The Post-Standard Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 31, 1942

39 N.L.R.B. 1308 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

f
In the Matter of THE POST-STANDARD COMPANY and SYRACUSE MAILERS
UNION, LOCAL No. 73
Case No. R-.34116.-Decided March 31, 1912
Jurisdiction : newspaper publishing industry.
Practice and Procedure : petition dismissed where no appropriate unit within
scope of petition ; unit requested confined to part of larger unit previously
found appropriate, held inappropriate
Estabrook, Estabrook & Harding; by Mr. Charles S. Estabrook, Mr.
-Henry Estabrook, and Mr. James ,P. Burns, Jr., of Syracuse, N. Y.
for the Company.
Mr. Philip Okun, of Syracuse, N. Y., for Local No. 73.
Mr. Francis Laventure, of Syracuse,,N. Y., for Local No. 12.
Mrs. Augusta Spaulding, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On November 3, 1941, Syracuse Mailers Union, Local No. 73,1 herein
called Local No. 73, filed with the Regional Director for the Third
Region (Buffalo, New York) a petition alleging that a question affect-
ing commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees
of The Post-Standard Company, Syracuse, New York, herein called
the Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of
representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On December 8, 1941,
the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting
pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series. 2,
as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional
I On the petition and other formal papers, the name of the petitioning union appears as
"Syracuse Mailers Union #73" Evidence received at the hearing indicates that the
correct form of the name of the petitioning union is "Syracuse Mailers Union, Local
No. 73 " The name of the Company also appears on the petition and other formal papers
in abbreviated form. The petition and other formal papers are hereby amended to dis-
close the correct names of the petitioning union and the Company
39 N. L. R. B., No. 238.
1308
THE POST-STANDARD COMPANY 1309
Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon
due notice.
On December 11, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and
Local No. 73. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on December
18, 1941, at Syracuse, New York, before Peter J. Crotty, the Trial
Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Com-
pany was represented by counsel and Local No. 73 by a union repre-
sentative. Syracuse District Managers, Newsdealers, and Corner
Boys Supervisors, Local No. 12,2 herein called Local No. 12, also
appeared at the hearing and was represented by its president. All
parties participated in the hearing. At, the commencement of the
hearing, the Company moved to dismiss the petition on the grounds
(1) that the Board had no jurisdiction in this proceeding and (2)
that the unit proposed in the petition was not appropriate for bar-
gaining. The Trial Examiner denied the motion to dismiss on the
ground of jurisdiction and referred to the Board the question
whether the proposed unit was appropriate for bargaining. For
reasons which appear in Section III below, the Company's motion
to dismiss on the ground that the proposed unit is not appropriate
for bargaining is granted. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine
and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on
the issues was afforded all parties. During the course of the hearing,
the Trial Examiner made several rulings on other motions and on
objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed
the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial
errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
On January 12, 1942, the Company, and on January 14, 1942, Local
No. 73, filed briefs which the Board has considered.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Post-Standard Company owns and publishes The Post-Stand-
ard, a morning and Sunday paper, at Syracuse, New York. The
Company uses raw materials consisting of newsprint, metal, and ink,
all of which the Company purchases within the State 6f New York.
Ink amounting to 187,000 pounds between November 30, 1940, and
November 30, 1941, was ordered from the sales agent of The Herrick
"Local No 12 is also known in the record as Syracuse District Managers, Newsdealers,
and Street Corner Bovs Supervisors, Local No 12
1310 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Company at New York City. The Herrick Company manufactures
its ink at a plant in New Jersey.
The Company uses wire reports of the Associated Press amounting
to about 1,000 words daily. The Post-Standard usually contains
about 108 columns, of which approximately 8 contain news received
from the Associated Press. At the present time approximately 3 pages
of the paper are devoted to war news obtained through the same
agency. The Company uses the following feature services: North
American News Alliance, Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndi-
cate, Bell Syndicate, United Feature Service, George Matthew Adams,
McClure Syndicate, King Feature Service, F. J. Markey Syndicate,
The McNaughton Syndicate, and Associated Newspapers.
The Company devotes 46 percent of the space in its daily papers
.to advertising. Seventeen percent of the advertising in the Sunday
papers, and 15 percent in the daily papers, represent advertisements
of nationally known products. Three percent of the total advertise-
ments are received from sources outside the State of New York. The
paper's daily circulation is approximately 77,965, of which 586 papers
are sold and distributed outside the State of New York. The Sunday
circulation is approximately 95,656, of which 278 papers are sold
outside the State of New York.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Syracuse Mailers Union, Local No. 73, is a labor organization affili-
ated with International Typographical Union. Syracuse District
Managers, Newsdealers and Corner Boys Supervisors, Local No. 12,
is a labor organization chartered by Syracuse Mailers Union, Local
No. 73, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
Upon a petition filed by International Printing Pressmen & As-
sistants ' Union of North America, herein called the Pressmen, in a
former representation proceeding, herein called the former proceed-
ing, the Board on August 13, 1941, issued a Decision and Direction
of Election.3 Pursuant to the Direction of Election, the Regional
Director conducted an election by secret ballot on September 10, 1941,
among the outside circulation employees of the Company to determine
whether or not they desired to be represented by Syracuse Outside
Circulation Employees Union No. 392, the local union chartered by
the Pressmen for such employees. Employees who comprised the
unit found by the Board to be appropriate in the former proceeding,
tnd who participated in this election, included city district managers
s platter of The Post -,Standard Company and Inteinattional P, uitiny Pressmen & Assist-
ants' Union of North Annerica , 34 N L R B 226
THE POST-STANDARD COMPANY 1 1311
and newsdealers' and street corner boys' supervisors, all of whom
perform their work within the city limits of Syracuse, and branch
managers, country circulation employees, circulation managers, and
outside circulation subordinate employees, all of whom perform their
work outside the city limits of Syracuse. The results of the election
disclosed that no bargaining representative had been selected by a
majority of such employees.
Subsequent to this election, but while the' former proceeding was
pending before the Board, members of the. local union who partici-
pated in the election surrendered their charter to the Pressmen and
disassociated themselves from that organization. Before October 1,
1941,-some-of the city district managers and newsdealers' and street
corner boys' supervisors decided to form a new union called Syracuse
District Managers, Newsdealers and Corner Boys Supervisors, Local
No. 12, herein called Local No. 12, and appointed Syracuse Mailers
Union, Local No. 73, herein called Local No. 73, the petitioner in this
proceeding, as their bargaining agent.4 On or about October 20, 1941,
the sublocal was chartered..
On October 23, 1941, while the former proceeding was still pending
before the Board, Local No. 73 advised the Company that the new
union had been formed and asked the Company to recognize Local
No. 73 as its bargaining agent. The Company refused to recognize
the agency, or to confer, alleging that the Board had established in
the former proceeding the appropriate bargaining unit for such
employees of the Company and that the proposed unit, being incon-
sistent therewith, was inappropriate for bargaining.
On October 31, 1941, the Board issued its Supplemental Decision
and Order, in which it dismissed the petition filed by the Pressmen
in the former proceeding.-' On November 3, 1941, Local No. 73'
filed the petition in this proceeding.
The petitioner contends that city district managers and newsdealers'
and street corner boys' supervisors constitute an appropriate unit.
It further urges that the inclusion of these employees in a new local
which restricts its membership to such employees constitutes a material
change in circumstances which should induce the Board to modify
the larger unit hitherto found appropriate. The Company contends
that the' Board's finding in the former proceeding that all outside
circulation employees of the Company, including city district man-
agers, newsdealers' and street corner boys' supervisors, branch man-
agers, country circulation employees, circulation 'managers; and,
'Local No 73 secured permission from International Typographical Union, with nhich
it was affiliated , to assist such employees in organization and to grant them an auxiliary
charter as sublocal of Local No. 73, although the employees of the Company who desired
organization were not eligible to membership either in Local No 73 or in the international
union with which Local No 73 was affiliated.
30 N L 1{ L' 0
448105-42-vol. 30- --S4
1312 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
outside circulation subordinate employees, but excluding clerical and
supervisory employees, precludes the Board from finding the
proposed unit an appropriate bargaining unit.
Between the date of the hearing in the former proceeding and the
date of the hearing in this proceeding, there has been no change in
classification or work of the outside circulation employees of the
Company who comprise the larger unit found appropriate in the
former proceeding. Furthermore, the record herein does not per-
suade us that the larger unit heretofore found does not still constitute
an appropriate bargaining unit. Moreover, sufficient time has not
elapsed between the Board'ssdismissal of the former proceeding and
the institution of the instant, proceeding to conclude that self-
organization on the basis of the larger unit hitherto found appro-
priate is not feasible, or that the employees whom Local No. 73 would
exclude from the unit previously found appropriate by the Board
do not desire collective bargaining. For these reasons, and upon
the entire record in this proceeding, we find that a unit restricted
to city district managers and newsdealers' and street corner boys'
supervisors is not at this time appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining."
IV. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Since the bargaining unit sought to be established by the petitioner
is not appropriate, as stated in Section III above, we find that no
question has been raised concerning the representation of employees
of the Company in an appropriate bargaining unit.
On the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following:
CONCLUSION OF LAw
No question concerning representation of employees of The Post-
Standard Company, Syracuse, New York, in a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining has arisen within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and conclusion
of law, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the
petition for investigation and certification filed by Syracuse Mailers
Union, Local No. 73, be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
aCt Matter of Kroehler Manufacturing Company , Plant No 4 and Upholsteiers and
Allied Crafts, Local Union No. 37, of Upholsterers International Union of North America,
27 N. L R B 1209; Matter of Globe Newspaper Company and Newspaper Guild of
Boston, 3L N L R B . 916; and Matter of The National Sanitary Co)npany and
International Brotherhood of Foundry Eniployces , Local #101, ( Independent ), 31 N. I.
It B 824 , and cases cited therein.