The Dallas Times Herald

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 11, 1960

126 N.L.R.B. 600 (N.L.R.B. 1960)

600 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
4 Respondents Local Union No 600 and Local Union No 92 have engaged in
no unfair labor practices
5 The aforesaid unfair labor practices of Respondent Ingalls are unfair labor
practices within the meaning of Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act
[Recommendations omitted from publication 3
The Times Herald Printing Company d/b/a The Dallas Times
Herald ' and American Newspaper Guild, AFL-CIO, CLC,
Petitioner . Case No 16-RC-2611 February 11, 1960
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
upon a petition duly fled under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Charles H Steere, hearing
officer, The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby a'`lirmed,
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 Leedom and Members Bean and Jenkins]
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 organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer
3, A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9(c) (1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act
4 Appropriate unit
The Petitioner seeks to represent all the Employer's news and
editorial department employees Contrary to the Employer, the Peti-
tioner would exclude eight desk heads and the head of the Washing-
ton news bureau and his staff It would also exclude the editorial
po,ge editor and six correspondents but would include two student
correspondents The Employer takes no position on the editorial
page editor and contends that the six correspondents and the two stu-
dents should be treated alike It would include them all The parties
stipulated to exclude the managing and executive editors.
The eight desk heads the Petitioner would exclude are the assistant
to the managing editor, the news, city, telegraph, women's, executive
sports, business, and amusements editors The Employer's news de-
partment is divided into two main sections-general news and special-
ized news The assistant to the managing editor is in charge of gen-
eral news and the news editor heads up the specialized news desks
;The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing,
126 NLRB No 68
THE DALLAS TIMES HERALD 601
The Employer contends that the 75 to 100 employees in the various,
diverse subsections of this department 2 are supervised by only 2 men-
the managing and executive editors and that the desk heads are merely
leadmen who should be included.
Assistant to the managing editor : Under Hal Lewis, the assistant
to the managing editor, there are the city, State, and copy desks.
Lewis is responsible for coordinating and editing the efforts of these
subsections. Together with the telegraph and city editors, he daily
reviews the major news stories and pictures, after which, he lays out
the front page of the paper. On alternate Saturday nights, he is
responsible for getting out the Sunday paper. Moreover, Lewis hires
or effectively recommends the hiring of copy boys and the record re-
veals that, as a desk head, he is consulted on the promotions of his
subordinates. In view of the foregoing, we shall exclude the assistant
to the managing editor s
News editor: Bert Holmes, the news editor, coordinates the special
features side of the news room-the women's, sports, business, and
amusements desks. He counsels with the heads of these desks as to
the daily operation of their sections. In addition, Holmes is in charge
of the work of such persons as the food, travel, and book editors. He
reads copy and edits it, making the changes himself or recommends
those which should be made and he lays out the various special fea-
tures pages. Furthermore, he is responsible for making up the Sun-
day magazine section each week and alternates with the assistant to
the managing editor in getting out the entire Sunday paper. As
the record establishes that the news editor responsibly directs the
personnel working under him, we shall exclude him from the unit 4
Telegraph, editor: Paul Taylor, the telegraph editor, looks over all
copy that comes in via the wire services before passing it on to the
copy desk. Usually, he goes through the special correspondence, too.
The seven employees on the copy desk work under Taylor who pre-
pares the work schedules for them. Moreover, this editor, like his
superior, the assistant to the managing editor, may hire or effectively
recommend the hiring of copy boys. As a desk head, he is consulted
before the promotion of his subordinates and he has attended super-
visors meetings. On these facts, we find that the telegraph editor
should be excluded from the unit found appropriate herein s
City, women's, executive sports, business, and amusements editors:
Each of these editors is in charge of a desk and that desk's employees.
2 The editorial department has only three employees. Its head, the editorial page
editor, is discussed infra
S The Peoria Journal Star , Inc, 117 NLRB 708, 711 ; A. S Abell Company, Publisher,
at at, 81 NLRB 82 , 85, 86.
'The Salt Lake Tribune Publishing Company and Telegram Publishing Company, 92
NLRB 1411, 1419-1420 ; see, also, The Peoria Journal Star, Inc., supra, at page 717.
5 A. S. Abell Company, Publisher, at at, supra , at page 86.
602 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The business desk has 4 men assigned to it, amusements has 6, sports 8,
women's 11, and city 26. The desk heads not only write headlines
and plan layouts for the work of their sections but also read, edit, and
correct the materials submitted by their subordinates. They are re-
sponsible for the form and content of all the work emanating from
their desks. In administering these desks, the heads prepare work
schedules, allot days off, grant limited time off, and make the job
assignments. Moreover, they are consulted on applicants for employ.
ment and promotions of personnel. Furthermore, they may, and do,
verbally reprimand. We find that each of these desk heads responsibly
directs the work of the employees assigned to his desk. Accordingly,
we shall exclude the city, women's, executive sports, business, and
amusements editors 6
Washington news bureau: This bureau is an independent agency
which submits news to the Employer and other newspapers. For
such services, the Employer pays its head a regular weekly sum.
Contrary to the Employer's contentions, we find that the head of this
bureau is an independent contractor and we exclude him and his staff
from the unit.
Editorial page editor: This editor is on the Employer's board of
directors. As a member of such board, he is in a position to formulate
and determine corporate policy. Accordingly, we must exclude him
from the unit.'
Correspondents: There are five business, one food , and two student
correspondents who work on their own. The business and food cor-
respondents live outside Dallas and submit their stories to the Em-
ployer by mail or phone. The two student correspondents attend
S.M.U. full time and may do some of their work in the office. All
the correspondents operate primarily without assignment and all re-
ceive a fixed amount weekly whether or not any stories are submitted
or published. The minimum wage is $7.50 per week. None partici-
pate in the Employer's various employee benefits. As they do not
share the interests and working conditions of the employees in the
unit, we shall exclude all eight correspondents.
In view of the foregoing, we find that the following employees of
the Employer constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act :
All news and editorial department employees at the Employer's
Dallas, Texas, operation, excluding the executive, managing, assistant
to the managing, news, city, telegraph, women's, executive sports,
business, amusements, and editorial page editors, the head of the
6 The Daly Review, Inc, 111 NLRB 763, 764-765; The Salt Lake Trsbune Publishing
Company and Telegram Publishing Company, supra, at pages 1415-1420
7 Cab Services , Inc., d /b/a Red and White Airway Cab Company , 123 NLRB 83.
TEXAS-ZINC MINERALS CORPORATION 603
Washington news bureau and his staff, the business, food and student
correspondents, and all other employees, supervisors, and guards as
defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
Texas-Zinc Minerals Corporation I and United Steelworkers of
America, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case No. 20-RC-3851. Feb-
ruary 11, 1960
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Robert Magor, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.'
Briefs were submitted by the Petitioner, in behalf of itself and
the Joint Intervenors; 3 by the Employer; and by the Navajo Tribe
of Indians.4 The Board has fully considered the briefs and the entire
record in this case, and finds :
1. The Navajo Tribe intervened for the sole purpose of moving
to dismiss the petition. The principal issues presented are whether
the Act applies to a plant located on the Navajo Indian reservation,
and if the Act does apply, whether the Board should assert jurisdic-
tion over such a facility.
The Employer is a corporation which operates a uranium concen-
trate mill at Mexican Hat, Utah. Pursuant to a contract with the
Atomic Energy Commission, the Employer annually ships over
$5,000,000 worth of uranium concentrate to the A.E.C. in Colorado.
The Employer's operations are subject to the security regulations of
the A.E.C., and the Employer may not sell its product to a third
person without the consent of the A.E.C. All the land occupied by
the mill is located on the Navajo reservation and leased to the Em-
ployer by the Navajo Tribe. Of the 87 employees in the requested
unit, 47 are members of the Tribe and 40 are not Indian. The Navajo
reservation is comprised of contiguous tracts of land lying in the
States of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah; occupies 25,000 square
1 The name of the Employer appears as corrected at the hearing.
2 The parties ' requests for oral argument are denied , as the record and the briefs ade-
quately present the issues and the positions of the parties
s The International Union of Operating Engineers , AFL-CIO, and the International
Hodcarriers , Building and Common Laborers Union of America, AFL-CIO, intervened
jointly on the basis of a showing of interest.
4 The Navajo Tribe of Indians is hereafter referred to as the Navajo Tribe
126 NLRB No. 70.