DeMay's, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 11, 1949

81 N.L.R.B. 1374 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of DEMAY'S, INC., EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL PRINT-
ING PRESSMEN & ASSISTANTS' UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL,
PETITIONER
In the Matter of DEMAY'S, INC., EMPLOYER and DEMAY'S EMPLOYEES
GROUP, INDEPENDENT, PETITIONER
Cases Nos. 7-RC-290 and 7-RC-371, respectively.Decided
March 11, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon separate petitions duly filed, a hearing in the above- consoli-
dated cases 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, a Michigan corporation, operates a job printing
and office supply business in Jackson, Michigan. During the year
ended June 30, 1948, it purchased $49,560 worth of supplies for its job
printing operations and $67,371 worth of supplies for the retail office
supply part of its business. Approximately 10 percent of the printing
supplies and 70 percent of the office supplies were purchased outside
the State of Michigan. The Employer also received from outside the
State printing presses valued at approximately $19,000. During the
same period, practically all sales from both parts of its business,
amounting to $280,000, were made to customers located within the
State. Approximately 25 percent of its printing work, however, was
done for customers who are themselves engaged in interstate commerce.
* Chairman Herzog and Member Reynolds and Gray.
81 N. L. R. B., No. 225.
1374
DEMAY 'S, INC. 1375
We find, contrary to its contention, that the Employer is engaged
in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act 1
2. The Petitioner in Case No. 7-RC-290, herein called the AFL,
and the Petitioner in Case No. 7-RC-371, herein called the Inde-
pendent, are labor organizations claiming to represent employees of
the Employer .2
3. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the representation
of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1)
and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The AFL seeks to represent a unit of pressmen, the only employees
in the Employer's pressroom. The Independent seeks to represent
all employees in the Employer's pressroom, composing room, and
bindery. The Employer agrees with the Independent as to the ap-
propriate unit.
The job printing operations of the Employer are carried on in a
large, "L" shaped room which is subdivided into a pressroom section,
a composing room section, and a bindery. The usual printing job
is made up in the composing room, printed in the pressroom, and cut
and bound in the bindery.
The pressmen comprise a skilled craft group who may, as we have
frequently recognized, constitute a separate appropriate unit.3 On
the other hand, they may also be included in a plant-wide unit. In
these circumstances, we shall not make a final unit determination until
we have first ascertained the desires of the pressroom employees as
expressed in the elections directed hereinafter. If a majority of them
vote for the AFL, they will be taken to have indicated their desire
to constitute a separate appropriate unit.
We shall direct separate elections by secret ballot among the follow-
ing voting groups of employees of the Employer in its Jackson, Michi-
gan, plant:
(a) All pressroom employees, including Lucille M. Brown, but
excluding Robert Babineau and all supervisors as defined in the Act.
(b) All composing room and bindery employees, including Robert
Babineau, but excluding Lucille M. Brown and all sueprvisors as
defined in the Act.
1 See Matter of Binns Passaic Iron & Brass , 77 N L. R. B. 380.
2 The record discloses that, although the Independent does not have a constitution or
bylaws, it exists for the purpose of bargaining collectively with the Employer with respect
to wages, hours , and working conditions . Contrary to the AFL's contention , we find that
the Independent is a labor organization within the meaning of the Act. Matter of Dewey-
Shepard Boiler Co., Inc., 74 N. L . R. B 200.
8 Matter of Bethlehem' G lobe Publishing Company, 75 N. L . R. B. 647 ; Matter of Lloyd
Hollister, Inc., 68 N. L. R. B . 733; Matter of Gillette Safety Razor Company, 65 N. L. R. B.
1286 , Matter of D. F. Hall Printing Co., 63 N. L. R. B. 532.
1376 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
5. Some dispute exists as to whether employees Lucille M. Brown
and Robert Babineau should be permitted to vote in the pressroom
voting group. Both these employees divide their working time be-
tween the pressroom and the other sections of the job printing estab-
lishment. Brown spends approximately 60 percent of her time
running a job press and the remainder working in the bindery. Babi-
neau operates a press approximately 40 percent of his time and does
composing room and other non-press work for the remaining 60 per-
cent. We shall permit employee Brown to vote in the pressroom
voting group because she spends more than half her time working in
the pressroom; we shall bar employee Babineau from the same voting
group because he devotes less than half his working time to his duties
in the pressroom 4
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS5
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, separate elections
by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later
than 45 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Seventh Region, and
subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the em-
ployees in Voting Group (b) described in paragraph numbered 4,
above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately pre-
ceding the date of this Direction of Elections, 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 em-
ployees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine :
(1) Whether or not the employees in Voting Group (b) desire to be
represented, for the purposes of collective bargaining, by DeMay's
Employees Group, Independent.
* However, Babineau is eligible to vote in the voting group of composing room and
bindery employees.
5 Having been advised by the Regional Director , on March 21 , 1949, that there are no
employees currently employed in Voting Group ( a), the Board by Order dated March 31,
1949, amended the Direction of Elections herein by postponing the election previously
directed for the employees in Group ( a) until such time as the Regional Director deems
that an election may appropriately be held.