The Associated Press

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 6, 1936

1 N.L.R.B. 686 (N.L.R.B. 1936)

In the Matter of THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, A CORPORATION and
AMERICAN NEWSPAPER GUILD
Case/No. R-26.-Decided May 6, 1936
News Collecting and Distributing Agency-Unit Appropriate for Collective
Bargaining: occupational differences; organization of business-Election Or-
dci ed: question affecting commerce : confusion and unrest among employees ;
employees engaged directly in interstate commerce-controversy concerning
representation of employees: majority status disputed by employer-
Certifica-tion of Representatives
Mr. David A. Moscovitz for the Board.
Davis, Polk, Wardwell, Gardiner c0 Reed, of New York City, for
the Associated Press. Mr. William C. Cannon and Mr. Harry W.
Kissel, of counsel.
Greenbaum, Wolff & Ernst, of New York City, for the Union. Mr.
Morris L. Ernst and Mr. Callnn,an Gottesman, of counsel.
Mr. Louis L. Jaffe, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
STATEMENT OF CASE
On December 9, 1935, The Associated Press Unit of the Newspaper
Guild of New York, hereinafter called the Guild unit, which is in
turn a branch of the American Newspaper Guild, hereinafter called
the Guild, filed with the Regional Director for the Second Region
a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen
concerning the representation of the editorial employees of the New
York City office of The Associated Press, and requesting an investi-
gation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c)
of the National Labor Relations Act, approved July 5, 1935. On
December 10, 1935, the Board authorized the Regional Director for
the Second Region to conduct an investigation and provide for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice. On December 16, 1935, the
Board ordered that the hearing in this matter be held in conjunction
with the hearing on a complaint, relating to the discharge of an
employee, Morris Watson, issued against The Associated Press en-
titled "In the Matter of The Associated Press and the American
Newspaper Guild", being known as Case No. II-C-28. On Decem-
ber 20, 1935, the Regional Director issued a notice setting the hearing
686
DECISION'S AND ORDERS 687
for January 9, 1936. Notice of hearing was duly served on The
Associated Press and the Guild. The hearing was postponed from
time to time,' until on April 2, 1936, the Regional Director issued a
notice setting the hearing for April 7, 1936, which notice was duly
served on the aforementioned parties. Hearings were held in New
York, N. Y., on April 7 and 8, 1936, before a Trial Examiner, Dean
Charles E. Clark of the Yale Law School, designated by order of the
Board. Counsel for The Associated Press filed a special appearance
for the purpose of moving that the complaint be dismissed on the
grounds that the Act is "void, unconstitutional, and of no force and
effect in so far as it purports to authorize an investigation, hearing
or certification relative to collective bargaining by or on behalf of
the aforesaid employee unit of The Associated Press since the matters
do not come within the commerce or other powers of the Congress"
and is unconstitutional for the further reasons that it violates the
First Amendment, to the Constitution of the United States in that it
abridges the freedom of The Associated Press, and violates also the
Fifth and the Tenth Anienclments thereto. The Trial Examiner
overruled the motion in so far as it rested on points "unconnected
with interstate commerce"; after a showing as to the nature of the
activity of The Associated Press, he overruled the motion on all
grounds. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-exam-
ine witnesses and to introduce evidence bearing upon the issues was
afforded to all parties.
Upon the evidence adduced at the hearing and from the entire
record before it, including the pleadings filed, the transcript of the
hearing, and exhibits introduced, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Associated Press was organized in 1900 as a membership cor-
poration of the State of New York, being a non-profit association
of certain persons who, owning or representing certain newspapers,
operated for profit, united in a mutual and cooperative association
for the collection and interchange of information and intelligence
for publication in the newspapers owned or represented by them. It
has at present about 1350 members. Of the 2000 daily newspapers
in the United States, approximately 1200 are members of The Asso-
ciated Press; included among them are newspapers in every State.
The Associated Press has members also in Alaska, Argentina,
I The postponements were the result of a bill in equity brought by The Associated
Press in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to enjoin
the hearing The bill was dismissed on April 4, 1936, upon the motion of the Regional
Duector and Regional Attorney, defendants in the case.
688 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Bolivia, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba , Dominican Repub-
lic, Dutch West Indies, Ecuador , Guatemala , Hawaii, Mexico,
Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Phillipines, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uru-
guay, and Venezuela. Each member is entitled to at least a
minimum news service, and each member supplies to The Associated
Press local news gathered by him.
Each member of The Associated Press has one vote. However,
bonds may be issued up to the aggregate sum of $500 ,000, carrying a
vote for each $25 but not to exceed $1,000 of registered bonds whereon
interest is waived ; on December 31, 195, such bonds in the sum of
$235,525 were outstanding , which, being substantially held by the
larger newspapers, carried increased voting power to such news-
papers to the extent indicated.
The balance sheet of The Associated Press for the year 1935 showed
assets of $2,697 ,128.80 and its income was $9,404,213 .41, an excess of
$141,959.55 over its expenses of $9,262,253 .86; said income, outside
of interest amounting to $63,374.04, consisted exclusively of assess-
ments levied upon its members according to a formula of assessment
which, while adjusted to the type and amount of service received, is
based fundamentally upon the plan of distributing the cost of opera-
tion among its members in proportion to the population of the com-
munity served by them.
Advertised statements by The Associated Press contain assertions
that "it is the greatest clearing house for news in the world", and
that "the revenues reach an annual aggregate of nearly $10,000,000,
while the number of words daily received and transmitted at each
of the more important offices is over 200,000, or the equivalent of
125 columns of the average newspaper". These statements were not
controverted at the hearing, and the extensive operations of The
Associated Press in all parts of the world were amply demonstrated
by all the evidence. It appears to be substantially larger than the
other competing press agencies in the United States that are organ-
ized as commercial corporations.
The Associated Press has in excess of 1,700 employees and an
annual pay roll in excess of $3,000,000.
The principal office of The Associated Press is in New York City.
It has its own representatives in important capitals and cities in the
United States and in other parts of the world. It has an affiliate,
The Associated Press of Great Britain , of which there is a branch
office in Paris, whose function it is to obtain news pictures of news
events abroad to be supplied to The Associated Press of New York.
It also has an affiliate located in Berlin. It has reciprocal arrange-
ments with important news agencies in foreign countries for the
interchange of news : with Reuter, the Canadian Press-modeled
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 689
after The Associated Press, Domei-Tsuchin-Sha, a Japanese news
bureau.
The Associated Press has established division points throughout
the United States, each of which is responsible for the collection of
news from its territories and for its distribution. These divisions
are the Eastern, with headquarters in New York City; the Southern,
Atlanta, Georgia; the Central, Chicago, Illinois; the Western, San
Francisco, California; and the Southwestern, Kansas City, Missouri.
Each division has regional offices and member newspapers reporting
to it. In addition, The Associated Press has a special bureau at
Washington, D. C., and a Foreign Service, operating from its New
York City office with offices, staffs, and correspondents in Africa,
Asia, Europe, and Central and South America. The control of news
is extremely decentralized or "broken-down". Each collecting
agent-regional office, member newspaper, division point-deter-
mines the value to other regions, divisions, etc. of each item of news
collected by or coming to it and sends it along to other points or
distributes it throughout the territory of which it is the key point
according to its judgment of its interest for those points. Conse-
quently the individual editorial employee no matter where he may be
situated has a measure of responsibility for the effective functioning
of the entire system.
The usual method of communication is by "leased wires" (or
special service by contract with the Western Union Telegraph Com-
pany, the American Telephone & Telegraph Company, and the Pa-
cific Telephone & Telegraph Company), although all forms of com-
munication-telephone, messenger, wireless, mail-are employed.
From each division point there stretches out to the East, the West,
the North and the South, trunk telegraph wires which are the prin-
cipal intake and feeding lines for the division and which provide
inter-divisional communication. Subsidiary regional circuits tie
into the primary circuits. As news is received at a division head-
quarters, it is revised by editorial employees under the direction of
supervising editors and then transmitted throughout the division and
to the headquarters of other divisions to the extent warranted by the
news. Each trunk line is controlled by a "filing editor" who must be
aware of the capacity of the line, i. e., the amount of news which he
can wire out during his shift-usually eight hours-and the amount
of news which his line will be expected to receive; during his shift
he is responsible for sending out-"filing"-over his line a "balanced"
news report.
The Associated Press, through itself or its affiliates, also conducts
extensive operations in the collection of photographs of persons and
events which it transmits to and from Europe and among its mem-
690 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
bers; when the immediate news value of these photographs is gone,
they are sold to an agency for eventual use in magazines and other
publications.
II. OPERATION OF IHE NEW YORK OFFICE: THE EDITORIAL EMPLOYEES
The number of employees in the New York office of The Associated
Press, exclusive of the general office executives , is more than 350, and
its annual pay roll in that office in excess of $800,000.
The editorial work in the New York City office of The Associated
Press is divided into various departments to facilitate the speedy and
efficient operation of its business . An executive news editor , assisted
by supervising editors and editorial employees , has general charge
of the revision of the news as it is received from the filing editors
in immediate charge of the wires to and from various places; and
there are other departments or desks covering Foreign, City , Sports,
Financial , News Photo, and Feature Service, as well as a morgue or
library for retaining items of potential future value.
The filing editors supervise the news as it goes out on trunk or
primary circuits and the secondary wires from New York City, includ-
ing the North wire to New York State and New England and Boston,
the South wire to Atlanta, there breaking into subdivided regional
extensions , the main Nest wire (with a parallel wire for financial,
commodity , and money market news ) to Kansas City with trunk wires
there to the Pacific Coast and the Southwest, a "Metro" wire for the
newspapers of Greater New York City, and state wires to New York
and Pennsylvania . Such editors determine what news , from the vast
amount of copy delivered to them, is to be sent on their respective
wires; they supervise its rewriting , as they determine to be desirable
for the uses of their respective circuits , and its delivery to teletype-
writer operators for transmission over such wires.
The operations described above are carried on in three daily shifts
of employees ; the day shift from 8: 00 A. M. to 4: 00 P. M., the night
shift from 4: 00 P . M. until midnight , and the early shift from
midnight until 8: 00 A. M.
The operations of the editors and editorial employees require a high
degree of skill, for they must be able to determine the news value of
items, and to rewrite copy with speed and the utmost accuracy, so
that in the case of important news all the work on a particular item
may be completed within a few minutes. Thus a story from abroad
may be received , rewritten , and sent out over the leased wires in from
12 to 20 minutes , and an unusually important item, such as the death
of the King of England , would be sent out in half that time. Less
important news is handled in a more leisurely way, but all news is
perishable and very quickly becomes valueless for the purposes of
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 691
The Associated Press and as soon as it becomes generally known
through competing press agencies or otherwise.
The Feature Service supplies to the member newspapers special sto-
ries covering particular events, or recurring features , such as articles on
sports or scientific events or surveys of the news. These are often
sent out as the product of special staff employees , and published over
the "by line" or name of the writer ; and such assignments are
naturally among those most desired and sought after by the editorial
employees.
The mechanical operations of the transmission of news are con-
ducted by the Traffic Department , the employees of which perform
no editorial functions and are not classed as editorial employees; and
the actual sending of the news by wire is performed by the telegraph
companies the use of whose facilities is purchased by The Associated
Press.
At the time of the hearing, approximately 157 of the employees in
New York City were classified as editorial employees , including re-
porters and editors engaged in the preparation or revision of news
for transmission and distribution in this country and abroad. The
editorial employees of The Associated Press in the New York City o
office are a definite and separate class; they constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purpose of collective bargaining.
The operations of The Associated Press and of its editorial employ-
ees occur in the course and current of commerce among the several
States and %vitli foreign countries ; are an integral part of the opera-
tions of the instrumentalities of such commerce ; and constitute com-
merce among the several States and with foreign countries.
III. QUESTION OF REPRESENTATION AFFECTING COMMERCE
In 1933 the unrest which had developed among editorial employees
and reporters, of newspapers had become acute, due to lowering of
wages generally and the elimination of various newspapers , notably
"The New York World", the sale of which threw many such employees
out of work. The remuneration paid such employees was generally
lower than that paid less highly skilled workers in the mechanical
departments of newspaper service who had been organized in unions,
who had had service contracts , and who had suffered less drastic wage
cuts.
In view of these conditions the American Newspaper Guild was
organized to obtain the benefits of unionization for editorial em-
ployees and reporters of press associations and newspapers. It com-
prised a national organization, of which the New York Newspaper
Guild was a branch and of which local units were installed in indi-
vidual newspapers or press associations in about 70 cities.
692 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Associated Press unit of the New York Newspaper Guild was
organized in November , 1933. Morris Watson, an editorial employee
in the New York City office, whose discharge has given rise to the
complaint case which was heard simultaneously with the instant mat-
ter, was the leader in the Guild unit and its first chairman.
In July, 1934, the Guild unit adopted a resolution sponsored by
Watson, addressed to the American Newspaper Guild , asking the
Guild to undertake collective bargaining on behalf of the Guild unit.
Among the points at issue an important one was the securing of a
five-day week for editorial employees , instead of the six day week
then in force.
Thereafter the Guild sent to Frank B. Noyes and to Kent Cooper,
president and general manager of The Associated Press, respectively,
formal letters, signed by the executive secretary of the Guild and by
Watson, asking for an appointment for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
Thereafter the executives of The Associated Press interviewed the
editorial employees individually in respect to their Guild connections,
and strongly objected to such connections , so that membership of the
Guild ' unit fell off sharply and the collection of dues likewise declined
substantially . As a result , the Guild unit held a meeting on August
17, 1934, and suspended its request for collective bargaining pending
the creation and report of a committee from the Guild unit to discuss
the matter with Cooper.
On the following day the committee met with Cooper , who declined
to bargain collectively , staring that he would quit his job rather than
bargain with "an outsider"-referring to the Guild-and intimating
that, if Guild activities were given up, the five-day week would be
granted.
Thereafter, on August 21, 1934, the Guild unit voted to suspend
indefinitely its request for collective bargaining . This meeting was
well attended , because the executives of The Associated Press actively
worked to induce attendance and, in some cases themselves relieved
the employees of their duties to that end.
Thereupon the five-day week was instituted and continued in force
until October 7, 1935.
Thereafter the executives , at staff meetings held for the different
shifts of employees, protested the action of the Guild unit in only
suspending the request for collective bargaining and not rescinding
it, asking the employees if they were not thereby "binding them-
selves to outsiders and ceasing to be free agents," particularly unless
they obtained back their authorizations to bargain collectively, which
were held by Watson as an officer of the Guild unit and which lie
refused to deliver up.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 693
On October 7, 1935, the editorial employees were notified that the
five-day week was withdrawn and that a six-day week was effective
at once. At a meeting of the Guild unit on October 9, 1935, Watson
introduced a resolution, asking the Guild to begin collective bargain-
ing on its behalf. The resolution recited particularly the fact that
the six-day week had been re-scheduled without notice to the workers
and without affording opportunity for discussion or adjustment and
that an agreement continuing the policy of the five-day week, among
other things, was needed to safeguard the interests of employees and
was otherwise fair and equitable, and therefore the Guild unit selected
the Guild by its proper committee to act as the exclusive representa-
tive for the purpose of collective bargaining in respect to conditions
of employment and particularly in respect to hours of employment.
A referendum on the resolution was completed on October 11, 1935.
Seventy-two voted on the referendum and the vote was all but unani-
mous in favor of adopting the resolution. At the time, the Guild,
unit had about 95 or 96 members.
On October 17, 1935, the Guild, by its National Executive Board
(that being the board or committee which, under the constitution 'of
the Guild, was authorized to conduct collective bargaining for guild
units), wrote to Kent Cooper, general manager, referring to the reso-
lution adopted on October 11, 1935, and asking for an opportunity to
"discuss with you the subject of hours and conditions of employment,
with the purpose in view of negotiating a collective agreement."
On October 22, 1935, Cooper replied to the letter of October 17.
1935, and stated, among other things, that he could not without,
instructions from his board of directors "consider negotiations with
outsiders looking toward such an eventuality as you have suggested."
Thereafter further correspondence was had between the attorneys for
the Guild and executive of The Associated Press wherein the former
pressed for a hearing to discuss collective bargaining and the latter
referred the matter to the meeting of the board of directors to be held
in January.
After the discharge of Watson on October 18, 1935, membership in
the Guild unit fell off to about 85 and there was a falling off in the
collection of dues; at the time of the hearing the membership was
increasing and the collection of dues had improved. The reduction in
membership was due directly to the opposition of The Associated
Press to the Guild activities and the fear of the employees of reprisals
for such activities.
The Associated Press has disputed the fact that the Guild does
represent a majority of the editorial employees for the purposes of
collective bargaining. We find that a question concerning the repre-
sentation of the editorial employees has arisen.
694 NATIONAL, LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The editorial employees of The Associated Press at its New York
office in the activities hereinbefore described are directly engaged in
interstate and foreign commerce by facilitating and making possible
the flow of news from place to place throughout this country and other
countries; and any interference with or cessation of such activities
would hamper, impede, and interfere with such commerce.
Any cessation of editorial activities at the New York office would
cause a break in the flow of foreign news and of some of the important
domestic news and, until such break could be repaired or in some
manner oyercome, would seriously impede, if not prevent, the issu-
ance of newspapers in all parts of the country. Random tests of the
dependence of newspapers on continued service by The Associated
Press showed a paper in Dayton, Ohio, with nineteen stories and one
photograph on its front page credited to The Associated Press; one
in Portland, Maine, with eight such stories and one photograph; one
in San Francisco, California, with nine such stories; one in Phoenix,
Arizona with eleven such stories; one in Memphis, Tennessee, with
twenty-seven such stories; and with each of such papers carrying, in
addition to such stories appearing on its front page, many other such
stories on other pages.
We conclude that the question concerning representation which ha-,
arisen is a question affecting commerce, and tends to lend to labor
disputes burdening and obstructing commerce and the free flow of
commerce. To determine this question it is appropriate to conduct
an election by secret ballot among the employees in question. In
connection with the election Morris Watson, whose discharge by
The Associated Press is claimed to have been due to his organizational
activity and whose case is now before us, will be considered as amore
the editorial employees of The Associated Press. Whether his vote in
the election will be counted will depend upon our ultimate decision in
the case relating to him.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
Upon the basis of the above findings, the following conclusions of
law are made by the Board :
1. The editorial employees, with the exception of executives, of
The Associated Press, in its New York City office constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of the editorial employees of The Associated Press in its
New York office, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) of the Act.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
695
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, approved July 5, 1935, and pursuant to Article III, Section
8 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series
1,' as amended, it is
DIRECTED that, as part-of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for collective bargaining with The Asso-
ciated Press, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted within
ten days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Second Region, acting
in this matter as agent of the National Labor Relations Board, and
subject to Article III, Section 9 of said Rules and Regulations, among
the editorial employees, with the exception of executives, of The
Associated Press in its New York City office, on the payroll' as of, the
date of this Direction, to determine whether or not they desire to be
represented by the American Newspaper Guild.
[SAME TITLE]
AMENDED DIRECTION OF ELECTION
May 13, 1936
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, approved July 5, 1935, and pursuant to Article III, Section
8 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series
1, as amended, the Direction of Election issued on May 6, 1936 is
amended to read as follows :
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for collective bargaining with The Asso-
ciated Press, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted on or
before May 27, 1936, under the direction and supervision of the
Regional Director for the Second Region, acting in this matter as
agent of the National Labor Relations-Board, and subject to Article
III, Section 9 of said Rules and Regulations, among the editorial
employees, with the exception of executives, of The Associated Press
in its New York City office, on the payroll as of May 6, 1936, to deter-
mine whether or not they desire to be represented by the American
Newspaper Guild.
,97571-36-vol. 1-15
696 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
[SAME TITLE
SECOND AMENDED DIRECTION OF ELECTION
May 26, 1936
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 , approved July 5, 1935 , and pursuant to Article III, Section
8 ,of. National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series
1, as amended , the Amended Direction of Election issued on May
13, 1936, is further amended to read as follows : It is hereby
DIRECTED that , as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for collective bargaining with The As-
sociated Press, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted on or
before June 3, 1936 , under the direction and supervision of the Re-
gional, Director for the Second Region, acting in this matter as_
agent of the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article
III, Section 9 of said Rules and Regulations , among the editorial
employees , with the exception of executives , of The Associated Press
in its New York City office , on the payroll as of May 6 ; 1936, to
determine whether or not they desire to be represented by the
American Newspaper Guild.
SAME TITLE
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 3, 1936
A petition for an investigation and certification of representatives
pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, ap-
proved July 5, 1935 , was filed on December 9 , 1935, with the Re-
gional Director for the Second Region by the American Newspaper
Guild , said petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had
arisen concerning the representation of the editorial employees of
The Associated Press, New York, New York. The National Labor
Relations Board on December 10, 1935, acting pursuant to Section
9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3 of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, authorized the Re-
gional Director for the Second Region to conduct an investigation
and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. Pur-
suant to such authorization , notice of hearing was duly issued and
served by the Regional Director and on April 7 and 8, 1936, a hear-
ing was held at New York City, by Charles E. Clark , the Trial
Examiner designated by the Board.
After said hearing and upon the full record in the case, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board issued its Direction of Election dated
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 697
May 6, 1936, which Direction was thereafter amended on May 13,
1936, and again on May 26, 1936. Pursuant to the Amended Direc-
tions, an election by secret ballot was conducted by the Regional
Director between May 25, 1936 and May 29, 1936, by registered
mail, among the editorial employees of The Associated Press on the
payroll of the Company on May 6, 1936, excluding executives,-,s ' aid
election being held in accordance with Article III, Section 9 of said
Rules and Regulations, as amended. Thereafter the Regional Direc-
tor prepared and served upon the parties to the proceeding her
Intermediate Report in which she found that a majority of the em-
ployees eligible to vote in said election had voted, and that a ma=
jority of those voting had selected the American Newspaper Guild.
to represent them for the purposes of collective bargaining with The
Associated Press.
A majority of those eligible voted; a majority of those voting,
though less than a majority of those eligible, voted for the American
Newspaper Guild. In certifying the Guild we are following the
rule established by the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth
Circuit in Virginian Railway Co. v. System Federation No. 40, de-
cided June 18, 1936. The Court had before it the provision in•,the
Railway Labor Act, 45 U. S. C. § 131 et seq., that: "The majority
of any craft or class shall have the right to determine who shall be
the representative of the class or craft." It decided that where a
majority of the eligibles voted, a majority of those voting, though
less than a majority of those eligible, determined the representative.
After pointing out that popular democratic government is uni-
versally conducted upon that principle and alluding to the many
decisions of the Supreme Court applying the principle to political
elections, the Court says :
"We see no reason why the act should not be interpreted as
contemplating that this well settled rule of elections should be
applied in the case of the employees' election for which it pro-
vides, in cases like this where a majority of those qualified to
vote participate in the election. Such a rule is fair and just to all
parties. It gives every employee an opportunity to express his
choice. It preserves the secrecy of elections. And it prevents
the breaking down of the plan of collective bargaining which
it was the purpose of the act to set up."
With these reasons we are in entire accord. The parallel language
in the National Labor Relations Act : "Representatives designated or
selected . . . by the majority of the employees in a unit" differs
slightly but not materially from that in the Railway Labor Act and
requires the same construction.
698 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Now THEREFORE, by virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in
the National Labor Relations Board by Section 9(c) of the National
Labor Relations Act and pursuant to Article III, Section 8 of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as
amended,
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that the American Newspaper Guild has
been selected by a majority of the editorial employees of The Asso-
ciated Press, New York, New York, as their representative for the
purpose of collective bargaining with The Associated Press, and
that pursuant to Section 9(a) of the National Labor Relations Act,
the American Newspaper Guild is the exclusive representative of all
such editorial employees for the purposes of collective bargaining
in respect to rates of pay, wages, ' hours of employment and other
conditions of employment.