American Box and File Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 3, 1949

81 N.L.R.B. 1167 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of JOHN L. PARKS D/B/A AMERICAN BOX AND FILE COM-
PANY AND THE PARKS PRINTING COMPANY, EMPLOYER and INTERNA-
TIONAL PRINTING PRESSMEN AND ASSISTANTS' UNION OF NORTH AMER-
ICA, A. F. OF L., PETITIONER
Case No.10-RC-404.-Decided Marcia 3,1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing offi-
cer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing officer's
rulings made at the hearing 1 are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed.2
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The Petitioner is a labor organization, affiliated with the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
Local 51, Amalgamated Lithographers of -America, C. I. 0., herein
called the Intervenor, is a labor organization affiliated with the Con-
I Local 51, Amalgamated Lithographers of America , C. I 0., moved to intervene at the
hearing, which motion the hearing officer denied on the ground that the national organiza-
tion was not in compliance with Section 9 (f), (g), and ( h) of the Act. Having been
informed, before the hearing was completed , that the national organization had achieved
compliance , the hearing officer granted the motion to intervene . The Intervenor had
adequate opportunity to present its position , and stated at the hearing that it was "sat-
isfied with the record as it stands ." The hearing officer's rulings in this matter are hereby
affirmed.
s The Employer 's motion to dismiss the petition for lack of evidence that the Petitioner
represented a substantial number of employees of the Employer is hereby denied It is
well settled that this is an administrative matter not subject to attack at the hearing.
Matter of H. & H. Manufacturing Company, 76 N. L . R. B. 459. The motion of the
Intervenor to dismiss the petition on the ground that the unit sought is inappropriate
is denied for the reasons set forth below.
* Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Murdock.
81 N. L. R. B., No. 176.
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1168 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
gress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees
of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit:
The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all employees of the Em-
ployer, excluding office and clerical employees, guards, professional
employees, and supervisors. The Intervenor contends that the four
employees in the lithographic department should be excluded from
the unit sought by the Petitioner on the ground that they constitute
a separate appropriate unit. The Intervenor does not, however, claim
to represent these employees, and does not wish to participate in any
election that may be directed herein. The Employer contends that all
the employees in his plant, excepting only himself, should be included
in the unit.
The four employees in the lithographic department, whose exclu-
sion from the unit is sought by the Intervenor, include one artist-
cameraman , one plate-maker, and two pressmen, who work in the plate
and camera room and the lithographic pressroom. The plate and
camera room is separated by partitions from the remainder of the
plant, but the lithographic pressroom is separated from other de-
partments only by aisles. These four employees, like all the employees
in the plant, are under the direct supervision of the Employer, and
have the same working conditions.
The Intervenor contends that the Board has in a number of cases
held that lithographic employees constitute a unit appropriate for
collective bargaining .3 In these cases, however, the Board did not
hold that lithographic department employees must be established in
a separate bargaining unit, but only that they comprise an "indivisible"
group which would not be split at the request of a union seeking to
represent only a fragment of the department. Furthermore, the Board
has frequently stated that employees engaged in the lithographic
printing process may properly be included, as a whole, in a plant-wide
unit such as the Petitioner herein seeks 4 Under the circumstances
of this case, we are not persuaded that the four employees in the litho-
3 Matter of Danner Press , Inc., 80 N. L R. B. 844 ; Matter of Manz Corporation, 79
N. L. R. B . 211 ; Matter of Court Square Press , Inc, 46 N. L. R B. 1078. See also
Matter of Commercial Printing Company, Inc., 73 N. L . R. B. 159; Matter of Roberts
and Son, 71 N. L. R B. 294 ; Matter of Albert Love Enterprises d/b/a Foote & Davies, 66
N. L R. B 416 ; Matter of Con P Curran Printing Company, 57 N. L. It. B. 185
4 Matter of Bond Crown & Cork Company , 75 N. L . It. B. 1152 ; Matter of Commercial
Printers, Inc, 74 N. L. It. B. 1135 ; Matter of The Lord Baltimore Press, Inc., 73 N. L. R. B
811 ; Matter of American Can Company , 61 N. L R B 1631.
AMERICAN BOX AND TILE COMPANY 1169
graphic department should be excluded from the unit found below to
be appropriate.
The Petitioner would exclude from its proposed unit 3 individuals,
Cook, Hendon, and Harris, whom it claims to be supervisors. The
Employer contends that he, alone, has authority to hire and discharge,
and that he personally supervises the activities of all his employees,
who number approximately 40.
Cook is a lithographic pressman, and has one apprentice who works
with him. Hendon is the compositor, who assigns work to the seven
or eight letter-pressmen. Harris was referred to as the floorlady in
the Box Department. All three are hourly paid, and are engaged for
the most part in production work. As the record contains no evidence
that Cook, Hendon, or Harris responsibly direct any employees, or
effectively recommend changes in their employment status, we shall
include these three individuals in the unit .5
Since the death of the Employer's superintendent, which occurred a
few months before the hearing, the Employer has transmitted work
assignments in the Box Department through Hayworth, who had been
assistant to the superintendent. As neither the Employer nor the
Petitioner contends that Hayworth is a supervisor, and as the record
does not indicate that he has authority responsibly to direct employees,
or effectively to recommend changes in their employment status, he will
be included in the unit.
On the basis of the entire record, we find that all employees of the
Employer, excluding office employees 6 and supervisors, constitute a
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days
from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of
the Regional Director for the Tenth Region, and subject to Sections
203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regu-
lations-Series 5, as amended, among the employees in the unit found
appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed
5 See Matter of The Standard Printing Company, Inc., supra ; Matter of The Lord Bal-
timore Press, Inc., supra.
6 Two employees , Mrs. Collins and Mrs. Dobbins, who work primarily in the Employer's
office, to whom the Employer delegates his authority when he is on vacation or out of
town , and who exercise some independent authority in the Box and Printing Departments.
are excluded from the unit . The Employer has no guards or professional employees.
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1170 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this
Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during
said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily
laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been
discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to
the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who
are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they
desire to be represented, for the purposes of collective bargaining, by
International Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union of North
America, A. F. of L.
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