Sarasota Herald Tribune and Journal

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 17, 1955

111 N.L.R.B. 654 (N.L.R.B. 1955)

654 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
though, because of radioactivity, there are some production operators
who by remote control electrically operate a locomotive in and out of
a production building (separations) , this is not the operation of a train
in its normal sense but is more akin to electrical production work.
These employees perform production rather than railroad work and
are properly excluded from the railroad crew unit hereinafter found
appropriate. As the train crews are separately located and super-
vised, do not interchange with other employees, perform customary
railroad work, and exercise the skills of their classification, we con-
clude that a separate unit of the train crews is appropriate.14
Accordingly, we find that all train crews, including engineers,
switchmen, and conductors, at the Employer's Savannah River Plant
at Aiken, South Carolina, but excluding all other employees and super-
visors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of
the Act.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
CHAIRMAN FARMER took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Elections.
14Kennecott Copper Corporation, Ray Mines Division, 106 NLRB 390, Ravenna Arsenal,
Inc., et al., 100 NLRB 1129, Western Equipment Company, 96 NLRB 1376.
LINDSAY NEWSPAPERS , INC., D/B/A SARASOTA HERALD TRIBUNE AND
JOURNAL and INTERNATIONAL PRINTING PRESSMEN AND ASSISTANTS'
UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL , PETITIONER . Case No. 10-RC-
2892. February 17,1955
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Allen Sinsheimer, Jr., hear-
ing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.'
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
The Employer contends the Petitioner is incapable of serving as
bargaining representative because of alleged assistance by company
1 The Employer moves to dismiss the petition on grounds relating to (1) the Petitioner's
representative status, (2) the existence of a question concerning representation, and (3)
the appropriateness of the requested unit . For the reasons indicated hereinafter, the
motion is denied
111 NLRB No. 115.
SARASOTA HERALD TRIBUNE AND JOURNAL 655
supervisors in its organization and functions. In this connection, the
Employer seeks to reopen the record to adduce evidence which it
claims - was not available at the time of the original hearing. We
reject the Employer's contention and deny the mofion to reopen.
Apart from other considerations, we find, for the reasons discussed
in section 4, infra, that the two individuals (Hargis and Morse),
upon whose alleged objectionable conduct the Employer is apparently
relying, are not supervisors as defined in the Act.
3. The Employer contends that no question concerning representa-
tion exists principally because there was no request to bargain in the
departmental unit alternatively sought by the Petitioner. As we
find below that the craft unit primarily requested by Petitioner is
appropriate, we deem it unnecessary to pass upon this contention by
the Employer.
We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. In its petition, the Petitioner seeks a single unit of all press-
men, assistant pressmen, apprentice pressmen, and flyboys at the Em-
ployer's newspaper operation in Sarasota, Florida. Alternatively,
the Petitioner seeks all employees in the Employer's pressroom. The
Employer contends that neither unit is appropriate. There is no his-
tory of collective bargaining in this plant.
The unit primarily sought by Petitioner consists of approximately
7 or 8 employees who work in the Employer's pressroom. In gen-
eral, they spend from 25 to 40 percent of their time working on the
presses and most of the balance of their time on stereotype duties.
They are subject to the Employer's 5-year training program during
which they progress from a starting salary of $40 per week to a final
rate of $78 per week. Of the requested employees, two (Hargis and
Morse) are, in effect, journeymen and the remainder are in the nature
of apprentices still undergoing their training periods. There is
limited interchange of the employees in question with employees in
other parts of the plant, and the pressroom itself is separately located.
In our opinion, the pressmen and the apprentices are employees who
constitute an appropriate craft unit.'
In addition to the employees discussed above, there are three main-
tenance men or janitors 3 who are based in the pressroom and who work
under the supervision of the pressroom foreman. These employees
spend about 2 hours a day in the pressroom where they pour the lead
2 See Hollywood Citizen News, 107 NLRB No. 40 ( not reported in printed volume of
Board Decisions and Orders ) and cases cited therein . The Employer contends that Peti-
tioner is ineligible to represent such employees under the Board's decision in the Ameri-
can Potash it Chemical Corporation, 107 NLRB 1418. However, without passing upon
the merits of this contention , the cited decision is not here controlling because the present
case does not involve a severance problem Campbell Soup Company , 109 NLRB 518.
8 Jennings , Spann, and Biggs.
656 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
for most of the pigs and carry them to the composing room, take waste
paper from the presses, remove cores from press rolls and bundle them,
and do general maintenance work. The remainder of their time is
spent cleaning the plant and doing basic maintenance work such as
painting, carpentry, and minor plumbing throughout the plant. They
do no work on the presses at the present time and it does not appear
that they are subject to the training program described above. We
find that the janitors or maintenance men are essentially noncraft em-
ployees and, accordingly, we shall exclude them from the unit.'
A further question is presented as to the placement of Foreman
Pearson and Assistant Foremen Hargis and Morse. Pearson, who
works on the day shift, is in overall charge of the pressroom. He
clearly is vested with, and exercises, supervisory authority within the
Act's meaning, and we shall, therefore, exclude him from the unit.
Hargis and Morse alternate being "in charge" of the two pressroom
employees on the night shift, Hargis working in that capacity 5
nights, and Morse 2 nights, each week 5 During such nights they re-
ceive $2 extra in pay. Night Editor Cook is in overall charge of the
plant at night. Hargis and Morse spend all their time working along
with the other two employees and routinely transmit the directions of
their superiors. Although the Employer testified that Hargis and
Morse have authority to hire and discharge, this alleged authority has
admittedly never been exercised. Morse testified that, while he was
under an impression he had authority to hire and discharge, he was
never specifically told that he had such authority and, in practice, if
anything out of the ordinary arises, he refers it to Pearson. Accord-
ing to employee Roche, the employees themselves were never informed
that either Hargis or Morse had supervisory authority. In view of
the failure to inform either the employees or Hargis and Morse that
the latter had supervisory authority, and in view of the lack of exer-
cise of such authority, we are persuaded that Hargis and Morse are
not in fact vested with such authority and that they merely serve in
the relationship of skilled craftsmen to lesser skilled personnel. We
shall, therefore, include them in the unit.
We find that all pressmen and their apprentices in the Employer's
pressroom at Sarasota, Florida, including Assistant Foremen Hargis
and Morse, but excluding maintenance men or janitors, Foreman Pear-
son, all other employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
a Associated Business Service, 107 NLRB 219.
5 On the 3 nights when he is not "in charge ," Morse works as 1 of the 2 remaining em-
ployees on the pressroom night shift.