Brooklyn Daily Eagle

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 5, 1939

18 N.L.R.B. 124 (N.L.R.B. 1939)

In the Matter of BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE and NEWSPAPER GUILD of
NEW YORK
Case No. R-1173
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 5, 1939
On July 24, 1939, the National Labor Relations Board, herein
called the Board, issued a Decision and Direction of Elections in the
above-entitled proceeding? On August 3, 1939, the Board issued an
Amendment to Direction of Elections.2 Pursuant to the Direction,
as amended, elections by secret ballot were conducted under the
direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Second
Region (New York City) on August 11 and August 25, 1939, at
Brooklyn, New York. On October 24, 1939, the Regional Director,
acting pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, issued an Election
Report, copies of which were duly served upon the parties.
As to the balloting and its results, the Regional Director reported
as follows: (a) Among the group of employees listed in paragraph
(a) of the Direction (city inspectors) :
Total number eligible to vote_______________________________ 5
Total number of ballots cast_______________________________ 6
Total number of ballots counted______________________________ 5
Total number of ballots in favor of :
Newspaper Guild of New York_________________________ 1
Newspaper and Mail Deliverers' Union ------------------ 4
Total number of votes in favor of neither organization------ 0
Total number of blank votes_________________________________ 0
Total number of void ballots_______________________________ 0
Total number of challenged ballots___________________________ 1
113 N. L. it. B. 374.
2 14 N. L. R. B. 181.
18 N. L. R. B., No. 17.
124
BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE 125
(b) Among the group of employees listed in paragraph (b) of the
Direction (general unit) :
Total number eligible to vote_______________________________ 401
Total number of ballots cast__________________________________ 417
Total number of ballots counted____________________________ 293
Total number of votes in favor of :
Newspaper Guild of New York_________________________ 213
American Federation of Labor__________________________ 74
Total number of votes in favor of neither organization------- 6
Total number of challenged ballots__________________________ 124
With respect to the challenged ballots, the Regional Director made
no ruling and they were not counted.
On October 30, 1939, the Company duly filed with the Regional
Director its objections to the Election Report, contending (1) that
Vincent Sheridan, assistant business manager, Floyd Barger, feature
editor, Hubert Davies, credit manager, and Robert M. Grannis, news
editor, should be excluded from the appropriate bargaining unit;
and (2) that the employees of the Eagle Press should also be excluded
from such unit, unless provision is made by the Board that the
inclusion of such employees shall be without prejudice to the right
of the employer to discontinue the operation of the Eagle Press
department at any subsequent date.
The Regional Director investigated the objections filed by the
Company, and on November 14, 1939, issued her Report on Objections
to Election Report in which she found that all of the objections
raised questions previously considered by the Board in its Decision
and Direction of Elections. The Regional Director referred the
objections to the Board without ruling on them.
We have heretofore considered the objections with respect to
Sheridan, Barger, Davies, and the employees of the Eagle Press, on
their merits in our Decision and Direction of Elections. It does not
appear to the Board that they raise substantial and material issues
with respect to the conduct of the ballot. In our Decision and
Direction of Elections we also considered the question of whether or
not the news editor should be excluded from the appropriate bargain-
ing unit. The Company contended that the news editor should be
excluded from the unit. The Guild maintained' that there was no
such person. We stated, "In the absence of further evidence, we
will not pass on the Company's contention with respect to the news
editor, if indeed there is one." There is still no evidence before us
on this question. We will not pass upon the Company's contention
with respect to the news editor. The Company's objections to the
Election Report are hereby overruled.
Upon the basis of the entire record in the case, the Board makes
the following :
126 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
SUPPLEMENTAL FINDINOs OF FACT
In its Decision, the Board made no final determination as to
whether the city inspectors would be included within the appropriate
unit for the purposes of collective bargaining with the Company.
The Newspaper Guild of New York, herein called the Guild, con-
tended that the city inspectors together with all other employees in
the editorial and commercial divisions, including business, circula-
tion, advertising, and allied groups, with certain exceptions, constitute,
an appropriate unit. The Newspaper and Mail Deliverers' Union,
herein called the N. M. D. U., contended that the city inspectors
should be excluded from the general unit. The Board directed that
an election be held among the city inspectors, and stated that if a
majority of the inspectors vote for representation by the Guild, they
will be included in the general unit and that if a majority vote for
representation by the N. M. D. U. or if a majority vote for repre-
sentation by neither the Guild nor the N. M. D. U., they will be
excluded from the general unit. Since the Election Report shows
that a majority of the city inspectors have voted for representation
by the N. M. D. U., they will be excluded from the general unit.
We find that all the employees of the Company, including those
listed in Appendix A, attached hereto, and excluding executives,
inspectors in the circulation department, employees who are covered
by contracts between the Company and craft unions, and those listed
in Appendix B, annexed hereto, constitute a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining and that said unit will insure
to employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to self-
organization and collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the
policies of the Act.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
SUPPLEMENTAL CONCLUSION OF LAW
All the employees of the Company, including those listed in
Appendix A, attached hereto, and excluding executives, inspectors
in the circulation department, employees who are covered by con-
tracts between the Company and craft unions, and those listed in
Appendix B, annexed hereto, constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of 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 Rel.a-
BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE 127
tions Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Sections 8 and
9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
Series 2,
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Newspaper Guild of New York has
been designated and selected by a majority of all employees of
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, New York, including those listed in
Appendix A, attached hereto, and excluding executives, inspectors in
the circulation department, employees who are covered by contracts be-
tween the Company and craft unions, and those listed in Appendix B,
annexed hereto, as their representative for the purposes of collective
bargaining and that, pursuant to Section 9 (a) of the National Labor
Relations Act, Newspaper Guild of New York is the exclusive repre-
sentative of all such employees for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and
other conditions of employment.
APPENDIX A
G. Worthington-Nassau advertising department.
Vincent Sheridan-auditor.
Hubert Davies-credit manager.
Doe Rankin-editorial page cartoonist.
John Heffernan-columnist.
Feature editor.
Assistant city editors.
Real estate editor.
Secretary to advertising manager.
Secretary to classified advertising manager.
Secretary to circulation manager.
Legal advertising manager.
Assistant manager of classified undisplay.
Assistant manager of circulation.
Home delivery managers (2).
Two boys in photo-engraving department.
One boy in stereotype department.
Stencil and blotter clerks.
Return room clerks.
Composing room boys.
Eagle Press employees.
APPENDIX B
John Cleary, manager local advertising department.
Samuel Hecht , manager classified display.
John E. Dean , Chicago advertising manager.
128 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Kenneth Reynolds, manager Suffolk County advertising.
Margaret Pettigrew, manager Home Guild.
Helen Brown, society editor.
H. H. Clarke, financial editor.
James Wood, sports editor.
Al Delaney, confidential secretary to managing editor.
Bernice Epstein, confidential secretary to editor.
Mary Haase, chief telephone operator.
Chief librarian.
Promotion manager of display advertising.
Manager of publication department.
Supervisors of branch managers (8).
Part-time employees.
Space writers.
Route boys.
Publisher and his secretary.
Secretary-treasurer and his secretary.
Editor.
Managing editor of the editorial department.
City editor of the editorial department.
Manager of the display advertising department.
Manager of the classified undisplay department.
Manager of the circulation department.
Two building superintendents.
Manager of the Eagle Press.
Sales manager of the Eagle Press.
MR. WILLIAM M. LEISERSON took no part in the consideration of the
above Supplemental Decision and Certification of Representatives.