The Conger Printing Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 24, 1969

175 N.L.R.B. 551 (N.L.R.B. 1969)

THE CONGER PRINTING CO.
The Conger Printing Co., Inc.' and Atlanta Printing
Pressmen and Assistants' Union, Local 8,
Subordinate to International Printing Pressmen
and Assistants ' Union of North America,
AFL-CIO, Petitioner
The Conger Printing Co., Inc., Petitioner and
Atlanta Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Local
Union No. 8 and Atlanta Typographical Union No.
482 and Atlanta Bookbinders and Binderwomen's
Union , Local No. 96, International Brotherhood of
Bookbinders , AFL-CIO.' Cases 10-RC-7540 and
10-RM-506
April 24, 1969
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF
ELECTIONS
BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS
FANNING AND JENKINS
Upon petitions duly filed with Region 10 of the
National Labor Relations Board under Section 9(c)
of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was
held on October 4 and November 6, 1968 before
Gerald L. Kiel, Hearing Officer. Thereafter,
pursuant to Section 102.67 of the National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations and
Statements of Procedure, Series 8, as amended, and
by direction of the Regional Director for Region 10,
this case was transferred to the Board for decision.
Thereafter, the Employer and the Petitioning and
Intervening Unions filed briefs.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
Act, as amended, the Board has delegated its powers
in connection with these cases to a three-member
panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's
rulings made at the hearing and finds that they are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, including the
briefs filed herein, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act.°4
'The name of the Employer appears in the caption as amended at the
hearing
'Intervenor in Case 10-RC-7540
'Intervenor in Case ,O-RC-7540
i 'Upon the basis of the record , we find, contrary to the Employer's
contentions advanced at the hearing and reiterated in its beef, that the
Employer is not engaged in a retail enterprise but is engaged in operations
nonretail in character and that our nonretail standard for assertion of
jurisdiction is applicable herein The stipulation entered into by the
Employer at the hearing on its face states jurisdiction under the nonretail
standard set forth in Siemons Mailing Service , 122 NLRB 81 In relevant
part the stipulation reads "The Conger Printing Co , Inc purchased in
excess of $50,000 worth of goods and materials from sellers or suppliers
located within the State of Georgia who had received the materials and
goods from outside the State of Georgia " (Emphasis supplied ) In its brief
before us the Employer seeks to avoid the assertion of jurisdiction by
taking the position for the first time that the word "received" in the
stipulation refers to goods received only indirectly from out of state by the
Employer ' s suppliers and sellers If the Employer indeed possessed
evidence which would establish the interpretation of the stipulation it now
urges on us , the. proper time and place to do so would have been at the
hearing Under the well -established doctrine of estoppel we will not permit
the Employer to avoid the effect of a stipulation freely entered into by
551
2. The labor organizations involved claim to
represent certain employees of the Employer.'
3. A question affecting commerce exists
concerning the representation 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 Employer operates a commercial printing
plant in Atlanta, Georgia. The Petitioner seeks to
represent as a unit of all pressmen and lithographers
and employees performing work preparatory
thereto. Intervenor, Typographical Union No. 48
seeks a unit of all employees who perform
composing room operations. Intervenor,
Bookbinders, Local No. 96 seeks a unit of all of the
Employer's bindery employees, shipping employees,
stock employees, and truckdrivers. Petitioner and
Intervenors seek separate units which do not
overlap. The Employer contends that in view of the
integrated nature of its operations, and the
smallness of its number of employees, only a
production and maintenance unit including all of the
employees is appropriate. There is no history of
bargaining for any of the Employer's employees.
All the employees sought by the unions work
under the supervision of L. W. Conger, Jr.,
president of the Employer. It does not appear that
they carry out their respective duties in distinctly
separate areas, except the bindery workers, or that
the Employer has otherwise organized its operations
affecting these employees along what may be
considered distinctive departmental lines. However,
the record does show that although the Employer
used certain overlapping job classifications to
describe the duties performed by employees in
different crafts, that the employees in the
classifications sought by the Petitioner and
Intervenors perform the usual duties of their
respective crafts.' Additionally, it appears that the
Employer generally employs individuals experienced
in their crafts, some with 10 to 25 years craft
experience. While the Employer does not maintain a
formal apprenticeship program, employees not fully
experienced undergo on-the-job training, including
class periods, and they become highly skilled in the
use of the machinery and processes associated with
their craft classification. Accordingly, we find that
the requested employees are craftsmen. We further
find that, under the circumstances, separate craft
units of the Employer's pressmen , composing
employees, and bindery, and shipping employees are
making a post-hearing qualification suggesting that the stipulation has a
meaning other than that which appears clearly from its face
'The Intervenor , Atlanta Typographical Union No 48 and Atlanta
Bookbinders and Bookbinderwomen ' s Local No 96, were permitted to
intervene on behalf of the typographical and bindery workers, respectively,
in the Employer 's plant on the basis of an adequate showing of interest
'Intervenor , Bookbinders, seeks the inclusion of the truckdriver in its
requested unit The record shows that the placement of the truckdriver in
such requested unit was not in dispute and as he would otherwise be the
only unrepresented employee performing work related to the bindery and
shipping unit , we have included him in such unit
175 NLRB No. 72
552 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
appropriate' despite the asserted integration of the
Employer's operations.'
Accordingly, having duly considered the record
herein, and the briefs filed by the Employer, the
Petitioner, and Intervenors, we find that the
following employees of the Employer, at its Atlanta,
Georgia, plant, excluding all other employees, office
clerical employees, professional employees, guards,
and supervisors, as defined in the Act, constitute
separate units appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within Section 9(b) of the Act.'
(a) All pressmen, including offset and letter press
journeymen pressmen, their apprentices, assistants,
and helpers, journeymen offset cameramen,
strippers, platemakers, color separators, opaquers,
and apprentices and helpers.
(b) All composing room employees including hand
and machine compositors, linotype operators, photo
composition, markup and layout work,
proofreading, paste makeup and related art work,
machinist work on typesetting devices, and lockup
and lineup work.
(c) All bindery department employees including
employees engaged in machine and hand operations,
stock, shipping and receiving, and truckdrivers.
In accordance with the foregoing, we shall direct
separate elections in the aforementioned bargaining
units which we have found appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9(b) of the Act.
[Direction of Elections10 omitted from
publication.]
'Our conclusion herein is also based on the fact that the three unions
have heretofore recognized the separate community of interests of the three
groups by negotiating contracts with individual employers and
multiemployer groups in this industry in the area , following the
collective-bargaining pattern long established in punting establishments
Cf International Paper Co, 171 NLRB Nq 89, Doubleday and Co, 165
NLRB No 41
'Although the record discloses that upon occasion some of the craftsmen
perform other unrelated tasks, we conclude that the degree of time spent
by such craftsmen in these other tasks is insufficient to defeat our separate
unit determinations
'Petitioner and Intervenors stated their desire to participate only in
elections in the unit for which they petitioned
"Election eligibility lists, containing the names and addresses of all the
eligible voters, must be filed by the Employer with the Regional Director
for Region 10 within 7 days after the date of issuance of this Decision and
Direction of Elections The Regional Director shall make the lists available
to all parties to the election No extension of time to file these lists shall be
granted by the Regional Director except in extraordinary circumstances
Failure to comply with this requirement shall be grounds for setting aside
the election whenever proper objections are filed Excelsior Underwear
Inc, 156 NLRB 1236