102 N.L.R.B. 1236 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

The Crowell Collier Publishing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsFeb 10, 1953

102 N.L.R.B. 1236 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

1236 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD THE CROWELL COLLIER PUBLISHING COMPANY 1 and SPRINGFIELD BOOKBINDERS LOCAL No. 7, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF BOOKBINDERS, AFL, PETITIONER THE CROWELL COLLIER PUBLISHING COMPANY arced SPRINGFIELD MAILERS UNION, No. 113, OF THE INTERNATIONAL MAILERS UNION,Z PETITIONER. Cases Nos. 9-RC-1756, 9-RC-1748, 9-RC-1749, 9-RC-1750, 9-RC-1751, and 9-RC-17592. February 10, 1953 Decision, Order, and Direction of Election Upon petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing on the consolidated cases 3 was held before Richard C. Curry, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Styles and Peterson]. 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 organizations involved claim to represent certain em- ployees of the Employer. 3. On May 9, 1951, the Employer and the Mailers Union executed the following agreement : Agreed that the Springfield Mailers' Union No. 113 will union- ize the inserting and mailing operations of the Direct Mail De- partment, said work to be done by mailers of the Stencil Machine Chapel when and as their present jobs are absorbed, in return for which the Springfeld Mailers' Union No. 113 agrees to re- linquish all rights and claims to all address producing processes. The Employer contends that this agreement (1) constitutes a bar to an election among the employees in the inserting and mailing opera- tions of the direct mail department, and (2) constitutes a waiver by the Mailers Union of its right to appear on the ballot in an election among the employees of the subscription fulfillment department, which is identical with its "address producing processes." As to con- tention (1), we find that the agreement is of insufficient scope to con- stitute a bar.4 As to contention (2), we find that the Mailers Union's ' The Employer' s name appears as amended at the hearing. The name of this Petitioner appears as amended at the hearing. 8 At the hearing the hearing officer granted the motion of the Mailers Union to sever and withdraw its petition filed in Case No. 9-RC-1747 for a separate unit of employees in the forwarding department. ' See The Gates Rubber Company , 95 NLRB 351. 102 NLRB No. M. THE CROWELL COLLIER PUBLISHING COMPANY 1237 agreement does not serve as a waiver of its right to a place on the ballot where, as here, a labor organization other than the Mailers Union has petitioned for a unit which includes, together with other categories of employees, the employees described in the agreement.5 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. The Bookbinders Union, in Case No. 9-RC-1756, requests a unit consisting of all office and clerical employees in the following depart- ments of the Employer's Springfield, Ohio, publishing plant: Sub- scription fulfillment department-correspondence , card preparation, subscription one stencil file, subscription two, direct mail, card machine, card file; accounting division-news stand, mail opening, collection, statistical, statistical C and 0, Collier's branch records; advertising department; agents department; forwarding department. The Mailers Union, in separate petitions, seeks the following separate units : In Case No. 9-RC-1748, card machine E-4, 800 and Remington Rand operators in the card machine department; in Case No. 9-RC-1749, renewal, change of address, file, cancellation, and mis- cellaneous clerks, and list inspectors in the card file department; in Case No. 9-RC-1750, all employees in the correspondence unit; in Case No. 9-RC-1751, card typists and key punch operators paid on a bonus plan in the card preparation department; and in Case No. 9-RC-1752, outside magazine typists in the subscription one department. The Employer contends that only a unit limited to employees in its subscription fulfillment department is appropriate. The Employer's plant occupys seven connected buildings ranging in height from 3 to 7 stories. Throughout these buildings are located the various production operations characteristic of the slick magazine publishing business, such as gravure preparation and press, color press, composing, electrotype foundry, job press, roller making, bindery, web press, shipping and mailing, as well as cafeteria and other service operations. The operations involved in this proceeding occupy various locations : the subscription fulfillment department is located on parts of the 3d, 5th, and 6th floors; the accounting division is on the 1st and 5th floors; the agents department is on the 5th floor; the forwarding department is on the 1st floors There is no bargaining history for these employees.' " Cf. Briggs Indiana Corporation, 63 NLRB 1270 , which , unlike the instant case, involved (1) a petition by an affiliate of an international union which was itself a party to the agreement , and (2 ) a separate unit, not part of a larger unit of employees. 8 The record does not reveal the location of the advertising department. v The forwarding department was at one time covered by the shipping and mailing department employees' contract , but has not been included in that unit for several years. 250983-vol . 102-53-79 1238 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD There is no contention that the employees in the separate units proposed by the Mailers Union and the Employer possess craft skills. It is clear that the clerical employees in these proposed separate units constitute but segments of a broader group of clerical employees with similar skills, duties, working conditions, and interests. Accordingly, in accordance with Board policy, we find that the fragmentary units are inappropriate for purposes of collective bargaining," and we shall dis- miss the Mailers Union's petitions. On the other hand, the overall office clerical unit proposed by the Bookbinders Union ivppears to resemble more closely the broader type of office clerical unit which the Board has customarily found appro- priate." Most of these employees were hired originally as either clerks or typists, and carry out any special functions they may perform by virtue of training received in the plant. There is frequent inter- change, both temporary and permanent, of employees among the sev- eral departments and subdepartments. The skills of such classifica- tions as typist, clerk, bookkeeper, and machine operator are similar throughout the various departments. All share the same benefits and working conditions. Under these circumstances, we find that the following employees of the Employer's Springfield, Ohio, plant con- stitute a unit appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act: All office clerical employees 10 in the, subscription fulfillment de- partment, including correspondence, card preparation, subscription one stencil file, subscription two, direct mail, card machine, and card file ; the accounting division, including news stand, mail opening, col- lection, statistical, statistical C and 0, and Collier's branch records; the advertising department; the agents department; and the forward- ing department; and excluding employees covered by existing con- tracts, all other employees," guards, professional employees, and supervisors 12 as defined in the Act 13 8 Sperry Gyroscope Co., 94 NLRB 1724. 8 See Boeing Airplane Co ., 94 NLRB 344. 10 The work of the so-called confidential secretaries to the various department heads, whose labor relations duties are limited to the departmental level , is not of the character which the Board considers confidential , and the secretaries are therefore included in the unit. Phillips Oil Company, 91 NLRB 534 1 ' In accordance with the agreement of the parties , and without deciding whether or not same of the following employees might, in the absence of such agreement, appropriately be included, we exclude employees in administrative personnel and personnel , employees on the Employer 's special payroll , and employees in the subscription stencil A. B. C. department ( primarily an office-machine maintenance operation). 12 We find, contrary to the contention of the Employer , that the various departmental and subdepartmental group supervisors who spend 50 percent of their time in responsible direction of employees are supervisors within the meaning of the Act, and we therefore exclude them from the unit . Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc, 88 NLRB 343. 38 Appendix A attached hereto sets forth the classifications of employees in the various departments and subdepartments which are included in the unit. THE CROWELL COLLIER PUBLISHING COMPANY 1239 Order IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petitions in Cases Nos. 9-RC-1748, 9-RC-1749, 9-RC-1750, 9-RC-1751, and 9-RC-1752 be, and they hereby are, dismissed. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this volume.] Appendix A Subscription Fulfillment Department Correspondence : Correspondent Mail reader Card Preparation: Code clerk Card typist Proof reader Key punch operator Subscription One Stencil File: Outside magazine editing clerk Outside magazine typist Stencil list inspector Outside magazine clearing clerk Subscription Two: Outside magazine proof reader Outside magazine typist Direct Mail: Card selector Typist Elliott machine operator Card Maclcine: E-4 operator 800 operator Remington Rand machine op- erator Card File: Renewal clerk List inspector Change of address clerk File clerk Typist Editor Remington Rand machine op- erator Miscellaneous clerk Outside magazine proof reader Cancellation clerk File clerk Miscellaneous clerk General stenographer Miscellaneous stencil cutter Miscellaneous typist Add. copy clerk Miscellaneous clerk Miscellaneous trucker Miscellaneous clerk Key punch operator File clerk Cancellation clerk Miscellaneous clerk 1240 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Accounting Division News Stand: Bookkeeping machine oper- Clerk ator Checker Addressograph operator Clerk-typist Typist Mail 0 pening : Clerk Collection: Correspondent Senior mail clerk Billing machine operator Mail clerk Billing clerk Duplication clerk Cancellation clerk Checker Complaint adjuster Typist Statistical: Senior typist Senior clerk Typist Clerk Bookkeeping machine operator junior Statistical C and 0: Typist Messenger Clerk Rectigraph operator Counting clerk Collier's Branch Records: Secretary-stenographer Clerk Clerk-typist Advertising Department Typist-teletype operator Agents Department Correspondent Senior clerk Secretary Clerk Typist Addressograph operator Clerk-typist Dictaphone transcriber Forwarding Department Typist Shipping clerk Senior clerk Part-time clerk