue the
following:
ORDER
It is hereby recommended that the complaint be dis-
missed in its entirety