Suburban Newspaper Publications, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 28, 1976

226 N.L.R.B. 154 (N.L.R.B. 1976)

154 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Suburban Newspaper Publications , Inc. and San Jose
Newspaper Guild, Local 98 , The Newspaper Guild,
AFL-CIO, and Bay Area Typographical Union No.
21, International Typographical Union , AFL-CIO,
Joint Petitioners . Case 20-RC-13319
September 28, 1976
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
By MEMBERS JENKINS, PENELLO, AND WALTHER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held before Hearing Officer Charles H.
Pernal, Jr. Pursuant to Section 102.67 of the National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations and
Statements of Procedure, Series 8, as amended, this
case was transferred by direction of the Regional Di-
rector for Region 20 to the National Labor Relations
Board for decision. Thereafter, the Employer filed a
brief.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au-
thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's rul-
ings made at the hearing and finds that they are free
from prejudicial error. They are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this proceeding, the
Board finds:
1. The parties stipulated and we find that the Em-
ployer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act and it will effectuate the purposes of the Act
to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The labor' organizations involved claim to rep-
resent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concern-
ing the representation of employees of the Employer
within the meaning of Sections 9(c)(1) and 2(6) and
(7) of the Act.
4. The Employer, in addition to doing commercial
job printing, publishes 11 weekly suburban newspa-
pers' in the southern San Francisco Bay area, pri-
marily in Santa Clara County. Joint Petitioners seek
to represent a unit of all advertising, editorial, busi-
ness office, inside circulation, and composing room
employees; excluding all pressmen and platemaking
employees (who are currently represented by a dif-
ferent labor organization), mailroom employees, out-
1 The Los Altos Town Crier, the Campbell Press, the Cupertino Courier,
the Sunnyvale Scribe, the Santa Clara Sun, the Milpitas Post, the San Jose
Sun, the East San Jose Sun, the South San Jose Sun, and the Almaden Sun
have news content, the Mountain View Sun has no editorial content but is
an advertiser
side circulation employees, guards, and supervisors.
The Employer contends that the unit sought is inap-
propriate and urges the Board to direct elections in
two separate units: (1) All nonmechanical employees
including editorial, advertising,` business office, and
inside and outside circulation employees; and (2) all
composing room employees.
The Employer would include mailroom and bind-
ery employees in the nonmechanical unit; Joint Peti-
tioners would exclude them. The Joint Petitioners
would include editors of the individual newspapers,
the two sports editors, the credit manager, and the
marketing and promotions director; the Employer
would exclude them as managerial employees and
supervisors. Supervisory status of a number of indi-
viduals is also contested.
In overall charge of the newspapers are Morton
Levine, the executive editor, and Elaine Levine, the
publisher. The Employer's main office and plant is in
Cupertino, California. It also maintains offices in
Campbell, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Milpitas, and Santa
Clara. Each newspaper has an editor generally re-
sponsible for the news and editorial content of the
individual newspapers.
The editors write news stories and editorials. Most
have either full- or, part-time reporters to work along-
side them; some newspapers have no reporters as
such. There are also reporters whose material ap-
pears in several or all of the newspapers. The Em-
ployer employs two sports editors who split the news-
papers between them. One works with a full-time
reporter; the other shares a reporter with an individ-
ual newspaper. Individual' newspapers use outside
neighborhood columnists (spot employees) who con-
tribute news stories on local events. Sports editors
receive news stories on athletic events from student
"stringers" who are paid a small sum per article. In
addition, an entertainment section, the Marquee, is
prepared under the direction of Aleta Watson. The
Employer also has four photographers who work out
of the Milpitas office. Photographers are scheduled
for specific blocks of time for the individual newspa-
pers. Either an editor or someone else on the individ-
ual newspaper will make an assignment to the ' pho-
tographer, either in writing or in conversation. In
some cases, the editor has a voice in choosing the
picture, and sometimes there are only verbal instruc-
tions. Photographs are processed in the Milpitas' pho-
to lab.
Editorials, which are written primarily by individu-
al editors but on occasion by reporters, are sent to
the Cupertino office for review by the executive edi-
tor. News items are sent to the central copy room in
Cupertino. Photographs are sent to the copy room
from the photo lab. Sports editors do their own copy
226 NLRB No. 23
SUBURBAN NEWSPAPER PUBLICATIONS, INC. 155
work and send the material to the composing room.
There are three full-time employees and one part-
time employee in the copy room which is located in
Cupertino. They edit stories, write headlines for the
stories, assemble and lay out all the material that
goes into the newspapers in accord with general in-
structions from the editors, dummy pages, and send
the completed dummies to the composing room.
Generally speaking, the newspapers fall together by
this process.
Commercial display advertising and classified ad-
vertising is supervised by Jack Young, who also su-
pervises the dispatch department and the ad service
department. There are 10 display ad sales persons
working out of various offices who solicit and service
commercial advertising accounts. Classified advertis-
ing has four sales persons working in Cupertino and
two in Los Altos. The ad service employees of the
department process advertising copy, make up dum-
mies for the various advertisements, check the dum-
mied ads to make sure nothing is left out, and check
the pages to see that the ads are correct. They also
make sure copies of the ads-tearsheets-are sent to
customers along with the bill, keep track of advertis-
ing inches, write letters, and gather information for
the salesmen. The dispatch department is a messen-
ger service for display advertising customers.
Dummied news stories and editorials and dum-
mied advertisements are sent to the composing room,
which is located in Cupertino in a separate room
near the copy room. The purpose of the composing
room is to translate reporters' manuscripts, advertis-
ing copy, and ad salesmen's layouts into material to
be photographed for making plates for printing the
newspapers. The composing room consists of type-
setting, ad makeup, page makeup, proofreading, and
camera departments. Type is set on computerized
keyboards, runs through photocomposing units, and
comes out in long galleys. Galleys are then waxed,
trimmed, and proofread. After corrections are made,
the galleys are sorted by numbers supplied by the
copy desk, headlines are matched to stories, and the
material is, together with advertisements, made up
sheets for the camera department. Advertisements
are separately made up by, ad artists who use either
original art, a compugraphic typesetting machine, or
camera ready art "furnished by the advertiser. Page
makeup is where the editorial material comes togeth-
er with the ads, Once the material is made up, it is
sent to camera which prepares lithophotos for mak-
ing plates. The photos are then sent to platemaking
and printing.
The circulation department is headquartered in
Cupertino. Most of the newspapers are distributed
house-to-house by carrier boys, who receive their
newspapers either from district managers or truck-
drivers. There are also route checkers, part-time em-
ployees, who make sure that newspapers are properly
delivered. The work of the so-called inside circula-
tion department consists of maintaining records on
subscriptions and taking complaints. There are also
part-time employees who -make spot telephone
checks with subscribers to see if the papers have been
delivered and if the subscribers noticed a particular
advertisement.
The Employer also employs mailroom employees
who recently voted in a Board election in a unit of
the mailroom-bindery department employees.' The
Employer also has accounting and office employees.
The first issue to be decided in this case concerns
the scope of the unit-whether mechanical and non-
mechanical employees may be included in the same
unit. The Petitioner would include news-editorial, of-
fice, and circulation employees in the same unit with
the composing room employees. In the newspaper
industry, however, mechanical employees have been
separately represented from nonmechanical employ-
ees. Mechanical employees traditionally have been
separately represented by crafts, and the Board usu-
ally finds appropriate separate units of various me-
chanical craftsmen. American-Republican, Incorporat-
ed, 171 NLRB 43 (1968). Although mechanical
craftsmen have been included in the units with other
meachnical craftsmen, they have not, traditionally,
been included in units with nonmechanical employ-
ees.
Although some editors, copy room employees, and
ad salespersons have occasion to go into the compos-
ing room, the composing room employees work in a
single enclosed area, use special equipment, and per-
form distinct operations requiring special skills. Joint
Petitioners argue that the craft distinctions have been
blurred because the Employer's typesetting opera-
tions are considerably simpler than traditional meth-
ods of typesetting. Although the Employer uses
photocomposition machines which turn out
photoprinted galleys, the fact remains that compos-
ing room employees perform the traditional craft
functions of putting the editorial and advertising
content of the newspapers into form ready for print-
ing. The operators of the typesetting machines, the
camera, and the stripper perform the functions his-
torically performed by typesetters putting type ,into
chases. The advertising layout artists, the proofread-
ers, and the pasteup artists work in the composing
room under composing room supervision and per-
form duties which are intimately related to the com-
posing room functions. Pasteup is a mechanical func-
2 Case 20-RC-12759.
156 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tion. Garden Island Publishing Co., Ltd., 154 NLRB
697, 700-701 (1965). For these reasons we find that
the combined unit sought by the Joint Petitioners is
inappropriate and shall direct elections in separate
units of mechanical employees and nonmechanical
employees. The mechanical unit shall consist of all
composing room employees.'
Although the optimum nonmechanical unit in the
newspaper industry is a unit of all nonmechanical
employees, a combined unit of employees doing sim-
ilar or coordinated work, which does not include all
nonmechanical employees, may be found appropri-
ate. Lowell Sun Publishing Company, 132 NLRB 1168
(1961).
The mailroom employees participated in a Board
election on July 1, 1975, within the 12 months prior
to the hearing. The Employer seeks to include them
in the nonmechanical unit if the petitioner therein is
not certified as bargaining representative. A Board
decision 4 issued on July 7, 1976, and the results of
the election were certified on July 21, 1976. Mail-
room employees in the newspaper industry are a
well-defined functionally distinct group who have
been traditionally represented on a separate depart-
mental basis. The Bakersfield Californian 152 NLRB
1683 (1965). Specifically, the Employer's mailroom
employees have been found to constitute a separate
unit. Accordingly, we shall not include them in the
nonmechanical unit.
As indicated above, the Joint-Petitioners would in-
clude only the inside circulation employees in the ap-
propriate unit. The Employer urges the Board to also
include the outside circulation employees. The out-
side circulation employees fall within a category
which the Board traditionally recognizes as a sepa-
rate appropriate unit. El Mundao, Inc., 167 NLRB
760 (1967). Accordingly, we find that the outside cir-
culation employees are excludable from the unit. The
inside circulation ' employees-file clerks who main-
tain subscription records and phone checkers who
canvass to verify delivery and ask about advertise-
ments=come into contact with advertising and edi-
torial employees, work in the same buildings, and
share the same facilities. Accordingly, we shall in-
clude them ifi the nonmechanical unit.
The Employer contends that the editors of the in-
dividual newspapers 5 are supervisors and managerial
employees and should be excluded from the unit.
3 Excluding pressmen and platemen who are separately represented.
4 Suburban Newspapers Publications, Inc, Case 20-RC-12759 (unpub-
lished).
5 There are eight editors' Doris Shepard, Los Altos Town Crier, Pat Staf-
ford, Campel Press; Sue Beving, Cupertino Courier, Jim Barrett, Sunnyvale
Scribe; Carolyn Leal, Santa Clara Sun, Janice Bridges, Milpitas Post, Tom
Gilsenan, East San Jose Sun; and Aleta Watson, San Jose Sun, South San
The Employer contends that their supervisory au-
thority lies in assigning work to reporters and in rec-
ommending the hiring and firing of employees. The
Employer states in its brief, "The editors have similar
responsibilities and duties."
The editors are primarily engaged in covering and
writing news stories which appear in their newspa-
pers. They also come up with additional material to
fill the newspapers and designate story placement,
particularly with respect to lead stories. At least one
of the editors had no reporter to assist her. On those
newspapers which have either full- or part-time re-
porters, the coverage of particular stories is ordinari-
ly worked out in cooperation between editor and re-
porter. Many reporter stories are self-generated, and
reporters work largely independently. There is no ap-
parent distinction between the method of payment
for reporters and editors. The record as a whole
shows that the relationship between editors and re-
porters is cooperative and informal. Any direction of
a reporter's work by an editor is more akin to that
given by a leadman' than that by a supervisor. Ac-
cordingly, we find that editors do not responsibily
direct reporters in their v'ork within the meaning of
Section 2(11) of the Act.
Although the executive editor testified that certain
editors hired reporters, the record when viewed as a
whole shows that editors do not have authority to
hire and exercise very little influence on personnel
assignment. For example, editors have complained to
the executive editor that they need more reportorial
assistance . In asking for such help they may point
out that a particular reporter, is available and wants
to work more time . However, the record is clear that
the decisions have been made by the executive edi-
tor. A number of such efforts by individual editors
have been fruitless. Editors do not have authority to
fire reporters, and they evaluate the performances of
reporters only on an informal basis. Meetings with
the executive editor to assure uniformity of policy are
attended by both editors and reporters. Accordingly,
we find that the editors are employees within the
meaning of the Act.
The Employer contends that editors write un-
signed editorials expressing their own ideas as those
of the individual newspapers and are therefore man-
agerial employees. However, the record shows that
editors routinely submit proposed editorials to the
publisher or executive editor for approval before
printing. Often editorials, I particularly those endors-
ing candidates for office, will be discussed with the
executive editor before they are finally written. Al-
though the individual editors generally have few con-
Jose Sun, and Almaden Sun . Aleta Watson also is involved in the prepara-
tion of the "Marquee" entertainment section.
SUBURBAN NEWSPAPER PUBLICATIONS, INC. 157
flicts with the policy of the executive editor and the
publisher, there have been times when the executive
editor or publisher has made changes on editorials,
on occasion without consulting with the editors. Ac-
cordingly, we find that the editors are not managerial
employees within the meaning of the Act and shall
include them in the nonmechanical unit.
The Employer also contends that the two sports
editors, Louis Lucia and Richard Sparrer, are super-
visors within the meaning of the Act. One works with
a full-time reporter; the other with a part-time re-
porter. It is clear from the record that sports editors
perform-work in a manner similar to editors of the
individual newspapers. Thus, the sports editors work
primarily as reporters in an informal cooperative re-
lationship with the sports reporters. In sum, the rec-
ord does not establish that sports editors are supervi-'
sors and we shall include them in the nonmechanical
unit.
The employee status of a number of other persons
is contested in the record and in the brief of the Em-
ployer. The Employer contends that Phillip Nelson is,
a supervisor of the photographers. Nelson is one of
four photographers and performs photographic
work. The Employer contends that Nelson has hired
all the other photographers on the staff. However,
careful review of -the record indicates that he was
involved in hiring only to the extent of checking on
the applicants'-technical abilities. There is record tes-
timony that he effectively recommended the dis-
charge of one photographer. However, the record
shows that individual editors complained that the
photographer was not performing his duties and fail-
ing to -take requested pictures. Nelson merely acted
as a conduit for their complaints to management.
The work of photographers is scheduled in time
blocks, and photographers take pictures suggested by
editors. Thus, photographers work independently
from one another. In these circumstances, we find
that the record fails to establish, that PhillipNelson is
a supervisor, and we shall include him in the nonme-
chanical unit.
Katherine Wakerly is the copy desk chief and is
claimed by the Employer to be a supervisor. Wakerly
is a working copy editor-one of the three full-time
copy editors employed at the newspapers. The nature
of the work is such that each works relatively inde-
pendently of the others. Hiring of copy desk person-
nel is done by the executive editor, although Wakerly
has performed initial interviewing. One of the copy
desk employees earns more money than Wakerly.
Wakerly has' been consulted on the progress of a
part-time employee, but- the record shows that the
executive editor exercises the effective decisionmak-
ing authority. Accordingly, we find that Katherine
Wakerly is an employee and shall include her in the
nonmechanical unit.
Jack Young is the overall supervisor for the
Employer's advertising department. The Employer
also contends that Ernest Bicknell is a supervisor.
Until just prior to the hearing Bicknell was a nonsu-
pervisory display advertising salesman. The Employ-
er, however, contends that he is now the east valley
advertising manager and will supervise the work of
two other salespersons. At the time of the hearing,
the details of the new position had not been worked
out, and Bicknell was not in fact acting as a supervi-
sor. To find him a supervisor now would be specula-
tive. Since Bicknell was told that he would have the
authority to hire and fire, he may ultimately assume
supervisory authority. Since we are unable to de-
termine whether he will be a supervisor at the time of
the election, we shall allow him to vote, subject to
challenge, in the election in the nonmechanical unit.
The Employer would exclude as supervisor Doro-
thy Hassett who is a display advertising salesperson
in the Los Altos office. She spends about two-thirds
of her time doing outside sales work and shares her
office with another salesperson, a file clerk, and two
classified advertising clerks. The Employer contends
that Hassett supervises the work of the clerks and has
effectively recommended the hiring and firing of em-
ployees. The record shows that both Hassett and the
other salesperson interviewed the part-time file clerk
and recommended to the advertising manager that
she be hired. Her role in hiring was thus both shared
and limited. The record also shows that Hassett told
one employee that she was discharged but that she
was acting under the direction of the advertising
manager who made the discharge decision. Little re-
view or direction of the classified ad clerks or the file
clerks is required. They work independently. The file
clerk, in fact, has flexibility in setting her own hours
and works until the immediate job is done. For these
reasons, we find that the record fails to show that
Dorothy Hassett exercises supervisory authority and
we shall include her in the nonmechanical unit.
The Employer contends that Viola Burkitt is a su-
pervisor in charge of the ad service department. She
has initially interviewed applicants for employment
and told an employee that she had been hired. She
also plays a limited role in scheduling employees.
However, the ad service department is next to Jack
Young's office. Young exercises personal oversight
over the ad service operations and makes the deci-
sions of whom to hire. Accordingly, we find that Vio-
la Burkitt is not a supervisor and shall include her in
the nonmechanical unit.
Ora Penn is responsible for the dispatch office,
which operates a messenger service in connection
158 DECISIONS, OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
with advertising material. Dispatch employees are
mostly part-time employees whose qualifications are
being able to drive and do the job. There is a high
turnover in the department. The record shows that
Penn actually hires dispatchers. Accordingly, we find
that Ora Penn is a supervisor within the meaning of
the Act.
The Employer contends that Stephanie Tucci, the
office manager at Cupertino, is a supervisor. She re-
ports to John Scroggs, the circulation director. Her
principal responsibility is feeding circulation infor-
mation into a computer and handling the printouts.
Although -the job of file clerk is largely- routine, file
clerks do report to Tucci. The record shows that Tuc-
ci has hired two of the file clerks on her own judg-
ment and introduced them to the circulation director
only after they were hired. Since Tucci has exercised
the authority to hire employees, we find that she is.a
supervisor within the meaning of the Act.
Lainys Stevens is an office manager,in Cupertino
in charge of the accounts. Bookkeeping clerks work
in the office. The record shows she has exercised the
authority to hire and fire. Accordingly, we find that
she is a supervisor.
The Employer has five area supervisors, four of
whom work with both outside and inside circulation
employees 6 These four supervisors all have the same
duties and responsibilities. They have the authority
to hire and fire file clerks, who are unit employees.
The record specifically shows that one, Shirley Ba-
trea, hired all four file clerks working for her without
consulting with the circulation manager. According-
ly, we find that area supervisors are supervisors and
shall exclude them from the unit.
The Employer would exclude Don Thompson
from the unit as a managerial employee. He reports
directly to the publisher and works on promotional
and marketing programs. He recently introduced the
"Marquee" entertainment section which is inserted
in each of the newspapers. It appears that he may be
managerial. However, as the record is not definitive
as to his duties and his relationship with the pub-
lisher, we shall allow him to vote, subject to chal-
lenge, in the nonmechanical unit.
Finally, the Employer would exclude the , credit
manager, Sandra Martin, as a managerial employee
on the grounds that she can commit the Employer's
credit. However, she commits such credit only in the
limited area of determining credit worthiness of cus-
tomers for advertising. Accordingly, we find she is
6 No file clerks report to the fifth area supervisor, who has the Cupertino
Courier and the Sunn vale Scribe Th d 1 1e insi u F
not a managerial employee and shall include her in
the nonmechanical_unit.
The parties agree that Shirley Boggs and May
Shrank are supervisors in the composing room. Bruce
Keith works in the composing room as a pasteup art-
ist. He assigns pasteup work to employees -and has
hired, or effectively recommended the hiring of, em-
ployees in the. department. Accordingly, we find that
he is a supervisor.
Greogry Talbott also works in the composing
room operating the camera and stripper tables. The
Employer contends that he is a supervisor. One other
employee regularly works in camera operations. It
appears from the record, that Talbott, as a highly
skilled employee, is similar to a leadman and does
not responsibly direct the other employee's work.
Nor does the record show, as contended by the Em-
ployer, that Talbott recruited the other camera-em-,
ployee. The record shows that the employee in ques-
tion had shown an interest in camera work and that
she was transferred by the superintendent who had
knowledge of her work. Accordingly, we shall in-
clude Talbott in the mechanical unit.
The Employer contends that Jean Buscher is an-
other supervisor in the composing room . She is a
proofreader and does some page makeup. Although
she has played a role in recruiting part-time proof-
readers, the record shows that the hire or discharge
of proofreaders is done by Shirley Boggs. According-
ly, we find that Buscher is an employee entitled to
vote in the mechanical unit election. ,
In addition to agreement that Shirley Boggs and
May Shrank are composing room supervisors the
parties are in agreement that the following persons
be excluded from the unit: Pete Seymour, as a super-
visor in the circulation department;' Mary Roberts,
as a supervisor of classified ad sales; and Wilma Al-
bright,, as a confidential secretary. 1
In accord with our Decision herein, we shall direct
elections in the following units which we find are
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act:
All advertising, editorial, business office, and in-
side circulation employees employed by the Em-
ployer; excluding mailroom employees, outside
circulation employees, and all other employees,
guards, and supervisors within the meaning of
the Act.
All composing room employees employed by the
Employer, excluding pressmen and platemen
and all other employees, guards, and supervisors
within the meaning of the Act.
a circu a on emp ogees or
[Direction of Elections and Excelsior footnotethese papers report to the Cupertino office manager It thus appears that
this area supervisor is outside the unit in any event and not eligible to vote omitted from publication.]