Field Enterprises, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 3, 1947

73 N.L.R.B. 141 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of FIELD ENTrItPRISES, INC., EaiPLOYLR and CHICAGO
NEWSPAPER GUILD, PETITIONER
Case No. 13-R-3918.-Decided April 3, 1947
Meyer, Meyer, Austrian d Platt, by Messrs. Harry Adelman and
John J. Padulo, all of Chicago, Ill., for the Employer.
Messrs.,I. Nash McCrea and 'Bernard Averbauch, of Chicago, Ill.,
and Isserman, Issernaan & Kapelsohn, of Newark, N. J., for the
Petitioner.
Mr. Benj. E. Cook, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Chicago,
Illinois, on October 7, 1946, before J. L. Hektoen, hearing officer. The.
hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial
error and are hereby affirmed.'
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Field Enterprises, Inc., a Delaware corporation with its principal
office located in Chicago, Illinois, is engaged in the publication of
numerous newspapers throughout the United States. This proceeding
involves only The Chicago Sun, one of the papers owned and operated
by the Employer. During the year from September 1, 1945, to Sep-
tember 1, 1946, the value of newsprint, ink, and metal purchased for
The Chicago Sun exceeded $2,000,000, substantially all of which was
shipped from points outside the State of Illinois. Approximately
$10,000,000 is derived annually from the sale of advertising and from
the circulation of newspapers. Over' 20 percent of the advertising
'The hearing officer reserved i uhng on the Employer's motion to dismiss the petition
on the ground that the unit sought was inappropriate. For reasons set forth in Section IV,
mnjre, the Employer ' s motion is granted.
73 N. L. H. B., No. 23.
141
142 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
sold is national in scope, and 10 percent of the paper's circulation is
outside the State of Illinois.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
I I. TILE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with American
Newspaper Guild, Congress of Industrial Organizations, claiming
to represent employees of the Employer.
III. TILE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concern-
ing the representation of employees of the Employer, within the
meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE ALLEGED AI'I'ROJ'RLVIE U--,; IT
The Petitioner seeks to represent the Employer's telephone opera-
tors and telephone clerks and requests that they be merged with the
established unit of editorial employees which the Petitioner currently
represents.2 The Employer opposes a consolidation of the telephone
operators and editorial employees in the editorial unit and further
contends that inasmuch as the telephone operators constitute a sub-
division of the commercial department, any unit less than the entire
commercial department would be inappropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining.
There are nine full-time telephone operators and one part-time
operator who comprise a subdivision of the Employer's commercial
department. These employees work under the immediate supervi-
sion of the chief operator, who in turn, is directly responsible to
the assistant manager in charge of the commercial department. In
addition to handling outgoing toll and long distance calls, these tele-
phone operators assist other departments in answering inquiries and
supplying news information to the general public. With the ex-
ception of the part-time operator, who works only 14 hours per week,
the telephone operators work on alternating day and night shifts
of 371/2 and 35 hours, respectively. They serve all departments of
the Employer's newspaper and other than receiving and transmitting
telephone calls, they have no special contact with the editorial de-
2 See Matter of Marshall Yield, doing business as The Chicago Sun, 46 N. L. A. B. 1335.
FIELD ENTERPRISES, INC. 143
partment employees, nor do they perform any editorial functions.
We are of the opinion that the interests and duties of the telephone
operators are not sufficiently allied to those of the editorial employees
to warrant their inclusion in the same lnnit.3
The alternative of establishing a separate unit of telephone opera-
tors is also unwarranted. Although the Board has found smaller
than plant-wide units to be appropriate when they are confined to
noncraft groups and organization has not extended beyond such
groups, in each instance, the unit so established constituted a depart-
ment or other functionally coherent and distinct division of the Em-
ployer's operations. Here, the unit sought is confined to only a
portion of the employees in the commercial department, and does
not follow any administrative division of the Employer's operations.
Nor has such divergency of duties or interests been shown between
the telephone operators and remaining employees in the commercial
department as would justify the establishment of a separate unit
composed of the former employees at this time. We shall, therefore,
dismiss the petition herein.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact, and the entire record
in the case, the Board hereby orders that the petition for investiga-
tion and certification of representatives of employees of the Field En-
terprises, Inc., filed by the Chicago Newspaper Guild, Chicago, Illi-
nois, be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Order.
'See Matter of Ma,cellus Murdock, Sole Snrwe,ng T,astee of the Victoria Murdock
Estate, doing business as The iV,ehtta Eagle, 69 N ' L R. B. 12 70, Matte, of The Brooklyn
Citizen, 52 N L It B 6731
" See Matte, of Forest City Knitting Company, 69 N L R B 89 '
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