Danner Press, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 26, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 844 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of DANNER PRESS, INC., EMPLOYER and AMALGAMATED
LITHOGRAPHERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER and AKRON PRINTING
PRESSMEN AND ASSISTANTS UNION, LOCAL No. 42, INTERNATIONAL
PRINTING PRESSMEN AND ASSISTANTS' UNION OF NORTH AMERICA,
AFL, INTERVENOR
Case No. 8-RC-238.-Decided November 26,1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing officer's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed.
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 labor organizations named below claim to represent em-
ployees 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 lithographic employees
in the Employer's lithographic department, including offset press-
men, cameraman, and platemaker, but excluding supervisors as defined
* Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Murdock.
' The contract between the Employer and the Intervenor, effective April 1, 1947 , to October
1, 1948, and containing a 60-day automatic renewal clause , does not bar a present deter-
mination of representatives inasmuch as the instant petition was filed before the operative
date of the automatic renewal clause . Matter of (lento Engineering and Manufacturing
Co., Inc . 76 N L R B. 437. The contrary contention of the Employer and the Intervenor
is, therefore , without merit
80 N. L. R. B., No. 134.
844
DANNER PRESS, INC. 845
in the Act, as amended. The Employer and the Intervenor maintain
that the appropriate unit is one composed of all the pressmen (letter-
press and offset) in the plant. The record establishes that the litho-
graphic department is physically separated from, and not integrated
into, the operations of the Employer's printing department. More-
over, the lithographic employees are separately supervised and are
not interchanged with the letterpress employees. Under circum-
stances substantially similar to those presented here, the Board has
held that the employees engaged in the lithographic process form a
cohesive unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining,
and may be represented separately from the letterpress employees.2
In the alternative, the Employer and the Intervenor contend that,
because of a history of multiple-employer bargaining between the In-
tervenor and a local employers' association of which the employer
is a member, the bargaining unit should be composed of all the press-
men in all the plants that are members of the employers' association.
However, the record reveals that of the approximately 15 association
members, only 3, including the Employer, operate lithographic de-
partments and that the Intervenor actually has never bargained on
behalf of lithographic employees. Indeed, in the case of one of the
association members, the Petitioner has entered into a contract cover-
ing lithographic employees. Under these circumstances, we find no
history of multiple-employer bargaining which requires that the lith-
ographic employees involved herein be included in a multiple-em-
ployer unit.3
We find that all employees in the Employer's lithographic depart-
ment, including offset pressmen, cameraman, and platemaker, but
excluding supervisors as defined in the Act, as amended, 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
purposes 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 super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Eighth Region and subject
to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules
and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the employees in the
2 Matter of Roberts and Son, 71 N. L R . B. 294; Matter of Commercial Fronting Co ., Inc.,
73 N L. R. B. 159.
8 Matter of Norcal Packing Co., at al., 76 N. L . R. B. 254 ; Matter of Veneer Manufactur-
ing Co ., 77 N. L. R. B. 659.
846 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were
employed 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 rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
they desire to be represented, for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing, by Amalgamated Lithographers of America, CIO, or by Akron
Printing Pressmen and Assistants Union, Local No. 42, International
Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union of North America, AFL,
or by neither.