The Ann Arbor Press

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 29, 1949

85 N.L.R.B. 946 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of ARTHUR J. WILTSE, D/B/A THE ANN ARBOR PRESS,'
EMPLOYER and BINDERY WORKERS LOCAL UNION No. 20, INTERNA-
TIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF BOOKBINDERS , AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 7-RC-397.Decided August 29,1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Jerome H.
Brooks, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. At
the hearing, the Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the
grounds that (a) it would not effectuate the policies of the Act for
the Board to assume jurisdiction in this case, and (b) no proof was
adduced at the hearing that the Petitioner had complied with the
filing requirements of Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act. For
the reasons discussed below, the motion is hereby denied.2
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 [Chairman Herzog and Members
Reynolds and Gray].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer operates a job printing business in Ann Arbor,
Michigan. It prints catalogs, broadsides, circulars, periodicals, books,
and advertising material. During the year 1947, it had sales of ap-
proximately $870,000, of which a substantial part represented sales of
printing and advertising material within the State, to automobile man-
ufacturing and other companies engaged in interstate commerce. The
Employer also shipped directly to points outside the State, printed
material valued at approximately $85,000. During the same period,
the Employer made purchases valued at approximately $225,000, of
which about $20,000 represented the value of purchases shipped di-
I The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing.
' We have noted administratively that the Petitioner has complied with the filing re-
quirements of Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act. The question of compliance is an
administrative matter. It is not litigable at the hearing. Matter of General Plywood Cor-
poration , 79 N. L. R. B. 1.458; Matter of Lion. Oil Company, 76 N. L. R. B. 565.
85 N. L. R. B., No. 165.
946
THE ANN ARBOR PRESS 947
rectly to Ann Arbor from outside the State of Michigan. The Em-
ployer also purchased outside the State repair parts valued at approxi-
mately $2,000, and had $15,000 worth of bindery work performed out-
side the State and shipped to Ann Arbor.
We find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the Act.3 We also find, contrary to the contention of the
Employer, that it will effectuate the policies of the Act to assume
jurisdiction in this case.
2. The Petitioner is a labor, organization claiming to represent
certain employees of the Employer.
.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen-
tation of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit composed of all book-
binding department employees, including binding machine operators,
gatherers, inserters, paper cutters, folding machine operators, ship-
ping clerks, stockmen, and stock cutter in the stockroom, but exclud-
ing truck drivers, maintenance employees, janitors, and supervisors.
The Employer took no position as to the appropriateness of the unit,
except that it would, like the Petitioner, exclude truck drivers, main-
tenance employees and janitors, but it would, unlike the Petitioner,
also exclude three alleged supervisors, two shipping clerks, and the
stock cutter.
The Employer occupies a three-story building. The first floor is
used as a stockroom; the second floor is taken up by the printing press
and composing departments, the employees of which are represented
by unions other than the Petitioner ; and the third floor contains the
bookbinding and shipping departments.
Practically all the employees in the proposed bookbinding depart-
ment unit perform the operations customary in a bindery. For ex-
ample, they operate sewing machines, side and saddle wire stitchers,
perforators, covering machines, folding machines, and cutting ma-
chines, and they gather and insert printed material. There is no
history of collective bargaining on a plant-wide basis. Under these
circumstances, we believe that the bookbinding department employees,
who compose a homogeneous group, may constitute a separate bar-
gaining unit.4
There remains for consideration the following categories of em-
ployees whom the Petitioner would include in, and the Employer ex-
clude from, the proposed unit.
3 Matter of Arthur J. Wlltse, d/b/a The Ann Arbor Press, 85 N. L. R. B. 58.
4 See Matter of Lloyd Hollister, Inc., 55 N . L. R. B. 32 ; Matter of George Grady Press,
Inc., 74 N . L. R. B. 1372.
857829-50--vol. 85-61
948 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
- Alleged supervisors: Rosetta Schneider is in charge of a crew of
girls and may effectively recommend the hiring and discharging of
her subordinates. We shall exclude her as a supervisor.
Mildred Bovee is a member of Schneider's work crew. She substi-
tutes for Schneider when the latter is ill or on vacation. As Bovee
acts in a supervisory capacity only sporadically and irregularly, we
find that she is not a supervisor and we shall include her in the unit.
Clair Witting is an ordinary production worker who substitutes
for his foreman when the latter is absent on vacation or on account
of illness. For the reason applicable to Bovee, we find that Witting
is not a supervisor. We shall include him in the unit.-5
Shipping clerks: There are two shipping clerks who wrap printed
material for shipment, transmit and receive various packages, and
help load and unload company trucks. They also perform various
unskilled tasks in the bindery, are under the supervision of the bindery
department foreman, and generally work in the bindery department
area. We shall include the two shipping clerks in the unit."
Stock cutter: This employee, Arthur Peck, Jr., works on the first
floor and is in charge of paper stock. The Employer considers him a
paper specialist. He knows the various types of paper and where to
find each type. He is not supervised by anyone, but assists all the
Employer's departments. Occasionally, he cuts paper for the book
bindery department because he has a wider machine than the one used
in the bindery. More frequently, he cuts paper for the pressroom. As
he does not work in the bookbinding department area , is not super-
vised by the foreman of that department, and has very little contact
with bindery employees, we shall exclude him from the unit.
We find that all employees in the Employer's bookbinding depart-
ment at its Ann Arbor, Michigan, plant, including binding machine
operators, gatherers, inserters, paper cutters, folding machine opera-
tors, shipping clerks, and stockmen, but excluding truckdrivers,
maintenance employees, janitors, the stock cutter in the stockroom,
guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
5 In Matter of Arthur J. Wiltse d/b/a The Ann Arbor Press, supra, the Board found
that Witting was on the Employer's supervisory staff . However, at that time, he was the
foreman in charge of the bookbinding department. At the present time, another individ-
ual supervises this department and Witting only acts in the latter's absence.
"Matter of Sampset Time Control Inc., 80 N. L. R. B. 1250; Matter of C. E. Dearing
Printing Company, 79 N. L. R. B. 1020.
THE ANN ARBOR PRESS 949
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was
heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work
during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or
temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bar-
gaining, by Bindery Workers Local Union No. 20, International
Brotherhood of Bookbinders, AFL.