The Republican Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsFeb 29, 1968

169 N.L.R.B. 1146 (N.L.R.B. 1968)

1146 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD The Republican Company' and Springfield Typo- graphical Union No. 216 , International Typo- graphical Union , AFL-CIO,2 Petitioner. Cases I-RC-9575 and 1-RC-9684 February 29, 1968 DECISION AND ORDER BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS BROWN AND J ENKINS Upon petitions duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a consolidated hearing was held before Arthur I. Mc- Gurty, Hearing Officer of the National Labor Rela- tions Board. 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 powers in connection with this case to a three- member panel. The Hearing Officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby af- firmed. Upon the entire record in these cases, including the briefs filed by the Employer, the Petitioner, and the Intervenor, Springfield Newspapers Employees Association, Inc.,3 the Board finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. 2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain employees of the Employer. 3. No question affecting commerce exists con- cerning the representation of employees of the Em- ployer within the meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act for the following reasons: The petition in Case 1-RC-9575, filed by Spring- field Typographical Union No. 216, International Typographical Union, AFL-CIO, herein referred to as the ITU, on May 4, 1967, seeks to represent a unit of all regular full-time mailing room em- ployees, including truckdrivers assigned to the mail- ing room at the Employer's location at 32 Cypress Street, Springfield, Massachusetts. In Case 1-RC-9684, the ITU seeks to represent a unit of all regular part-time mailing room employees at the same location. The regular full-time mailing room employees, sought as a unit in Case 1-RC-9575, are part of a broader unit that has been represented by the Inter- venor since 1961 under successive bargaining agreements.4 The regular part-time mailing room employees sought as a unit in Case 1-RC-9684 have not been covered by these contracts and are not represented by a labor organization. The employees involved are engaged in the counting, bundling, and distribution of newspapers. The newspapers come from the presses to the mail- ing room by means of a conveyor. A mailroom em- ployee places them on tables and counts them into desired lots and then pushes them by hand to a semiautomatic tying machine. The newspapers are then pushed onto a conveyor to a loading dock where they are loaded on trucks for delivery to newsdealers and newsboys. Other newspapers to be distributed by mail, are wrapped either singly or in rolls and a label placed on them by a hand operated mailing machine, which cuts and pastes the label, which comes from a tape previously prepared by mailing room employees. The wrapped papers are then taken to the post office by truck. Driving the trucks is considered to be one of the normal duties of mailing room employees. No prior experience is required to work in the mailroom, and there is no apprenticeship program for training new employees. Most of the employees in other departments, with the exception of editorial and advertising, were employed, in the first in- stance, in the mailing room. The Petitioner asserts that the proposed unit limited to regular full-time mailing room employees consists of a distinct and homogeneous department that can be properly severed from the existing unit. It contends that the jobs in the mailing room require considerable skill and training and that it has provi- sions for apprenticeship programs, in the many con- tracts it asserts that it has negotiated on behalf of mailing room employees. It further contends that the mailing room employees are not an integral part of the circulation department and that a unit of mail- ing room employees is administratively feasible since the mailing room has separate supervision, a separate payroll, and a separate physical location. We are not satisfied on the facts of this case that the requested severance is warranted. There has been a history of uninterrupted bargaining for these employees since the Board's certification in 1961, and a new contract was signed between the Em- ployer and the incumbent union shortly after the fil- ing of the petition in this case.5 During this period, labor relations appear to have been stable, and these employees have been effectively represented by the incumbent union. We further find that the functions of the mailing room employees are an in- The name of the Employer appears in the caption as amended at the hearing. 2 The name of the Petitioner appears in the caption as amended at the hearing. The name of the Intervenor appears as amended at the hearing. The Intervenor was certified in 1961 as representative of a unit of regular full-time employees in the Employer's editorial , advertising , circu- lation, maintenance , and business departments . The press-stereo and composing departments have also been specifically included in recent contracts . The regular full-time mailing room employees have been in- cluded in this unit as part of the circulation department. 5 The Employer contends that the contract is a bar to the petition. Because of the result we reach herein , we find it unnecessary to pass upon this contention. 169 NLRB No. 167 THE REPUBLICAN COMPANY 1147 tegral part of the production and distribution of the newspapers of the Employer. And we have found, on substantially similar facts, that mailing room em- ployees do not possess the essential attributes of craftsmen.6 We therefore find that the regular mail- ing room employees do not meet our tests for severance from an established bargaining unit and we shall dismiss this petition.7 As noted above, the Petitioner also seeks, in Case 1-RC-9684, a unit composed of "all regular part-time mailing room employees." Such a unit can be justified only as a residual unit of unrepresented employees. Without determining whether a unit of part-time employees could constitute such a unit, we find that the unit requested, which is confined to part-time employees in the mailing room alone, is too limited in scope to constitute an appropriate residual unit. We shall therefore also dismiss this petition. ORDER It is hereby ordered that the petitions filed herein be, and they hereby are, dismissed. 6 Knoxville News-Sentinel Company, 138 NLRB 782, 783. 1 Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, Uranium Division, 162 NLRB 387.