World Publishing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 22, 1945

63 N.L.R.B. 462 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter Of WORLD PUBLISHING COMPANY and OMAHA ,MAILERS
UNION No. 100, INTERNATIONAL MAILERS UNION
Case No. 17-B-1092.-Decided August p22, 1945
Mr. Alfred C. Munger, of Omaha, Nebr., for the Company.
Mr. Fred Owens, of Des Moines, Iowa, for Local 100.
Mr. Donald H. Frank, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Omaha Mailers Union No. 100, Inter-
national Mailers Union, herein called Local 100, alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa-
tion of employees of World Publishing Company, Omaha, Nebraska,
herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board
provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Elmer
L. Hunt, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Omaha, Ne-
braska, on-May 18,' 1945. The Company and Local 100 appeared
and participated.' All parties were afforded full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introducd
evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed. All parties were afforded an opportunity to file briefs
with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the fol-
lowing :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
World Publishing Company is a Nebraska corporation, with its
principal place of business at Omaha, Nebraska, where it is engaged
i Oiaha Typographical Union No. 190 , affiliated with International Typographical
Union, was served with Notice of Hearing, but failed to appear or participate at the
hearing.
63 N. L. R B.. No. 71.
462
WORLD PUBLISHING COMPANY 463
in printing, publishing, and distributing a newspaper, The World-
Herald, in operating its radio station, KOWH, and in operating its
Omaha business properties: and 8-story newspaper plant and office
building known as The World-Herald Building; a 3-story office
building known as The Paxton Block ; and a garage building used
principally for the storage and maintenance of the Company's
vehicles.
The World-Herald has a daily and Sundary circulation of approxi-
mately 2,000,000 copies, of which about 25,000 are shipped outside the
State of Nebraska. During 1944 the Company purchased, for its
newspaper publishing, paper and ink valued at more than $800,000,
all of which was shipped to it from points outside the State of Ne-
braska. Approximately 20 percent of the. advertising space in The
World-Herald is purchased by advertisers through national agencies
outside the State of Nebraska.
KOWH operates on a daytime schedule under a license from the
Federal Communications Commission. This station transmits com-
mercial broadcasts over a trade area which includes western Iowa and
Missouri, and Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Minnesota.
The Company's real property accounts for 51/2 percent of the Com-
pany's gross annual income; KOWH accounts for 21/2 percent of that
income.
The Company admits, that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act, and we so find.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Omaha Mailers Union No. 100, affiliated with the International
Mailers Union, is a labor organization admitting to membership em-
ployees of the Company.
III. THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION;
THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Company has refused to grant recognition to Local 100 as the
exclusive bargaining representative of certain of the Company's em-
ployees until Local 100 has been certified by the Board in an appro-
priate unit. A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence
at the hearing, indicates that Local 100 represents 14 of the employees
in the unit it seeks.
At the hearing, the Company argued that the petition is barred by
a consent election conducted on February 15, 1945,2 in which Local
100, the only participating labor organization, failed to poll a major-
ity. In view of the circumstances present in this case, we find merit
in the Company's contention. An election which does not result in
2 Case No. 17-R-1053.
464 'DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the designation of a collective bargaining agent is not, per se, a bar
to a new investigation of representatives within a relatively short
period of time, for encouragement of collective bargaining is a major
objective of the Act.3 However, as a matter of practical administra-
tive policy, the Board in all cases requires that a labor organization
petitioning for a determination of representatives make a prima facie
showing of substantial interest, sufficient to indicate that an election
will probably result in a majority vote for a statutory bargaining
agent .4 Similarly, we consider that a union which has lost one election
and seeks another within a year should make such a showing of interest
on the second occasion as will indicate that it has renewed and extended
its organizational efforts since the prior election. Absent such a
showing that the union's chances of receiving a majority vote have
improved, expenditure of the Board's time and funds in the conduct
of a second election sooner than a year after the first one, would be
unjustified.5 °
In the instant case, the consent election conducted in February 1945
resulted in a tie vote, 19 employees casting ballots for Local 100, and
19 against representation by a labor organization. Only 21/2 weeks
after that election, Local 100 filed its petition in this proceeding, seek-
ing another election among the Company's mail room employees, in
a unit substantially the same as the unit agreed upon for purposes
of the consent election. As evidence of its present interest, Local
100 showed, prima facie, that it represents 14 employees. By agree-
ment of the parties, stencil cutters, approximately 5 in number 6 are
now excluded from th8 proposed unit.
In addition, over the Company's objection, Local 100 now contends
that the employees known as stuffers 7 should be excluded. In this
establishment the stuffers are all part-time employees,8 but it is clear
that this occupational group should be included in any bargaining
unit composed of the mailers in the Company's employ. "Stuffing,"
3 See N. L R. B Eighth Annual Report, page 47.
4 See N . L R B Ninth Annual Report, pages 23 and 24.
5 Matter of Edgewater Steel Company, 61 N. L. R. B 1006 ; Matter of Miami Ship
building Corporation , 59 N L R. B. 1101; Matter of The Mead Corporation , 58 N. L. R. B.
1645, Matter of Automatic Products Company, 40 N. L. R. B. 941; Matter of Chrysler
Corporation , 37 N. L. R. B. 877.
° There were approximately five stencil cutters in February 1945 ;' about three were-
employed at the time of the hearing herein . The record reveals that the stencil cutters
do not work in the mailing room and are not in the mailing department or carried on its
pay roll
° Stutters have been variously referred to as inserters , stickers , and Saturday -night men.
3 At least 12 in the group of about 16 stuffers are regular employees . Some of these
work, on the average, about 6 hours weekly , others average as high as 15 or 16 hours
per week Our conclusion that stuffers, as such, should be included in the unit is appli-
cable to all the stuffers in the Company s employ. However, we do not now determine
whether or not all of the regular part-time employees in question devote a sufficient amount
of working time to employment with the Company, as compared with the regular full-time
workers in the mail room , to be eligible to vote in an election conducted for the purposes
of designating a bargaining representative.
WORLD PUBLISHING COMPANY 465
the trade name descriptive of the operation of assembling the various
sections of Sunday newspapers, is a function of mailers e Indeed,
representatives of Local 100 testified at the hearing that their organi-
zation claims jurisdiction over the work of stuffing as part of the
activities of the mail room, and it is evident that if Local 100 were
certified as the bargaining representative of the Company's mailers, it
would assert the right to bargain with the Company concerning the
wages, hours, qualifications, conditions of hire, and working con-
ditions of stuffers. Local 100 agreed to their inclusion in the unit in
the February election. Nevertheless, it argues, a few months later,
that none of these employees should have a voice in the selection of
their representative. We infer that it has made no attempt, since the
February election, to organize the stuffers or solicit their endorse-
ment as bargaining agent. Local 100 is attempting, in a word, to
secure a new election upon the basis of a reduction in the unit which we
cannot approve, rather than by a demonstration of renewed and ex-
tended organizational efforts.
In these circumstances, we conclude that a present determination
of representatives is not warranted, and we shall dismiss the petition.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition for investigation and certi-
fication of representatives of employees of the World Publishing
Company, Omaha, Nebraska, filed herein by Omaha Mailers Union
No. 100, International Mailers Union, be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Order.
0 See Matter of The Post Printing and Publishing Company, 59 N. L. R. B. 1115, and
Second Supplemental Decision thereto, 61 N. L. R. B. 333.