Printing Pressmen's Union No. 2

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsMay 20, 1974

210 N.L.R.B. 686 (N.L.R.B. 1974)

686 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD New York Newspaper Printing Pressmen 's Union No. II. THE LABOR ORGANIZATION 2 and New York News, Inc. and New York Mailers Union No . 6. Case 29-CD- 169 May 20, 1974 DECISION AND DETERMINATION OF DISPUTE BY MEMBERS FANNING, KENNEDY, AND PENELLO This is a proceeding under Section 10(k) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, follow- ing charges filed by New York News, Inc., hereinaf- ter called the News, alleging a violation of Section 8(b)(4)(D) by the New York Newspaper Printing Pressmen's Union No. 2, hereinafter called the Pressmen. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on January 25 and February 6, 1974, at New York, New York, before Hearing Officer Steven W. Davis. The News, the Pressmen, and the New York Mailers Union No. 6, hereinafter called the Mailers, ap- peared at the hearing and were accorded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross- examine witnesses, and to adduce evidence bearing on the issues. The News and the Pressmen subse- quently filed briefs with the National Labor Rela- tions Board. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the National Labor Relations Board has delegated its authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel. Upon the basis of the hearing, briefs submitted, and the entire record in this case, the Board makes the following findings: 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY The News, engaged in the printing of daily and Sunday newspapers , has its principal office and place of business at 220 East 42nd Street , New York, New York, while its rotogravure operations are conducted at its Newspoint plant located at 2d Street and 55th Avenue , Long Island City, New York. All parties stipulated that during the past year, a period representative generally of its annual operations, the News, in the course and conduct of its publishing operations , held membership in and subscribed to various interstate news services , and advertised various nationally sold products . It derived gross revenues from said publishing operations in excess of $200,000 . We find , accordingly , that the News is engaged in a business affecting 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 jurisdiction in this proceeding. 210 NLRB No. 112 The parties stipulated , and we find , that the Pressmen and the Mailers are labor organizations within the meaning of Section 2(5) of the Act. III. THE DISPUTE A. Background and Facts of the Dispute The dispute in this proceeding occurred at the Newspoint plant, where the paper's rotogravure operations are conducted. Employer asserts that the plant, completed in late 1972, was built to provide both a more modern facility for printing the News' gravure products and to provide in-plant inserting for customers. Prior to that date, the majority of the News' gravure punting was performed at its Pacific Street plant in Brooklyn. Both the Pressmen and the Mailers have separate collective-bargaining agree- ments with the News which provide for retention of the respective Union's jurisdiction in the event of plant relocation or removal. B. The Work in Dispute The notice of hearing issued by the Regional Director for Region 29 on December 13, 1973, states that the dispute in this case "concerns the work of moving skids of rotogravure sections of the Sunday newspaper from the receiving area near the skid drop elevator to the various storage areas or the areas where the insert machines are located on the main floor at the News' Newspoint plant in Long Island City, New York." It is undisputed that the assign- ment of this work by the News to employees represented by the Mailers was by letter of July 12, 1972, prior to the opening of the Newspoint facility. At Newspoint, large rolls of newsprint are placed on reels manned by pressmen in the "reelroom" on the first level, and fed up through openings in the ceiling to the presses on the second level where the actual printing occurs. The printed papers are then stacked on pallets by pressmen who take them approximately 10 to 15 feet from the end of the presses to the automatic skid drop elevators where they are deposited on rollers in front of the elevators. The skids are automatically injected into the eleva- tors and carried to the first level where they are automatically ejected onto rollers extending approxi- mately 8 to 10 feet from the elevators. The skids are then taken by mailers to a palletizing machine, to storage areas, to inserting machines, or to loading docks for shipment. The two automatic skid drop elevators are actually dumbwaiters specially designed to accommodate only two loaded pallets at any time. They have no complete floor and are not designed to PRINTING PRESSMEN'S UNION NO. 2 687 carry persons. The primary control panel for the elevators (including settings for manual or automatic operation) is operated by mailers on the first level, though there are start-stop controls on the second level. At the former Brooklyn plant, pressmen loaded the papers on pallets as they came off the presses on the eighth floor pressroom, accompanied them in the elevator down to the mailroom on the first floor, and deposited them approximately 10 to 20 feet from the elevator, at which point the mailers would take the loaded pallets to the appropriate areas. At Newspoint the area on the first level known as the reelroom is not a separate room at all. It is simply a raised, virtually square area in which the reels, manned by pressmen, function to send the paper to the presses on the second level. Immediately adjacent to this reel area and located diagonally to each other are the skid drop elevators. Additionally, two storage areas are located on either side of the raised reel area. Mailers pick up the skids from the rollers extending from the elevators, and, by means of a forklift truck, take them along either side of the reel area to their destinations as mentioned above. C. Contentions Basically propounding a "geographic" argument seeking to justify the assignment of the disputed work to them, the Pressmen contends that its members are entitled to bring finished newspapers stacked on pallets from the pressroom area into the direct area of the mailroom for palletizing, or, if necessary, into the storage area in the mailroom. This is based upon the Pressmen's view that the entire first-floor area above described is part of the pressroom and as such under its exclusive jurisdic- tion. The Pressmen further contends that both the area and industry practice, and the contracts of the respective parties, favor assignment of the disputed work to its members. Additionally, it asserts it is undisputed that the work assignment in controversy was previously performed by pressmen at the Brooklyn plant. The News argues that the Pressmen's geographical argument is "totally illusory," supported by neither relevant facts nor applicable authorities. Additional- ly, in terms of economy and efficiency of operations in the new building, the News contends that the Mailers should have the work assignment. D. Applicability of the Statute The charges herein allege a violation of Section 8(b)(4)(D) of the Act. Both the News and the Pressmen stipulated that, on or after October 1973, the Pressmen did restrain and coerce the News with an object to force the News to assign work to its members rather than employees represented by the Mailers, and thus violated Section 8(b)(4)(D) of the Act, to wit, that on or about October 25, 1973, a Pressmen official told a News official that the Pressmen would shut down the Newspoint plant unless the disputed work was assigned to its members rather than members of the Mailers. On the basis of the entire record, we conclude that there is reasona- ble cause to believe that a violation of Section 8(b)(4)(D) has occurred and that the dispute is properly before the Board for determination under Section 10(k) of the Act. E. Merits of the Dispute As the Board stated in J. A. Jones Construction Company, I the Board is to determine the appropriate assignment of disputed work in each case presented for resolution under Section 10(k) of the Act only after taking into account and balancing the relevant factors. A number of the factors often relied upon by the Board are of little assistance in determining the dispute herein. There is no certification by the Board determining the bargaining representative for the employees who are performing the disputed work, nor is there an agreement between the respective International Unions to assist in resolving the dispute, nor does either Union have a collective- bargaining agreement specifically referring to the work in dispute. Additionally, no special skills are required for the work in question, and there are no arbitration awards involving the parties herein which may be employed for their precedential value in this case. It appears from an examination of the entire record, however, that the work in controversy was largely performed by the Mailers at the Brooklyn plant, Pressmen there having never taken pallets either in or out of storage or to the inserting machines, though they accompanied the skids some 10 feet or so beyond the elevator. Similarly, testimo- ny given at the hearing indicates that the practice at other plants in the area, e.g., Alco-Gravure (Hobo- ken, New Jersey) and the New York Times, discloses that employees represented by the Mailers perform such work as is in dispute herein. Moreover, in terms of economy and efficiency of operations, the News' manager of industrial relations, H. J. Kracke, gave unrefuted testimony at the hearing that the Mailers' performance of the disputed work is more efficient 1 International Association of Machinists , Lodge No 1743, AFL-CIO (J A Jones Construction Company), 135 NLRB 1402, 1410 688 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD because it involves less duplication than would another assignment . Along with Rotogravure Opera- tions Manager Richard H. Scott, he also testified that an assignment to members of the Pressmen would "probably result" in hiring additional personnel. Scott additionally testified as to the inefficiency (duplication of work done by mailers) as well as the virtual impossibility (skid drop elevators precisely accommodating only two loaded pallets at one time on a partial floor) of having pressmen coming from the second level of the plant to the first to receive delivery of the skids, taking them to storage areas, or delivering them to the mailers. In view of this, it is clear that assignment of the work in question to employees represented by the Pressmen would increase cost without increasing efficiency. Board policy does not favor a claim for assignment of work which would result in such inefficiencies,2 particular- ly where, as here, one of the stated purposes for construction of the Newspoint plant was the need to create a more modern and efficient facility for the printing of rotogravure products. An award in favor of employees represented by the Mailers would, of course, be consistent with the News' assignment by letter to the Mailers dated July 12, 1972. No evidence was presented by the Press- men that this assignment would result in any loss of jobs or benefits to employees represented by the Pressmen. Indeed, as seen above, the disputed work was essentially performed by members of the Mailers at the Brooklyn plant, and an assignment here to employees represented by the Pressmen would result in hiring additional pressmen to accomplish duties now performed by mailers. Lastly, we do not find merit in the Pressmen's contention that the first-floor area surrounding the "reelroom" is under its exclusive jurisdiction. The argument is based upon the erroneous concept that certain well-defined areas such as "pressroom" and "mailroom" exist at the Newspoint plant within which other unions have ao work functions. Mailer President George McDonald testified that no areas are marked solely for the jurisdiction of one union at Newspoint, Brooklyn, Alco-Gravure, or the New York Times plants. Indeed, employees such as paper handlers , machinists, and electricians, who are represented by other unions, have work functions at Newspoint in the area of the "reelroom" (which the Pressmen insists is the "pressroom"). He further testified that in 1970 the phrase "all mailroom work" was changed to "all mailing work" in all Mailers contracts , so that mailers could continue to perform traditional work functions within their jurisdiction wherever they were located. Conclusions Based upon the entire record, and after full consideration of all relevant factors, we find that these factors favor the assignment of the disputed work to employees represented by the Mailers, and conclude that these employees are entitled to perform the work in dispute herein. DETERMINATION OF DISPUTE Pursuant to Section 10(k) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, and upon the basis of the foregoing findings, the National Labor Relations Board hereby makes the following Determination of Dispute: 1. Employees represented by the New York Mailers Union No. 6 are entitled to perform the work of moving skids of rotogravure sections of the Sunday newspaper from the receiving area near the skid drop elevator to the various storage areas or the areas where the insert machines are located on the main floor at the New York News, Inc., Newspoint plant in Long Island City, New York. 2. New York Newspaper Printing Pressmen's Union No. 2 is not entitled by means proscribed by Section 8(b)(4)(D) to force or require New York News , Inc., to assign the aforementioned work to pressmen who are currently represented by it. 3. Within 10 days from the date of this Decision and Determination of Dispute, the New York Newspaper Printing Pressmen's Union No. 2 shall notify the Regional Director for Region 29, in writing, whether or not it will refrain from forcing or requiring the New York News, Inc., by means proscribed by Section 8(b)(4)(D), to assign the work in dispute to employees represented by it rather than the New York Mailers Union No. 6. f Cleveland Paper Handlers' and Sheet Straighteners ' Union Local II and Helpers Union, Local 610 (Pulitzer Publishing Company), 171 NLRB (Forst City Publishing Company), 196 NLRB 860, 862. Miscellaneous Drivers 1465, 1467.