Hearst Publishing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 10, 1949

83 N.L.R.B. 449 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter Of HEARST PUBLISHING COMPANY, SEATTLE POST-INTEL-
LIGENCER BRANCH, EMPLOYER, and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF
FIREMEN AND OILERS, LOCAL 193, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 19-RG-63.Decided May 10, 1949
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Patrick
Walker, 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-member panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and
Murdock].
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 following labor organizations claim to represent employees
of the Employer : International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers,
Local 193, AFL, herein called the petitioner, and Building Service
Employees' International Union, Local 6, AFL, herein called the
Intervenor.
3. No question of representation 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 for the following
reasons:
The Petitioner contends that the Employer's stationary engineers
and firemen constitute a separate unit for purposes of collective bar-
gaining. The Employer and the Intervenor oppose the establish
ment of the proposed unit on the ground that it consists of employees
who are covered by a presently existing contract between the Em-
ployer and the Intervenor.
This proceeding is concerned only with the Employer's operations
in Seattle, Washington, where the Employer publishes and distributes
daily newspapers at a plant located on Sixth and Wall Streets. This
83 N. L. R. B., No. 70.
449
450 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
plant is newly constructed and has been occupied by the Employer
since its completion on December 7, 1948. Before that date, the Em-
ployer's business was conducted in a building at Sixth and Pine
Streets, Seattle.
In March 1948, 10 months before moving to its present location, the
Employer entered into a contract for a 3-year term which covered the
Employer's janitors and elevator operators." The janitors performed
the usual duties of such employees except that three of them also
tended the boilers which heated and ventilated the building. For
their firemen duties, which they performed in shifts for a few minutes
each hour, the three janitors each held a fifth grade operating en-
gineer's license as required by the city of Seattle. The contract between
the Employer and the Intervenor takes cognizance of the additional
responsibilities of the janitors who performed duties as firemen and
provides that "any employee whose duties require that he hold an
operating engineer's license shall be paid fifty cents ($.50) per day
in addition to the (prescribed pay for janitors)."
When the Employer moved to its present new quarters, it was re-
quired by the city to assign only employees with 3rd grade engineer's
licenses to tend the boilers on the premises. There are three low pres-
sure boilers in the new plant which are used for heating and ventilating
purposes although only one is in operation at a time.2 In order to
continue in their jobs as boiler attendants at the new plant, the three
janitor-firemen each applied for and received a third grade engineer's
license from the city. These three men together with two other em-
ployees who also hold third grade engineers' licenses now operate the
boilers in the new plant on a shift basis. These five engineers are the
group herein sought by the Petitioner.
The requested employees work under the direction of the assistant
building superintendent who also supervises the elevator operators
and janitors. Their duties, like those of the janitor-firemen at the old
plant do not require highly specialized skills. They merely check the
boiler equipment every 20 minutes to see if it is functioning properly,
and clean the boiler room. They do not make repairs on boilers.
Whenever repairs are necessary, the firm from which the boilers were
purchased is called in.
The Petitioner does not dispute the fact that the contract currently
in effect between the Employer and the Intervenor covered the janitor-
firemen at the old plant. It contends, however, that the contract does
not include the employees Petitioner would represent because they
are a more highly skilled group than the classifications covered by the
contract. We do not agree with this contention. Although more train-
The contract also provided for its automatic renewal.
2 Only a small boiler is used in summer , and of the other two, one serves as a stand-by.
HEARST PUBLISHING COMPANY 451
ing is required of an applicant for a third grade engineer's license
than for a fifth grade license, it is not the equivalent of apprentice
training. In fact, the janitor-firemen at the old plant were qualified
to pass the examination for a third grade license after a few weeks'
study. Moreover, the Contract does not denote what grade license the
operating engineers within its coverage shall hold. It merely indi-
cates that it includes employees who hold operating engineer's licenses.
That the Employer's boiler room attendants held fifth grade engineers'
licenses at the time the contract was executed does not, in our opinion,
justify the conclusion that such employees with third grade licenses
are excluded from the contract especially, where here, neither group
possesses distinct craft skills.
Upon the basis of all the foregoing facts, we find that the contract
between the Employer and the Intervenor includes the employees
whom the Petitioner seeks to represent and since this contract is to
remain in effect until March 1951, it constitutes a bar to the present
proceeding. Accordingly, we shall order that the petition be dismissed.
ORDER
Upon the entire record in this case, the National Labor Relations
Board hereby orders that the petition herein be, and it hereby is, dis-
missed.