The Forest City Publishing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 23, 1943

46 N.L.R.B. 1327 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of THE FOREST CITY PUBLISHING COMPANY, PUBLISHER
OF THE CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER and THE CLEVELAND NEWSPAPER
GUILD, LOCAL No. 1, OF THE AMERICAN NEWSPAPER GUILD
Case No. R-4667.-Decided January ;933, 1913- '
Jurisdiction : newspaper publishing industry
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question
refusal to accord union recognition until certified by the Board ; election
necessary.
Units Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : single or separate units compris-
ing (1) all telephone -operators; excluding the telephone supervisor; (2)
all employees of the editorial department with specified exclusions; deter-
mination dependent upon results of elections.
Baker, Hostetler & Patterson, of Cleveland, Ohio, by Mr. S. V. 'L.
Jackson, Jr., for the Company.
Mr. William M. Davy, Mr. Milton J. Lapine, both of Cleveland,
Ohio, and Mr. James D. Hartslzone, of Lakewood, Ohio, for the Guild.
Mr. A. Sumner Lawrence, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by the Cleveland Newspaper Guild, Local
No. 1, of the American Newspaper Guild, herein called the Guild, al-
leging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the
representation of employees of The Forest City Publishing Com-
pany, Publisher of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio,
herein called-the Company, the National Labor Relations Board
provided for an-appropriate hearing upon due notice before Max
W. Johnstone, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Cleve-
land, Ohio, on December 14, 1942. The Company and the Guild
appeared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce
evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made
at the hearing are -free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed. The Company-and the.Guild filed briefs which the Board
has duly considered.
46 N. L. R. B, No. 163.
1327 `
I 328 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Forest City Publishing Company is an Ohio corporation with a
principal place of business in Cleveland, Ohio, where it is engaged in
publishing a daily newspaper by the name of The Cleveland Plain
Dealer and a Sunday newspaper by the name of The Sunday Cleveland
Plain Dealer. The Company purchases annually for its Cleveland,
Ohio, publishing plant supplies valued at $1,200,000, of which approxi-
mately 95 percent is obtained from points outside the State of Ohio.
Advertising revenues of the Plain Dealer are in excess of $3,000,000
annually, of which approximately 20 percent is derived from national
advertising. In the'national advertising field,,the Company employs
advertising solicitors and maintains offices in Chicago, New York, and
other large cities in other States. Of the news published by the
Plain Dealer, approximately 40 to 50 percent emanates from outside
the State of Ohio. The, Plain Dealer, produces ;arid gives Iiews' and
pictures to the Associated Press for national distribution. The Com-
pany admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Cleveland Newspaper Guild,, Local No. 1 , of the American
Newspaper Guild, is a labor organization , admitting to membership,
employees of the Company.,
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On or about October 27, 1942, the Guild requested the Company to
recognize it as exclusive bargaining representative of the Company's
employees in its editorial department, including telephone operators
and excluding certain -supervisors and- their secretaries. The Com-
pany declined to recognize the Guild as bargaining.agent until certified
by the Board.
A' statement of the Regional Attorney, which was admitted in, evi=
dence at'the hearing, indicates that the Guild represents a substantial
number of employees'in the 'unit claimed to be' appropriate.'
The Regional Attorney reported that the Guild had submitted 81 designation cards of
which 67, dated between February and December 1942, appeared to bear the genuine original
s191 atuies of ijersons on the Company's pay roll of November 25, 1942, containing the
names of 144 persons in the editorial department The Guild submitted no cards for the
PBX operators , however , its representative testified that the Guild represents 7,,out of
l lie 8 operators, exclusive of the supervisor.
1
THE FOREST CITY PUBLISHING COMPANY 1329
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the
representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT ; THE DETERMINATION Or REPRESENTATIVES
The Guild and the Company stipulated that the employees of the
Company's editorial department, excluding the editor, the Sunday
editor, the managing editor, the assistant to the managing editor, the
head of the Washington bureau, the secretary to the editor, the secre-
tary to the Sunday editor, and the secretary to the managing editor,
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
The only issue between the parties relates to the question of including
telephone (PBX) operators in the agreed unit of editorial department
employees. The Guild contends that the operators should be included
while the Company takes the opposite point of view.
All the telephone operators except one, who is located on another
floor, serve on the telephone (PBX) switchboard, which is in close
proximity to the office of the head of the editorial department. The
intimate connection between the services of the operators and the
business of the editorial department appears from the fact that after
an early hour in the evening, which is the part of the day when most
of the editorial work is done, the majority of the calls going through
the PBX switchboard are editorial calls. The close relation between
the work of the switchboard operators and that of the editorial de-
partment, the fact that most of the switchboard operators are mem-
bers of the Guild, and the fact that no other organization has at-
tempted to organize the operators, support the feasibility of combin-
ing the operators in the same unit with the editorial department em-
ployees. On the other hand, it appears that while the switchboard
operators perform essential services for the editorial department they
are not a part thereof and perform the same services for all depart-
ments of the newspaper. Moreover, the executives of the editorial
department have no direct supervisory authority over the telephone
operators, whose immediate supervisor, one Mrs. Yassanaye, has the
power to hire and discharge land reports to the business manager.
Finally, the history of collective bargaining between the Guild and,
other publishers indicates that there is, no uniform practice in the
industry of including telephone operators in bargaining, agreements
primarily covering editorial departments.
Under these circumstances, the telephone operators could function
either as a separate unit or as part of an editorial unit. Accordingly,
we shall direct that separate elections be held among the telephone
operators and the editorial employees to determine' whether or not
each group wishes to be represented by the Guild. Upon the result
504086-43-vol 46-84
1330 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATION S BOARD
of these elections will depend in part the appropriate unit. If both
groups of employees participating in the elections choose the Guild,
they will together constitute a single bargaining unit.
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen can best be resolved by means of elections by secret ballot
among the employees in the groups described below who were em-
ployed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of
the Direction of Elections herein, subject to the limitations and addi-
tions set forth in the Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Boai•d by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain repre-
sentative's for the purposes of collective bargaining with The Forest
City Publishing Company, Publisher of,the Cleveland Plain Dealer,
Cleveland,. Ohio, separate elections by secret ballot shall be conducted
as soon as possible but not later than thirty (30) day's from the date
of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional
Director for the Eighth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the
National Labor Relations Board and subject to Article III, Section
10, of said rules and Regulations, among the following employees of
the Company who were employed during the pay-roll period imnie-
dia.tely, preceding the date of this Direction, including employees
who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill
or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including 'employees in the
armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person
at the polls, but excluding those who have'since quit or been discharged
for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by
The Cleveland Newspaper Guild, Local No. 1, of the American News-
paper Guild, for the purposes of collective bargaining :
(1) All telephone operators, excluding the telephone supervisor;
(2) All employees of the editorial department, but, excluding the
editor, the Sunday editor, the managing „editor,' the assistant, to the'
managing editor, the head of the Washington bureau, the secretary
to the editor, the secretary to the Sunday editor, and the secretary to
the managing editor.' '