The Post Printing and Publishing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 16, 1944

59 N.L.R.B. 1115 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of THE POST PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO. and DENVER
MAILERS UNION No. 8, AFFILIATED WITH THE INTERNATIONAL MAIL-
ERS UNION
In the Matter of THE DENVER PUBLISHING COMPANY and DENVER
MAILERS UNION No. 8, AFFILIATED WITH THE INTERNATIONAL MAIL-
ERS UNION
Cases Nos. 17-R-1005 and 17-R-1006 respectively. Decided
k December 16, 194.
Mr. F. W. Bonfils, of Denver, Colo., for the Post.
Mr. H. 1,17. Hailey, of Denver, Colo., for the Denver Publishing.
Mr. Woodruff Randolph, of Denver, Colo., for the ITU.
Mr. Harold A. Hosier, of Denver, Colo., for the IMU.
Miss Ruth E. Bliefield, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petitions duly filed by Denver Mailers Union No. 8, affiliated
with the International Mailers Union, herein called the IMU, alleging
that questions affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of The Post Printing and Publishing Com-
pany,' Denver, Colorado, herein called The Post, and The Denver
Publishing Company,2 Denver, Colorado, herein called Denver Pub-
lishing, respectively, the National Labor Relations Board consolidated
the cases and provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before John W. Weiss, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at
Denver, Colorado, on November 3, 1944. The Post, Denver Publish-
ing, IMU, and International Typographical Union, herein called the
ITU, appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full op-
portunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to
introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The ITU moved that (1)
Case No. 17-R-1005.
Case No 17-R-1006 Denver Publishing and The Post will hereinafter be collectively
referred to as the Companies
59 N. L. R. B., No. 200.
1115
1116 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the Board rule that collective bargaining rights be on an industry-
wide basis and not on the basis of shops, or city-wide; (2) if an elec-
tion is held, the ballot contain the information that a vote for the
IMU means severance of the individual's membership in the ITU;
(3) if an election is held, only those who are members of Denver Mailers
Union No. 8, International Typographical Union, be permitted to
vote. For the reasons discussed infra, these motions are hereby de-
nied. The parties requested that separate decisions be rendered by
the Board regarding each of the companies involved. This request
is hereby denied. The decision rendered herein will relate to both
companies, but separate elections will be directed for each of the units
found appropriate herein.
The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded
opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANIES
The Denver Publishing Company is a Colorado corporation with
its main offices and plant located at Denver, Colorado, where it pub-
lishes a newspaper known as The Rocky Mountain News. The paper
has a daily circulation of approximately 60,000 copies, about 10 per-
cent of which is shipped and distributed to points and places outside
the State of Colorado. Denver Publishing purchases newsprint, ink,
and other supplies and raw materials of an approximate value in
excess of $200,000 each year, 95 percent of which is purchased from
points and places outside the State of Colorado and,shipped to its
plant and publishing house in Denver, Colorado.
Denver Publishing admits that it is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
The Post Printing and Publishing Company is a Colorado corpora-
tion with its principal office and place of business located at Denver,
Colorado, where it publishes a newspaper known as the Denver Post.
This paper has a daily circulation of approximately 184,000 copies,
of which approximately 40,000 are shipped by The Post to points and
places outside the State of Colorado. The Sunday edition of the
paper - has a circulation of approximately 304,000 copies, of which
approximately 120,000 copies are shipped and distributed by the Com-
pany to points and places outside the State of Colorado. During the
year 1943, The Post purchased raw materials, paper, ink, and other
products, valued at over $1,300,000, in excess of 90 percent of which
THE POST PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO . 1117 -
was purchased and shipped from points and places outside the State
of Colorado to its place of business at Denver, Colorado. Approxi-
mately one-fourth of the advertising appearing in The Denver Post
is received from national agencies outside the State of Colorado.
We find that The Post is engaged in commerce within the meaning
of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Denver Mailers Union No. 8, affiliated with the International Mail-
ers Union,' and International Typographical Union, affiliated with
the American Federation of Labor, are labor organizations admitting
to membership employees of The Post and Denver Publishing.
III. THE QUESTIONS ' CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On September 28, 1944, IMU requested The Post and Denver Pub-
lishing, respectively, to recognize it as the exclusive bargaining repre-
sentative of the mailers in their employ, claiming that it represented
a majority of these employees. Each Company refused to grant rec-
ognition inasmuch as it was operating under a contractwith Denver
Mailers Union No. 8, affiliated with the International Typographical
Union. The contract with The Post extended from September 5, 1943,
to October 22,1944, and the contract with Denver Publishing extended
from October 23, 1943, to October 22, 1944. Since both contracts had
expired prior to the date of the hearing, neither is urged as a bar. No
new contract has been negotiated between either Company and I. T. U.
pending the outcome of these proceedings.
Statements of a Board agent , introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicate that IMU represents a substantial number of employees
in the units hereinafter found appropriate.4
We find that questions affecting commerce have arisen concerning
the representation of employees of Denver Publishing and The Post,
respectively, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2, (6)
and (7) of the Act.
s There are two local organizations bearing the identical name, Denver Mailers Union
No. 8. One is affiliated with the IMU, the petitioner in this case , and was chartered on
August 24 , 1943. On September 18, 1944, by a referendum vote of the Denver Mailers
Union, affiliated with the ITU, the members of that local decided to affiliate with the
International Mailers Union.
'The Field Examiner reported that the IMU submitted 29 authorization cards, all of
which bore apparently genuine original signatures of persons listed on The Post's pay
roll of October 14, 1944 , which contained the names of 40 employees in the appropriate
unit ; and that the cards were dated September and October 1944.
The Field Examiner reported that the IMU submitted 8 authorization cards, all of
which bore apparently genuine original signatures of persons listed on Denver Publishing's
pay roll of October 8, 1944, which contained the names of 8 employees in the appropriate
unit ; and that all the cards were dated September 30, 1944.
1118 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNITS
The IMU requests separate units be established for each of the Com-
panies in substantial accord with the units set forth in the previous
.contracts between the Companies and the ITU. The ITU contends
that collective bargaining for all mailers should be on an industry-
wide basis and not on a shop or city-wide basis. It, however, offered
no evidence in support of its' contention beyond the"statement that
that is the historical position of the ITU. The record shows that the
various locals,of the ITU have always made-separate contracts with
separate employers in a city, and the companies involved herein had
separate contracts with the ITU. The request for a ruling that the
appropriate unit be on an industry-wide basis is therefore denied.
.
Case No. 17-R-1006
The IMU and Denver Publishing agree that the appropriate unit
consists of all mailers employed by the Denver Publishing Company
in its mailing room. This is the unit embraced in the last contract
between the ITU and Denver Publishing. We find that all mailers
employed by the Denver Publishing in its mailing room constitute a'
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
Case No. 11-R-1005
The IMU contends that the appropriate unit consists of all mailers
"in the mailing room, including taggers, employees engaged in any
form of addressing in the mailing room, stamping, inserting or
stuffing, jogging papers for automatic machines, routing, operation
of tying machines, distributing and counting in the mail room, pre-
paring lists or wrappers, sacking, tying and dispatching of papers, and
the handling of papers from conveyors attached to the press, situa-
tion holders, and foremen. This description of the unit is the same
as that set forth in the previous contract between the ITU and The
Post. There is, however, some disagreement as to whether this de-
scription covers certain employees of The Post, namely, those clas-,
sified as inserters, the addressograph operators in the mailing room,
and the employee taking papers from the color conveyor. All parties
agree, and we find, that foremen and assistant foremen should be in-
cluded within the unit, although such employees have authority to
hire and discharge, or effectively recommend such action, since they
have been traditionally included within the bargaining unit in this
THE POST PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO. - 1119
industry 5 and have been,covered by previous collective bargaining
contracts.
The Post would exclude persons listed on the pay roll as inserters,
because it contends that they are war emergency employees, mostly
women, possessing little or no skill, and earning approximately $28.80
it week, which is considerably less than the amount earned by the
other mailers. It appears that in the previous contract between The
Post and the ITU inserters who did not work in the mailing room
were not deemed to be included in the unit, although the provisions
of that contract specified inserters without limitation. However, the
IMU is now contending for all inserters in the building. By insert-
ing is meant taking various supplements which make up the Sunday
paper, which are printed separately, and inserting one in the other. A
certain part of this work is done in the mailing room; part is done
by the women in question, who are classified as inserters, and part
is done by the carriers. The inserting that is done in the mailing
room is done by journeymen mailers, not'listed on the pay roll as in-
serters, who do this work as an incident to their other work. The
women do nothing else but inserting, and occasionally, some wrap-
ping. They work under the supervision of the mailing room fore-
men but do not work in the mailing room proper. The Board does
not base the exclusion or inclusion of an employee in a bargaining
unit on sex, nor does it exclude employees because they are war emer-
gency employees. However, since it appears that the inserters who
work outside the mailing room \were not deemed to be within the
coverage of the previous contract, we shall exclude them from the
appropriate unit.
The IMU would include, and The Post desires the exclusion of
addressograph operators. The addressograph operators are located
in the mailing room, although it was stated that they are there only
as ,a matter of convenience, but are carried on the circulation depart-
ment pay roll, and are responsible only to that department. They
have a separate foreman, who also works in the mailing room. The
work of the addressograph operators is not as skilled as those of the
other mailers, and they are paid a correspondingly lower wage.
However, since the previous contracts of the Company and the ITU
stated that it would include all addressing in the mailing room, and
since it appears that the work of the addressograph operators is
functionally related to the mailing operation, and no other union is
at the present time claiming to represent them, we shall include the
addressograph operators in the unit found appropriate herein.
See Matter of W. F. Hall Printing Company, 51 N. L. R. B. 640; Matter of Service
Printers, Incorporated , 54 N. L. R. B. 1082.
618683-45-vol . 59- -72
1120 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
There, is also some disagreement as to the inclusion or exclusion
of the employee who takes work from the color press conveyor. This
employee is under the supervision of the mailing room foreman, but
is not paid at the same rate as a skilled employee, his salary more
nearly approximating that of the laborers, who are excluded from
the unit. Some of the journeymen in the mailing room, who are in-
cluded in the unit, occasionally assist on the color press. The previ-
ous contract included employees engaged in the handling of papers
from conveyors attached to the press. We shall include the employee
taking work from the color press conveyor, since it appears that his
work is an integral part of the mailing operation.
We find that, with respect to The Post, all mailers employed in
the mailing room, including taggers, employees in the mailing. room
engaged in addressing, stamping, inserting or stuffing, jogging of
papers for automatic machines, routing, operating tying machines,
distributing and counting, preparing lists or wrappers, sacking, tying,
.and dispatching of papers, handling of papers from conveyors at-
tached. to the press, situation holders, addressograph operators in
the mailing-room, the employee engaged in taking work from the
color press conveyor, and foremen in the mailing room, but exclud-
ing those employees classified as inserters who work outside the mail-
ing room, laborers and clean-up men, constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
1
We shall direct that the questions concerning representation which
have arisen be resolved by elections by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of
Elections herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth
in the Direction.'
In addition to the regular employees, it appears that The Post em-
ploys extra people to aid in mailing room work. All such employees.
whose duties bring them within the purview of the unit finding set
forth in Section IV, supra, are, of course, included within the unit,
There remains a question as to which of the extras should be eligible
to participate in the election. These extra employees include people
who come in only occasionally to assist for a few hours; others who are
hired for a short period of time whenever the need arises; and other
employees who perform mailers' work regularly, but work only a
limited number of hours per week. Some of these workers who are
employed only on certain nights at The Post, have regular positions
THE POST PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO. 1121
with other printing establishments. There is no indication, however,
that the part-time employees who do regular mailers' work, are em-
ployed on any different basis than full-time employees as to rates of
pay, duties, or other conditions of employment. The fact that some
of them are employed full time by other employers is not regarded by
the Board as necessarily precluding their right to participate in the
selection of representatives. Acting on the principle that employees
who do sufficient work to give them an interest in 'the conditions of
employment also have a sufficient interest in the outcome to entitle
them to vote in an election, we have frequently in the past declared
such employees eligible to vote. However, we do not believe that
employees whose employment is only "casual," or occasional, or inter-
mittent, have an equally substa4tia1 interest in the conditions of em-
ployment as those whose employment, though part-time, is regular.e
We, therefore, find that all regular part-time employees on The Post
doing work which brings them within the unit, as defined in Section IV,
supra, but not including occasional or casual employees, should be
eligible to vote.
The ITU made two motions concerning the ballot in any election
that may be ordered, namely : if an election is held, the ballot should
contain the information that a vote fpr the IMU will mean a severance
of membership in the ITU; and, if an election is held only those who
are members of Denver Mailers-Union No. 8, ITU, be permitted to
vote. Both motions call for action by the Board that is distinctly
contrary to the policies and practices prescribed by the Act, and are
therefore denied.7
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
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,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with The Denver Pub-
lishing Company, Denver, Colorado, and The Post Printing and Pub-
lishing Co., Denver, Colorado, respectively, elections by secret ballot
shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty. (30)
days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Seventeenth Region, acting in
these matters as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and'
9 See Matter of Wagner Folding Boo Corp., 49 N. L. it. B. 346; Matter of New Idea,
Inc., 49 N L. it. B. 619.
, See Matter of Cincinnati-Daly Newspaper Publishers Assoc., 55 N. L. it. B. 571, and
Cincinnati Daily Newspaper Publishers Assoc., 56 N. L. R. B. 171, ( supplemental decision),
1122 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations
and the determinations made in Section V, above, among the employees
in the units found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were em-
ployed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of
this Direction, including employees who did not work during the said
pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid
off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United States
who present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding any who
'have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired
or reinstated prior to the date of the elections, to determine whether
they desire to be represented by Denver Mailers UTnion No. 8, affiliated
-with the International Mailers Union, or by International Typo-
graphical Union, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by
neither.
ti