Milwaukee Publishing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 2, 1939

11 N.L.R.B. 892 (N.L.R.B. 1939)

In the Matter Of MILWAUKEE PUBLISHING COMPANY and MILWAUKEE
NEWSPAPER GUILD (C. I. 0.)
Case No. R-953
Election Ordered : run-off.
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
AND
SECOND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
March L, 1939
On December 9, 1938, the National Labor Relations Board, herein
called the Board, issued a Decision and Direction of Elections 1
in the above-entitled case. The Direction of Elections provided that
elections by secret ballot be conducted within fifteen (15) days from
the date of the Direction among the following groups of the em-
ployees of Milwaukee Publishing Company, herein called the Com-
pany, who were on the pay roll of July 12, 1938, excluding those who
had since resigned or had been discharged for cause, but including
those who had since been permanently employed :
(A) Employees in the editorial department excluding executives,
the copy-runners, clerk and porters in the composing room, the
engraving-room clerks, the mail-room porter, and the pressroom
porters, to determine whether or not they desired to be represented
by Milwaukee Newspaper Guild for the purposes of collective
bargaining;
(B) Employees in the advertising, accounting, business, and inside
circulation subdepartments, excluding executives, to determine
whether they desired to be represented by Milwaukee Newspaper
Guild or Office Workers' Union No. 16456, for the purposes of
collective bargaining, or by neither.
Pursuant to the Direction of Elections, elections by secret ballot
were conducted under the direction and supervision of Frederick
P. Mett, Acting Regional Director for the Twelfth Region (Mil-
waukee, Wisconsin), on December 20 and 21, 1938, among the em-
1 10 N. L. R. B. 389.
11 N. L. R. B., No. 69.
892
MILWAUKEE PUBLISHING COMPANY ET AL . 893
ployees therein specified. Full opportunity was afforded all the
parties to this investigation to participate in the conduct of the
elections by secret ballot and to make challenges. On December 23,
1938, the said Acting Regional Director, acting pursuant to Article
III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regu-
lations-Series 1, as amended, issued and duly served upon the parties
his Intermediate Report on the elections.
As to the balloting and the results thereof, the Acting Regional
Director reported as follows :
GsouP A
Number of employees eligible to vote________________________ 124
Total number of ballots cast -------------------------------- 114
Number of votes counted___________________________________ 114
Number of votes for the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild (C. I. O.) _ 76
Number of votes against the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild
(C. I. O.)------------------------------------------------ 38
Number of blank ballots__________________________________ 0
Number of void ballots_____________________________________ 0
Number of challenged ballots________________________________ 0
GaouP B
Number of employees eligible to vote________________________ 137
Total number of ballots cast________________________________ 129
Number of votes counted____________________________________ 128
Number of votes for Milwaukee Newspaper Guild (C. I. O.) _ 57
Number of votes for Office Workers' Union No. 16456
(A. F. of L.) -------------------------------------------- 61
Number of votes for neither-------------------------------- 10
Number of blank ballots---------------------------------- 0
Number of void ballots_____________________________________ 0
Number of challenged ballots_______________________________ 1
On December 29, 1938, Office Workers' Union No. 16456 filed with
the Board a request for a run-off election among the employees in
Group B. On January 4, 1939, pursuant to an extension of time
granted by the Board, Milwaukee Newspaper Guild, herein called
the Guild, filed with the Acting Regional Director its objections to
the Intermediate Report in so far as said Report related to the elec-
tion in Group B, and requested that its name appear upon the ballot
in any run-off election which might be held, with "neither" eliminated
from such ballot, or in the alternative, that the Intermediate Report
be set aside because of alleged interference by Company officials with
the election among employees in Group B. The Acting Regional
Director found that none of the objections raised a substantial and
material issue with respect to the conduct of the ballot among em-
ployees in Group B. The Board has considered the said objections
and finds that no substantial and material issues with respect to the
894 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
conduct of the ballot among the employees in Group B or to the
Intermediate Report relating thereto are raised thereby.
It has been our practice, where one union receives a plurality but
not a majority of the votes, as in the case of the employees in Group
B, to direct a run-off election upon the request of the union receiv-
ing the greater number of votes, to determine whether or not the
employees desire to be represented by such union for the purposes
of collective bargaining.2 In view of the request of the Office Work-
ers' Union No. 16456, the Board finds that a run-off election should
be held and will so direct. Following the practice of the Board, we
shall not include on the ballot for such election the name of Mil-
waukee Newspaper Guild.
Following protests filed with the Board by International Printing
Pressmen and Assistants' Union of North America and Milwaukee
Newspaper Web Pressmen's Union No. 23 to the inclusion of the
pressroom porters and the mail-room porter in Group A described
in the Direction of Elections, the Company and the Guild, on Feb-
ruary 14, 1939, entered into a stipulation whereby the Guild, for the
purposes of this case only, waived its claim to jurisdiction over these
employees. The stipulation states that at the time the election was
conducted the Company employed six pressroom porters and one
mail-room porter; as of the date of the stipulation, the Company
employed four regular pressroom porters, one substitute pressroom
porter, and one mail-room porter. The stipulation further provides
that "the Company and the Guild expressly consent to the issuance
by the National Labor Relations Board of a supplemental finding in
the above-captioned matter excluding the pressroom porters ( regular
and substitute) and the mail-room porter employed by the Company,
from the unit described in paragraph (a) of the said Direction of
Elections." The Board hereby approves the foregoing stipulation.
In the Decision and Direction of Elections above referred to, we
stated that upon the results of the elections would rest the deter-
mination of the unit or units appropriate for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining. The Board there stated : "If both groups of
employees participating in the elections choose the Guild, they will
together constitute a single bargaining unit. If they do not, each
group choosing to be represented by a union will constitute a sepa-
rate bargaining unit." The results of the elections show that the
Guild has been chosen by the employees in Group A, but not by the
employees in Group B.
Because of the indecisive ballot among the employees in Group B
and of our decision to hold a further election, we cannot make a
2 Matter of Shell Oil Company and International Association of Oil Field, Gas Well and
Refinery Workers of America, 9 N. L. K B. 908
MILWAUKEE PUBLISHING COMPANY ET AL. 895
final determination at this time concerning the appropriateness of
such unit for the purposes of collective bargaining. We can, how-
ever, determine that the employees in Group A, as altered by the
above-mentioned stipulation, constitute an appropriate unit, since the
Guild has been chosen by a majority of the employees in that group,'
and since the result of the election yet to be conducted will in no way
alter or affect this determination.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
SUPPLEMENTAL FINDINGS OF FACT
We find that employees in the editorial department, the copy-
runners, clerk and porters in the composing room, and the engrav-
ing-room clerks, employed by Milwaukee Publishing Company,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, excluding executives, the pressroom porters,
and the mail-room porter, constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining, and that said unit will insure to
employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to self-
organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise will effectu-
ate the policies of the Act.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
SUPPLEMENTAL CONCLUSION OF LAW
Employees in the editorial department, the copy-runners, clerk and
porters in the composing room, and the engraving-room clerks, em-
ployed by Milwaukee Publishing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
excluding executives, the pressroom porters, and the mail-room
porter, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National
Labor Relations Act.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Re-
lations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Sections 8 and 9, of Na-
tional Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as
amended,
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Milwaukee Newspaper Guild has been
-designated and selected by a majority of the employees in the editorial
department, the copy-runners, clerk and porters in the composing
3 Our decision to exclude the pressroom porters and the mail -room porter , as stipulated
by the parties , does not affect the majority status of the Guild in this unit , inasmuch as
the Guild won by a vote of 76 to 38.
896 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
room, and the engraving-room clerks, employed by Milwaukee
Publishing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, excluding executives,
the pressroom porters, and the mail-room porter, as their representa-
tive for the purposes of collective bargaining and that, pursuant to
Section 9 (a) of the Act, Milwaukee Newspaper Guild is the ex-
clusive representative of all such employees for the purposes of
collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of
employment, and other conditions of employment.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Sections 8 and 9, of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended,
it is hereby
DIRECrED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for collective bargaining with Milwaukee
Publishing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted within fifteen (15) days from the date of this
Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Di-
rector for the Twelfth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the
National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Section
9, of said Rules and Regulations, among employees in the advertising,
accounting, business, and inside circulation subdepartments, exclud-
ing executives, who were on the pay roll of July 12, 1938, except
those who have since resigned or have been discharged for cause, but
including those who have since been permanently employed, to deter-
mine whether or not they desire to be represented by Office Workers'
Union No. 16456 for the purposes of collective bargaining.