Texas Color Printers, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 10, 1974

210 N.L.R.B. 30 (N.L.R.B. 1974)

30 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Texas Color Printers, Inc. and Dallas General
Drivers, Warehousemen and Helpers, Local Union
745, affiliated with International Brotherhood of
Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Help-
ers of America, Petitioner and United Paperwork-
ers International Union, AFL-CIO-CLC, Peti-
tioner. Cases 16-RC-6330 and 16-RC-6337
April 10, 1974
DECISION ON REVIEW AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS
FANNING AND JENKINS
On July 31, 1973, the Acting Regional Director for
Region 16 issued a Decision and Direction of
Election in the above-entitled proceeding, in which
he found appropriate the Petitioners' requested units
of employees employed by the Employer at its
printing plant located at 4800 Spring Valley Road,
Farmers Branch, Texas. Thereafter, the Employer, in
accordance with Section 102.67 of the National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, as
amended, filed a timely request for review of the
Acting Regional Director's Decision, together with a
supporting brief, on the grounds , inter alia, that, in
making his unit determinations, he departed from
established policy.
On August 21, 1973, by telegraphic order, the
request for review was granted and the elections
stayed pending decision on review.
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.
The Board has reviewed the entire record in this
case with respect to the issues under review and
makes the following findings: I
The Petitioner in Case 16-RC-6330 seeks a unit of
all shipping and receiving department employees,
including all warehouse employees, shipping and
receiving employees, drivers, and porters, excluding
all other employees, office clerical employees,
guards, watchmen, foremen, and all supervisors as
defined in the Act. There is no history of collective
bargaining for any of the Employer's employees. The
Acting Regional Director found the requested unit to
be appropriate. The Employer contends that these
employees do not have a community of interest
separate and distinct from the one they share with
other employees at its commercial printing plant and
I On August 22, 1973, a day after the grant of review , the Petitioner in
Case l6-RC-6337 requested permission to withdraw its petition The Acting
Regional Director had found appropriate its requested unit of all
production and maintenance employees, excluding , inter alia, the shipping
210 NLRB No. 12
that, therefore, the requested unit is inappropriate.
We agree.
As found by the Acting Regional Director, the
Employer, using the lithographic or offset process, is
engaged in the printing, collating, and bindery of all,
or parts, of catalogues, Time magazine, and other
commercial printing products. Its plant is subdivided
into five departments: preparation, press, bindery,
maintenance, and shipping and receiving. The
shipping and receiving department consists of 8 of
the 108 production and maintenance employees. A
group superintendent provides overall supervision to
all plant employees. The shipping and receiving
department is under the immediate supervision of a
warehouse foreman and operates only on two shifts,
the first and third. On the first shift are two drivers, a
warehouse employee, two shipping and receiving
clerks, and a porter. A driver and a shipping and
receiving clerk on the third shift work under the
bindery foreman who supervises all shift employees.
The shipping and receiving department employees
perform functions closely integrated with plant
operations. The drivers haul trash from the plant,
make local deliveries, and pick up raw materials;
supplies, and equipment, as needed. The warehouse
operations involve the storage and supply of all raw
materials used in the plant and office. The ware-
houseman operates a forklift truck in moving those
materials from place to place. The shipping and
receiving clerks, in addition to their clerical duties,
sweep the aisles and spend some time tending and
operating the automatic scrap-baling machine. They
also assist in production operations and substitute on
jobs requiring little or no skills. The porter takes care
of the lunchroom, the office, and the restrooms.
There are frequent contacts between the requested
employees and other employees in the plant . In case
of absences or expediency, the Employer makes
temporary assignments of shipping and receiving
employees to assist production employees and vice
versa, to a lesser extent. Such assignments involve
relatively unskilled jobs, such as "jogging," cleaning
up, and tying off bales of scrap formed by the baling
machine.
All plant employees punch the same timeclock and
share the same shift hours, job benefits, and working
conditions. All enjoy the same convenience facilities,
such as the lunchroom, parking area, restrooms, etc.
The Board has recognized that collective bargain-
ing in commercial printing establishments often
proceeds on the basis of , distinct groups of pro-
duction` and ; maintenance employees, one of which
and receiving department employees discussed below . None of the parties
opposed the withdrawal request . Accordingly, it is hereby ordered that the
request to withdraw the petition in Case 16-RC-6337 be, and it hereby is,
granted.
TEXAS COLOR PRINTERS, INC. 31
may be those engaged in bindery functions (some-
times including shipping, sometimes both shipping
and receiving, employees). In the absence of the
parties' agreement or a history of bargaining with
regard to a particular requested group of such
employees, the Board determines its appropriateness
on the facts disclosed by the record.2
Here, in view of the frequent work contacts and
temporary interchange and overlapping supervision
of employees of the shipping and receiving and
bindery departments, and in the absence of any
bargaining history as to any of the plant employees,
we find that the shipping and receiving department
employees do not enjoy a sufficiently distinct
community of interest to warrant their establishment
as a separate appropriate unit apart from other
employees. Accordingly, we find the requested unit
to be inappropriate, and, as the Petitioner has not
indicated a desire to proceed to an election in a
broader appropriate unit, we shall dismiss the
petition.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition filed herein
be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
2 See Doubleday & Company, Inc., 165 NLRB 325.