Uarco, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 25, 1947

74 N.L.R.B. 385 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of UARCO, INCORPORATED , EMPLOYER and INTERNA-
TIONAL PRINTING PRESSMEN AND ASSIST ANT'S UNION OF NORTR
AMERICA, A. F. L., PETITIONER
Case No. 2-R-7443.-Decided June 25,1947
Mr. Thomas E. Kuldoo, of Chicago, Ill., for the Employer.
Frank Seheiner, by Miss Mildred Roth, of New York City, for the
Petitioner.
Mr. Morton B. Spero, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF _ ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at New
York City, on February 7, 1947, before James C. Paradise, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Uarco, Incorporated, is an Illinois corporation engaged in the man-
ufacture and sale of autographic registers, the forms used in such
registers, and continuous forms. The Employer maintains manu-
facturing plants and sales offices in various cities throughout the United
States. During the past year, the Employer purchased for use in its
operations, raw materials worth approximately $1,000,000, of which
amount about 90 percent represented materials shipped to the Em-
ployer's plants and offices from points outside the States in which
such plants and offices are located. During the same period, the Em-
ployer sold in excess of $1,000,000 worth of -finished products, of
which about 75 percent represented shipments to purchasers located
outside the States in which the Employer's plants and offices were
located.
74 N. L. R. B, No. 66. 385
386 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the Peti-
tioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Employer's sales force is separated into two categories : contin-
uous forms salesmen and autographic register salesmen. Continuous
forms salesmen sell specially designed and printed business forms, man-
ufactured in continuous strips, imposed one upon the other, and folded
into packs for use in various office machines. Register salesmen sell
autographic registers and the forms used therein 1 Autographic reg-
isters are manually operated business machines which are "loaded"
with folded packs of perforated forms, and which serve to give the
user a designated number of copies of sales slips or similar types of
forms.
For sales purposes, the Employer has divided the United States into
nine separate register districts, of which only Register Districts 1
and 6 are involved herein, and into five continuous forms districts, of
which only the New York City and Newark, New Jersey, districts
are involved herein. Register District 1, with its main office in New
York City, is composed of the New England States, Metropolitan New
York, Eastern New York State, and Hoboken and Jersey City, New
Jersey. Register District 6, with its main office in Philadelphia, is
composed of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the District of Co-
lumbia, the States of Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey (excepting
Hoboken and Jersey City), and a part of the State of West Virginia.
The New York City continuous forms office 2 serves New York City,
' Register salesmen are also permitted to sell continuous forms ,
2 The New York City register salesmen, and the New York City continuous forms sales-
men are housed in the same office space However, the authority of both the register
manages and the continuous foams manager is limited to the salesmen in his particular
field
0
UARCO, INCORPORATED 387
Westchester, and Long Island. The Newark, New Jersey, continuous
forms office serves all of New Jersey north of Trenton.
There has been no past bargaining history affecting any of these
operations.
The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all continuous forms sales-
men located at the Employer's New York City and Newark, New
Jersey, continuous forms offices, respectively, and those register sales-
men who headquarter at the Employer's New York City register office,
as well as those register salesmen who headquarter at the Employer's
Newark, New Jersey, continuous forms office, or report their sales
of continuous forms to the manager of that office. The Employer
takes the position that the requested unit is too limited in scope, and
contends that the Board should find appropriate a unit composed of
all its salesmen in its "Eastern Division." 3
The proposed unit is, in our opinion, open to the serious objection
that it constitutes an arbitrary grouping of employees. Thus, the
record reveals that the working conditions throughout these register
districts and continuous forms districts are uniform, and that the
duties and functions of all the Employer's salesmen, whether con-
tinuous forms or register salesmen, are substantially the same. Peti-
tioner would, however, group for collective bargaining purposes all
3 continuous forms salesmen in the Newark, New Jersey, continuous
forms office, and all 12 continuous forms salesmen in the New York
City continuous forms office, together with some, but not all, the
register salesmen in Register Districts 1 and 6. As to the register sales-
men, the Petitioner requests only -11 of the 22 register salesmen under
the supervision of the manager of Register District 1, and only 5 of
the 23 register salesmen tinder the supervision of the manager of
Register District 6. The 11 requested register salesmen of Register
District l all headquarter in the New York City office. The 5 requested
register salesmen of Register District 6 include the 2 register salesmen
\ ho use the Newark continuous forms office as their headquarters,
and 3 other register salesmen who merely report their sales of con-
tinuous forms to the Newark office, and are subject to the supervision
of its manager with respect to this business 4 While the remaining
register salesmen who are not headquartered in the district offices,
'The Employers "Eastern Division" was formed within the week in which the hearing
was held Geographically, it is composed of Register Districts 1 and 6, but the authority
of the Eastern Division sales manager extends to both register salesmen and continuous
forms salesmen The Employer has had a "western Division" for ninny yeais, composed
of all salesmen west of Denver, Colorado.
4 These latter three register salesmen headquarter in New Brunswick, Elizabeth, and
Paterson, New Jersey, respectively. Inasmuch as register salesmen are primairly con-
cerned with the sale of autographic registers and the forms used therein, the continuous
forms sold by these latter three register salesmen and reported to the Newark continuous
forms manager amounts to only a small percentage of their total sales.
388 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and are sought to be excluded, rarely visit these offices, the record
reveals that they mail reports twice weekly thereto, and that it is
the practice of the district managers to visit these salesmen periodi-
cally.
Thus, it is clear that the Petitioner's unit would not adhere to any
administrative lines established by the Employer. Nor would it
follow lines of supervision; it would effect a separation of employees
who perform similar tasks, and who have interests in common.
We are mindful that the Petitioner relies, in support of its unit
position, on the facts that (1) there is in existence a group of salesmen
known as the North Jersey Register Association; 5 (2) the Employer's
vice president in charge of sales has, many times in the past, and, as
recently as November 1946, called a business meeting for all register
and continuous forms salesmen located at the Employer's New York
City and Newark offices; and (3) the requested unit conforms to the
extent of the Petitioner's organizational efforts. However, as to the
first contention, we note that, apart from other considerations, the
Association is composed entirely of register salesmen, whereas the
requested unit also includes continuous forms salesmen. As to the
second contention relating to the meetings called by the vice president
in charge of sales, there is no clear showing in the record that the
group which gathered on these occasions either coincides with, or
was limited to, the employees included in the requested unit; rather
does it appear that these meetings were generally business policy meet-
ings open to any of the Employer's salesmen who happened to be in
the area at the time.' And, as to the 'contention that the unit conforms
to the extent of the Petitioner's organizaion, it is well established
that the Board has never invoked the extent of organization principle
so as to find as appropriate an arbitrary grouping of employees, as
is the case here.
Accordingly, we perceive no basis for directing au election in the
requested unit. However, we are satisfied on the basis of the entire
record that the employees sought herein may be bargained for col-
lectively if two units instead of one unit are established, and if some
of the employees presently sought to be excluded are embraced in these
bargaining groups. We rely on the fact that the Employer has estab-
lished administrative groupings of its register salesmen along district
lines; that it has also established its continuous forms salesmen in
districts which are considerably smaller in size, with the result that
each register district involved herein encompasses one or more con-
tinuous forms districts; and, that the Employer and the Petitioner
It is not claimed that this association is a labor organization , it merely affords its
members a monthly opportunity to exchange business information and social pleasantries.
UARCO, INCORPORATED 389
agree that register salesmen and continuous forms salesmen should
not be separated for the purposes of collective bargaining, a position
to which we also subscribe. There would thus appear to be no obstacle
to grouping these employees in accordance with the boundary lines
fixed by the register districts. We therefore conclude that all the
register and continuous forms salesmen within the boundaries fixed
by the Employer's Register District 1 and 6, respectively, may func-
tion together for the purposes of collective bargaining.
In accordance with the foregoing conclusions, we find that the
following groups of employees of the Employer constitute separate
units appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
1. All the Employer's register and continuous forms salesmen within
the present boundaries of the Employer's Register District 1.
2. All the Employer's register and continuous forms salesmen within
the present boundaries of the Employer's Register District 6.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS 6
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with Uarco Incorporated, Chicago,
Illinois, separate elections by secret ballot shall be conducted as early
as possible, but not later than thirty (30) clays from the date of this
Direction, under the direction and snpervislon of the Regional Director
for the Second Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National
Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections 203.55 and 203.56, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 4,
among the employees in the units found appropriate in Section IV,
above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
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 employees who have since quit or been discharged,
for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date
of the election, to determine whether or not they desire to be repre-
sented' by International Printing Pressmen and Assistant's Union of
North America, A. F. L., for the purposes of collective bargaining.
U If the Petitioner does not wish to participate in the elections directed herein, it may
withdraw from either or both of these elections , upon notice to the Regional Director in
wilting, within ten ( 10) days from the date of the Direction of Elections herein