Wilson-Jones & Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 20, 1940

26 N.L.R.B. 835 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

In the Matter Of WILSON-JONES & COMPANY and AMALGAMATED
LITHOGRAPHERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 4, A. F. OF L.
Case No. R-1965.-Decided August 20, 1940
Jurisdiction : office supplies and stationery equipment manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: dis-
pute as to appropriate unit; effect of existing contract subject to Board action;
election unnecessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : employees of the lithographic de-
partment.
Tenny, Harding, Sherman & Rogers, by Mr. George B. Rogers and
Mr. W. W. Miller, of Chicago, Ill., for the Company.
Mr. Fred W. Zeitz, of Chicago, Ill., for the Amalgamated.
Miss Marcia Hertzmark, of counsel, to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On May 14, 1940, Amalgamated Lithographers of America, Local
4,1 herein called the Amalgamated, filed with the Regional Director
for the Thirteenth Region (Chicago, Illinois), a petition alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Wilson-Jones & Co., Chicago, Illinois,
herein called the Company and requesting an investigation and cer-
tification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the'Act. On June 4,
1940, the Amalgamated filed an amended petition with the Regional
Director. On June,12, 1940, 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 Director to conduct it and to provide for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On July 22, 1940, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the Amalga-
mated and United Loose-Leaf and Blank Book Workers, Local In-
I The petition incorrectly designated the local as Local 204.
26 N. L. R. B., No. 85.
835
836 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
dustrial Union No. 148, C. I. 0., herein called the United, a labor
organization named in the petition as claiming to represent em-
ployees of the Company.
Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on July 29, 1940, at Chicago,
Illinois, before Charles F. McErlean, the Trial Examiner duly desig-
nated by the Board. The Company was represented by counsel and
the Amalgamated'was represented by its local president. No appear-
ance was entered. for the United. ' Full opportunity to be heard, to
examine and cross-examine witnesses and to introduce, evidence was
afforded all parties.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Wilson-Jones & Co. is a Massachusetts corporation with its: prin-
cipal office and place of business at Chicago, Illinois. - It has manu-
facturing plants situated in Elizabeth, New Jersey,; Chicago, Illinois;
San Francisco, California; and Kansas City, Missouri, where it is
engaged in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of loose-leaf file
and stationery equipment, indices, record-keeping devices, and other
general office supplies. We are here concerned with its plant at
Chicago, Illinois.
, " I t
The principal materials used by the Company at that plant during
the first 6 months of 1938 were paper and board valued at approxi-
mately $175,000; leather and imitation leather, valued at' approxi-
mately $45,000; and steel and other material, valued at'approximately
$30,000. About 99 per cent of the paper and board, 97 'per 664" of
the leather and imitation leather, and 90 per cent of the steel and
other materials were procured outside the State of Illino is. During
the same period, 75 per cent of the ' Company's products, valued at
approximately $1,306,000, were shipped to 'poiiits outside, the' State
of Illinois. There has been no substantial change in the business 'of
the Company at its Chicago plant and the percentages and values
set out above were approximately the same for the` first 6 months` of
1940. , •. '';
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Amalgamated Lithographers of America, Local 4,' is, a' labor organ-
ization affiliated with the American Federation of: Labor, admitting
to membership lithographers employed .by the Company.
United Loose-Leaf and, Blank Book Workers, Local Industrial
Union No. 148, is a labor organization affiliated with the„Congress
of Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees, of
the Company.
,,.,, .,-,WILSON,-JONES, & COMPANY - 837
III. THE {QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Amalgamated 'made its first request: upon the Company';to
baigain'for the lithographers in the plant about April 1939. About
September 1, 1939, the Amalgamated was successful in securing 'a
wage increase for the lithographers 'and `at that time" requested • that
th'e Company enter into a contract covering 'th'ese employees. ' The
Company refused" to do' so, but 'continued to call' upon the Amal-
gamated to supply it with lithographers for work in its plant. 'On
May 7, 1940, having heard that the Company contemplated signing
a closed-shop contract with the United which would include the
"lithographers, ' the Amalgamated requested a contract covering the
three employees of the 'lithographic department. The Company r'e-
'plied 'that because of the' activities of the United it was not in a posi-
tion to negotiate,with the Amalgamated. On May' 14; 1940, the
Amalgamated wrote a letter to the Company protesting the inclusion
of the lithographers in any closed-shop contract with the United and
requesting that the Company negotiate a contract with the' Amal-
gamated for' these employees. 'On June 4, 1940, the Company 'en-
tered into a closed-shop contract • with, the United, the recognition
clause of which excepts certain employees represented by craft unions
and "employees who may hereafter be included by the National Labor
Relations ,Board' or' other proper governmental agency within an
approp`riate' collective Bargaining unit to be represented -otherwise
than by the Union, and employees in respect of whom a petition for
certificate [sic] is pending before said Board." '
The Company took' the position at the hearing that it did rot
know whether the lithographic department constituted an appropri
ate unit and that it would not, therefore, recognize the Amalgamated
as the respresentative of these employees.
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company. •
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION, UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation 'which has
arisen, occurring in connection' with the operations'of the` Company
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States, and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
. As indicated above,,the Amalgamated' contends that ,the three. em-
'ployees of the lithographic department of .the Company's Chicago
plant, two of, whom! are journeymen lithographers' and,,the third an
323429-42-54 + ' , .
838 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
apprentice, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining. The Company states that it does not know
whether or not such unit is appropriate. The United did not appear
at the hearing and makes no contention.
The lithographers are skilled craftsmen who are required to serve
an apprenticeship period of 4 years in order to become journeymen.
The Company has in the past hired its lithographers through the
Amalgamated and has negotiated with the Amalgamated with re-
spect to wages. The lithographers are never employed in other de-
partments nor are other employees ever transferred to the litho-
graphic department. It is undisputed that the three employees of
that department are members of the Amalgamated.
On the basis of the foregoing, we find that the employees of the
lithographic department at the Chicago plant of the Company con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining,
and that said unit will insure to such employees of the Company the
full benefit of their right to self-organization and to collective bar-
gaining, and will otherwise' effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
At the hearing the Amalgamated introduced undisputed evidence
that the three employees of the lithographic department then em-
ployed by the Company were members of the Amalgamated. The
Company and the Amalgamated agreed at the hearing that the Board
might certify the Amalgamated as the bargaining representative in
the event the unit sought by the Amalgamated was found to be
appropriate.
On the basis of the foregoing, we find that the Amalgamated has
been designated and selected by a majority of the persons employed
by the Company in the unit herein found to be appropriate as the
representative of such persons for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing. It is, therefore, the exclusive representative of all the employees
in such unit for the purposes of collective bargaining, and we will
so certify.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in this proceeding, the Board makes the following:
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of the Company within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations
Act.
2. The employees of the lithographic department employed by the
Company at its plant at Chicago, Illinois, constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
WILSON-JONES & COMPANY 839
3. Amalgamated Lithographers of America, Local 4, A. F. of L.,
is the exclusive representative of all employees in such unit for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9
(c) of the National Labor Relations Act.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Amalgamated Lithographers of
America, Local 4, A. F. of L. has been designated and selected by a
majority of the employees of the lithographic department employed
by Wilson-Jones & Co. at its plant in Chicago, Illinois, as their
representative for the purposes of collective bargaining and that,
pursuant to the provisions of Section 9 (a) of the Act, Amalgamated
Lithographers' of America, Local 4, A. F. of L. is the exclusive repre-
sentative of all such employees for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other
conditions of employment.