Exline Lowdon Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 18, 1950

90 N.L.R.B. 1003 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In' the Matter of EXLINE LOWDON COMPANY, EMPLOYER and AMAL-
GAMATED LITHOGRAPHERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 35, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 16-RC-4,96.-Decided July 18,1950
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Joseph A.
Butler, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
At the hearing, the Employer took the position that it was not
engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. For reasons
discussed below, we do not agree.
Upon the entire record in this-case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is a Texas corporation, which operates a printing
and lithographing shop in Dallas, Texas, employing some 34 persons.
In 1949 the amount of the purchases was in excess of $100,000. About
95 percent of these originated outside the State, but was bought lo-
cally from dealers and distributors in Dallas. The remainder of its
purchases probably originated locally. The value of the Employer's
sales in 1949 was over $250,000.
The Employer prints bank checks and other commercial paper for
four banks, three of which are national banks, located in Dallas. It
prints insurance policies and other forms of commercial paper for
seven insurance companies. All of the latter have their home offices
in; Texas, and five of them do an interstate business having branch
offices outside the State. The practice of the Employer is to deliver
all the work to the home offices but on occasion it is directed to send
the work directly to the branch offices. The Employer also does print-
ing for the Magnolia Oil Company and several small independent oil
companies.
In addition to the above, the Employer has a contract with the
Texas State Highway Department for the printing of some 200,000
to 400,000 maps annually. These are distributed to the district offices
of the Highway Department, Chambers of Commerce, and cities lo-
cated on the borders of the State for the use of tourists and-others
driving into the State. The Employer stated that the plates from.
which the maps are printed originate in Ohio and are furnished by
90 NLRB No. 101.
1003
1004 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the customer. The Employer prints a monthly periodical of from
14,000 to 16,000 copies for the Texas Game, Fish and Oyster Com-
mission, which is called "Texas Game and Fish." These are deliv-
ered to the Commission in Austin and are distributed chiefly in the
State. The record shows that there are subscrbers to this periodical
all over the country, but does not show how many such out-of-State
subscribers there are.
The Buttington Cotton Code, a book of some one thousand pages, is
also printed by the Employer. This book is used to decipher codes in
the world-wide cotton industry. The copies are delivered to a buyer
in Galveston and distributed by him to the cotton industry through-
out the world. There is no evidence of the quantities printed or the
frequency of the publications.
We are of the opinion that on the basis of this record, it cannot be
said that the Employer is engaged in a local enterprise. It is a manu-
facturing concern which sells a substantial part of its product to other
businesses, which are engaged in interstate commerce, rather than, at
retail or for ultimate consumption within the State. The greater
portion of its insurance customers do a substantial interstate business;
its bank customers are national banks; the monthly periodical it prints
has out-of-State subscribers ;1 and its cotton code is distributed over
the world. Under these circumstances we find that the Employer is
engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act.2
2. The Petitioner is a labor organization claiming to represent cer=
tain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen-
tation of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The parties agree and we find that all lithographic employees at
the Employer's Dallas, Texas, plant, including working foremen,
cameramen, platemakers, strippers, opaquer, offset pressmen, and
press feeders; but excluding all other employees and supervisors, as
defined in the Act, 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 Region in which this case was
The Ann Arbor Press, 85 NLRB 58.
2 DeMay 's Inc ., 81 NLRB 1374; La Salle-Crittenden Press , Inc., 72 NLRB 1166.
EXLINE LOWDON COMPANY 1005
heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were
employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not, work
during said payroll 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
or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargain-
ing, by Amalgamated Lithographers of America, Local 35, CIO.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.