Triangle Publications, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 13, 1942

40 N.L.R.B. 1330 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of TRIANGLE PUBLICATIONS, INC. and CHICAGO EDITORIAL
ASSOCIATION, FEDERAL UNION 21690
Case No. R-3654.-Decided May 13, 1993
Jurisdiction : magazine publishing industry.
Practice and Procedure : petition dismissed where no appropriate unit within
scope of petition; unit. requested composed of radio program checkers in
editorial department, of magazine which is,an integral and indistinguishable
part of the entire editorial department, held inappropriate.
Mr. Richardson Dilworth, of Philadelphia, Pa., for the Company.
Mr. Daniel D. Carnmll and Miss Sylvia G. Katz, of Chicago, Ill.,
for the Union.
Mr. Gerard J. Manack, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF TILE CASE
On petition and amended petitions duly filed by Chicago Editorial
Association;-Feder"al Union 21690, herein called the Unioil;'•alleginb
that a question affecting 'commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Triangle Publications, Inc., Chicago, Illi-
nois, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board
provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice be'foree'Robert
T. ,Drake, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Chicago, Illi-
nois, on March 17, 1942. The Company and the Union appeared,
participated, and were afforded fnll opportunity to be heard, to
examine and cross-' xalnine`,witnesses, and to introduce evidence bear-
ing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hear-
ing are free from prejudicial' errors and are 'hereby affirmed. On
March 30, 1942, the Company and the Union filed,briefs which the
Board has considered. -
Upon the entire record ini the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Company, a Delaware corporation with general offices in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, editorial and circulation offices in Chi.
cago, Illinois, and other offices in Hollywood, California, and New
40 N. L. R. B., No 237
1330
TRIANGLE PUBLICATIONS, INC. 1331
York City, is engaged in publishing newspapers and magazines. One
of its, publications, Movie-Radio Guide, is a weekly magazine printed
in Chicago, Illinois, devoted to news and information concerning
motion pictures and radio. Only employees of this magazine are
involved in this' proceeding. More than 90 percent of the copies of
Movie-Radio Guide issued in 1941 were sold and shipped to points
outside the State of Illinois, the income from which was approxi-
mately $750,000:
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Chicago Editorial Association, Federal Union 21690, is a labor
organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. It
admits to membership employees of the, Company. -
III. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union claims that all -employees of the editorial program
checkers department of Movie-Radio Guide magazine, including the
supervisory head of the department, but excluding the secretary-
stenographer, constitutes an appropriate unit. The Company con-
tends that all editorial employees of the magazine, excluding certain
supervisors, constitute the appropriate unit.
The principal issue which this,case presents is whether a designated
group of employees in the editorial department of Movie-Radio
Guide constitute a unit appropriate for the- purpose of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act..
The Union is authorized by its charter to take into membership
employees of -,newspapers 'and magazines engaged" in news or editorial
occupations. In the instant case, however, it seeks to represent only
a number of editorial employees, known as program checkers, who
compile and prepare radio programs for Movie-Radio Guide. The
Union 'would 'exclude from the unit the other editorial employees of
this magazine who work in-the same office. While the Union con-
tends that the work of the program .checker is unique and that em-
ployees engaged in this occupation are not qualified to perform other
types; of editorial 'work, the record affords little support for these
contentions: The radio programs, as they appear in the magazine,
differ 'from the radio programs published in the newspapers only
with respect to coverage and style. The duties performed by pro-
gram checkers consist -in editing. program releases of the various
studios to conform to the style of the magazine and giving them
appropriate captions. The balance of the magazine is composed of
short. descriptive summaries of the various programs edited and
compiled 'by the members of the editorial staff, and articles con-
tributed by outsiders but presumably edited by the staff. It is there-
1332 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
fore plain that no discernible difference exists between the nature
of the editorial'work performed by the program checkers and that
of other employees on the editorial staff.
In making determinations pursuant to Section 9 (b) of the Act, the
Board may properly find that a subdivision of an employer, craft, or
plant unit, constitutes an appropriate unit. In thus exercising its
authority, however, the Board has consistently refused to set apart
as an appropriate unit any subdivision or group of employees the
nature of whcse work is indistinguishable from that. of other em-
ployees or whose work is not-functionally coherent and distinct.i
In observance of this policy the Board has recognized the unity
of interests and functions, of editorial, workers in. the newspaper
industry and the frequent interchange of duties among such .em-
ployees. Consequently the Board has refused to entertain petitions
of labor organizations seeking to break down into artificial subdivi-
sions traditional editorial staff employees 2 It is true that the Board
has entertained petitions for separate departmental representation
of employees being organized on a plant-wide or industrial basis on
the principle that organization of the employees has not yet been
extended beyond such department. Nevertheless this principle has
never been applied to the determination as appropriate units of arbi-
trary and artificial groupings of_emplbyees.
For the foregoing reasons we, are of the opinion that- the petition
herein should be dismissed since the program checkers constitute an
integral and indistinguishable part of the entire editorial department
of the Company.
IV. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Since the bargaining unit sought to be established by the petition
is not appropriate, as stated in Section III, above, we find that no
question has arisen concerning the representation of employees of
the Company in an appropriate bargaining unit.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, the National
Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the petition for investiga-
tion and certification of representatives of employees of Triangle
Publications, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, filed by Chicago Editorial Associ-
ation, Federal Union 21690, be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
1 Cf Matter of-Carnegie -Illinois Steel Corp Engineering Div-Naval Ordnance Plant
and Local Union 466, I B E W, et al, 34 N L R B. 40; Matter of The New York
Times Company and American Newspaper Writers Association , et al., 32 N. L. R. B 928;
Matter of The National Sanitary Company and International Brotherhood of Foundry Em-
ployees, Local 104 (Independent ), 31 N. L. R. B. 824.
2 See Matter of The New *York Times Company, cited -in footnote 1, supra.