Leslie F. Clarke & Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 30, 1964

147 N.L.R.B. 1240 (N.L.R.B. 1964)

1240 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Leslie F . Clarke & Co ., Inc., Clarke Publishing Co.,' Inc., and
Portland Trade Pressroom , Inc. and Multnomah Typographi-
cal Union No. 58, AFL-CIO, Petitioner . Case No. 36-RC-1905.
June 30, 1964
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Hearing Officer Robert J.
Wiener. 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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman McCulloch and Members Leedom and Brown].
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer 1 owns and publishes 12 shopping newspapers in
the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area and does a gross annual
volume of business in excess of $500,000. In addition, the Employer
purchases annually in excess of $50,000 worth of raw materials either
directly or indirectly from points outside the State of Oregon. The
newspapers published by the Employer also advertise nationally ad-
vertised products. The parties do not dispute, and we find, that the
Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act
and that it will effectuate the policies of the Act to assert jurisdiction
herein 2
2. The Union involved is a labor organization within the meaning
of the Act and claims to represent certain employees 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.
The Employer produces 12 different neighborhood newspapers, or
shopping news, and also "throw-aways," inserts, and similar advertis-
ing newspapers. These publications are, as described more fully be-
low, produced either by "hot metal" or "cold type" processes. The
Petitioner seeks an election in a unit comprising the Employer's com-
posingroom employees and those engaged in "related processes." 3
The Employer contends that the unit sought is inappropriate and that
the composingroom employees, on the one hand, and those engaged
i The parties stipulated at the hearing that the three corporations named in the peti-
tion constitute a single employer for the purposes of Section 9 of the Act.
2 Belleville Employing Printers, 122 NLRB 350.
' As described more fully herein, employees engaged in "related processes" are those
engaged in the Employer's "cold type" printing operation, such as Linofilm machine
operators, cameramen, and employees doing markup, layout, and paste makeup work. Al-
though the Petitioner in its brief states that employees performing "related processes"
are an "accretion" to the composingroom unit, which, it currently represents, at -the
hearing it conceded that if the Board finds that the unit sought is appropriate, an elec-
tion should be held in such unit.
147 NLRB No. 120.
LESLIE F. CLARKE & CO., INC., ETC. 1241
in "related processes," on the other, should constitute separate units for
the purpose of collective bargaining.
From the establishment of the Employer's composingroom opera-
tion in 1948, until recently, the Employer used the "hot metal" process
exclusively, and the Petitioner has represented the approximately 14
employees working in the composingroom under successive collective-
bargaining agreements, the most recent of which was effective from
April 16, 1961, to April 15, 1963. There is no history of bargaining
for any other employees of this Employer. In late 1960 or early
1961, the Employer added a "cold type" process.4 The Union made
repeated requests to the Employer for recognition as the representa-
tive of employees engaged in the new process. Upon the termination
of the-most recent contract between the Petitioner and the Employer,
the parties thereto undertook negotiations for a new contract, during
the course of which the Petitioner demanded that the new contract
also cover the Employer's "cold type" employees, of which there appear
to be about 25. The Employer refused to agree to this demand and
the instant petition was then filed.
The Employer's composingroom is located in a separate room at its
plant and is staffed with four Linotype machines which cast type in
hot liquid metal by forcing it against matrices or dies assembled on a
line. Large type is cast with hot liquid metal by the Ludlow machine.
The hot slugs thus produced are then arranged by the floormen in a
chase, or heavy metal frame, about the size of one newspaper page.
Also, in the frame are flat casts or pictures and blank spacing metal,
all of which make up the page. At this point, the function of the
composingroom employees ceases. The finished page of metal type is
then.either stored temporarily in an electric storage cabinet or taken
to the stereotyping department where the stereotyping employees uti-
lize the page of type to make a cylindrically shaped printing surface
which goes to the letterpress for printing by the pressmen.'
The "cold type" operation is located in the same building but is
physically separated from the composingroom. In this operation,
two markup employees first indicate by marks on the copy the size
and kind of type to be used by the keyboard operators of the Linofilm
machine. The keyboard operator, following the instructions of the
markup 'employees, operates the Linofihn machine. This machine,
which consists basically of a keyboard and a photographic unit, pro-
duces a strip of paper containing printed material in columnar form.6
4 For a description of the two types of operations , see Photype, Inc., 145 NLRB 1268,
and Philadelphia Inquirer, Division of Triangle Publications , Inc., 142 NLRB 36.
5 The parties agreed to exclude stereotyping employees and. pressmen from the unit.
6 At the time of the hearing the Employer was in the process of installing a Justowriter
machine . This machine's operations are similar to that of the Linofilm machine, except
that the Justowriter has a smaller selection of type faces and correspondingly less buttons.
The Justowriter can be operated by "cold type '.' employees with an hour 's additional
training.
1242 DECISIONS :OP, NATIONAL :IIABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The pasteup employees then, wax the strips of, paper, cut them with
razor blades, and paste them upon. paper, sheets as instructed by mark-
,up., The page is completed when pictures and headlines as well as
decorative borders are added to the pasted-up page. The completely
pasted-up, paper page is next photographed in full size by a camera-
man. The resulting• film is placed on a very thin aluminum sheet
which is then automatically etched by a platemaking. machine.' The
plate is then sent to the pressroom where it is placed on the offset press
by the pressmen. .
We find, contrary to the contentions of the Employer,' that the "cold
type" employees may appropriately be included in,the Petitioner's
composingroom. unit. In Photype, Inc., supra, the Board found, on
essentially the same facts, that a "cold type" operation, substantially
the'same as that involved in the instant case, was in effect a new meth-
od of performing functions previously performed solely by the "hot
metal" process and therefore that the cold metal employees could ap-
propriately be added to the composingroom unit. Thus, in Photype,
as in the present case, the "cold type" machine involved produced a
photograph of type which had theretofore been produced by the Lino-
type machine with the use of hot metal. Similarly, in Photype, as
here, the film pasteup work was a substitute for the arranging of the
metal slugs in the chase which takes place in the hot metal process. In
addition, the record here indicates that in both hot metal and cold type
composition processes, similar principles are utilized, such as the meas-
uring of type, the layout of printed page, and similar matters. Fi-
nally, we note that the end result of both the hot metal and the cold
type processes is the completed page of print; and that the completed
work of both composingroom and cold type operations is ultimately
channeled to the Employer's pressroom where it is printed on either
the letterpress or offset press. - In view of the foregoing, we are con-
vinced that the community of interest between composingroom and
cold type employees, as manifested particularly by the functional sim-
ilarity of their work, supports our conclusion as to the appropriateness
of the unit sought by the Petitioner.
Having found that the Petitioner seeks to represent the employees
in an appropriate unit, we shall direct an election therein." For, it is
well settled that a crucial issue in a case such as this is whether the unit
sought is appropriate. If so found, an election will be directed, not-
withstanding that under other circumstances the same employees
7 The Employer contends that a separate unit of cold type employees should be estab-
lished , relying on most of the factors which also existed in Photype and on which we
concluded that there the cold type process was not an accretion to the existing unit. In
Photype the Board did not pass upon the appropriateness of a separate unit of cold type
employees because no union sought to represent such a unit . Similarly, in the instant
case, no union seeks to represent the cold type employees separately and we make no
determination as to the appropriateness of such a unit,
s See D.V. Displays Corp., et al., 134 NLRB 568.
NATIONAL MARITIME UNION OF AMERICA, AFL-CIO 1243
might be differently grouped into appropriate units .9 Accordingly,
we find that the following employees of the Employer constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act :10
All employees engaged in composingroom work and related proc-
esses, at the Employer's Portland, Oregon, operation, including plate
developers, Linofilm operator, cameramen, and employees performing
markup of copy, production layout, paste makeup, and maintenance of
Linofilm equipment, but excluding stereotypers, photoengraving em-
ployees, pressmen, platemakers, advertising salesmen, office clerical
employees, guards, professional employees, and supervisors," as de-
fined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
MEMBER LEEnoM, concurring in part and dissenting in part :
I agree with the majority that the Employer's cold type employees
may appropriately be added to the composingroom unit currently be-
ing represented by the Petitioner. However, for the reasons stated in
the dissent in D.V. Displays Corp., et at., supra, I would, unlike the
majority, first direct a self-determination election among these cold
type employees, to ascertain their desires as to inclusion in the estab-
lished unit.
6 See Ballentine Packing Company, Inc., 132 NLRB 923, 925.
10 The parties are otherwise in agreement as to the composition of the unit.
'I As the record discloses that the composingroom foreman has authority to hire and
discharge employees, we find he is a supervisor within the meaning of the Act and we
shall exclude him from the unit.
National Maritime Union of America , AFL-CIO and Houston
Maritime Association, Inc.
National Maritime Union of America, AFL-CIO and Gulf At-
lantic Warehouse Company
National Maritime Union of America, AFL-CIO and Delta
Steamship Lines, Inc. Cases Nos. 23-CC-125, 23-CC-126, and
23-CC-127. June 30, 1964
DECISION AND ORDER
On December 23, 1963, Trial Examiner Sidney D. Goldberg issued
his Decision in the above-entitled proceeding, finding that the Re-
spondent had engaged in certain unfair labor practices and recom-
mending that it cease and desist therefrom and take certain affirmative
action, as set forth in his attached Decision. Thereafter, the General
147 NLRB No. 142.