Cincinnati Printers League

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 17, 1945

61 N.L.R.B. 595 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of CINCINNATI PRINTERS LEAGUE and CINCINNATI MAIL-
ERS UNION No. 17, AN AFFILIATE OF THE INTERNATIONAL MAILERS
UNION
Case No. 9-R-1693.-Decided April 17,1945
Messrs. George W. Rosenthal, Ted Hanson, and Alfred Stahley, of
Cincinnati, Ohio, for the League.
Mr. Edward J. Fillenwarth, of Indianapolis, Ind., and Mr. Walter
J. Weissman, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for the IMU.
Miss Ruth E. Bliefield, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Cincinnati Mailers Union No. 17, an
affiliate of the International Mailers Union, herein called the IMU,
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning
the representation of employees of Cincinnati Printers League, Cin-
cinnati, Ohio, herein called the League, the National Labor Relations
Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before
Robert Silagi, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Cincinnati,
Ohio, on March 5, 1945. The Company and the IMU appeared and
participated. The International Typographical Union, herein called
the ITU, filed a motion to intervene on behalf of Cincinnati Mailers
Union No. 17, an affiliate of the ITU, which motion was granted. The
ITU did not appear at the hearing, but in lieu thereof filed a brief
stating its position. Because of the nature of the brief it was treated
by the Trial Examiner as a motion to dismiss the petition and ruling
thereon was reserved for the Board. The bases of the motion to dis- -
miss set forth in the brief were presented by the ITU in the Post
Printing and Publishing Company case, and The Register and Tribune
Company case' and the Board discussed and disposed of these issues
therein. We perceive no reason for repeating the discussion or for
'Matter of Post Printing and Publishing Co., 59 N . L. R B 1115; Matter of The
Register and Tribune Company, 60 N. L. R. B. 360 ; see also Supplemental Decision and
Order in Matter of Post Printing and Publishing Co., 60 N. L. R . B. 231.
61 N. L . R. B., No. 85.
595
596 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
changing the position taken by the Board in those cases and the ITU's
motion to dismiss the petition is therefore denied.
All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine
and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the
issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were
afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Cincinnati Printers League is a voluntary association of printing
and publishing firms in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. One of the
principal objects of the League is to carry on collective bargaining ne-
gotiations on behalf of its members. The League has been in existence
for over 40 years and during that period has bargained collectively
and signed contracts with the various unions with which it deals. All
negotiations are conducted by a negotiating committee of the League
which has full power to bargain collectively and which can, and does,
bind individual League members.
The following six companies are the only member firms of the
League which employ mailers and are the only firms concerned in this
proceeding: S. Rosenthal & Co., Inc., Roessler Brothers, Miami Print-
ing Company, Peerless Printing Company, Methodist Publishing
Company, Segal Type. All such member firms with the exception
of the Methodist Publishing Company, which prints and publishes
religious papers and magazines, are engaged in commercial and job
printing. The principal raw materials used by the member firms con-
sist of paper, ink, and glue. These materials are purchased from
local jobbers, but approximately 100 percent thereof is shipped to the
member firms of the League from points outside the State of Ohio.
'no following table indicates the approximate value of the raw
materials purchased by each member firm, the approximate value
of each member's annual sales, and the approximate value of sales
resulting in the shipment or mailing of printed matter to points out-
side the State of Ohio during the calendar year 1944:
Purchases of
Raw Materials Sales
Sales out
of State
S Rosenthal & Co., Inc-------------- $350, 000 $900,000 $700, 000
Roessler Brothers___________________ 200, 000 600, 000 300,000
Methodist Publishing Company_______ 500, 000 1, 500, 000 1,200,000
Miami Printing Company_____________ 75, 000 150, 000 25,000
Segal Type__________________________ 75,000 150,000 25,000
Peerless Printing Company___________ 50,000 100,000 75, 000
$1,250,000 $3,400,000 $2,325,000
CINCINNATI PRINTERS LEAGUE 597
The League admits, and we find, that it is an employer within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act, and that it, and each
of its individual members, are engaged in interstate commerce within
the meaning of the Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Cincinnati Mailers Union No. 17, affiliated with the International
Mailers Union, and Cincinnati Mailers Union No. 17, affiliated with
the International Typographical Union and the American Federation
of Labor, are labor organizations admitting to membership employees
of the Company. '
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On March 16, 1942, the League and Cincinnati Mailers Union No. 17
ITU, entered into a contract for a term of 2 years, ending March 1,
1944. Prior to the expiration of the contract in 1944, the IMU was
established and a local chartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.2 On February 2,
1944, representatives of the IMU attempted to start negotiations. for
a new contract with the League, but the parties agreed that they
would not sign a new contract until such time as there was a clarifica-
tion of certain issues in a case then pending before the Board.3 An-
other attempt was made by representatives of the IMU to negotiate
a contract at a later date, but it was then decided to withhold further
action until certain laws of the IMU were ratified at a convention to
be held in August 1944. Later the League informed the IMU that
it would not sign a new contract until the IMU has been certified by
the Board in an appropriate unit and the IMU thereupon filed the
petition in this case.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the IMU represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate 4
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the
representation of employees of the League, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
s It appears that there are at present two locals in Cincinnati , Ohio, designated as
Cincinnati Mailers Union No. 17. One Local is affiliated with the ITU and the other is
affiliated with the IMU
3 Matter of Cincinnati Daily Newspaper Publishers Association, 55 N L R B 571.
6 The Field Examiner reported that the secretary of the n1MU reported that it had 86
members ; that the names of 34 persons appearing on the report were listed on the League's
pay roll of January 3, 1945 , which contained the names of 35 employees in the appropriate
unit, and that the secretary of the ITU submitted a list of 67 names . The names of 6
persons appearing on the list were contained in the aforesaid pay roll.
598 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The IMU contends for a unit of all mailers employed by the
League, which would include foremen, regular journeymen, appren-
tices, extra journeymen and permit journeymen. The League takes
no position on the composition of the unit, but stated it was willing
to negotiate with representatives of any unit the Board determines to
be appropriate. The ITU also does not dispute the composition of the
unit petitioned for, but contends that the only appropriate unit for
mailers is nation-wide. However, in this case, as in the Post and
Register Tribune cases cited above, the ITU offers no evidence in sup-
port of its contention, and the testimony submitted clearly established
a long history of bargaining in the unit petitioned for herein. Again,
we must perforce dismiss this contention as being without merit.
Since there is no dispute regarding the composition of the unit
sought herein and since it conforms to the unit which has been estab-
lished by a 30- to 40-year history of collective bargaining with the
League, we shall find that the unit as petitioned for by the IMU is
apropriate.
We find that all mailers employed by members of the League, in-
cluding foremen, journeymen, apprentices, and permit journeymen 5
constitute a unit appropriate for collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
The ITU objects to permitting employees who are members of the
ITU to vote unless, and until, they are no longer members of the ITU;
objects to permitting mailers to vote, and to any determination which
would acquiesce in permitting mailers to vote, on the acceptance of
any organization other than the ITU as their representative for the
purposes of collective bargaining so long as they are members of the
ITU; and also reiterates its contention that the ballot should contain
some statement that a vote for representation by the IMU will sever
connections from the ITU. In effect the ITU, in the first two ob-
" Permit journeymen are regular journeymen who have not completed the full 6 years
of apprenticeship required in the trade , but who have , due to the manpower shortage,
been given permission by the IMU to work as regular journeymen. The League's pay
roll does not list any employees by this title , but the president of the IMU testified that
there are such employees presently employed.
CINCINNATI PRINTERS LEAGUE 599
jections, is saying that the Board should not permit any member who
desires to retain his affiliation with the ITU to vote in the forthcoming
election. Such qualifications on participation in the election are
entirely improper. As to the contention regarding the ballot, in the
supplemental decision and order in the Post case we stated that "It is
for the ITU and not the Board to convince the mailers that it is to
their best interest to retain their affiliation with the ITU," and we can
only repeat this statement.
In addition to the regular journeymen there are 14 extra journey-
men working for the League. Of these, 10 are regularly employed 5
days a week by the Methodist Publishing Company and work 1 or 2
days a week for S. Rosenthal & Co., Inc., on a regular part-time basis.
Three work regularly for the Cincinnati newspapers, and on a regular
part-time basis for Roessler Brothers. The League takes no position
on whether or not these extra journeymen should be eligible to par-
ticipate in the election, while the IMU contends they should be per-
mitted to vote. Since these extra journeymen are apparently regular
part-time employees with a substantial interest in the conditions of
employment with the League, we find, in accordance with our usual
policy, that they are eligible to vote.
There is one other employee, Covert, listed on the pay roll of Roes-
sler Brothers as an "extra journeyman called regularly." This em-
ployee is receiving a social security pension and works only 2 days a
month. We are of the opinion that this employee's interest in the
conditions of employment is insubstantial, and we hold, therefore,
that he is not eligible to participate in the election.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
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 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it
is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Cincinnati Printers
League, Cincinnati, Ohio, as representative of its member employers,
an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but
not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction, under
the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Ninth
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations
Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and
Regulations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in
Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period
GOO DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees
who did not work during the said pay-roll period because they were
ill or on vacation or temporarily laid of£, and including employees in
the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in per-
son at the polls, 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 to determine whether they desire to be
represented by Cincinnati Mailers Union No. 17, an affiliate of the In-
ternational Mailers Union, or by Cincinnati Mailers Union No. 17,
affiliated with the International Typographical Union, for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining, or by neither.
CHAIRMAN MILLIS took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.